Two Halves of a Whole

Chapter 3

Sattira was sitting with her friends eating snacks and watching a few of the people she invited to her party hang out in the pool. Her group liked to be able to talk so the speakers were set up around the yard so everyone could enjoy the music without blasting it so loud they couldn’t hear each other. Danny and Jacob had just come through the gate to the back yard and headed towards them.

“Hope we aren’t late,” Danny said as he leaned down to kiss Nina. His dark brown hair was long enough on top that it fell into his face. He run his finger through it as he sat down next to his girlfriend.

“Not at all, people were just starting to arrive,” Nina answered him as she moved her seat so she was close enough that she could lean back into his chest.

“Oh my god, you have matching tattoos,” Sattira exclaimed. She was so shocked she hadn’t noticed before.

Nina got a weird look on her face before answering back, “Yeah, right after I turned 18. It was a birthday present.”

“As long as you didn’t get each other’s names, everyone says that’s like asking for trouble,” as Sattira talked Kim started choking on the soda she had been drinking.

Jacob rubbed her back trying to help her catch her breath asking, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, soda just went down the wrong way,” she answered as she finally managed to stop choking.

Danny looked kind of sheepish. “I forgot to mention it earlier, a good friend of ours is in town and Nina said you wouldn’t mind if we invited him.”

Sattira wondered if there was something he was leaving out but figured he probably wouldn’t tell her anyway so instead of asking the question on her mind she said, “if he is a friend of Kim and Nina’s he is more than welcome.”

It seemed that no sooner had the words left her mouth when Nina said, “oh, there he is now.”

Sattira looked towards the gate and saw what had to be the best looking guy she had ever seen. He was easily six feet tall if not taller. He had a broad build and very well toned muscles. His dirty blond hair was shaved short on the sides and back with just enough on top she could feel her fingers twitch wanting to know if it was as soft as she imagined it to be. His steel blue eyes met her emerald green ones and he flashed her the most delicious smile that promised trouble. He looked like one of those country boys from the cover of those steamy romance novels.

She was so lost in his smile she almost missed her friend’s introduction. “Sattira this is Lugos, our families have been friends forever.”

Lugos had walked up close to her and, wait, did he just sniff her? No, she must have imagined it.

“Nice to finally meet you,Sattira. I have heard so much about you.” His voice was so deep and sexy it took her a moment to collect herself.

“Yes, I am surprised we haven’t met sooner. Up until now they seemed to have been keeping you well hidden from me,” she answered then blushed at her unusual boldness. She was so focused on Lugos she missed the looks of guilt the rest of the group had exchanged upon hearing her words.

Lugos pulled up a seat close to hers, “I am a few years older than they are so we don’t hang out as much as we used to.” The excuse made complete sense to her.

Sattira caught herself imagining what it would feel like to have those arms around her when she thought she heard a voice inside her head say Mm, such strong arms.

“Are you alright?” Nina asked, a look of concern on her face.

Sattira gave herself a tiny shake to bring herself back to what was going on around her. “Yeah, just thought I heard something.” She couldn’t tell them it was literally all in her head.

“We were just talking about our trip to Paris. It is going to be so much fun. We are going to miss you so much,” Kim said.

“Are you positive we can’t talk you into going? It just won’t be the same hanging out without you,” Nina tried for what seemed like the hundredth time to talk her into going.

“You know I would love to but I don’t want to be that far away from my parents. They are already being crazy about me going away this fall to college. I can’t just bail on them for the whole summer too.” Sattira felt bad because she was going to really miss her friends but her parents meant a lot to her and she didn’t feel right just leaving.

“Well, you girls have a couple of weeks before you have to leave, right?” Lugos looked between Nina and Kim.

“Yeah, why?” It had been Kim who had answered his question.

“You know my parents still have that Lake House. Why don’t we all stay there for a couple of weeks before you have to leave? There is easily room enough for everyone,” Lugos offered smoothly.

Sattira didn’t know him but her friends claimed to know him well so she waited to hear their thoughts before saying anything.

“Are you sure your parents won’t mind?” Kim asked excitedly.

“I had already planned on staying there so I am sure they won’t mind if I invite you all to stay there with me,” he was looking at Sattira even as he answered Kim.

“That is really awesome,” Jacob said. “We have to do this. We won’t get another chance to hang out like that until next year.”

“I am definitely in, what do you say Sattira?” Kim looked at her expectantly.

“If all of you are going I will go.” She was starting to feel excited. “I just have to be back to celebrate my birthday with my parents.”

“When is your birthday?” Lugos looked at her curiously.

A look of sadness flashed across her face but she replaced it quickly with a small smile. “No one is sure when my birthday is because I was adopted after my birth parents died and no one could find a birth certificate or records of when I was born. My parents and I just celebrate the day they found me. The doctor that examined me after I was found said I couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks old when the accident happened.”

“I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up something so upsetting.” The look on Lugos’ face showed how badly he truly felt.

Sattira instantly missed his smile. It was as if a cloud had temporarily blocked the sun and she missed its warmth. “It’s fine, it was a long time ago and I have awesome parents who make sure we celebrate even if we don’t know the exact date and time.” She smiled warmly thinking of how her parents doted on her.

“Well, we can definitely make sure you are back in time,” Kim promised.

“Yes! Group vacation at the Lake House!” Danny and Jacob both said as they fist bumped each other. The girls all laughed at their foolishness before Sattira decided it was time to go mingle with the rest of her guests.

She noticed she was still feeling unusually hungry and made frequent trips to the boathouse to fill her plate with snacks. As much as she was enjoying the party and hanging out with everyone part of her couldn’t wait for it to be over so she could go grab a nice juicy cheeseburger and maybe a chicken basket.

As she made her way through the rest of her guests, saying her greetings and exchanging pleasantries, she often caught herself staring at Lugos. She noticed that a lot her other guests acted weird around him, almost as if he was some kind of celebrity or something. She couldn’t help but be curious about it but he didn’t seem to notice and carried on as if it were completely normal. Every once in a while she would look over and catch a female leaning in too close or being flirty and scold herself for the small feelings of jealousy. Part of her wanted to be the girl leaning in and flirting. She shouldn’t feel such things, she just met the guy.

The party didn’t wind down fast enough. Finally the last of the guests left Sattira alone with Danny, Jacob, Lugos, and her besties.

Kim asked, “what can we do to help clean up?”

“If you guys just want to help take care of any leftovers and clean up any trash I can take care of anything else tomorrow,” Sattira told them. “I am kind of hungry and want to grab a burger.”

“I could go for a burger myself,” Lugos said. “We can do a late night burger run before we call it for the night.”

They all agreed and hurried to clean up what little mess their was. Lugos insisted on carrying the couple of bags of garbage they had after everyone was done.

The girls all climbed into Sattira’s car and followed the guys to their favorite burger joint. They all crowded around a table. Sattira was a little embarrassed that Lugos got to see the huge cheeseburger and the larger chicken basket with its 9 chicken strips with fries, coleslaw, and a couple of fresh rolls she slathered butter on. She was surprised he didn’t even comment when she washed it all down with an extra large blueberry/Carmel milkshake. Yeah, she definitely needed to make an appointment to talk to her doctor about her appetite.

Lugos ordered a large cheeseburger and chili fries while everyone else just had a cheeseburger and shared a large order of onion rings. As they ate they made plans for the “Lake House Vacation” as it was dubbed. Lugos was going to pick her up tomorrow morning after breakfast since he didn’t think it was a good idea to drive her car down the dirt drive that leads up to the house.

When they were done eating Lugos insisted on paying. Sattira felt bad so he jokingly said she could always buy him dinner next time. She caught herself imagining going out on an intimate dinner date alone with him and blushed at the thought.

The girls said goodbye to the boys and headed back to Sattira’s house where Nina and Kim each hugged her goodbye before leaving her. She checked everything was locked up and the alarm was set before going up to her room to pack her clothes. She checked to make sure her parents had gotten the message she had sent thanking them for the car then grabbed clothes and went into the bathroom to shower and change into a shorts and a tank top.

As she closed her eyes to sleep she wondered if Lugos had a girlfriend. She realized she had never asked. Somehow the idea of being at the Lake House with everyone and having Lugos’ girlfriend show up bothered her. She tried to convince herself it was because with Danny dating Nina and Jacob crushing on Kim it would kind of make her feel like an outsider if Lugos had a girlfriend there too.

The little voice in her head called her out. You liar, you know you like him.

Do not, she found herself answering back like some crazy person. This was met with laughter. Her last thoughts before going to bed were ‘great now I am talking back, I really must be going crazy.’