My Wish for You (13 page)

“Yeah?” I said
quietly, putting my finger on Sean’s lips.

“Everything okay
in there?” It was Charles. I relaxed just a little. He was probably just upset
that someone was needlessly using the hallway bathroom.

“Yeah, Dad,
everything’s fine.” I coughed slightly.

“You sure? You’re
not sick again are you?” The concern in his voice was false.

“Yeah, Dad.
Sarah was just using the bathroom in our room. Can you go away now?”

“Uhh,” he
sounded unsure. “Yes?”

“Thank you.”

We stayed still
until we heard the creak in the floor again signaling that he was making his
way back to his room.

“We should go to
bed,” Sean said remorsefully.

“Yeah, I guess
we should. There is always tomorrow.” I smiled up at him.

“That there is,”
he smiled back, putting his hand on my cheek, rubbing it lightly with his
thumb. He slid me forward off the counter with his other hand so that I was
standing in front of him. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I looked up at
him.

“God, you’re so
beautiful,” he whispered, looking back at me. I looked down slightly, feeling
my cheeks turn red. He put his hand underneath my chin and tilted it up so I
was looking at him.

“You’re
blushing.” He leaned down and kissed my cheeks.

“You tend to
have that effect on me,” I murmured softly, leaning up to him to kiss him
tenderly. He kissed back, holding me delicately.

“Sweet dreams
Samantha,” he said, pulling away from me regretfully. His voice was so tender,
so soft. It made everything right. He slid out the door quietly and I turned
out the light, waiting a short minute before heading back to my room. I stopped
by his door and smiled to myself, happiness seeping into me down to my bones. I
walked the rest of the way slowly, trying to compose myself before getting to
my room in case Cassie was there.

When I entered
the room, I shut the door behind me gently, looking around the room to see if
Cassie was there. She was nowhere to be seen, but I checked the bathroom before
I let my guard down and turned to Sarah, who was now looking at a different
magazine just as apathetically.

“Did you find
it?” she asked.

“Find what?”

“Your book. That
is what you went to look for, right?”

“Right. No, I
didn’t find it,” I said slowly, remembering my earlier, forgotten mission. I
just stood there looking at her until she realized there was something
different in the way that I said that. I probably looked crazy. My hair was all
disheveled and my eyes felt like they were hectic looking.

“What?” she
asked me cautiously.

“You are
never
going to believe what just happened.”

Chapter Seventeen

The next
morning, I woke up feeling great. The sun was shining. The birds were singing.
There was only one downside…I had to tell Lance that things wouldn’t work out
between us. Not that it was really a “thing,” just a few dates. I did owe him
some explanation though.

I picked up my
phone to give Lance a call, but he had beaten me to the punch.

Hey—thought
maybe you’d wanna hang out or something this afternoon. Let me know.

–Lance.

Knowing what I
was about to do to him, I sighed and clicked “reply.” After I shared last night’s
events, Sarah agreed I needed to end this thing with Lance. I knew she was
right. Feeling guilty, I glanced over at Lance’s jacket, but my heart was light
and soaring. I felt so disbelieving about it all, but I still felt hope.

You want to
meet me at the dock in like an hour? – Sam

He said okay and
I went to take a shower and get ready. Forty-five minutes later, I was on the
quad, sweatshirt in tow, headed down to the dock. I tried to keep my mind
focused on what I was going to say and how I was going to break the news.

Lance was
leaning against his quad; he smiled when he saw me. I made an effort to smile
back as I got off the quad and made my way over to him, his jacket neatly
folded in my arms. His smile faded slightly when he saw it. I took the last few
steps to him slowly, closing the gap between us.

“Hey,” I said
softly.

“Hi,” he
replied. I could tell that he sensed something was wrong. There was a blanket
of tension over us and I dreaded what was coming next.

“Lance,” I
started, and I saw him physically brace himself. I faltered, still unsure of
what to say, then paused, then started again. “Lance, you’re a really great
guy.”

“But, this is
summer and you’re not looking for anything, you think we would be better off as
friends, it’s you not me?” He sounded bitter, but not in an angry way, more…remorseful.

“No, it’s not
about you…I should have been honest with you from the start. I have feelings
for someone else. And I have for a very long time. I know that it’s not fair to
you. I am so sorry, Lance.”

“It’s cool. I
knew that there was something going on between you and Sean. I just hoped I was
wrong,” he said after a minute of silence that seemed to go on forever. This
made me feel even worse. He looked down at the ground before looking back to
me. “You should go for it if you have the chance to make it work.”

“Thanks,” I
said, ashamed. “I truly am sorry Lance. I do like you, a lot. But it’s just…it’s
just not enough….” I trailed off, looking down.

“You don’t need
to explain, Sam,” He put his hand up to stop me. “I understand.” He took a step
towards me and kissed my forehead lightly, pulling his jacket from my hands. “I’ll
see you around.”

He walked past
me to his quad. I stayed where I was, facing the other way, not turning around
as I heard him start the quad up and drive off. I sighed shakily. Any form of
break up made me sad. I walked over to the big rock and sat on its flat top,
looking out to the lake and the people on it. There were people water skiing
and fishing, happily enjoying themselves; friends, families, all sharing summer
memories.

I would only be
a blip in Lance’s memories of the summer, a mere two days of existence. He
probably wouldn’t remember my name years down the line. Then again, I probably
wouldn’t remember his either. I pulled my shirt off, fixed my swimsuit, and let
the sun warm my skin. Closing my eyes, I laid back on the rock and listened to
the sounds around me: the boat motors, people laughing and shouting. The light
breeze played with my hair and I imagined what a day with Lance would have
presented.

I stirred slightly.
Some loud noise clattered off in the distance, waking me from my sunbathing
nap. I could hear familiar footsteps in the vicinity and I tried to wake up
quicker. I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands and attempted to open
them.
Dang, it’s bright,
I thought to myself as the sun blared into my
sleep glazed eyes. The footsteps were closer now and I couldn’t see anything. I
was literally blinded by the light.

I sat up and
rubbed my eyes again, trying to clear them. All of a sudden, footsteps were
right next to me and Sean’s arms were around my waist, lifting me off the rock
and over his shoulder.

“Gotcha! You be
mine now. Arrrrrr.” He did a bad imitation of a pirate and I laughed out loud.
He was so cute.

“Seaaannnn,” I
giggled. “Put me down!” He had my waist on his shoulder and my torso was
against his back. I felt the blood rushing to my head and I grabbed onto his
sides to steady myself.

“Not a chance,
Shorty,” he said lightly, continuing to walk.

“Where are we
going?” I asked hesitantly.

“Oohh. Nowhere
special.” He bounced me on his shoulder and I smacked his back playfully.

“Seriously. What
are you doing?”

“We’re just
going for a dip,” he said nonchalantly. I could see the ground start to turn
into the shore of the lake. I fought against him, which only made him tighten
his grip.

“Sean Matthew
Williams.” I smacked his back hard. He merely chuckled at my attempts to free
myself. “Put me down
this instant
,” I growled at him.

“Okay,” he
simply said, pulling me up and off his shoulder so I was cradled in his arms. I
wrapped my arms loosely around his neck.

“Thank you,” I
smiled. “See. Isn’t this —?”

He dropped me.

I hadn’t
realized that Sean had kept walking until he was about waist deep in the water.
So, when he dropped me, I landed directly in the lake and ended up soaked. I
popped my head out of the water to see Sean retreating from me.

Catching him was
easier than I expected. He turned to look at me and the second he turned back
away from me, I pounced on him, tackling him into the lake. He tried to turn
around and grab me, but I pushed his head under the water and made my way
deeper into the lake. Once Sean got his head above water, he came chasing after
me. I swam pretty far ahead of him, but despite me being a faster swimmer, Sean
caught up quickly because of his ridiculous height. He gripped my ankle and
pulled me towards him.

“Where do you
think you’re going?” he whispered in my ear as he held my back against his
chest while I flailed against him.

“Away from you!”
I laughed, trying to break his grasp from my waist. He just ignored me,
tightening his grip and kissing my cheek.

“I don’t think
so,” he mumbled as he kissed my neck lightly, and I laughed again, giving up
and leaning back against him. I put my hands on his and interlocked our fingers.

“Mm. Maybe you’re
right.”

We played in the
water for a while, splashing each other, chasing, giggling. Once our skin
started getting wrinkly, we headed back to the shore where our shirts and shoes
were strewn waiting for us.

My jean shorts
were soaked, dripping down my leg and downright annoying. I peeled them off
after I pulled my tank top over my swimsuit, picked them up, and looked back up
at Sean as I slid my sandals back on. He was staring as I straightened up.

“What?” I asked,
self-consciously looking down at myself to see what was wrong.

He shook his
head at me. “Nothing.”

A small smile
formed on his lips as he held his hand out to me and I eagerly skipped forward
and took it, intertwining my fingers with his. Together, we walked back along the
path to the cabin, where we sat out on the logs by the fire pit to dry off
before going inside. I stretched out across one of the logs and let the sun
work on drying my clothes. Things were quiet for the most part. The breeze was
making the wind chimes ring delicately. The wind was picking up and I wondered
whether we would have a rare summer storm.

“So, I have to
admit, I was kind of surprised to find you missing this morning. Especially
after last night….”

“Yeah….” I
trailed off slowly. “I, um, had some things to do.”

“Oh,” he said
lightly. “Like what?”

“Like tell Lance
that things wouldn’t work out between us.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“How’d he take
it?” he asked. He didn’t sound too sympathetic towards Lance. Oh, the rivalry.

“He took it
alright. He didn’t like flip out or get all upset.”

“Well, that’s
good.” The slightest bit of disappointment was in his tone.

We were quiet
for a little while longer, simply enjoying each other’s company. I closed my
eyes and felt myself start to drift off again. It was so easy for me to fall
asleep when I was cozy.

“So,” Sean
coughed. I grudgingly opened my eyes and glanced over at him. “What do you
uh…want for your birthday?”

“Nothing,” I
said abruptly, sitting up. “I don’t want anything. Really.”

“Well, you’re
getting something anyway. What do you want?”

“You. That’s it.
Truly. We don’t even need to celebrate. I am completely serious.”

Sean got up and
came over to sit next to me, pushing my now unruly hair out of my face gently.

“Samantha Renee
Armstrong,” he smiled as he said my name. “You listen to me, and you listen
good. Your birthday is something we are going to celebrate, because it is a day
worth celebrating, because
you
are worth celebrating. You are simply
wonderful. Do you understand me?”

For lack of
anything to say, I merely nodded, softly smiling up at him.

“Good,” he
grinned, “So, we’re on the same page?”

I nodded again
and he bent his head down to kiss me sweetly. I smiled against his lips and put
my hand on his cheek.

I never want
this to end.
I thought to myself happily.

Chapter Eighteen

Hours later, I
lay in bed, unable to sleep. I couldn’t figure out why, but I was unbelievably
happy. Sean and I had spent most of the afternoon and evening together before I
went and hung out with Cara. I filled her in on the things that had happened
during the day and she gushed on and on about Chad. After that, I came home for
a big family dinner that was uneventful and politely boring.

After dinner,
Sean went out with Jonathon and Brian and I relaxed with Sarah, read some junk
magazines, and gossiped. The rest of my evening was spent reading. But since I
still couldn’t find my book I had to start a new one.

Once it was an
acceptable time for me to go to bed, I curled up and tried to fall asleep. To
my dismay, I was unable to. So, four hours later I was still awake, laying in
the dark. I rolled over yet again and stared at the clock. It was well past
midnight and the sounds of the night were well in motion. Crickets were
chirping in the distance, the frogs were croaking, and Sarah and Cassie were
deeply breathing around me, no troubles in their sleeping patterns whatsoever.

Finally, I
couldn’t take it anymore. I slid out of my bed quietly, careful not to wake
either of them, and made my way down the hall. I didn’t know where I was
headed, but I couldn’t just lie in bed anymore.