The Other Boy (11 page)

“I think I’m going swimming,” David said.

“Maddy?” Fred asked, inviting her to join them for a stroll.

She glanced at David, who seemed to be unsuccessfully trying not to stare at her. “Um, I think I’ll hang out here, Fred, thanks. Maybe I’ll swim too.” She leaned back on her elbows and smiled at the group.

“Okay. Let’s go.” Maddy watched as her parents and Fred crunched away down the beach and disappeared on a path through the woods. She and David were quiet.

After the sound of footsteps faded away, Maddy tried to concentrate on stacking up a little pile of stones. David examined a mosquito bite on his toe. A black ant wandered onto the blanket and started trying to carry away a bread crumb. The quiet stretched out until Maddy felt it change into something else. She started feeling a little awkward, like she was overly aware of her hands, and she could tell David felt it too. All of a sudden she realized what it was.
We’re alone
. It didn’t really make sense—she had been alone with David for days at a time, but for some reason, this felt different. She could sense just how close to her he was sitting, and her skin tingled a little.

He stood up abruptly. “Let’s swim.”

“Okay,” she answered, thankful for the break in the silence.

Without waiting for her, he took off his flip-flops and walked out onto the dock, where he stopped and stripped off his shirt. His broad shoulders were well muscled and deeply tanned, tapering to narrow hips. He turned around and stretched his arms overhead, making his pecs and abs ripple, and executed a perfect backward dive into the gray-green water. A moment later, his dark head appeared, gleaming on the surface of the water. He swam back and forth a few times and then flipped over onto his back. “Come on!” he called to her. “It’s not that cold!”

“I’m not scared of cold water!” she called back.

“Then come on in! Or are you not as tough as you act?”

She couldn’t let him get away with that. “Okay, Superboy, I’m coming!” She pulled her tank top off over her head, feeling a little like she was doing a striptease, even though she was wearing a swimsuit. She wiggled out of her jeans and undid her ponytail, raking her fingers through her hair. She flipped it back over her shoulders, where it hung, tickling the bare skin between her shoulder blades. She could tell David was watching her and it made her nervous. This was dumb. Why should she be nervous? It was just David.

He was treading water as she strode out onto the dock. The gray planks were smooth and hot under her bare feet. She stood at the end and looked down into the green depths. Sunlight filtered through the top of the water, turning it translucent. Below that, it was just dark. A spray of water splashed her feet and calves.

“Stop!” she shrieked, retreating to the other side of the dock.

David grinned and splashed her again. “Come on, chicken girl!”

She stuck her tongue out at him, took a deep breath, and dove into the water. She gasped as she came to the surface. “It’s freezing, you ass!”

David laughed. He turned a somersault and then swam away from her across the water. Maddy struck out after him, pulling at the water with her best summer swim-team strokes. Swimming in the lake felt very different from swimming in the chlorinated crystal-clear blue depths of the Bay Swim Club pool. For one thing, it felt very big. She couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit nervous about the deep, dark water below her. She knew that there weren’t any sharks or anything in a lake, but maybe … snakes? Immersed in her thoughts, she hadn’t noticed David disappear from her line of vision. She stopped swimming and treaded water for a minute, looking around. Where was he? She couldn’t see him anywhere. Suddenly, from under the water, something grabbed her ankles and pulled hard, forcing her head under the surface. She tried to scream but inhaled a mouthful of lake water instead. For one terrifying instant, she floundered under the water, still held around the ankles, choking on the water she had swallowed.

Then her ankles were released. Her head broke the surface and she gasped. David was beside her, his arm around her waist, supporting her as he held on to the dock with the other hand. Maddy sputtered a minute, catching her breath, clinging to his strong shoulders.

“Thanks a lot!” she finally managed.

He looked abashed. “Sorry about that—I didn’t mean for you to swallow water. You can get me back.”

Suddenly, she was conscious of how close she was to him. She released her hold quickly and swam away. “I’m okay now!” she called back over her shoulder.

“You sure?” he called after her.

“I’m fine!” she said, breaststroking along the water-line. Now that she was more used to it, the contrast between the warm sun on her shoulders and the cool water felt good. She swam laps for a few minutes, plot-ting out a little friendly revenge. Some long strands of pondweed floating near the surface of the water close to the shore gave her an idea, even if it was a little silly.

She pulled up some of the slimy green weeds and twisted them into a cool, wet wad. Then, holding her weapon in one hand, she paddled back toward David.

She was pretty near him when he saw her and said, “Hey.

What’s up?”

“This!” she yelled, and threw the pondweed. She scored a direct hit right on his forehead. He yelped and pawed the stuff off before dunking his head in the water to get rid of the sliminess.

He was laughing when he came up. “Oh, you’re bad,”

he said. “Better run away.” He tried to grab her around the waist but she slipped out of his hands and back-stroked across the lake beyond his reach. “Bye!” She waved.

“Nice try!” he called and swam rapidly toward her, beating the dark water into white froth behind him.

Maddy shrieked with pretend fright and paddled in a large circle. David snared her, this time successfully wrapping his arms around her. She felt a thrill of excitement at the touch of his smooth chest, deliciously warm under the cold water.

“Arrrrahh!” David attempted a kung fu yell and, lifting Maddy like she weighed nothing, threw her into the water. She shook her hair out of her face as she came up.

“You’re in so much trouble, jerk!” she yelled, and flung herself onto his back, sticking there like a suction cup. They sank and David started swimming near the bottom of the pond, Maddy still hanging on to his shoulders.

All of the surface noises disappeared, leaving the two of them in cool green silence. The pondweed waved beneath them, and dark logs lay here and there, half buried in the underwater mud. Maddy felt like she and David had entered their own world for a moment—

a bubble where no one existed but the two of them.

Then the spell was broken as David swam upward and they surfaced. “Woo-hoo!” Maddy gasped. “I had no idea I could hold my breath that long!”

“You just have to practice—Jeremy Olson and I used to have contests in his basement in fourth grade. First one to black out was the loser.”

Maddy laughed, still panting. She treaded water, holding on to his shoulder with one hand. “Sounds great.” The words died on her lips as she suddenly realized how close their faces were—only inches away. Her eyes were drawn to his lips like magnets. Her hands grew numb and her face started tingling as she realized he was staring at her too.

What are you doing, Maddy?
A little, sane voice in her head pushed through the haze in her mind. Excellent question. She ripped her eyes from David’s face and, turning, swam slowly back toward the dock, which was now only a thin gray line above the water. David paddled by her side.

For a minute, neither spoke. Maddy cast a glance at David under her eyelashes. His face was pleasant as usual but told her nothing about what he was thinking.

Then he turned to her. “Can I tell you something?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said, watching the dock slowly grow larger in front of them.

“I was wrong about you.”

Maddy blinked at the boldness of his words. “What?”

He turned his head as best he could while still swimming. “I mean it. When I first met you, I thought you were someone different than you are.”

Maddy was almost afraid to ask. “What … what did you think I was?”

“Oh, I don’t know—maybe a little snobby?”

She opened her mouth.

David rushed ahead. “Hey, that’s not what I wanted to tell you. I was wrong, because it turns out that you’re really a hell of a lot of fun. I know this isn’t exactly the summer you’d hoped for. It wasn’t my plan, either. But this summer is turning out fifty times better than I thought it would. Score one for changing plans!”

Warmth flooded Maddy’s body as she took in his words. She felt buoyant, like she could just float across the lake instead of swimming. She grinned at David. “I can’t disagree with you.”

David pulled himself out onto the dock, but Maddy swam to the shore and waded in, wrinkling her nose at the feel of the muddy sand. Her parents and Fred had returned from their walk and were busily shaking out blankets and folding chairs. Maddy wrapped a towel around her shoulders. David came up behind her, panting a little and dripping.

Maddy picked up an armful of blankets and worked her feet into her flip-flops.

“Back to the grind tomorrow,” she said to David with a mock sigh as they struggled toward the woods.

“Yeah, we can inhale bleach fumes together all day. I’m sure I have a few brain cells left that haven’t been fried yet.”

Maddy pulled a mournful face, but the truth was, as they all walked together toward their trucks, tired and sandy, she didn’t really mind the thought of working on the tasting room with David. She actually couldn’t think of anything else she’d rather do.

Maddy sat with her parents in the living room that night after dinner. She had washed off in the outdoor shower stall after coming back from the lake, and the scent of citrus soap still lingered on her skin.

Her stomach felt pleasantly full of her mother’s penne with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh local broccoli. Idly wondering why it was that her parents had decided to start living without a TV, she dug a puzzle out of the closet. The box sported a sweeping photo of the Grand Canyon in an improbable shade of orange. She spread the pieces out on the shiny pine coffee table and sat down on the floor to sort them out.

The windows were open and the white lace curtains fluttered softly in the night breeze. Maddy’s mother was curled up in a big soft armchair, reading under a pool of yellow lamplight. Dad had stretched out on the slouchy green velour sofa. He looked like he might fall asleep any minute. Maddy snapped two puzzle pieces.

Her mother looked up from her book and cleared her throat. “Maddy, honey.”

“Yeah?”

She leaned forward. “Your dad and I were talking about your birthday and considering what you said last week.” Maddy’s heart leaped for a minute. Maybe they had changed their minds. “And while we haven’t changed our minds about a trip to the city, we understand that you want to see your friends.”

Maddy nodded. “I do, Mom.”

“So we thought that you might want to invite Brian up to the vineyard for a birthday dinner here. That way we can still be together as a family.”

Maddy considered the offer. It wasn’t what she’d had in mind, but it was better than nothing. At least they were trying. “Thanks, guys. I think that would be great.”

Her mom relaxed visibly.

“I know this hasn’t been your ideal summer, honey,”

she said. “But I want you to know just how much we appreciate all your hard work on the tasting room and around the place. You’ve done a really nice job.”

“Thanks,” Maddy said. “I’m going to go call Brian then, okay?”

Maddy’s room was filled with the scent of honey-suckle from the night air. Her dad had installed some screens, so now she could keep her porch doors open without getting eaten alive by mosquitoes during the night. She didn’t bother turning on the lights. Just enough light filtered in from the kitchen windows below. Maddy pulled on a pair of soft gray jersey shorts and a camisole and stretched out on her bed. She reached for her phone, ignoring the nervous feeling in her stomach. She and Brian still had talked only once since David had grabbed the phone, and it hadn’t gone particularly well. It was weird calling and not knowing if Brian would be mad or not. Hopefully, this invite would just smooth everything over. He could come up here and they could pick up right where they’d left off. Maddy smiled at the thought and speed-dialed Brian’s number.

“Hey, babe,” he answered.

“Hi—how are you?” Maddy said.

“Great.”

There was a moment’s pause and then Maddy said,

“What are you up to?”

“Nothing—just hanging out on the couch, watching the Giants. Chad’s coming by—I think we might go over to Morgan’s in a while. She’s having some people over to hang out in her hot tub.” He didn’t
sound
angry.

“That’ll be fun,” Maddy said automatically. “Um, Brian?”

“Yeah?”

“So, you aren’t still mad?” she asked carefully.

“About what?”

Maddy couldn’t believe it. “You know, the last couple times we talked? And—” She didn’t really want to remind him of the whole David incident if he barely remembered.

“Oh, whatever. I’d completely forgotten about that.

It’s no big deal,” Brian said. Maddy could hear the roar of the television in the background. “Yes! Touchdown!”

Brian yelled.

Maddy fell on her back and stared at the ceiling.

Incredible. Here she was, obsessing for days, worrying he was mad at her, going over everything in her head a thousand times, and he wasn’t even thinking about it!

That was so typical.

Oblivious to Maddy’s inner turmoil, Brian went on.

“So, did you ask your parents about coming down for your birthday?”

Okay, apparently we’re moving on.
“I did,” she replied,

“and we had the worst fight. I was so mad—they actually wanted to take me to dinner and a movie with just them instead of letting me drive to see you.”

“That’s typical of them,” Brian offered. “They’re so lame.”

Maddy felt a stab of defensiveness. She’d called her parents lame herself a million times, but for some reason, it seemed different when he did it. “Well, it turned out okay, actually. They said today that you could come up to the vineyard for my birthday instead!”