But just then a phone rings, and I look behind me, seeing a couple of people in the parking lot. I squint through the sun in my eyes and put my hand over my brow to see. Lucas?
The next thing I know, something grabs my ankles, pulls, and I’m flying forward off the dock. “Ah!” My heart leaps in my throat, choking my cry just before I hit the water. I flail, screaming, but it’s just bubbles coming out of my mouth underneath the surface.
I kick, but I’m hauled backward and quickly lifted up.
I cough and sputter as Lucas holds me by the shoulders.
“You big…” I struggle for breath. “…jerk.”
He presses a finger over his lips. “Shhh…”
I wipe the water out of my eyes, both of us crouched down and hidden underneath the dock. He casts his eyes upward, completely drenched himself.
“That wasn’t funny,” I whisper-yell.
He murmurs, “It was kind of funny.”
Footfalls hit the dock, and he goes still.
So do I.
“What?” I mouth.
But he just gestures, “Shhh!”
Are we playing hide-and-seek again?
The dock creaks under the footsteps, and I think I see two figures through the slits in the wood. Madoc and Jared, maybe?
They don’t say anything, and I try to move to get a closer look, but Lucas keeps hold of me. I gaze up at him, his golden hair and long lashes over blue eyes.
There’s two of them up there. And two of us. A pair.
Finally, they retreat, but Lucas waits another minute or so. Eventually, he releases me and swims backward out from under the dock. “Later, gator.”
My hair is plastered to my cheeks. “I hate you,” I gripe.
He grins wide. “But you’re making me pizza tonight back at Madoc’s, right?”
“Yes.”
But I pout about it, not sure if I’m mad at him for getting my clothes wet, or mad that I’m never really mad at him.
He beams. He loves my pizza.
I wish we could play hide-and-seek as a team, but…
We never get another chance.
A year later, he’s gone.
Leaves town. Doesn’t text. Doesn’t call.
He’s grown up, and I’m not. I guess we weren’t a pair, after all.
Quinn
Nine Years Later
