“I’ll make sure you get wet, too. You just won’t know how I plan on doing it,” I threaten, knowing the only way to get him wet would be to hug him or sit on his lap. I’m good with both those possibilities.
As he steps up to the water’s edge, he changes his hold to cradled me in his arms. I can’t kick my way out of this. I’ll definitely end up in the water that way. He shifts, and I think he'll drop me, but he turns around and walks back up to the picnic table.
“Gotcha!” He winks at me as he puts me back on my feet. “If I were willing to hold Mindy in my arms, I’d throw her in the water, but I’m too nice to do that to you.”
“Yeah, right! I know you were just worried about your paper. Here you go, by the way.” I hand him back his essay as a form of truce, but I won’t forget about this. I just need to be sneaky about my revenge.
“What are you grinning at, missy?” Parker’s eyebrow rises. Maybe he can read minds. We’re all special in some way. Nah, that only happens in comics.
“Nothing.” I smile as sweetly as I can at him. I’ll make him sweat, too. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I put my hand on his chest and look up at him. “You shouldn’t be so paranoid.” I then snatch his paper out of his hand and climb the nearest tree.
“Ha!” Noah points up at me. “We have a monkey on the team.”
“Now what are you going to do?” Parker asks as he sits back down on the picnic bench.
“I’m going to boycott until we can take a break.” I lean back against the trunk and close my eyes. “If I have your paper, you can’t work on it.”
“We are taking a break. So now that we’ve done that we can get back to work.” Parker throws back at me.
“I want to take a break and listen to your stories. We’ve spent a whole week together almost, and I don’t feel like I know any of you well.” I keep my eyes closed.
The more I think about it, though; the more serious I am. They’ve known each other for years, even if it was only for a few months at a time during the summer. I’m starting from scratch.
“You’re right.” Jay makes his way to the base of the tree. “Come on down, and let’s talk.”
Climbing about halfway down, his hands grip my hips, and just like that, I’m back on the ground.
I glance around at them. “Can we sit on the hammocks and talk? I promise not to fall asleep again.”
Nods of agreement come from everyone, and they abandon their writing to stand. As we make our way to the hammocks, I hand Parker back his paper, then reach up and run my fingers through his hair. “How’s your head?”
“I’ll live. This time.” Parker climbs into the hammock first, and I scoot over next to him. Jay climbs in on the other side of me.
Parker waits until the others settle in the hammock facing us before he asks, “Who goes first?”
“Well, since you asked, you get to.” I poke him in the side, then settle down. “Can we each tell two stories? I know we don’t have time for our entire background, but we should have time for two. We can do one sad, scary, or serious and one that’s funny or happy?” I didn’t mean for the last statement to be a question, but they all nod in agreement.
“Okay, here goes.” Parker stalls as he considers what he wants to say. “I was never a very active kid. I liked to read, play around on my computer, but my favorite pastime was science. I loved anything related to science. When the science fair came around, my experiment took up three tables.
“My teachers and parents were always complimenting me on my plans. For Christmas, birthdays, or whatever, I wanted chemistry sets or dissecting tools. I had no idea none of this was normal. I didn’t have many friends because I didn’t really think about it. I was always ready to start my next project.
“As I got older, my parents encouraged me to join some clubs. They knew better than to ask me to join any sports teams. In eighth grade, I started going to a few after-school clubs. I was lucky enough to make some great friends.” He smiles softly.
“By the time I made it to high school, I was involved in multiple science clubs and a few reading clubs. Because I wasn’t the most active person, I had become overweight. I was also much shorter than I am now. I might have been about five feet seven inches or so. I didn’t think much about it. My science friends accepted me, so I was happy with that.”
He still smiles, but his voice becomes quiet, a sure sign the rough part comes next. “My lab partner was really cute. She’d dyed her hair black, but it had pink highlights in it. She reminded me of one of the manga characters I liked. She was always extra friendly with me. When it came time for the Homecoming Dance, I decided to ask her. She said yes, which thrilled me to no end.”
He sounds sad now, and I want to tell him he doesn’t have to finish. Before I can, though, he picks up the story once more. “I had purchased the tickets, got a tux, and bought her a flower. We agreed to meet at the dance since neither of us could drive. We were going to meet over by the flagpole, so I asked my dad to drop me off at the door. I had gotten there early so I would be waiting for her when she showed up. About ten minutes later, she got out of a car and walked over to me. At first, I didn’t notice the guy behind her. She walked up to me and laughed.” Parker stops talking and takes a deep breath. I reach over and lace my fingers through his to let him knows he’s not alone.
Smiling at me, he continues. “Through her laughter, she said, ‘I didn’t think you’d show up. You really believed I would go to a dance with you? I doubt you could get five dance moves in before you collapsed. I was only ever nice to you because you were basically doing the chemistry homework for me. Loser.’ With that, she walked away and left me standing there.
“I sat down on the stone surrounding the flag and just cried. No one had ever been openly mean to me before. The rest of the year it got worse. I considered suicide, but Fallon was there for me. I’m surprised she didn’t go kick half the school’s ass for me.” The sadness fades from his voice as he talks about her; I’ll have to give Fallon a hug later for being a good sister.
“That summer, I grew four inches. That was also my first year here. My team lead was supportive and helped show me how the chemistry in food could work to my benefit. He took what I loved and used it to help me. Between the extra inches I grew, and my activity level that summer, I lost all the extra weight. I’ve grown about two more inches since then and not gained any back.” He finishes with pride in his voice.
I lean over and give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for sharing that with m—us,” I stumble, remembering we’re not alone. He looked at me or his hands through the entire story. “That was emotional, and we have three more to go.”
“Four! You have to share as well,” Jay reminds me.
“I was just counting the special people,” I joke. “You’re next.”
“I don’t want to hear any shit about you not being special.” He glares at me.