Page 40 of Our Darkest Summer
I gulped then looked away again, taking a sip from my orange-colored cocktail. On the other side of the porch Braxton, Aaliyah, and Connor were harshly singing a Taylor Swift song on karaoke, jumping up and down and making strange moves with their hands. I had no idea how much they had to drink but we haven’t even eaten yet. The auburn haired girl, Samantha, invited by Braxton stood a few feet away from me, resting her elbows on the porch’s railing, and gazing up at the starry sky. She arrived on her bicycle late into the afternoon and sat nextto me on the pier, where I was dangling my feet into the water, and she did the same. For minutes, neither of us said a word, but after a while, I started to feel uncomfortable.
“I’m Kinsley,” I broke the silence, and she turned her attention toward me.
“Samantha.” We shook hands, and I caught a glimpse of a tiny awareness ribbon tattooed on her wrist.
“I know, Braxton talks quite a lot about you.” I nodded, and she sighed.
“He didn’t stop texting me until I agreed to come.”
My brows rose.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she added, seeing my surprised face, “I don’t have a problem with him, not really, but I’m just…”
I nodded, somehow understanding what she was trying to say. “You want to be your own partner.”
She looked at me like she was considering my words and then she snorted.
“You are right, that sounds a lot better than,I’m just not looking for a relationship right now.”
We shared a smile, right before Aaliyah called us to play water polo with them.
“Is it any good?” Cora asked, pulling me out of my thoughts and sitting down on the chair next to me. She pointed at the cocktail in my hand. “Your Sex on the Pool Table.”
“Oh, heavenly,” I answered, taking another sip of the delicious drink, and she smiled. She really had a special talent for both baking and cocktail making.
My eyes drifted toward Thomas again, so I blurted out the first question that came to my mind. “How did you and Aaliyah meet?” I asked, focusing my attention back on the blonde girl.
Cora smiled again, leaning back in the chair, her eyes hazing as I suspected she remembered back.
“Well, it’s not that interesting,” she said, and I leaned back, too, taking a sip of my cocktail again. “I moved here with my mom when I was six, and I met Aaliyah on my first day at school. Let’s just say it wasn’t my best day. New kid’s curse, as they say.” She grimaced. “So naturally, after lunch, Aaliyah stopped me and told me we were best friends from now on.” She let out a small chuckle, and a smile formed on my lips too. “She always had a sense of knowing who needed her the most. And that day was really, really horrible for me… We were friends for nine years before we got together at the beginning of high school.” Her smile deepened.
“Kiiins.” Connor appeared out of nowhere, dropping down onto the porch in front of me, his head resting on his knees, a lazy, tipsy grin tugging at his lips.
“I’m not talking to you,” I said, and he sighed.
“Oh, come on, don’t be such a grump, we had fun.”
Did we?
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Youhad fun,” I corrected him, pursing my lips. “Have you seen my clothes? I don’t thinktheyhad fun.”
At that, someone snorted.
I looked up just as Thomas leaned against the railing beside me, his white button-up slightly undone, revealing a hint of his chest, and the toned lines of his abdomen.
I swallowed hard. Suddenly, I wished I could just drown myself in mySex on the Pool Table.
My body betrayed me, warming under his gaze, the heat of the alcohol only amplifying it. I took an aggressive sip of my drink—except that only made things worse.
I might be drunk.
“Dinner is served,” Kevin called, and I stood like I had been electrocuted, making my way to the oval-shaped wooden table beside the grill. The plates had been already sorted out, and Isat down at the farthest seat from where we had been before. My mouth instantly watered from the delicious scent of melted cheese and grilled vegetables.
“This looks amazing, Kev,” Aaliyah said, her voice full of appreciation as she glanced at the sizzling grill.
“Better be,” Kevin said, knocking on the grill with his spatula, his grin smug. “It was hard to get this thing out of the tool room.”
Connor plopped down beside me, exhaling dramatically before resting his head on my shoulder.
