And Ella was only a freshman.
Alex was making his way higher among the branches, his dark hair blending in with the tree, even as his bright blue T-shirt stood out like a piece of sky against it.
My heart pounded in my throat as he wriggled out along a branch that overhung the cliff, and I gripped Sam’s hand tightly.
“You good?” I called up to Alex.
“Yeah.”
“Geez,” Sam said under his breath. “If he falls, he’s going to break his neck.”
Ella had made her way back over to us. Her face was pale.
Then Alex stopped climbing.
“I think he’s stuck,” Syd said. She was cracking up.
I heard Alex laughing.
“Hold on,” he said. “I’m stuck.”
“Called it,” Syd said.
“Be careful,” I hollered.
We heard some thrashing around in the trees. When I looked up, I saw Alex wriggling out of his T-shirt. He fell, laughing, all the way down into the water, his T-shirt staying there in the tree like a flag. A bunch of the college kids lying on the rocks below cheered.
When Alex had climbed back up to the top of the cliff, shining, his hair wet, I was furious. “Don’t ever do that again. You could have gotten hurt.”
“You going to climb back up and get your shirt?” Syd asked. “Jump out of the tree again?”
Why was she egging him on? Why was she eggingeveryoneon?
“Are you kidding?” Alex widened his eyes in mock surprise. “I almost died once.” He had his hands on his hips, his shorts sliding down just enough that I could see the band of his underwear, the spot where his tan line ended. “Nah. That shirt’s old.”
“Okay,” Syd said. “You two next.” She pointed at Sam and me.
“We should do a double jump,” Sam said. “Here.” He grabbed my hand. “On three. I’ll count.”
Our eyes locked. We each took a step closer to each other before we headed for the ledge.
Sam smelled like soap and grass and sweat and mint gum, and I wanted to touch the farm-boy, good-boy line of his jaw. So I did.
“Get a room,” Syd said, but she was laughing.
Sam ignored her. He rested his hand against my back as we looked out at the jump. I could feel his fingers, warm. I wanted them on my skin and all over me, but we waited. We breathed, in. Out. He slid his hand down to hold mine, and we took a few steps away from the cliff to get momentum.
“One,” he said. “Two. Three.”
Together, we jumped.
As soon as we came up, spluttering, Syd splashed down next to us. She paddled over, hanging her tongue out like a dog, making me laugh in spite of myself.
“Ella’s still at the top,” Syd said.
I stopped laughing. “Crap,” I said. “Be right back,” I told Sam, who nodded, water still dripping from his hair. When he reached up to push it back, the line of his shoulders was so good that I wanted to swim right over and let him wrap me up in his arms the way he always did at night when we said goodbye.
But Ella was still up there, alone.
