B0075M2D1U EBOK (10 page)

I came up to the deserted lifeguard tower, sat down on the driftwood log and waited for Jeremy. It was so dark out, that I could barely see my hand in front of my face. I could hear sounds of a few other people scattered along the beach, probably doing the same thing Jeremy and I were going to do, but I couldn’t really see them. The only light was from the moon reflecting off the water. I was starting to feel a little jittery. I always got a little jumpy before going skinny dipping. There was something exciting and…forbidden… about it. Not that Jeremy or I would do anything illegal or anything. Well, maybe skinny dipping in the lake is illegal. How do I know? I’ve never gotten a ticket for it. And I’ve sure never seen the sheriff rounding up naked swimmers in handcuffs before. I started giggling at the thought of a bunch of naked hand-cuffed tourists being paraded down the beach. As I was contemplating the legality of our soon to be night-time activity, I heard Jeremy shuffling through the sand towards me.

“
Hey, Ruby?” he quietly called out. “Yeah,” I quietly answered. I don’t know why we felt like we needed to whisper. Maybe because it was so dark out?

Jeremy was standing next to me in the next instant and we looked at each other with devilish grins. We stepped a few feet away from each other, stripped off our clothes, threw them into the sand near our towels and went running towards the water. Ahhh! What a sense of freedom! It was scary and wild and…fun!

The water was ice-cold. We both yelped and started laughing. Jeremy kept his eyes peeled for other nearby swimmers (especially those of the male persuasion) as we both waded into deeper water.

“
So did ya hear that Mr. Frederick thinks there’s some huge bird nesting around here somewhere?”

“
What?!” I said, “What kind of huge bird?”

“
Well, with all his military background and stuff, I guess he had training in all kinds of…I don’t know, plane stuff, and birdie-thingies in the skies.”

“
Birdie-thingies?” I teased.

“
Ugh. I don’t know,” Jeremy said, sounding annoyed at my teasing. “Anyhow, he says that he and a few others in town have seen some huge bird. In fact, they thought it was a small airplane in the distance, but Mr. Frederick saw it too and he says it’s probably a Condor or a Trumpet Swan. But Condors aren’t usually this far north. It’s been dark when people have seen it, so it’s hard to tell the color. But Mr. Frederick says their wings are huge. Apparently, those birds have like nine- or 10-foot wing spans.”

“
That must have been what I saw the other night then,” I said thoughtfully. That would make sense. But this was just too weird. First, some crazy fish thing was in the lake. Then, there could be crazy fairies starting fires in the woods, and now, there was some abnormally huge bird flying around. What the heck is going on around here all of a sudden? It was all too much for me to wrap my head around. And where the hell were Anya and Brennan? I floated in the water, staring up at the moon while Jeremy flirted with a nearby swimmer whose name I soon learned, was “Michael.”

After some time, I started to get cold and asked Jeremy if he was ready to head in. I had no idea what time it was, but I was thoroughly freezing and I’m sure my lips were purple at this point. We headed back onto shore, and as I emerged out of the water, I heard someone softly calling my name.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.

It was Nick. I totally forgot that he said he wanted to meet up later. How did he know where I was? Crap. I have no clothes on. Somebody, please kill me now before I die of embarrassment.

“
Ruby? Jeremy? Is that you guys?” I heard Nick’s sexy voice softly calling out from the vicinity of our driftwood log. It was even darker now (unbelievably so) and I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t even make out his silhouette yet. I slowly walked forward, hoping that it was too dark for him to tell that I was naked.

Hoping my uneasiness wasn’t apparent in my voice, I quietly answered, “Yeah, Nick. It’s us. Hang on…Don’t. Move. Let me find my towel. I don’t wanna bump into you.” I silently prayed that he wouldn’t walk directly into my boobs. I shuffled my feet along in the sand, blindly holding my hands out to feel the space in front of me, hoping I would hit my towel with my feet before I ran into Nick. Finally, I kicked the edge of the soft terry cloth and reached down to scoop up my towel. I wrapped it around me and secured it tightly under my arms. I let out a relieved sigh and announced, “Okay, I’m here.” At that moment, Nick stepped forward a few feet and I could finally make out his silhouette. Jeremy came stumbling up behind me. “Hey Nick!” he called out. Jeremy stood next to me, completely naked, and dripping wet while Nick came up to us. We were close enough now to see each other, although the moon was a bit brighter, it was mostly dark and shadowed. Nick glanced at Jeremy with a surprised look and then looked at me. I saw his eyes glance quickly up and down my body, obviously figuring out that I was probably naked underneath the protection of my towel.

I suddenly became self-conscious and was thankful for the darkness that hid my obvious blushing as my cheeks overheated. “How did you find us?” I asked as I nervously chewed my bottom lip. “We never set up a time or place to meet tonight.”

“
Oh…” Nick stuttered as he pulled his face back up to mine, redirecting his eyes to mine, instead of ah…farther south. He went on, “I figured you’d be somewhere around here. You guys always hang out near the lifeguard tower. I thought I’d take a chance. You said you were going swimming. You don’t mind, do you?” He sounded slightly unsure of himself now, and I didn’t want him to think that I didn’t want him here. I quickly stuttered, “Oh. Right, right. Right. Yeah. Um. No, I was just. Um. Surprised. That’s all.” Ugh. Could I sound any lamer? Even though I was mortified that I was standing there in only a towel, I didn’t want to have the guy think I was unhappy to see him! “Hey,” I quickly recovered, “Do you know what time it is?” Yes. Change the subject Ruby. Good thinking.

Nick looked at his watch. “It’s almost eleven.”

“
Well, not to be a spoil-sport or anything,” Jeremy interrupted, “But I’m gonna go take a walk down the beach. Michael over there invited me back to his campsite for some s’mores,” Jeremy said as he toweled off and started dressing. I’ve gotta hand it to the guy, he was not shy.

“
Nice, Jeremy. Who’s ditching who now?” I accused.

“
Ohhh. You’ll get over it!” He flopped his hand down at me and then playfully smiled, “Thanks for being my wingman!” He gave me the thumbs up and jogged down the beach.

I looked back at Nick, who seemed to be staring at me again. I nervously cleared my throat and shifted my weight on my feet. “So. Um… Lemme get dressed, ‘kay?”

“
Oh!” Nick seemed startled back to the present. “Sure! Right. I’ll turn around.” He put his back to me, so he was facing the woods and I quickly slipped my underwear and shorts on under my towel, then pulled my t-shirt over my head, slipped my towel from under my arms and dropped it onto the driftwood log. “One more sec,” I said, as I slipped my bra on under my shirt. Thank God I had worn a front closure one today. Whew. “Okay. Ready.”

Nick turned back around and smiled and shook his head, “Well, well, well, Ruby Blue. I didn’t know ya had it in ya,” he teased as he bumped my shoulder with his own.

“
Whaaat? Meee?” I coyly answered, batting my eyelashes at him in a lame attempt to flirt.

“
Do you wanna go for a walk?” he asked.

“
Sure.”

Then, Nick took my hand in his. I was surprised by the instant tingling I felt run up my arm. He led the way as we walked closer to the shoreline. I loved the feel of the cool, wet compacted sand under my feet. It was about the only part of my body that was cool. The rest of me was on fire. Like that race car driver guy from the movie,
Talladega Nights
… Ricky Bobby… I was on invisible fire! My whole body was heated and tingling and my face felt flushed. I tried to remind myself to calmly breathe in and out and to not start panting like a dog. We casually strolled by the water and I kept glancing over at Nick’s beautiful face illuminated in the moonlight. He began chatting a little, telling me about his day and asking me about mine. I felt like I was walking in a dream. It was so surreal. Our conversation slowed, as did our pace. But it was a comfortable silence, interrupted only by the sound of the water peacefully lapping the shore and the distant sounds of the last late-night swimmers quietly moving through the lake.

“
I’m glad you found me,” I said as I turned to look at Nick.

“
Me too,” he said as he looked at me with a heated expression, gazing into my eyes. I smiled, but suddenly felt self-conscious, and looked away from him, staring down the beach. Nick stopped walking. I stopped too and turned back to look at him.

He slowly leaned in as he reached one hand up and placed it gently on the side of my face. My breathing sped up. My heart was pounding. He moved closer and I did the same as he tilted his head to kiss me.

Ahhhh! Those sweet, delicious lips! I closed my eyes and I swear I saw fireworks behind my eyelids. I wrapped my arms around his neck as we moved closer still and I felt his tongue tickle my own. Our kiss deepened as we stood there on the beach. I could feel his muscular body pressed against mine as he wrapped his other arm around my waist, pulling me closer still. I ran my hands through the hair at the nape of his neck, and felt his silky, golden locks run through my fingers. Our lips and tongues moved together while we pressed our bodies closer, standing there, in the moonlight. It seemed to go on forever and that was fine by me. Finally, Nick slowly pulled away, gazing at me in the darkness. We stood there, holding each other and lost in the moment when I realized how late it must be getting.

“
Aw crap,” I sighed. “It’s gotta be close to midnight.”

Nick pulled his hand away from the side of my face and glanced at his watch. “Yeah. It’s like, 11:45.” He dropped his hand and wrapped it around my waist, locking his hands together at the small of my back.

“
I’ve gotta get home,” I regrettably told him, still loosely resting my arms around his neck.

“
I’ll walk you back,” he said as he reached up and took my hand in his again and led me back to driftwood log where my towel was. I reached down and picked it up and then pulled Nick along with me. “Walk me all the way home?” I asked as I flirtatiously glanced at him. “Definitely,” he nodded.

I led Nick through the path back to my house, and he walked me up to my back door. “Monday night is my next night off,” Nick said as we stood under the glaring glow of the porch light, “Can I take you to dinner?”

“
For sure,” I smiled. Thankfully, I didn’t have to work Monday night. I bit my lip as I looked up at Nick with pleading eyes. Even though it was obvious he was attracted to me, I was not going to make the first move and kiss him, although, I wanted to. I am just not that brave.

“
Cool,” he said, and granted my silent wish as he leaned down to kiss me goodnight.

Chapter 12

The next morning, I got up and did my chores right away as I had promised my mom. I had so much on my mind and I needed something to distract me. Tomorrow night Nick was going to take me to dinner at Rebecca’s Inn. Rebecca’s is a family-style restaurant. Nothing too fancy, but nicer than the ice cream place or the Burger Hut in town. There weren’t a lot of choices in our little town, and Nick didn’t want to eat at his family’s pizza place again. My mind kept wandering back to my time with Nick, and when I wasn’t thinking of him or his incredible kissing, I was worrying about Anya and Brennan. I had tried calling their cottage, but of course, there was no answer. I assumed they were still in Fey. The last I knew, Brennan had cryptically said that they “needed to go home.” I was desperate to talk to Anya about Nick and I was still worried about the crazy occurrences and why she and Brennan seemed to be so upset. And, what made them feel like they had to go home? If there were some crazy fairies in the woods, I sure hadn’t seen any. That didn’t mean they weren’t there though. Fairies were tricky. With their fairy magic and their ability to soda-pop fizz appear in front of you, and POP out of sight, they could stay hidden quite well.

Somehow, I managed to fill my day, and before I knew it, Leo and I were cleaning up the dinner dishes. As I closed the dishwasher, I told my parents, “I’m going in the yard for a while.” I headed out the back door to sit in the swing in the garden. As I walked outside, I was instantly drawn to the strong fragrance blooming around me. The Moon Flowers had opened! They looked amazing. The beautiful white, trumpet-shaped flowers almost glowed against the green shrubbery and foliage. As I slowly walked through the grass looking at all of the bright white flowers, I heard the familiar soda-pop fizzing sound behind me. I spun to see Anya and Brennan appear in my yard.

I smiled wide and threw up my hands, “Well, it’s about time you guys showed yourselves again! I was beginning to worry about you!” I rushed over to them and we had a big group hug. “I’m so sorry we’ve been away without communicating with you,” Anya apologized, “Things have been…hectic.”

“
Hectic?” I asked. She nodded.

“
There are some things we must tell you, Ruby,” Brennan said seriously. I looked back and forth between them, as Anya nodded her head slowly again. It was so unlike Brennan to be so reserved. He was usually so playful and annoying, that I guess I just didn’t expect this kind of mood from him. Brennan was my age and often acted like a smartass, but today, he seemed…older. Like something had happened in the last three days that made him grow up. It was kind of frightening. “Okay. You guys are kinda scarin’ me. What’s up?” I looked at them, waiting for them to continue.