SAGE
A week after taking the gold in Mortimer’sannual air hockey tournament, I reported to detention, because I’d thought it was a good idea to ignore my alarm and sleep through English on Friday. It was always in the CSC’s lecture hall from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., and you were supposed to do your homework, but I couldn’t focus. It sucked being stuck in here. I’d still have three hours until curfew once detention ended, but I didn’t want to miss out on a Saturday night with my friends. Someday, they were going to be what I remembered most about Bexley.
But of all the nights to be put in a time-out, this was definitely the best one. The girls were at the dance, while Luke and Charlie were hitting the movies and then going on an “expedition” together. Back in December, they’d stolen a campus map from Admissions and had since been drawing bigX’s over certain places, like the library and college counseling building (“There’s this great couch in the lounge,” I’d overheard Charlie say before that one). Apparently, they wanted to conquer the ropes course tonight.
I slipped in and out of daydreams for the rest of detention. I was so beyond lost in my head that it felt like someone snapped me outof a trance when Dr. Latham announced we were free to leave, that detention was over. There was a text from Nick waiting for me:Meet me @ boathouse when you’re released. Something to show you!
Excited, I biked back to Simmons to ditch my backpack before pedaling like my life depended on it in the direction of Perry Lake. The bright stars sprinkled across the sky seemed to light my way. But as I peeled off Ludlow Lane and onto Lake Road, the weirdness of it all registered.Why the boathouse?I wondered. Sure, the weather was still springlike, but it was strange. The boathouse was so out of the way, and there was literally nothing to do. Plus, we weren’t technically allowed there at night. I upped my pace.
What’s the plan, Nicholas?
The boathouse was dark when I got there, but I almost wiped out—because the dock wasnot. I quickly jumped off Stinger and hit my kickstand, still unsteady on my feet.
It was glowing. The dock wasglowing, completely decked out: Coleman lanterns lining the edges and probablyhundredsof green glow sticks scattered across the walkway. Nick was sitting at the end, wearing a few illuminated necklaces and his beautifully hideous Patagonia.
“Hey!” he called when a creaky board announced my arrival. “Come make a s’more!” He beckoned me over, and that’s when I noticed he was attempting to toast a marshmallow over the mini Weber grill he’d gotten for Christmas.
“What is all this?” I asked as I dropped down next to him. Hegifted me with my own necklace and a roasting stick. A marshmallow was already impaled on its tip.
“This,” he said, “is what Nick Carmichael does when he breaks the rules.”
I laughed. “Go big or go home?”
“Exactly,” he agreed. “I thought we’d do s’mores first, then go kayaking. It’s a great night, right?”
Kayaking.Whenever I visited Martha’s Vineyard, Nick and I went night kayaking on the Oyster Pond. It felt like a different world out there: just us and starlight.
“What do you say?” Nick asked.
“But where’s the kayak?” I wondered.
“In the water,” he said like it was obvious, so I leaned over to see for myself.
My heart stopped, because sure enough, there it was, tied to the dock and bobbing along contently, but that wasn’t all. Written on the side in yellow glow-paint was:
MORGAN, VALENTINE’S?
The letters were kind of dripping, and soon my eyes followed suit…because I’d beenhoping. Secretly, but hoping so much that it lately took me hours to fall asleep at night. More than anything, I wanted to go with Nick to his party but thought there was no chance. While we’d been flirting a little, nothing had truly changed between us since he’d broken up with Emma, and I figured Charlie would ask me to Daggett’s soon. They were the same night.
“Sage?” Nick asked quietly. “What do you think?”
“Yes,” I said, laughing away my tears as our eyes locked. “Hell, yes!”
Nick’s dimple popped before he leaned in to kiss my cheek.
But I made sure our lips met instead. Nick pulled me into his arms, and I hugged him tight. We were both breathing heavily when we broke apart. “Kayaking?” I suggested, and just like that, we were out on the water. I grinned. “Okay, now remind me where Ursa Major is. Because I see the Big Dipper…”
So Nick the Astronomer pointed out the gigantic constellation whose nickname was the “Greater She-Bear” and then I felt a hand on my arm. “Sage…”
I turned back to look at him. “Yeah?”
He sighed. “I don’t want it to be just Valentine’s Day.”
“What?”
“Us,” Nick rephrased. “I want us to try again. For real this time.” He shifted in his seat, shifting the kayak. “I love you.”
His hand was still on my arm, and a garden of goose bumps bloomed underneath it. I grabbed it and tangled our fingers together. “I love you too,” I whispered against his knuckles.
