Page 43 of That Summer Feeling

I couldn’t see the person, but I knew the voice. It was Stevie. And she wasmad.

When I lifted myself up, her flashlight moved lower in response, no longer beaming straight into my eyeballs. It allowed me to catch a quick look at her face. She was furious. Even the hand she had wrapped around her phone seemed overly tense, squeezing tight enough that the white pads of her fingertips were visible around the edge of the light.

“I fell asleep,” I told her, wiping my dirty palms against my clothing. “I was trying to find my way back to the campgrounds.”

“I thought you went missing,” she said. “I haven’t seen you in hours.”

“I wanted to be by myself. I’ve been making such a royal mess of things, I figured everyone needed some Garland-free time.”

“You thought the appropriate solution was to come to my hideout? No one knew where you were,” Stevie said.

I couldn’t stop myself from trying to change her mood. I didn’t want her to be mad at me. “Isn’t that what a hideout is for?” I asked, attempting a laugh. “Hiding?”

Stevie had no response. My efforts looked like they were working, at least a little.

“Also, if I can point out,youknew I was here,” I told her. It thrilled me to know she’d figured me out. Even when I’d tried to hide, she’d found me.

“I kept thinking you’d show up at the mixer,” she said. “Then the band asked where you were, and you didn’t magically appear to lead us all in a two-step across the dance floor, so I knew you were legitimately missing. Michelle hadn’t seen you. The twins hadn’t seen you. My brother, yoursoulmate, hadn’t seen you.”

It was meant to be a dig, and that’s exactly how I received it. Could she not see how little her brother meant to me? How did she not know it was her? It had always been her.

“Your sister said you were probably mad at her, but she didn’t have anything else to offer,” Stevie continued.

“That sounds like Dara,” I said. “And your brother’snotmy soulmate.”

Stevie didn’t hear me, because she hadn’t stopped speaking herself. “I’ve been walking around the campgrounds looking for you, figuring surely you didn’t come out here, because it’s way too dark after the sun goes down!”

“I’ve never been here after the sun goes down,” I countered. “I didn’t know it was gonna get this dark. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was just relaxing.”

Stevie threw her hands in the air, her flashlight pointed at the sky. Nothing I could say seemed to please her. “Don’t youdareapologize,” she told me, anticipating my next move right as my lips had formed those exact syllables.

“You’re so upset with me,” I said instead.

“I’m not upset. I wasworried. If something happened to you...” She let the sentence trail off, a thousand different endings playing through in my mind.

“No need to worry. I’m here in one piece.”

She harrumphed, stepping closer, then stepping back. “You saved my life, and I didn’t say thank you.”

“I’m the one who tipped the boat,” I reminded her. “There was nothing to thank me for.”

“Itipped the boat,” she shot back.

“I stood up first.”

“And I stood up second. It was me standing that tipped us over.”

“Right, but you were only standing because I was standing.”

“This isn’t about standing.”

“Isn’t it?”

“I wasn’t speaking to you,” she said, quieter.

“You were ignoring me because I keep making your life harder. Like when I tipped the boat over,” I said.

She did not entertain the boat debate. Instead she whispered, “You’re not making my life harder.”