Gem City

Chapter 5-2

She was having a hard time thinking of what to say after she finally understood why Shakespearean sonnets were written about the art of kissing. “I can categorically say that yes, palm reading impresses me,” she finally got out, laughing slightly.

“I will read your palm any time you like,” Ethan agreed, smoothing his hair. “Unfortunately, we should probably row to the end of our journey before Luke starts feeling bad that he didn"t make you wear floaties.” Courtney sighed, but she was almost thankful they had to stop. Though unsure of where she wanted this to go, she accepted that she hadn"t felt a spark like that with any other guy. Ever. They managed to hold a coherent conversation as they rowed and soon began to see the orange ties in the trees. Pulling closer to the shore, they saw that Luke and Vanessa already had an actual fire going.

“Geeeez, I almost called the coast guard!” Luke shouted when he saw them.

“Oh, stop it, let them be,” Vanessa reprimanded. She smiled at Courtney with a look that let her know she"d want details later. “Come and have some food.” They all roasted hot dogs and s"mores while the smoke rose into the summer night air.

“Hey, run up to my car with me, I wanna grab another blanket,” Ethan relayed to Courtney. He grabbed her hand and pulled her off the folding chair where she was sitting. They took a brief walk out to the dirt road that followed the path of the river, and she was intrigued when she saw his car. It was a royal blue sporty-looking thing, and she could tell it was vintage and had been re-built.

“What kind of car is this?” she asked admiringly.

“Ahhh, this has been my obsession for the last three years. It"s a 1980 Nissan Z. My grandpa helped me buy it when I was fifteen, and then we fixed it up together. You have no idea how many guitar lessons I had to teach to get it like this.” He laughed, grabbing the blanket out of the trunk. “I"ll take you for a drive on some back roads soon and show you what she can do.”

“Sounds good to me; I happen to rather like zippy cars.”

“Do you rather like them? You"re so funny with your descriptive words. I think it"s cute,” he added, gauging her uncertain expression, “just amusing.” He pulled her closer and kissed her before shutting the trunk, and they headed back down towards the river. I could absolutely get used to the kissing. As they walked up on the bank, they heard Vanessa and Luke, seemingly in a heated conversation.

ratherI could absolutely get used to the kissing.“You are one-hundred percent not driving me home. I"ll drive your truck, you"ve had like four beers,” Vanessa said, her voice raised.

“Two. And I told you one hundred times, I"m FINE. Would you just chill?” Luke snapped back.

“No, actually I won"t just "chill," I actually care if everyone gets home safely. I"ll have Ethan drive us,” she challenged.

“Oh my god, are you kidding me?” By this time, Ethan and Courtney had walked up closer to them, and an awkward silence followed.

“Hey, Luke, help me drag the canoes up to the road,” Ethan said, diffusing the tension.

“Whatever, man.” He stormed up the bank to grab a canoe. Ethan handed the blanket to Courtney and went to catch up to Luke.

“Everything okay?” Courtney asked Vanessa, concern in her voice.

“Whatever. I"m just sick of his bullshit! I don"t even want to talk about it right now. I just know that he"s not driving us home.” She sounded almost tearful. Courtney went and put her arm around her friend. It was so rare to see Vanessa genuinely upset. It was usually all snark and wit. The boys came back a few minutes later, and Luke seemed to have calmed down.

“V, I"m sorry, please come talk to me,” he pleaded. Vanessa sighed, crossed her arms, and started to walk towards the edge of the bank without waiting to see if he was following. He looked like a sad puppy trudging after her. Ethan came up behind Courtney, wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her neck briefly.

“They"ll be okay. Luke always caves to Vanessa in the end,” he said in her ear.

“I hope so. I like him for her; he makes her happy.”

“No worries, sweet cakes.”

“Sweet cakes? Still no good. Try again,” Courtney chided him.

“No? I thought you"d go for that. I"ll keep thinking. Here,” he said, turning her around, “dance with me.”

“Dance with you? Well, aren"t you pulling out all the stops tonight?” She put her arms around his neck, but had to stand on her tiptoes to reach him.

“Well, that, and I really wanted an excuse to grab your ass,” Ethan confessed, laughing and pulling her closer. He started to sing a piece of a Wallflowers song for her while they danced, the stars spinning overhead and her heart racing in her chest. In a moment she understood what people meant by falling in love. She didn"t know that she loved Ethan, she had only known him two days, but the feeling was exactly the same. Terrifying, uncontrollable, and freeing. She didn"t think about what it meant when the fall ended. Instead, she just listened to his voice and held on to him tighter.

fallingloved“Ah-hem.” Courtney jumped slightly as she heard Vanessa clear her throat behind them. She turned around to see her and Luke tentatively holding hands, and they both seemed less tense.

“Everything cool?” Ethan asked.

“Like a cucumber,” Luke answered. Courtney did notice that Vanessa rolled her eyes at that comment. “I think we should pack up, though. It"ll take a bit for me to get my truck back and lock up the boats.” They agreed and started breaking down the makeshift party site. Ethan drove them back to Luke"s truck, and Vanessa said she would be helping him load the canoes and driving him back to her house for the night. That left Ethan to chauffeur Courtney. She focused on her breathing. She didn"t know that she was ready to be alone with him. In his car. With those stupidly soft lips and that smirk.

Think. When you get back to the house, maybe nothing will even happen. He might just go home. Do you really want him to go home? She knew that she didn"t. Ethan rested his hand on her knee, drumming the beat to an unspoken song, and seemed to be free from worries. Just freaking relax, she told herself. You like him, he likes you. You can always say no to anything you don"t want to do. You are capable of uttering a one-syllable word. She took another deep breath. Ethan had been nothing but respectful of her, and she repeated this in her mind until her heart rate slowed.

Think. When you get back to the house, maybe nothing will even happen. He might just go home. Do you really want him to go home?Just freaking relax,You like him, he likes you. You can always say no to anything you don"t want to do. You are capable of uttering a one-syllable word.“What"s going on in that pretty head of yours?” he questioned.

“Nothing. Well, always something. But nothing important right now,” she lied. Ethan abruptly pulled the car over to the side of the road.

“Okay I have to like, apologize, or explain, or something. I can tell something is bothering you because you literally have not stopped talking since I met you until now, so hopefully I can clear up whatever is on your mind.”

“Okay… you"re making me a little nervous, but go ahead.” She envisioned her whole summer romance dead in the water before it really even got started. Why do you have to blow everything out of proportion?

Why do you have to blow everything out of proportion?“No, don"t be nervous, I just… this is hard to get out, but I feel this compulsion to be honest with you. First, I"m sorry for the whole "this is a good excuse to grab your ass" comment from earlier. That was a dickish thing to say, and I feel like I gave the wrong impression. I"ve been kicking myself since I said it, and if I could take it back, I would.” Courtney started to interrupt him to assuage his guilt, but he stopped her. “To be frank with you, I am very good at flirting with girls. I always have been. What I said to you… that"s something I would typically say to a girl I was trying to hook up with. And it would work.” Courtney raised an eyebrow at him. “I know I"m coming across as horribly conceited right now, I just don"t know how else to explain this next part. It"s like…I feel like I"ve known you forever. When I think that last week we weren"t even on each other"s radar, I wonder how that is possible. You"re all I can think about. So, I don"t want to "hook up" with you. I mean I do,” he corrected when he saw Courtney make a face. “God, this is all coming out wrong. I think you"re, like, beautiful? I know I sound completely ridiculous right now. And of course I want to… Okay. What I"m trying to say is that I think I like you. I know that seems simple, but for me it isn"t. So, if tonight, or any night I get to be with you, you just want to sit around and talk, or play guitar, or hell, play checkers, I don"t care. I don"t, like, expect, well, yeah. So. I think that"s it. Sorry, I"m not good at words when you"re looking at me like that,” he finished nervously.

Courtney leaned across to the driver"s seat and kissed him softly on the lips in a rare act of boldness. “I think you are picking up my talent for creating an awkward atmosphere,” she teased him gently. “On the contrary, I think you"re very good words. I was in my own head there for a minute, you weren"t wrong. But I"m fine, okay? You"ll know if I"m not. As you said before, I"m kind of chatty.” She smiled as she kissed him again, really just relishing the fact that she could.

words“So, are we good then? Like we can keep hanging out and see where this goes and whatever?” Ethan questioned.

“I think that"s exactly what we do,” Courtney replied. “But I hate checkers. So that"s out. I would love to go back to Vanessa"s and hear some of the songs you"re working on, though. Can we do that? And can there possibly be cookies involved?”

“Okay,” he breathed lightly. “You make me a little nervous,” he revealed, kissing her one last time. “I kind of like it.” He pulled back onto the road, and they drove the rest of the way to Vanessa"s house at varying rates of speed so he could show off his car"s abilities. She didn"t know that she had ever felt more alive than racing along those back roads with all the windows down and the music up.