Adore Me

Friday, November 25th

About last night.

9am

I wake up and peek at the clock, shocked to see that it’s almost nine.

I’m not ready to get up though. I want to lie in bed with Aiden all day. Revel in the glory of him. Sing praises about his chest. Write poems about his tongue. A sonnet about his lips. Buy a billboard in Times Square thanking him for his amazing fingers.

I pick his shirt up off the edge of the bed and pull it on, buttoning just the middle button.

I hug myself, loving how his shirt feels on me. And knowing that, somehow, I’m not letting it go home with him.

I lie back down and run my hand down his arm, wanting him to wake up so I can see those gorgeous green eyes.

He shifts and wraps his arm around me, pulling me close, but not speaking.

I look at the clock again.

Shit.

52 hours and counting.

“Come on, Aiden. Let’s get up and get our day started. We have a lot to do.”

“I thought coming to the beach meant doing nothing?” he says groggily.

“You promised to do all the stuff on my list. That starts today.”

“Are we surfing this morning?”

“Maybe.”

“I think we should lie here and talk about last night.”

My face breaks out in a grin. “What about last night?”

“Well, for starters, you have my shirt on.”

“Oh, do you want it back?”

“No. I love you naked in my shirt.”

“Technically, I’m not naked if I’m wearing a shirt.”

“Barely wearing,” he says, touching my stomach where the shirt falls open. “This shirt is officially yours. It looks way better on you than it does on me.” He studies me. “You’re beautiful.”

I cover my face. “I’m sure I look like a wreck.”

“A beautiful wreck then. Wearing my shirt. I’d like to wake up like this every morning of my life.” He gives me a naughty grin. “So back to last night.”

“Why do you want to talk about it?”

“Because we finally did some of what you wanted to do. Did you like it?”

“Hmmm. Let’s just say that I finally agree with what all the boys at school say about you.”

“And what’s that?”

“You have good hands.”

Aiden laughs. “I think they were referring to my goalie skills.”

I grab his hand and hold it up to mine. “You do have really big hands. And long fingers. It almost hurt.”

Aiden’s eyes get huge. “Did I hurt you?”

“No. God, no. Not at all. I said almost.”

“Is almost good?”

“Your almost was very good.”

I get the godlike smile. “It wasn’t sex.”

“And I’m okay with that.” I start to jump up out of bed, but Aiden pulls me back down and kisses me.

The love cliff.

10:25am

We finally get out of bed, get dressed, and head to the main house for some breakfast. We find Peyton in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee and talking animatedly with Inga.

“Where’s Damian?” I ask.

“He’s in the office. Business call.”

“Oh, cool.”

“But he said to tell you that we’re going to jump off the cliff today and that you’re not chickening out this time.”

“You chicken out? Are you afraid of heights?” Aiden asks me as he grabs some eggs and bacon from the warming drawer.

“No, I’m not afraid of heights. I’m afraid of hitting rocks, splatting, and dying.”

“Damian says that the locals call it the love cliff,” Peyton informs us.

“The love cliff? That’s cool,” Aiden says.

“Apparently, legend says that if you hold hands and jump off the love cliff, you’ll be together forever,” Peyton tells us, practically cooing.

“Especially if you hit the rocks and die,” I say sarcastically.

“Don’t be such a cynic,” Damian says, flicking my hair as he walks by.

“Funny, I’ve never heard it called the love cliff before,” I say to Damian, who I think just totally made that whole legend up.

“It’s so romantic, isn’t it, though?” she asks, clasping her hands together.

“Inga, have you ever heard it called that?”

“Of course; who do you think told him about the legend?”

I roll my eyes. Okay, I can see I can’t win this one. They’re both liars.

“So, you two in?” Damian asks, taunting me with his grin.

“It wasn’t on your list,” Aiden says to me. “But it sounds really fun.”

“Fine. We’ll go, but I’m not jumping.”

We finish breakfast, take the Jeep, and drive across the island.

Soon, I find myself standing on a cliff looking over the edge and thinking, No fucking way.

“Are you sure this is a safe place to jump?” Peyton asks Damian, the romantic notion not quite as appealing when you’re envisioning leaping to your death.

“Of course,” he says, pulling her into his arms and murmuring something into her ear that makes her giggle.

Aiden surveys the jump. “So you’ve been up here before?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve seen people jump and survive?”

“Yes.”

“But you’ve never done it?”

“No. What’s with the twenty questions? I said I’d come, but I’m not jumping. Please don’t try to talk me into it.”

He kisses my cheek. “I’m doing it. I want you to jump with me. Off the love cliff.”

I roll my eyes. “Aiden, I’ll cheer you on. Besides, someone has to be here to scrape you off the rocks and take your bodies home.”

He tickles my sides. “You’re being silly.”

“I know. It’s scary though.”

“It is really high. It’s gonna be a rush.”

“We’re going for it!” Damian yells. He grabs Peyton’s hand, kisses it, and then they run and jump, both of them screaming all the way down.

I look over the edge and see them pop up out of the water.

“They’re alive!” Aiden says, mocking me.

“Watch it, or I might just push you off.”

“You just saw Damian and Peyton do it and survive.”

“I know.”

Just as he’s about to reply, the breeze blows grass and leaves around us in a little circle.

“Did you see the movie Pocahontas?” he asks.

“Yeah.”

“That breeze was like the colors of the wind. The earth is telling you to jump with me.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, don’t you remember how she jumped off the waterfall? This is nothing compared to that. Just a little old cliff.”

I shake my head no.

“Hmm,” he says, pulling me into his arms. “The Disney references didn’t work. Guess I’m gonna have to pull out the big guns.”

“What big guns?”

He touches my face gently, looks into my soul, and says, “Do you trust me?”

I close my eyes and for the first time since Vincent tried to kidnap me, I listen to my heart. “Yes.”

He kisses me then whispers, “Then jump with me.”

I start to get tears in my eyes. I know this is just a stupid jump, but it feels like so much more.

I nod.

He turns and faces the edge, grabs my hand tightly, and says, “Run!”

I scream as we flail through the air and drop for what seems like both forever and an instant.

When we hit the water, I open my eyes and swim to the surface.

For a second, I can’t find Aiden.

Panic spreads through me. Where is he? Did he hit his head? Did he not come up?

I frantically scan the surface of the water looking for any sign of him. Then I spin around to find him just behind me.

“We made it,” he says, pulling me close and kissing me. “What a freaking rush!”

“What the hell is that?” Damian says.

“What’s what?”

Damian points at us. I look down in the water and see bubbles all around us.

“What the hell?” Aiden says too, scooping up a handful and examining them.

I start laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Aiden asks.

“I . . . have . . . bubbles . . .” I manage to choke out between laughs.

“Like, bubble bath?” Peyton says, trying to understand.

“Yeah, we took a bubble bath at my loft, and Aiden had that swimsuit on.”

“You took a bubble bath wearing a swimsuit?” Damian laughs. “There’s something just wrong with that.”

But Aiden and I don’t care. We can’t stop laughing.

Or kissing.

We make the long hike back to the top of the cliff, then drive to the nearest town, have fried fish at a shack on the beach, and head back to the house.

Totally did the deed.

2pm

Damian and I are lying in the sun while Peyton and Aiden are inside talking to their parents on the phone.

Damian squints at me. “You two are awfully tight today. You totally did the deed last night.”

I shake my head at him. “No,” I say, like the deed is the grossest thing ever.

“Something happened.”

I blush and look completely guilty.

“Tell me what happened,” he demands.

“Um, well, I touched it.”

“You touched what?”

“It. You know, his boy part.”

Damian snickers. “Seriously, Keats, you shouldn’t be touching it if you aren’t mature enough to say it. Besides, what’s the big deal?”

“Shut up. And it’s a big deal for us. I mean, I still haven’t actually seen it, but I kinda felt it.”

“Felt it, or did something to it?”

“Fine. I did something to it with my hand.”

“That would be called a hand job, Keats. Say it with me now. H-a-n-d J-o-b.”

I smack him. “I can say hand job. I just didn’t really want to. At least not in reference to Aiden.”

“He’s spent the weekend at your loft. He’s sleeping in your bed. Have you gotten naked with him?”

“Speaking of naked. I saw you and Peyton skinny-dipping last night.”

“Oh, that was fun. You should try it. And why haven’t you been naked? What are you waiting for?”

“You know why, Damian. Because it will just make it harder to say goodbye.”

He glances at Aiden, who’s beaming as he walks out of the great room doors, making his way down to the beach, spiked tropical smoothies in hand.

“The way he’s been grinning and all over you, I totally thought you guys fu—”

I cover my ears. “Don’t say it. Oh, God, I shouldn’t have touched it, should I? I’m totally leading him on. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

“Now that sounds like more fun.”

“So, does the fact that you’re following Peyton around like she’s a piece of steak mean you haven’t yet?”

“I don’t want her to think this is just a hookup, so I’m trying to be good. But, damn, if she doesn’t have the most amazing mouth.”

“Like for kissing, you mean?”

Damian coughs. “For kissing something.”

“Oh. God. No. I don’t need that visual, please. You showed me yours when we were twelve and I still haven’t fully recovered.”

“It was so massive it scared you?”

“No, it was a disgusting limp-looking little thing. And I couldn’t possibly fathom how sex actually worked.”

Damian smiles. “So then I showed you that magazine.”

I cover my face with my hands. “Please make him stop,” I say to Aiden, who joins us, holding my drink out in front of me.

“Stop what?”

Damian smirks. “Why don’t you tell him what we were discussing, Keats? Peyton and I are going to kayak for a bit.”

When Peyton walks out of the house, Damian jumps up, kisses her in greeting, then grabs her hand and pulls her toward the boat.

Aiden puts his smoothie glass against mine. “This is really good. So, what were you talking about?”

“Seeing a, um, penis for the first time.”

“Is it an embarrassing story?”

“No, I just . . . it’s just hard to comprehend the mechanics of sex when you’re young and you see it in its, um, natural state.”

“Natural state? Like, out in the wild?”

“No, not in the wild. I saw a boy’s—” I wave my hand slowly across my body. “—in its natural state.”

“As opposed to its unnatural state?”

“Its, um, softer state,” I finally say, trying not to think about how his felt in my hand. How I wanted to rip those sliders off his body. Touch it. Feel it. Taste it.

He leans in. “You’re thinking about last night right now, aren’t you?”

I feel my cheeks turn red. Why am I such a prude about sex when it comes to Aiden? You’d think I’d never done it before. “I, uh . . .”

Aiden arches an eyebrow at me. “Maybe tonight you can see it in its, uh, unnatural state,” he says with a laugh as he kisses my cheek. “You’re adorable. What’s next on our list?”

“Swim with the dolphins. But that’s not going to happen.”

“Yeah, it is. We’re lucky when we’re together.”

“We’re not allowed to take the wave runners out if we’re drinking, but since we’re just going straight out there,” I point straight ahead of me, “and sitting, it will be okay. Are you sure you won’t be bored?”

“I’m never bored when I’m with you.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” I laugh, grabbing my drink and heading to dock. I get the wave runner lowered off the dock and Aiden jumps on the seat behind me. I drive us straight out from the house where the water is deeper and turn off the engine. “So, we’ll just sit here and wait. The waves will float us back toward the shore, so if we haven’t seen any by that time, we’ll give up. Deal?”

“That’s fine with me,” he says, grabbing my waist, pulling me onto his lap, and kissing the back of my neck. “I’ll just do this. You can be on lookout.” He moves my ponytail off to one side and continues kissing my neck while his hands move up my stomach to caress my bikini top.

When his hand slides under my top, I laugh and say, “You’re going to scare them away.”

“Turn around so I can kiss you,” he tells me. Then he laughs. “Maybe I should untie these strings and toss your top in the water. I bet all the boy dolphins will come running.”

“I don’t think dolphins can run,” I reply teasingly as I stand up carefully then turn around and sit on his lap.

He immediately kisses me, muttering, “Much better,” into my lips.

Our kissing gets deeper, more intense, and I forget where I am and why I’m out here.

All I can focus on is his lips.

His tongue.

His hands roaming across my body.

The way my fingers feel in his hair. Across his back.

I grind myself into his lap with every kiss. With every suck.

My mind on one thing and one thing only.

All of a sudden, we get splashed.

I open my eyes quickly, worried that a boat came too close to us, but there are no boats around.

Then I hear a chirping noise behind me and a dolphin jumps up out of the water and does a flip, splashing us with water again.

“Oh my gosh!” I whisper to Aiden. “Did you just see that?”

“I think he’s showing off for you,” Aiden says. “He better not be trying to steal my girl.”

My breath catches, my stomach getting instant butterflies, and my heart soaring. Because, his girl?

“Look,” he whispers, “there’s three more, right there.”

“And two more over here,” I whisper back.

“Don’t move,” he says, hugging me tighter.

“I’ve never been this close to one before.”

“Are you going to swim with them?”

“Oh, no. You’re not supposed to actually swim with wild dolphins. This is what I meant. Like being out here, seeing them, feeling like I’m part of it.”

One of the dolphins flies high out of the water with another one following him.

“It’s like they’re playing tag,” Aiden whispers, still holding me tightly on his lap. “They’re huge.”

We watch with wonder as they swim and play around us, but just as quickly as they came, they’re gone, swimming off into the distance.

My arms are still wrapped around Aiden’s neck, so I pull his adorable face closer to me. “You’re right. We are lucky together.”

We kiss a bit.

Okay, we kiss a lot.

Damian was right. Since last night, I can’t keep my hands—or my lips—off him. I’ve even stopped counting down the hours until he leaves. I’m just going to enjoy this.

Aiden pushes the pieces of my bangs that have fallen out of my ponytail and are blowing in the wind off my face, tucking them behind my ear.

“That was amazing.”

“You’re amazing, Aiden.”

He rubs his thumb across my cheek.

It’s a perfect moment.

Soft breeze, brilliant sun warm on our skin, beautiful scenery.

Every part of me wants to tell him. To say it out loud.

And, most of all, for him to know.

But I can’t.

I can’t do that to him.

So I say I love you, Aiden in my head.

“So, what’s next on the list?” he asks.

“Um, write our names in the sand, maybe. And we definitely we need to look for more seashells.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he says as I flip around, start the wave runner, and head back to shore.

When we get there, Damian waves at us from the beach, indicating that he wants me to bring it up on shore.

“Hey,” he says, walking out in the water. “The other wave runner won’t start. If you’re done with this one, I’m gonna take Peyton out and show her some of the island from the water.”

“Yeah, we’re done,” I say as Aiden and I hop off. “Did you see the dolphins that were swimming all around us?”

“No, we were, uh, in the house.”

“I thought you were kayaking?” Aiden asks.

“Oh, we were, but we came back in as soon as you went out.”

“So what were you doing inside?” Aiden asks them.

“Uh, relaxing,” Damian answers as Peyton says, “Watching TV.”

Aiden squints his eyes. “Which one was it?”

“I watched TV while he relaxed,” Peyton says smoothly.

Aiden grabs her by the elbow and pulls her aside. I’m pretty sure he’s chewing her out and she’s telling him to mind his own business.

She marches away from him and pulls Damian out toward the water.

Aiden’s scowling toward them, so I walk up to him and say, “She’s having fun.”

“She’s acting like she loves him already. They just freaking met.”

“She told me it was love at first sight.”

Aiden nods. “She told me that too.”

“And do you believe in it?”

“Yes, of course I do.”

“Then you understand why she needs to see it through.”

Aiden nods solemnly then grabs my hand. “Come on, we have some things to do.”

“Like what?”

He runs down the beach along the water’s edge, dragging me with him. Then he grabs me around the waist, lifts me off my feet, and kisses me.

And kisses me.

I feel like I’m starring in an amazing beach-set love story.

I don’t want this day to ever end.

“This looks like the perfect spot,” Aiden says, setting me down in the sand, but not letting me go. “Remember that bracelet you had on the day of the Gods of the Olympics competition? You had love written on your arm.”

“I remember.”

“Close your eyes and don’t move.”

A few moments later, he comes up from behind me, wraps his arms around my waist, and whispers, “Open.”

I open my eyes and look at the sand in front of me.

“Love in the sand,” he says. “I put it higher on the beach so the water wouldn’t wash it away.”

I want to cry. “The water always washes it away,” I tell him.

“Maybe the words, but not the feelings.” He spins me out of his arms in a dance move and says, “Go write your name.”

I move a little ways down the beach, fighting back tears, and wondering if he could be right.

I find a stick and use it to draw all sorts of doodles in the sand. Hearts, flowers, swirls, a castle, a frog, a wand, lips, stars, a moon, a rock, waves, a surfboard, the chaos symbol, fireworks, a soccer ball, pompoms, a four-leaf clover, and then, in big, bold, capital letters, KEATYN.

Aiden says, “I wish I had my phone to take a picture. That’s, like, a work of art.” He studies it more closely. “Is that the story of your life?”

“What?”

“Oh, it just looks like you drew all the things you love.”

I study my sand doodles more closely, realizing he might be right. I smile at him. “I was just messing around, drawing random things, but they are all things I love.”

He points over at his name written in the sand. Just a simple Aiden. “Mine looks pretty lame in comparison.”

“Actually, yours looks perfect,” I tell him, wrapping my arms around his neck. “It says everything about you.”

“That I’m boring?”

“No, that you don’t need any embellishments to make you stand out. You just do.”

He gives me a hug and kisses my forehead. “I saw some shells down here by the waterline. Want to gather some up?”

“Yeah, let’s do that and then we’ll go make necklaces!”

We gather shells, filling his board shorts’ pockets with them.

When we get closer to the cabana, I stick my tongue out, splash him, and then run down the beach screaming, “Bet you can’t catch me!”

Oh course, I’m not as fast as him and two seconds later, he grabs me from behind.

I deftly spin out of his grip, kick water at him, then land in a karate stance, and go, “Ka-cha!”

“Oh, you’re gonna fight me?” he says with a laugh.

“Unless you’re a chicken,” I reply, kicking more water at him.

He makes one fluid leap and tackles me straight into the water.

I was totally not prepared for it and come up laughing. “What the hell was that? That wasn’t even fair!”

He rolls me over and pins me on the sand underneath him. “Maybe I’m tired of playing fair.”

I lean up like I’m going to kiss him, but instead elbow him in the ribs and slip away.

Almost.

He grabs my legs, pulls me back underneath him, and pins my arms above my head.

Truth be told, I totally could’ve gotten away if I wanted to. I’ve learned a lot from Cooper. But when he leans down to kiss me, I’m really glad I didn’t.

The waves rush up over our feet and legs, the cool water doing nothing to quench the fire inside me. I don’t even care that my hair is probably getting caked with wet, nasty sand.

Because when Aiden kisses me, I don’t care what the rest of the world thinks.

A ding dong ditcher.

7:30pm

We collect some more shells, watch the sun slide below the horizon, and then sort through our shells, deciding which ones will work best for our jewelry.

“Come on. We’ll go in the toy shed to make them. There are tools in there.”

“We gonna hammer, nail, and screw?”

“Actually, we’ll use a drill.”

“Drilling sounds like fun,” he says with a naughty smirk.

As I clean the shells off with bleach, I say, “You know, you’ve become a tease.”

“I’m a tease?” he asks, pointing to himself.

“Yeah, you’re a ding dong ditcher.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Think about it. You act like you want in my house. You keep ringing the doorbell, but when I come to open the door, you’re gone. You’re totally a tease.”

He puts his forehead against mine. “I told you I won’t run away.”

“Honestly, Aiden, if you were smart,” I say, seriously, “you’d run far away from me.”

He tenderly touches my cheek. “My dad says love makes you do stupid things.”

I want so badly to say, Love? And for him to answer, Yes, Boots, I love you. But I can’t bear to hear it, so I let out a nervous chuckle. “That’s true. I think all of us have done some pretty stupid things in the name of love. So, back to these shells,” I say, patting them dry. “Next, we’ll drill them. Here are the little shells we picked for you. Do you want to have a single shell or a whole row of them?”

He slides the most perfect teeny pink seashell out of the pile and touches my four-leaf clover necklace. “Can I have this?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer; he reaches his arms around my neck and unclasps it.

He lays the shell on a piece of felt, drills a hole in the top of it, adds a little metal circle to turn it into a charm, and then slides it onto my necklace with the clover.

He puts it back on me, and I look in the mirror. The clover nestles perfectly on top of the shell.

I hold the charms in my hand. “I love it.”

“You know, they say the moon controls the tides. So now you'll have both luck and the tides of fate on your side.”

I smile at him as he pushes me up against the workbench and flirts. “Which means you're about to get very lucky.”

His lips land hard on mine, his tongue sliding into my mouth, and controlling the tides of desire that roll through my body.

“Uh, um,” Damian coughs, interrupting our hot make out session.

“Oh, hey,” I say, untangling myself from Aiden. “Uh, we were, um, just making jewelry.”

“I can see that,” Damian smirks. “We got a bunch of shells too.”

“Awesome!” I turn my attention back to the shells, but Aiden’s hand is still on my back, touching both my skin and the top of my bikini bottoms. And although I am trying to sort through shells to make him the perfect wish bracelet, I’m having a really hard time concentrating.

Especially when he starts massaging my back gently.

I choose shells and then drill holes on the sides of each, sliding them onto a string one at a time and putting a square knot in between each. “Where do you want it?”

Aiden’s eyes get big and he gulps. “Uh . . . ?”

I realize very quickly what he was just thinking. “Your ankle or your wrist?” I add.

He does a little head shake, like he’s clearing out the cobwebs in his brain. “My wrist. So I can see it.”

“Okay.” I lay the shells across the top of his wrist. “This is a wish bracelet. As I tie it on, you have to close your eyes and make a wish.”

“Then what? When do I get my wish?”

“We don’t know when, but once you get your wish, the bracelet will fall off.”

He gives Peyton and Damian, who are sorting through shells, a glance. Then he whispers sexily, “Can I wish for drilling?”

“You can wish for whatever you want.”

“So I’ll be losing the bracelet tonight?”

I try to control my smile, but I can’t.

Because Aiden the tease is the cutest thing ever.

I roll my eyes at him and smack his hand away from where it's sneaking down the side of my bikini.

Plus it’s so much more fun to be the one to say no.

“This wish business is serious,” I tell him as I tie the bracelet around his wrist, purposefully tying it in three tight knots. Maybe if I tie it tight enough, he won’t be able to get it off.

And maybe he won’t forget me when I’m gone.

I picture Aiden back at Eastbrooke, surrounded by girls at the cave, and quickly close my eyes to keep from crying.

“Are you wishing on my bracelet too?” he asks.

Part of me wants to curse his bracelet, so that no one else’s lips will ever touch his.

But I know I’m being ridiculous. I’m giving him closure so that he can move on.

“No,” I say, fighting back tears.

“Why do you look like you're about to cry?”

“I’m not. I think I got shell dust in my eyes.” I wipe tears from the corner of my eyes. “I was supposed to wear safety goggles when I drilled.”

“You need safety goggles for drilling?” he says, grabbing a pair. “Maybe I should bring them to bed.”

I grab his now shell-wrapped wrist. “Come on, we’ve got to finish our list.”

I drag him to the courtyard, where a hammock is strung between two palm trees.

“Lie in the hammock and read? There’s only one problem. We don’t have any books.”

“We don’t need a book. We have some homework to do.”

He groans. “You’re going to make me study French?”

“No, but it turns out that I have this survey I have to do for health class.”

“You’re not in health class.”

“Neither are you. I had to answer your questions, now you have to answer mine.”

He rolls his eyes and pulls me closer to his chest. “Fine. I’m an open book.”

“Names of the last four girls you dated.”

“Emily, Lauren, Megan, and Chelsea.”

“Why did you break up?”

“Um, Emily and I got in a fight about something stupid. I honestly don’t remember. She was always accusing me of cheating on her.”

“Were you?”

He looks at me seriously. “I’ve never cheated on anyone in my life.”

“Good.”

“What about the rest?”

“Lauren broke up with me because she decided she liked someone else. Megan and I had a very volatile relationship. That was a mutual break up. And Chelsea. Um, we never actually went out.”

“How many girls have you said I love you to?”

“Oh, the list is long. The first girl was Angela; she stole my heart in third grade when she gave me a special Valentine. She was a fourth grader. Older woman, you know.”

“Maybe we don’t need to go back quite so far,” I laugh. “And I’m ready for dinner and some wine. Where do you want to eat?”

“Can we watch a movie while we eat?”

“That sounds fun. Then what?”

“Then, Miss Monroe, we’re going dancing.”

Screaming a lot.

8:30pm

We set ourselves up in back of the theater room at the bar table, deciding to watch a little college football while we eat. We enjoy part of the game, our dinner, and the whole bottle of wine.

“I’ll go grab another bottle,” I tell him. “You pick out a movie.”

When I come back with the bottle, he holds up two movies. “I’ve narrowed it down to two. Which was really tough considering all the options.”

“They do have a lot of movies,” I say, moving our glasses and the wine cooler up to the theater seats in the front. “What’d you come up with?”

“Well, since we’re on an island, I went with a water theme. So we have Jaws, which may be a bad idea, since we’ll be out surfing again in the morning, or A Day at the Lake, which I’ve never gotten to see but is one of my parents’ favorites.”

I freeze in the middle of pouring more wine when he mentions my mom’s movie. The movie that Vincent wants to remake. The movie that started all this.

I’ve seen the movie before. A few years ago. But I don’t really remember all that much of it, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. I need to study this movie. I need to understand the script. I need to try to figure out what Vincent has in mind.

“A Day at the Lake,” I say, sounding too eager. “I mean, I definitely don’t want to have bad dreams about being attacked by a shark.”

“Have you ever seen it before?” he asks me.

“A few years ago, I kinda watched it on TV. But it was one of those things where it was on, but I wasn’t really watching. So I’ve never seen the whole thing. I just remember the girl in the bikini screaming a lot.”

“Perfect,” he says. “We’ll watch it and then go dancing.”

I snuggle up on the big padded couch next to him, sip my wine, and press play.

The movie starts out showing my mom’s character in her everyday world. Hanging out with her hot frat boyfriend. Her friends hanging out and planning their weekend party at the lake. Figuring out how to get all the alcohol they needed. Who is bringing the weed. The guys are looking forward to hooking up. The girls want to work on their tans. Mom and her boyfriend are adorable together, say they love each other, and have a romantic scene. But there’s also a scene where they argue about an archeology semester abroad she really wants to do. You get the impression that he's not supportive of her dreams, so you’re not really sure what to think about their relationship as they head to the lake.

We watch, drink more wine, and then Aiden starts kissing me.