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"Get your grubby fingers off my cards!" I had roared.
Hannah giggled beside Kyle as he flung them back at me, my fingers frantically picking them up off my lap and the floorboard. I spent every dime I had on the cards he carelessly tossed my way. Tears pricked my eyes as I hurried to replace them in my big white binder. I slid them into their frosted vinyl pockets before running my fingers over the creased edge of my beloved Ninetales card. My favorite Pokémon. A white, fox-like creature with you guessed it, nine tails. My throat constricted and I held in the sob I wanted to let loose as I closed my binder. When I looked up, Kyle's dark eyes were on me.
Matt had missed the whole exchange, lost in a monologue about his rare Charizard card. Hannah didn't miss it, though. She didn't miss the way Kyle looked at me, the way his arm subtly moved in my direction over the back of his seat as if he was going to comfort me.
"Don't touch me," I hissed at him. "And don't look at me either."
It wasn't out of character for me to snap at Kyle. That day, however, I could tell it bothered him. He turned back around, but his eyes stayed on me as I pulled my binder up to my chest and hugged it against me. A single tear rebelliously fell down my cheek.
Diane parked and we set up along the sandy shoreline. Mom and Diane laid out their long towels to sunbathe while Hannah and Kyle took off to explore. Even then, I was pretty sure they were going to find a place to make out and grope each other. Gross.
Matt sunk the multicolored umbrella into the sand and set up our chairs beneath it. I placed the cooler full of drinks and snacks in the shade.
I wisely left my binder in the car, refusing to let the elements anywhere near my cards. Kyle had done enough damage for one day.
"Wanna take a dip?" Matt motioned towards the sparkling water.
I smiled. "Last one in owes the other a Dr. Pepper!"
We raced towards the lake, and I flung myself in, beating Matt by a few seconds. He slapped the rippling surface with his hand as I threw my head back and laughed.
"You cheated," he pouted.
"How?" I shot back as I hit the water with my arm and splashed him.
"You stepped in front of me!"
"You're such a sore loser," I laughed.
He lunged forward and picked me up, tried tossing me into the water. Instead, I fell right in front of him and went under the cool surface of the lake. When I came back up, he had his arms crossed over his bare chest.
"Stop messing around, Jen," he joked.
I reached out and wrapped my hands around his knees before he could register what I was doing. I yanked as hard as I could and watched as he sank beneath the blue water.
When he came up for air, we both burst out laughing.
The lazy afternoon was mostly spent alternating between our chairs in the shade and floating in the lake. Eventually, Kyle and Hannah returned from wherever they had ventured off to. She clung tightly to his arm, clearly in love—or maybe it was lust. I rolled my eyes and pretended to gag myself. Kyle, somehow, didn't miss the gesture and glared at me.
They sat down on the edge of the water as the sun started to lower in the vast sapphire sky. I watched as he ran his hand through her short blond hair and tapped her button nose.
At the time, I wished Matt would do those things to me. But the sun made him sleepy, and he had dozed off in his chair next to mine. He was oblivious to my crush on him. It was never going to happen, no matter how much I wanted it to. There would never be a day where he would run his fingers through my hair. Never be a day where we would run off into the shelter of the pines to kiss and touch.
Frustrated, I decided to go for a short walk along the sandy bank before we loaded up and headed back home.
Catching my eye, a bright green rock sparkled as the golden rays of sunlight shone down. I bent to pick it up when I heard him behind me.
"Which card did I ruin?" he asked, his hands in the pockets of his red bathing suit. I tried not to stare at Kyle's toned stomach. For a moment, I wondered what it would feel like to run my fingers along his torso. What it would feel like if he ran his hands through my hair, touched my face.
I cleared my throat. "Ninetales. That card cost me 40 bucks."
"I'm sorry, Jenny," Kyle apologized.
"Did you know they can live for thousands of years?" I shared as I played with the rock in my hand, my eyes slowly rising to meet his. "I don't think I'd want to live that long. Would you?"
Kyle gave me a lopsided grin as his eyes raked over my face, his gaze softening. "Definitely not."
We slowly walked back together, neither of us saying more. His bare arm brushed against mine a few times, causing my heart to pitter-patter in my chest. Walking beside Kyle was always easy. We never had to fill the silence with words.
