Page 10 of Our Darkest Summer
“Converse Girl.” A hand landed on my shoulder, and I twisted around. “You came,” Braxton smirked down at me. “And you brought your boyfriend.” His eyes flicked to Connor, who choked so hard I thought he might actually die.
“Not boyfriend,” he protested, and this time he was the one coughing. “Gay,” he added between two desperate tries to breathe, while I patted his back.
Braxton opened his mouth, then his eyes widened with gleaming excitement. For a moment I thought his reaction was oriented at Connor’s words, but then I followed his gaze over my shoulder, at a red-haired girl standing not far from us. From the way she searched the crowd, it wasn’t hard to tell she was looking for someone.
“I— Talk to you guys later,” he mumbled, stepping away from us in the girl’s direction. “Samantha,” he called, fetching the girl’s attention, who then hurriedly moved into the crowd, making Braxton chase after her. So, he wasn’t who she was looking for.
“He’s weird.” I furrowed my brows, and Connor nodded, still coughing.
“He is,” he finally spoke, clearing his throat one more time, “but I like him.”
I scoffed. “You like everyone.”
Connor wrapped his fingers around my wrist, and pulled me into the pulse of bodies.
“Not true,” he argued, grinning over his shoulder. “I don’t really like you right now.”
I rolled my eyes, tilting my head back as I caught a glimpse of the sky.
The stars were blinding, scattered across the dark like a million tiny sparks.
How could my mom have chosen the smog and steel of New York over this? Over this, and my dad. While I wondered wesomehow found ourselves in the heat of the party, and Connor let out a laugh as a girl started to dance with him. The air heated around us. He rolled his body to the rhythm of the music, his movements smooth and relaxed. You could tell he really enjoyed dancing, and he was good at it too. Then the same girl who danced with him, turned to me, her smile wide.
She grabbed my hand, and suddenly, I was dancing, too. The air around us felt thick, almost electric. I let her spin me, and I laughed, feeling lightheaded from the music, from the movements, from the sheer energy of it all.
I rolled my hips, swayed my ass, let my head fall back as the music wrapped around me. The three of us shimmied, body-rolled, and shouted the lyrics ofY.M.C.A.like our lives depended on it.
Hands were everywhere. Brushing against my arms, grazing my waist. The warmth of bodies surrounding me should have felt suffocating, but instead, it felt freeing. Like it never did before. Maybe because it was summer. Or maybe it was something in the air. Something that you could only find in places like this.
“Drink!” the girl shouted, handing me and then Connor a red cup, and I made the mistake of smelling it first. I coughed and she laughed. “Don’t smell it, silly,” she said, pulling me aside, her crystal bracelets rolling up and down on her wrists. “I’m Aaliyah, by the way.”
“Kinsley,” I replied, trying to recover. I pointed toward Connor, who was still dancing his heart out. “And that’s Connor.”
“Mhm,” Aaliyah’s lips curled, “I know him.”
I blinked.
She must have noticed my surprise, because she hurried to explain. “Not in a creepy way,” she said. “Everyone knows the Rhodes around here. What happened with their mom…let’s justsay a small town like this doesn’t really forget about that kind of thing.”
Something in my chest tightened.
What happened with their mom?I knew she wasn’t in the picture, but the boys were very closed off about it. I had sat down with my laptop so many times, intending to search for answers. But I had never been able to bring myself to type the words.
I swallowed, tipping my drink back, suddenly needing it.
“That’s my girlfriend.” Aaliyah pointed at someone in the crowd, probably trying to change the subject. I nodded, barely processing her words.
Suddenly, it felt strange. Knowing that an entire town held secrets about the people I cared about. Secrets I didn’t know. Half an hour later, my head was pounding, and I was struggling to focus on Aaliyah’s words.
She was talking about her girlfriend, Cora. Something about painting, baking, New York… I wasn’t really listening. What could’ve happened that made this town remember them after so many years?
I glanced toward the picnic tables, my eyes dragging over the dozens of empty cups stacked on them. Then, instinctively, I searched the crowd. Connor was still dancing, tangled up in some flirty rhythm with Kevin Miller. Not surprising. I looked away, my eyes searching for someone else. The last person I should’ve been looking for.
But Thomas was nowhere in sight.
Good. Great.
Maybe he was with someone else. Maybe he was dancing like Connor, or?—
