Sunkissed, Kasie West [best authors to read TXT] 📗

“Are we supposed to run?” she asked. “Or play dead?”

“I have no idea.” Every instinct in my body told me to run. Why hadn’t I asked Maricela what to do if I ever saw a bear? That seemed like some good information to have.

Lauren, who hadn’t touched me all week, gripped my arm and smashed herself against my side.

“It’s fine,” I said. “It’s probably just a squirrel or something.” It did not sound like a squirrel. It sounded like something much bigger. “Let’s keep walking.”

“They sell bear spray in the general store. Why haven’t Mom and Dad bought us any of that?”

“They probably didn’t think we’d wander away from camp after dark.” We weren’t that far from camp, just on one of the trails that cut through the woods above the lake. I took the first step forward and Lauren followed me.

We walked for several more minutes that way—slowly, with Lauren clinging to my arm and the sound of rustling to our right. When I finally heard voices up ahead, I almost cried out in relief. Lauren relaxed beside me as well.

But then the rustling noise got louder and more intense. Lauren yelped and we started running. In my periphery I saw a huge shape leap out from the woods, followed by a very human sounding “Roar!”

I swung the flashlight around in time to see Kai land on the trail in front of us, laughing.

“You are the literal worst,” I said evenly.

Lauren melted into tears and Kai’s happy face crumpled to remorse.

“You deserve that,” I said to him.

“No,” he said. “I’m sorry. Come here.” He pulled Lauren into his arms. “Shhh, I’m sorry.”

“You. Are. Such. A. Jerk.” She hit his chest with each word.

He tried to stifle his laugh. My suspicions about the two of them came roaring back to life. I wanted to pull Lauren out of his arms, but just as I stepped forward to take her hand, he released her and said, “Come on, you’re missing the show. There’s food too.” Then he led the way to the clearing.

It was brighter than I expected. Lanterns had been strung up in trees. Someone had even hiked a folding table up here and it was covered with snacks and drinks. And to the left, like the trees had grown to create a perfect window, was a large circle of blackness that kept bursting to life with fireworks.

Lauren walked to the food and I walked to the colorful display in the sky. I wasn’t the only one who had wanted a closer look. Several others were standing at the edge of the clearing, watching the sky.

“You made it!” Maricela said, giving me a big hug. “Your parents were cool with this?”

“Not at all.” My eyes were scanning the others in the group, but none of them were Brooks.

“He’s over there,” Maricela said. I obviously wasn’t as subtle as I’d thought.

Brooks sat on a large rock just outside the glow of the lanterns.

“Do you mind if…?” Was I asking her permission because I thought she and Brooks had something more going on?

“No, go ahead,” Maricela said. “He wasn’t very chatty, but maybe you can crack him. He seems like he could use a friend.”

I wasn’t sure that was me, but I walked over anyway.

He glanced my way, looked back at the fireworks, then did a double take. “Avery?”

“Hey.” I sat down on the rock next to him. “This place is pretty cool.”

“Yeah. And the killer show doesn’t hurt.” A green flower lit up the sky, layered with a red star.

“I’ve seen better,” I said with a smirk.

“Snob,” he teased back, and then, seeming to think I’d take offense, said, “I didn’t mean that.”

“I know.” I stared at the sky when really I wanted to be staring at Brooks.

Last year for the Fourth, Shay and I had gone to the local water park and watched fireworks while sitting in tubes in the wave pool. For the first time since I got here, I realized how bad I missed her. My anger had been masking it before, but it was there. I missed my best friend. And what scared me more than anything was that maybe I’d never get her back; maybe things would never be the same between us again.

“I usually watch the fireworks with my friend Shay,” I said. “Pay phone girl.”

“Is that going to be her new name? Pay phone girl?”

“Only for you.”

He smiled but his eyes stayed glued to the sky. “Before I worked here, I’d watch with my brother.”

“How old is your brother?”

“Fourteen now.”

“You miss him,” I said. It wasn’t a question.

“My mom had to work tonight, which got me wondering if she worked last year or the year before. Has my brother had to sit in our apartment alone and watch fireworks out the window for the last three years? I’ve never asked him.”

“He probably goes to a friend’s house or something.”

“Maybe.”

“You should ask him so you can stop putting more guilt on yourself.”

His eyes left the show in the sky and met mine. “Maybe I won’t like the answer.”

“I understand that fear.” I really did. I mean, wasn’t that part of the reason I was avoiding Shay? Because I didn’t want to know if what had happened had ruined everything? Wasn’t that part of the reason I hadn’t asked Maricela earlier if Brooks was her mystery guy? “But you’re already thinking the worst, so it can only go up from here.”

He gave a breathy laugh.

“Don’t listen to me. I really don’t know what I’m talking about considering I’m in the middle of some pretty major avoidance myself right now.”

“Pay phone girl?”

Among other things. “Yes.”

He nodded, then surprised me by saying, “We should do the ropes course early Monday. Things will be slower next week.”

“Oh, I thought…”

“What?” he asked when I didn’t finish.

“I just thought since we didn’t need to write the song anymore that our deal was off.”

He paused and then said, “That’s right. I had kind of forgotten it was a deal.”

A