Page 74 of Make Me Dream of You

“Sure.” I take the drink and scoot over.

He sits closer than he needs to on the blanket. As I take my first sip, he looks over to where Bex and Macy are huddled on the other side of me. He leans in like he wants to say something without them hearing, but then the high-pitched scream of the first firework cuts through the quiet and he sits back.

Bright, shimmery streaks of gold shoot through the ink-colored sky then explode with a pop, flashing and sparkling, each one bigger and louder and more mesmerizing than the last.

After the last firework lights up the sky and finally fizzles out and dissolves into nothingness, Spencer stands and clears his throat, looking down at Macy.

“It’s still early,” she says.

He doesn’t move, say anything, or change his expression.

She puts her half empty drink down and looks around at us, her mouth downturned. “Night, guys.”

After they leave, Bex points her drink at Jake. “Question. Was your brother born with a stick up his ass or did he acquire it later?”

Jake, who had just taken a sip of his beer, almost spits it up, his coughs turning to laughter. He raises an eyebrow at my sister.

She shrugs. “It’s a valid question. Maybe I’ll ask Macy if she’s ever seen it. It’s got to be huge. Oh! I know what we should do!” Bex downs the rest of her drink then grins, the flickering flames of the fire reflecting in her eyes. “We should go skinny dipping.”

What? My stomach plummets with that sickening sinking feeling.

“Let’s go.” Wood pumps his fist in the air, standing, already loosening his shorts.

Wait—

“I’m in,” Jake says.

Bex jumps up and runs toward the lake. “Come on, Livvy!”

She leaves a trail of clothes along the dock—her white tank top and little cut off shorts, Jake and Wood close behind her, bare-assed in the moonlight. They disappear into the darkness and then there are screams and loud splashes.

Noah looks at me, the tip of his tongue running along his lower lip and stands. “Do you want to?” He holds his hand out to me. I take it and he helps me up.

“I don’t know,” I say.

“Okay.” He pulls his shirt off and tosses it to the sand next to our blanket. Eyes still on me, he undoes the button of his shorts.

Oh.

Sexy, confident girl era, remember? What would Angel do? She’d have been the first one stripping down and jumping in.

“Okay,” I say. I pull the ties on the straps of my dress, and it falls off, crumpling in a pile at my feet. I’m keenly aware my breasts are bare and nipples be nippling. I leave my thong on. “But I don’t want to jump off the dock,” I say. I don’t know how deep the water is there.

“We’ll just walk in, then.” He drops his shorts. Boxers, too and I avert my eyes out to the water and then back to his face.

Don’t look down.

We run toward the lake, through the sand and down to where it gets rocky near the water’s edge. He takes my hand and holds me steady as I step over the larger stones and rounded pebbles shifting underfoot.

The water makes my toes curl. It’s cold even though the temperature was almost a hundred degrees today. But Noah still has my hand, and he leads me farther in without slowing.

“Don’t overthink it,” he says.

So I go with him, the water prickling at my legs, and then it’s up to my waist. Deeper. I step out until it’s at my chest, the pressure of the water constricting my lungs.

Noah lies back, extending his arms and kicking out away from me. Farther.

I want to go out there, too. I want to join them and have fun, but I know the next step I take, the bottom will drop out from below me and I’ll have to swim.

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