Drew and I are lying in the grass by the lake. It’s a hot day, just short of being too hot even if you’re only wearing swimming trunks. I’m self-conscious about it, but there’s no way I’m putting on a T-shirt in the heat, and just as little chance of me having the confidence to put on a bikini top.
I don’t know what time it is. It feels like we have been here all day, swimming since the early hours of morning and now baking in the sun.
Next to me, I hear the rustling of Drew turning onto his side. I open my eyes, blinking against the sun. It’s like he’s bathed in light. Like it is a part of him.
Sunshine.
“Sup?” I ask, trying to play over the nervous fluttering in my chest.
His eyes are strangely focused. Like he’s looking for something in my face, and finding it in my eyes.
“Isn’t there something you wanna tell me?” he asks.
I raise an eyebrow as the butterflies swarm in my chest. “What would I wanna tell you?” Should I just say it? That I’m in love with him?
“That you’re Sunshine Girl,” he says. “I’ve been reading your poems for years now, did you think I wouldn’t notice? It’s obvious that it’s you. Which would make me Sunshine, wouldn’t it? And you? It would make you a girl.”
My heart skips a beat. “And what do you think about that?”
Drew leans in. The freckles on his face are almost eerily in-focus. Like somebody turned up the contrast of the world. “I think—”
Knock knock knock!
I tense, trying to focus. I can’t go yet! I still have to get his answer! How else will I know—
“What do you think about that?” I ask with more urgency.
But Drew is already fading, becoming one with the blinding sunlight until only eyes are visible. They seem ocean blue in contrast.
“Wait!” I want to shout, but only a whisper comes out. Then I surface and find myself lying in my bed.
The sun is already up, light falling past the open curtains. Then I notice the face pressed against the window pane. It’s Drew, waving at me with the most shit-eating grin I’ve ever seen.
I rub my eyes. It’s definitely too early for this. I feel well-inclined to just turn around, pull the covers over myself and ignore him, but he doesn’t stop knocking, so I finally sit up after a moment.
I give him my best, bleary-eyed glare, but then open the window.
“Don’t you have anything better to do?” I say, hiding a yawn behind my hand.
“Morning, Sunshine!”
I freeze. Immediately, the memory from earlier this week comes flooding in. Sinéad told him. That it’s her. I thought at least that meant that I was safe. But she did sound like she felt pretty bad about taking credit for my work. Does that mean she felt so bad that she gave up the lie, even though I told her it was okay?
“… What?” This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“Good morning, Sunshine,” he says, enunciating the words more clearly. “Amy had the wonderful idea that I get you to come over to have breakfast with us. And since we both know I’m incapable of taking the front door to this place…” He gives me a sanctimonious grin.
He’s so cheery today. Is that because he thinks he’s together with Sunshine Girl? My stomach squirms. Why is the idea of this so uncomfortable? I should be happy! I was able to help Sinéad! I was able to help Drew! What does it matter if I don’t get credit? I was never going to take it anyway, and this way he’s so much happier!
“Uhm…” I clear my throat. My voice is all croaky from having just woken up. But at least I’m properly awake. This amount of adrenaline will do that to ya. “Sure. Lemme change real quick, then I’ll come over.”
“I’ll do you one better,” he laughs. “If you take the tree over, you don’t have to change, because you’re not really leaving the house, so we’ll be able to eat in our pajamas.” He rises from his crouch far enough to see that he’s still wearing his favorite sleep shorts underneath the band shirt.
“Uuuuh,” I say, in an attempt to play for time. I haven’t climbed the tree in years.
“You’re taller than you used to be,” he argues. “It’ll be easier. And obviously, I’ll climb with you and I won’t let you fall.”
Right. He would never let me fall. I’m safe with him, even though I feel like I’m falling right now. But he can’t save me from that.
“Okay,” I say, getting up.
The air outside is still pleasantly cool, even though it must already be early noon, with the sun already having risen past the trees in the distance. Drew walks confidently ahead of me, grabbing the first branch and jumping onto the tree.
“I’ll wait on the branch and support you from there,” he explains.
Taking a deep breath, I wipe my hands on my shorts. This’ll be easy. Drew won’t let me fall. Amy managed it, too. I put my hand firmly around the upper branch and step onto the lower one. At my back, I feel the barest touch of Drew’s hand, ready to catch me. It sends a shiver through me. A ripple. Almost hastily, I climb along the branches to the trunk of the tree. There’s a rustling of leaves behind me as Drew climbs after me. He overtakes me and easily makes his way back to the window of his room, where he crouches on the windowsill, hand firmly around the upper edge of the window frame for support, as he waits for me to follow.
The climb to his room is the harder part. I have to climb first to a lower branch and then up again, using a thinner, more flexible one for support. The branch that reaches Drew’s window ends a fair bit too high to just walk along it and onto the windowsill. Drew usually climbs along it like on a monkey bar, but once I’m holding onto the branch, I’m not so sure anymore if that’s a good idea. Can I even hold on to the branch for that long? Amy climbed a different route when she came over, she never had to deal with that.
“You’ve got this!” Drew encourages me. “Two climbs and I’ll pull you in. It’s much closer than it feels.”
With another deep breath, I lean forward, further, further, until there’s barely any weight on my feet, and then I step off the branch. Surprisingly, my hold is pretty secure. Even though I don’t dare to take a hand off the branch for longer than seconds at a time, I make it over quickly. Drew puts an arm around my waist and pulls me onto the windowsill. He makes sure I have a good hold of the window frame before climbing into his room.
It’s an absolute mess. His blanket is still all crumpled up at the foot of the bed, yesterday’s clothes lie discarded on the floor. The only thing that seems tidy is his desk, where a large black sketchbook lies next to a neat row of pencils, an eraser, and a sharpener. It’s the one he always draws in when he comes over to sit with me on the porch roof.
My heart is still racing as I follow him down the stairs and I can’t tell whether it’s from the climb or his arm around me.
Amy and Drew’s parents are already sitting at the breakfast table. It is overflowing with plates and bowls filled with pancakes, fried eggs, strips of bacon, a basket with toast, even cut orange slices.
“Good morniiiing!” Amy says when she sees us. “You made it!”
Drew’s Mum, Cynthia, shakes her head dramatically. “Children these days, nobody taught them to use the door.”
I grin. “Drew’s a great influence like that.”
“Ah, I still remember it like yesterday, when you were but this tall—”
“MUM!”
“I’m just playing, hon,” Cynthia laughs and indicates my usual seat at the table. It’s between Amy and Drew, because they used to fight constantly, and their parents were grateful for any distance they could put between them.
I sit and start putting food on my plate. I’m surprisingly hungry, now that I’m sitting in front of such a delicious buffet. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
I’ve only just taken my first bite, when Amy leans forward. “So, Max, what can you tell us about Sinéad?”
I sputter, choking on pancake, and it takes everything I have not to cough the chewed food across the table. I force myself to swallow, then cough in as orderly a fashion as I can manage.
When I look up through teary eyes, Amy has raised an eyebrow. “I knew something was up,” she proclaims.
“Amy, I swear, if you don’t shut up this instant!” Drew growls, but he doesn’t seem serious.
I wipe my eyes. “Why, what do you wanna know?” I ask, trying hard to sound casual.
She flips her hair. “Well, he mentioned staying late at school to study with her. And you know, usually, you are his study buddy, so I thought something was fishy. And when I asked him about it, intending to tease a little, he immediately went red.”
Right now, he’s also blushing.
“He’s not very good at hiding things, is he?” I ask, smiling sweetly.
He gives me a glare. “Why do the two of you always end up ganging up on me?” he complains, but can’t suppress the grin.
“So?” Amy prods.
I give a dramatic shrug, the proverbial halo above my head shining in the light of the early noon. “They’ve been friends for years, far as I’m aware,” I say.
“And anyway!” Drew exclaims. “Max hangs out with her as well! They met up, just the two of them, at Sinéad’s place! TWICE! So if anything, you should be teasing him about it!”
“Yeah, but I’m not crushing on her, am I?” I ask, my voice dripping sweetness like the pancake on my plate.
“Yeah? And whom are you crushing on?” Drew asks, tilting his head at me.
The only reason I don’t choke on anything right then is that I gave up on eating for the duration of this humiliation ritual. My heart stalls and my face burns up at a snap.
“Yes, Max, whom are you crushing on?” Amy seems to have decided to switch targets all of a sudden, and the sparkle in her eyes tells me she’s enjoying this way too much.
“Nobody!” I have to fight hard to keep my eyes from instinctively glancing at Drew.
“Your expression says otherwise! You thought Drew was bad at lying?”
I stick out my tongue. “Like hell I’m telling you. Especially not as long as you don’t have any gossip to trade for this highly valuable information, since I already know that you have a boyfriend.”
Amy cocks her head. “Oh, but you see, I do not mind sharing sensitive information about us. Y’know what I especially love? If he pushes me up against the wall and kisses me and then puts his hand between my legs and—”
“Amy!” Drew yells. “We’re eating!”
Amy grins. “Anyway. Obviously, you have no reason not to share this juicy snippet of information,” she croons. “Because I have no secrets from my little siblings. People as close as us should not have secrets from each other, right?”
Impossibly, my face has gone even hotter. At the periphery of my mind, I notice that she didn’t refer to us as her brothers. Does that mean something?
„C'mon, that's quite enough. Max hasn't had a bite of food in minutes,” Drew's Dad, Martin, interrupts. But it's too late to save me the embarrassment. When I look over, I see that Drew is also blushing. For some reason.