Now I imagined Camden reaching out to put his hand on the back of my head and drawing my face to his. I even strategized how that would work, without one or both of us falling off the rock and hitting our head. Why was I so obsessed with the thought of somebody hitting their head?
I remembered how scared I’d been at his party. I didn’t feel any of that now. Even when thunder suddenly cracked above us.
The sky had quickly darkened in the way that only happens in summer.
“We should probably go,” he said. From where we were at the edge of the pool, it was only three big steps across three large rocks to the bank. I stood up and went first. It seemed important that I go first.
When my feet landed on solid ground again, I turned and waited for Camden. He launched himself off the last rock but his foot hit a root half-hidden in the dirt, and he lost his balance. I reached out on instinct and steadied him.
“Thanks,” he said, embarrassed.
“Anytime.”
He stood up straight now and looked hard at me.
“Shit,” he said.
I frowned. “Why shit?”
Camden shook his head. “I really wanted to kiss you.”
I drew a breath, but only a tiny one. “You can still do that.”
Camden shook his head. “I wanted to do it there, on the rock. So, so bad. But I chickened out.”
“You can still do that,” I said again, and swallowed hard.
Camden smiled and took my hand, moving quickly in the direction of the place we had just been. Then somehow we were back on that first rock.
And then, lips.
I wasn’t sure who touched the other person’s first. It honestly could have been me.
The taste of new and different, but not completely unfamiliar. Like something I’d known a long time ago but had forgotten and now it was here again.
It was only two seconds of warm soft wet, maybe three, when we heard Max’s voice calling. Camden broke away first.
“Cam? Ari? You guys out on the rocks?”
“Yes, over here!” yelled Camden.
Max appeared on the trail and pointed up. “We should go. Sky’s looking mean.”
“You guys start,” said Camden. “We’ll catch you.”
Max smiled a smile that seemed to have extra meaning, then turned and disappeared.
Silently Camden led me back across the rocks, his hand gripping mine extra tight, like they were having their own conversation.
When we got back to our clothes, Camden tugged his shirt back on and I pulled my dress over my head, feeling it stick to the back of my legs where I’d gotten wet. I was glad for those two seconds when my face was covered, and I didn’t have to worry about looking at him or not looking at him.
When I finally did meet his glance again he asked, “Ready?” with that mouth I’d just kissed. Holy crap.
I nodded. We walked with the drops hitting us plink plunk through the lattice of tree branches. We walked without talking or touching, everything between us quietly and monumentally changed.
In the parking lot, Max already had his car running, the wipers swishing.
Camden turned to me. “Can you come to the Barn tomorrow night?”
“Yes,” I said, not sure that was true. I would make it true.
“Good. Great. I’ll see you then.”
He climbed into the backseat of Max’s car and I thought for a second about climbing in after him, about slamming the door and saying Wherever you guys are going, I want to come, too.
It would have been an epically Satina Galt thing to do. I could have made it an Ari Logan thing to do, claimed it with a single step forward from the spot where I stood getting drenched.
But before I had a chance to make that happen, thunder rumbled again, and the car started driving away.
“Ah,” said Mom when I walked in the door. “I had a feeling you’d be home earlier than planned, with the rain and all. You were at the lake?”
“Yes,” I said. The house was cool and dark, the shades drawn. I could hear the TV in the family room. I slipped off my wet boots, noticed a single green leaf stuck to one of them and didn’t take it off. Thought maybe I would never, ever, ever take it off.
“Don’t worry,” added Mom without even looking up from her computer, pointing a thumb toward the family room. “I’m listening to what she’s watching.”
“Okay,” I said, when I really meant Good for you, but that still doesn’t count as spending time with her.
I walked to the fridge, opened the door. “What are we doing about dinner?”
“Richard’s bringing home a pizza. Who were you at the lake with?”
“Some friends,” I said. “I can cut up some carrots.”
“No, I’ll make a salad. With actual green things in it.” Mom turned from her computer to look at me now. “Which friends?”
I closed the fridge quickly, as if everything I wanted to tell my mother about Camden and Eliza and Max and the creek were about to burst out of it before I was ready.
“Some friends from school,” I lied. Then, without really thinking about what it might lead to, I asked, “Hey, Mom, do you remember the Silver Arrow episode called ‘Do No Good’?”
Mom’s expression changed. Something sparked in her eyes and a few of her lines disappeared for a second.