The Summer of Me & You (18 page)

I pulled out the dining chair and sat down next to Kaleb. Gunner sat across from us.

“If he sits down next to me I'll rub his leg. It'll freak him out and send him running home,” he smirked.

I grinned. “Gunner to the rescue.”

“I can't really say anything. I don't know him.” Kaleb hadn't been here even fifteen minutes yet and already he was aggravated. I could hear it in his voice.

“Puh-leeze. I know you don't like him. I can see it all over your face. And he's totally after Kayleigh.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Besides, it's not like Kayleigh and I are dating. She's not my girlfriend so she can like or go out with whoever she wants.” He slid his phone out of his pocket and sent a quick text.

“Who did you just text?” I asked, worried.

“No one.” His answer was clipped quick and short. That definitely meant he'd texted someone. But he was right. It wasn't my business.

“So if Seth asks her out, you'll be okay with it?” Gunner stared at him. “You should know—I have a bullshit radar. It's stronger than my gaydar and it's flashing red all over that lie.”

Kaleb didn't have a response. Must've been because Seth stepped in to the room like he lived here and sat down on the other side of me.

“Hi, Kayleigh.” He leaned over. Too close.

Kaleb squirmed in his seat. I knew I needed to do something to separate myself from Seth for the rest of the evening before Kaleb flew up out of the chair and tackled him. The only thing that held him back was the fact that this was my mother's house. Had we been anywhere else, Kaleb would've already attacked him by now.

I didn't like the idea of being sandwiched between the guy I didn't like and the guy I did. I waited for a minute to pass before I pulled the classic trick.

“May I be excused for a moment?”

I didn't wait for permission, I stood up and disappeared in to the kitchen and arbitrarily made it appear like I was searching for something. I pulled open the refrigerator door and grabbed the cherry soda and brought it back in to the room. Instead of sitting down in the spot I'd just vacated, I walked over and poured Gunner a glass of soda, then sat next to him instead, leaving a gap in between Seth and Kaleb.

Talk about tension. It was heavy in the room.

Mom passed around the dinner trays so everyone could fill their plates. “Let's eat now,” she said.

“Yes. Let's.”

We'd all filled our plates and were eating when mom decided to dive into the deep end. The conversation she launched wasn't appropriate. She swirled her drink around in her glass.

“Who's your father, Kaleb?”

He nearly spit out his food, choking.

“Mother!”

“Be quiet, Kayleigh. Let Kaleb answer me.”

He looked horrified, and embarrassed. “I don't know. I never met him.”

“Yeah, but didn't your mom ever tell you his name, at least?”

“No.”

“That's strange. You have his eyes.”

“Whose eyes?” Kaleb's face scrunched.

“I think I dated your father back in high school,” she said.

Kaleb nervously shuffled the food around on his plate. Being in my mom's presence made him severely uncomfortable, but having to eat dinner with Seth in the same room really tossed him over the edge. He kept fidgeting and I was worried he'd knock over his drink and it'd splash across her rug.

Underneath the table, unseen to anyone else, I extended my leg and pressed my foot lightly atop his to keep him from shaking. He kept his eyes hidden underneath his lashes to avoid her glare as she interrogated him.

Seth had a grin on his face the entire time. Internally, I seethed. I'd been unaware she'd invited Seth over for dinner at the same timed she invited Kaleb. I didn't know what her intentions were but I had a good idea.

With Kaleb and Seth there was no comparison. It was Kaleb all the way. I would make her accept that one way or the other.

“I never knew my father so I have no way of knowing anything about that.” Kaleb laid his spoon down. “If you don't mind, I'd rather not discuss this.”

“I'm sorry. Didn't know it was still a sore subject for you.”

Gunner gave her an evil glare, undetected by her of course. He burned holes into her head.

“How could you
not
know that, mom?”
 

“I just figured since his mom's cohabitating with that guy and all—”

“Wait,” Seth smirked. “Your mom's not married?”

Kaleb fumed.

“So Rebekah really isn't your step-sister then? And you two live under the same roof?”

Kaleb jerked around to face him.  “What are you trying to get at here?”

Seth held up his hands. “Whoa. Chillax. You hooked up with her so many times, bro. Everyone knows about that.”

My mom's eyes widened as if she were in shock. Did they really think they were above everyone else?

“And?” Gunner said. “While we're pulling out everyone's dirty little secrets, why don't you spill the details about how you had your tongue down my throat over Christmas break last year, Seth”

Kaleb sniggered.

Seth's face turned red. “You had more down your throat that night than just my tongue.”

Gunner shrugged. “You let me and you
enjoyed
it. Everyone knows I'm gay. I don't have anything to hide. But you seem like a closet case to me.” He pushed his plate away, standing. “By the way, Kayleigh's
never
going to be your cover up, so stop sucking her mother's ass and start sucking you know what instead.”
 

My mother was flabbergasted. “Gunner! I'm going to call your mother!”

“Go for it. It's not like she doesn't know. I'm a “flaming” homosexual.”

“Well,” my mother moved her fork around the plate. “This dinner has turned out rather unexpected.”

“See you guys, later,” he told me and Kaleb, walking toward the door to leave.

Mom shifted the focus onto me next. “
Kayleigh
,” she said. “You should really start watching who you
kiss
. You could end up with any number of germs that cause diseases.”
 

My cheeks heated. I just knew my face had to be about as red as the soda I was sipping. I spit it out, spraying it across the table, nearly choking. I'd never kissed Seth. Besides, she was the one inviting him around all the time.

“Yeah, Kayleigh,” Seth said. “You should really be more careful about what you put in that mouth of yours.”

I snapped. “What in the
hell
is that supposed to mean?”
 

“You know what it means.” He stared up at me. He was just trying to piss Kaleb off. Make him think something had happened between us when it hadn't. Or was his remark about Kaleb? He thought Kaleb and I were sexually active. It took me a minute to decipher exactly what he'd meant. One time, he'd caught me licking a lollipop and he'd made an offhanded joke about how much skill I had and didn't even know it. I remembered how he'd suggested I give it a go with him. I slapped him that day, too.

Seth had pissed me off. I picked up my cherry soda and splashed him in the face with it.

“What the hell, Kayleigh?” His arms flew out to the sides as he peered down at the electric pink stains splattered across his white shirt.

“Dinner's over. C'mon Kaleb,” I said, storming out of the room. He stood up and followed behind me. As soon as we were on the lawn, Kaleb got right to the question he'd been holding inside.

“Did you kiss him?” he asked me. I deciphered the hidden jealousy that laced his voice.

How could I answer that? I'd never kissed anyone, but I didn't want Kaleb to know that either. I'd been told that makes a girl my age look undesirable. And with a guy like Seth? Everyone had assumed I'd kissed him. A few people thought we'd done more. Even if I said no he might not believe me.

“
Did
you?” he asked again, raising his tone in demand. He made it sound like we were dating and that I belonged to him and him only. It made me
want
to be his. Oh my God, those eyes, the way they devoured me. The way he asked the question made it appear that if I
had
kissed Seth, months ago, then that would've meant I was cheating on Kaleb. He made it sound like I was cheating on him when in fact, I hadn't kissed Seth, and Kaleb and I weren't actually together. A gloss of hurt glimmered in his eyes.
 

I choked up, divided on what to say.
No, Kayleigh. Say no.
But for some reason my brain malfunctioned. I wasn't Kaleb's. I
wanted
to be. I couldn't get over the way he looked at me right then and there. The many things he silently said with just one gaze. His eyes expressed so many things, promised me so many things. A part of me almost said
I didn't kiss him. I wouldn't do that to you.
But I stopped myself. I didn't want to give all of that away. I didn't want him to know how much he meant to me. I was feeling guilty for something I hadn't even done. He made an imagined kiss feel like I'd done so much more.
 

He shrugged, his hands in his pockets. “That figures,” and he sulked away into the night. He'd walked about halfway down the street when I yelled out, “I didn't kiss him!”

He stopped and spun around.

“Good, because we're still going on our date.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Gravitation

*

For our first official date, Kaleb took me to the film festival. It was a three hour drive to North Port and it gave us lots of time to talk.

After the seminar ended at four that afternoon, Kaleb and I left the short film festival in North Port. He bought us both a Film Fest t-shirt. We were on our way back home when I spotted the summer carnival.

“Kaleb! I wanna go.” I pointed out the window at the blinking lights. We could hear the music. It floated on the air. He gave me a peculiar look.

“You want to go to a carnival, on the beach, eat cotton candy, and ride silly rides all night?”

“Yes!”

He laughed. “Yeah, me too. Let's do it.”

“Yay!”

He took the exit ramp and headed into North Port Beach. “My uncle has a beach house here,” he said. “Used to come here all the time.”

“I haven't been to a beach or a carnival in
years.
”
 

He smirked. “I can tell. Your eyes are lit up like a kid.” He drove us to the carnival near the beach.

“Now if we can find parking...”

“Nah. No way. Not parking here. It's too wild and besides, we'll be here forever and a day waiting on a spot to clear.”

“So where are we gonna park?”

“Brian has a secluded beach house somewhere on this strip. If I can remember where it is, I'll park there. He won't mind. It'll only be a walk away to the carnival from there.”

“Even better. I'd
love
to dip my feet in the edge of the water and feel the sand between my toes again. That's what summer's all about.”
 

He had one hand on the steering wheel. He slowed his speed to drive us down the beach house boulevard. The windows were rolled down and I could taste the sugar, salt, and sand swirling around in the air. A light wind blew through my hair, tousling it. A song I recognized played in the near distance. As the sun headed down, I thought
This is how it's supposed to be.
 

“You really want that kind of summer?” He tilted his head.

I had my feet on the dashboard. “Definitely.”

“I'll see what I can do about that.” His eyes squinted and sparked.

On the far end of the beach away from everything else, the ocean waves crashed against shore. The screams from the carnival rides sounded far far away. He pulled into an empty driveway.
 

“This is it,” he said. A path led down to the beach. “You ready to go?”

“Give me a minute?”

“Sure.”

I opened the car door and stepped out. I wanted to dart ahead and dive into the waves, feel the splash of icy water wash over me. I was dreaming about it.

His voice broke me out of my daydream.

“Carnival closes at nine,” he said.

“Okay. Let's go.”

“I'll bring you back here before summer is over.” He reached for my hand.

“Promise?”

“I promise.” He hooked his pinky finger with mine.

“I think I'd love it here,” I said. “If I lived here.”

“Is summer your favorite season?” he asked.

“Sure is,” I smiled.