The Summer We Lied

Chapter Five

It's early morning on a perfect sunny Sunday and I'm seated next to Matt Hudson in his grey Jeep as we drive through Boulder.

He has dark shades on and he's concentrating on the GPS directions to the ranch. We're both sitting in silence, but I don't really care. Being this close to a guy is as close as I have ever gotten before. It's surreal that I'm here. I could have ended up with Daniel or my dad, but I got Matt instead. I can't help but watch as his thin white tee-shirt hugs his body in all the right places.

I grin, thinking of how Daniel must be fuming right about now. He can barely stand it if I'm in the same room as his friends for a few seconds, I wonder how crazy he's going to feel about me hanging out with one of his best friends for an entire day.

"Where are your hideous green uggs today?" Matt asks.

"If you talk about them one more time, I swear that I will get you an exact pair like mine."

He tilts his head back and laughs. "Or I could just borrow yours."

"Stop laughing at my choice of shoes," I say.

He pulls his sunglasses off and hooks them on the front of his tee-shirt. "I'm not laughing at that. I'm laughing at your choice of colour. It basically looks like puke."

I look over at him and he glows looks back at me so I roll my eyes. "You're so childish."

"Did you just roll your eyes at me?" he asks.

"I did," I say.

"Damn," he says. "That is one way to kill a pickup line."

"What are you talking about?"

He smiles as I look over at him.

"Usually, a guy asks a girl if they've just rolled their eyes at them and usually a girl asks what are you going to do about it. And it leads to a whole make-out session."

"So you wanted to make out with me then?" I ask curiously.

He shrugs. "I don't know. What if I did?"

I smile as I say, "I'd probably kick you in your lower regions."

A rumble escapes Matt's chest as he laughs again. "Now you're playing nasty. You probably wouldn't be able to do anything if I had you pinned down underneath me."

I blush red. I'm pretty sure I'm burning up because my ears are hot like I've just done something wrong.

"Remember when I said I don't talk to any of Daniel's friends? I think we should stick to the silence."

Matt chuckles. "We wouldn't have to talk if we were making out. I'm pretty good at the language of tongue."

I blush again, but roll my eyes and turn towards the open window. The air is cool on my face and I close my eyes as the sun burns into my skin. My hair is flying wildly in all directions, and tickling my face, but I don't care. The feeling is so good. So free.

In a town like Boulder, there's hardly ever anything to do. My family lives in the suburban area of town and just after that is the town centre, where some of America's unhealthiest greasy burgers are made. And if you drive a little further than the centre, you enter the heart of the countryside.

It's the one place you can get fresh air, tall, golden walls of meadow grass, lake glows glow bugs. It's what made most of my childhood memories.

I must have dozed off because the next thing I remember is the loud, piercing sound of steel against steel.

I open my eyes to find Matt opening up a big steel gate. We're at the old farmhouse and it's just like I remember. Tall fern trees and fields with overgrown golden grass.

"This is the right place, right?" Matt asks as he climbs back into the Jeep.

I nod. "Yeah. Home sweet home."

Matt starts up the Jeep and then we're going through the archway of trees until we're right near the actual house.

It's a perfect wooden cabin. Enough for the four of us every winter or summer; whichever season we decided to spend at the ranch.

Matt stops the car and we both get out. I look around at the fresh fields of gold around me and the subtle, woodsy scented breeze is perfect.

On the side of the cabin is the big red barn that we never really used. The wood was chipping and the paint was fading in certain areas.

"There's a lot of work to be done. Are you sure you're down for this?" I ask Matt, as I lean against the warmth of the Jeep.

"I'm down for it. If I had to choose to spend my summer back home or here, it'd be here without a doubt."

I smiled. "Me too."

"Where should we start?"

I looked around us and thought for a second. "Let's start on the cabin and work towards the outside."

Matt nods in agreement and we get our cleaning tools and get to work.