Gem City

Chapter 4-2

“My sincerest apologies.” Courtney sighed to herself as he let go of her to sit on the counter.

“So, I wasn"t kidding about work, and I do have to go in a minute. How else will the children learn to play guitar and grow up to be as rad as I am? But I wanted to see if anyone was up for a movie or something tonight?”

“Dude! Movies are boring- don"t be lame. Let"s go night canoeing,” Luke said, excited as always.

“Ohhhh, yes! We haven"t been in forever, and Courtney will hate it, but in this case it"ll be good for her. Let"s do it,” Vanessa chimed in.

“Um, I"m sorry, night canoeing? As in being on the river in a very small boat, but at night when you can"t see the bugs and river-creatures trying to eat you?” Courtney questioned. She was not particularly fond of nature.

Ethan chuckled quietly. “Nah, night canoeing is actually pretty awesome. I"m in. I"ll protect you from all things bug-like, but you"re on your own if you see any type of river-creatures. You make that sound terrifying.” He gave an exaggerated shudder. “Luke, you still have the keys to the canoe storage?”

“You bet your ass. Never giving those things up.” Luke took to jingling some keys in his pocket.

“Yay!” Vanessa sang as she danced around Luke in the kitchen.

“Hold up, are you telling me that in addition to bugs and river-creatures, we will also be breaking in and stealing these canoes? As in no one will come looking for us if we all drown in the river?”

breaking in and stealing“Come on, Bear Claw, you know you want to go on an adventure,” Ethan coaxed, putting his hands on her hips, moving them back and forth slowly. She didn"t want him to step away.

Courtney sighed. She didn"t know that she could say no to him even if she wanted to, not when he was that close. “Fine, I"ll go. But when we get picked up by the cops, I am going to throw you all under the bus, just so you"re aware. And you have to agree to stop calling me "bear claw." Think of something that makes me sound cute,” she finished.

“All right, deal.” He laughed. “I will think of something else if you insist. And by the way, "nice use of an idiom there," ” he retorted, referring to her bus comment. “Luke, I will text you later and figure out where we"re meeting up. Vanessa, a pleasure as always. And girl formerly known as bear claw, I will see you tonight.” He kissed her quickly on the lips, letting her know their greeting from that morning was one hundred percent real. She stared after him for a moment as he walked towards the door, and then directed her attention back to Vanessa and Luke.

“Ummmmm, what the hell was that? Since when are the two of you on casual kissing terms? I thought nothing happened last night?” Vanessa demanded.

“Yeah, I"m not really into, like, girl-talk, so I"m gonna jump in the shower before I head home. I"ll leave you to it.” Luke dismissed them, walking towards the basement. Apparently pumping him for information about Ethan was out. Courtney waited until he was out of earshot and told Vanessa everything. The awkward encounter from the night before, the event on her phone, the significance of the name “bear claw,” and finally, the kiss in the entryway. She felt relieved after getting it all out, having been so worked up she thought she might explode.

“Shut UP! I cannot believe you two were making out at my front door and I didn"t even notice! What a smoothie though. He"s got some serious moves,” Vanessa mused.

“So- what do you think? You always have an opinion, and this time I"m actually asking for it. What do I dooooo?” Courtney pleaded.

think?dooooo“Girl, you already know what I would do. The question is, what are you looking for this summer?. I can tell he"s into you because he"s actually trying. He doesn"t just act like that around girls here, and believe me, it"s not because he"s lacking opportunity. You know Kim? She"s been trying to land him since he got here, but he"s never even looked twice. I think… I think you should have fun and let yourself be who you want to be. I can vouch for him that he"s a decent guy, so, ya know, if you feel like ditching your v-card, I give you my full support, but you gotta know what you want.” It was clear from the suppressed grin on Vanessa"s face that she was doing her best to get Courtney riled up, but that didn"t make it any less effective.

“You know how I feel about that term!” Courtney replied with a grimace. “But fine… perspective. I think I will just, I don"t know, be happy for the moment. It"s a new concept, but whatever. Just happy. I can do that, right?” But she was doubtful. She tried to picture Kim in her mind and felt possessive. She was cute; short dark hair, big brown eyes with girl-next-door freckles across her nose. Well, that just won"t do, will it?

Well, that just won"t do, will it?“I guess we"ll find out. I know you like him because you didn"t even put up a fight about night canoeing. I can"t wait to see how this one plays out. Remember the camping trip when we were Girl Scouts in the second grade?” Vanessa asked, unable to control her laughter. “I thought you were going to pee your pants when you found that bug in your sleeping bag. Your face was priceless.”

“Well, who"s to say I didn"t pee my pants just a little bit? It was terrifying; no one could have blamed me. I swear to god that bug had a mission. I made Ms. Hoffman give me a new sleeping bag and sprayed the tent with a can of Raid. Which I packed in my own bag. As an eight year old,” Courtney finished, now able to laugh at how ridiculous it sounded. “Not sure whose brilliant idea it was to sign me up for Girl Scouts to begin with.” Canoeing would certainly test the boundaries of her comfort zone.

“Meh, I probably insisted you come with me and annoyed you so much you agreed to ask your mom. That"s sort of how our friendship works.” Vanessa was now grinning openly. “So, girl, after Luke leaves, we are shopping. You, without question, need hotter clothes- no arguments!” Courtney didn"t even try. She followed Vanessa upstairs to get ready, looking dreamily at the wall in the entryway as they walked by.

* * *

Vanessa exhausted her with a marathon day of consumerism. Where this girl got her determination, Courtney didn"t know. She had successfully talked her into three new outfits and a bikini, which she insisted were completely Ethan appropriate. Courtney was learning that Vanessa was a master of manipulation.

Ethan appropriate“You know I have bathing suits, right? Like, I have a pool at my house. I do swim,” she complained, looking at her purchases.

“Yeah, okay. You have "swimming at home" suits. Not "I want Ethan"s jaw to hit the ground" suits. There"s a difference, and you know it. We will be at the pool at least a couple days a week this summer, so it"s sort of an important wardrobe staple.” Courtney examined the very small scraps of bright yellow fabric that she had paid for, and had to at least partly agree with Vanessa. This was a far cry from the tankini sitting in her suitcase.

Courtney sat down on a bench and sighed. “Don"t we need to, like, go back to your house and clean up before your parents come home?”

“Nope! One, Luke already cleaned everything. It looks better than it did before even, seriously. I"ve never met anyone with more energy.” Vanessa paused and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. “And two, my mom called this morning and they are staying one more night to go to some book signing thing? I don"t know. They"ll be home by tomorrow, no worries. That just means we don"t have to sneak out.”