Lakeside Whispers

I ambled out of the lake in my two-piece black swimsuit. It was two in the morning, no one around, so I whipped the water out of my hair, tied the ribbons to my see-through dark crimson overthrow around my waist, and went for a quiet walk. All I could hear were the waves churning in the lake peacefully, and the light thud of my heels hitting the warm pavement. I walked along the edge, in case some random crazy drunk driver was also camping and decided to ram around the corner.

The pavement kind of sparkled from the pebbles and tiny rocks engraved being lit by the moonlight. It was quite beautiful actually. Every now and then I’d hear a rustle of grass, only to turn and find that it was just a cute little bunny rabbit, or a whitetail doe prancing back to its herd.

My hair was fluttering in the cool wind and was starting to dry. I could tell because the loose strands kept smacking me in the face. I looked for a ponytail, but I had forgotten them back at the campsite. I stopped a second, debated going back, but reconsidered and kept walking.

All of a sudden I heard cough come from down the road, then a few whispers. I stopped, squinted my eyes and finally focused with help of the moonlight. I saw a boy, around my age, maybe a year older, strolling my way, staring towards the ground. His hands were in his jeans pockets, t-shirt crinkling up just above his belt underneath his lettermen jacket, his hat on backwards, and his skater shoes lightly scraping the ground. He must have been whispering to himself.

I stepped to the side, attempting to avoid him completely, but I stepped on a stick and groaned a little from the pain. Obviously, my little sound of expression was enough to catch his attention.

“Who’s there?” He asked. He stopped walking, stood up straight, pulled his hands out of his pockets fidgeting with his belt and adjusted his hat. “I said, ‘Who’s there?’”

“Um, hi.” I kind of whimpered. I was scared. I wasn’t sure what he was capable of. Then a gust of wind brushed my hair across my face, pulled at my overthrow, and sent shivers down my spine. I tugged at my overthrow and pulled it tighter to me. It wasn’t helping much considering its see-through netting gave it air spaces, but the wind died down and it was back to a cool breeze.

“Who are you?” He asked, still cautious.

“My name is Alexis, but you can call me… Alex, Lexi, or, what…ever… you want…” I started getting nervous, and as I kept talking, I stuttered and started growing quieter.

There was a slight pause. “I’m Thomas…” He said. “But you can call me Tom, or whatever you want.” He added with a light laugh.

I let a sigh of relief escape my lips. Meeting some complete stranger half past two in the morning wasn’t exactly an easy-going moment.

He took slower, longer strides than before as he came closer. Putting his hand out in front of him, as if to shake, he said with a slight smile forming at his lips “nice to meet you, Lexis”. I grinned and shook his hand.

“Pleased to meet you as well, Tommy.” He laughed again. I do admit, his laugh was cute, as was he.

He looked around at the trees, at the grass, towards the dark sky, moon, and stars. “So… what are you doing out here, in the middle of the night, walking around in… hardly anything, say aren’t you cold?” He asked pulling off his jacket.

I tugged my overthrow around me. “Just a little bit, but shouldn’t I be asking you the same question? It’s half past two and you’re wandering around like you don’t have a care in the world.”

“Come here. I promise I don’t bite.” He grinned. “I’m walking around because I’m tired of spending time with all of my friends for the time being. They’re off back at the camp acting like complete idiots. Then again, I’m normally just the same, but I figured I’d catch some fresh air while I’m here.”

I sauntered on over and he wrapped his jacket around my shoulders. I noticed that on the back it said “Leushan”. I recognized the name from a school close to mine, just about twenty miles north. “Thomas Leushan, where are you from?”

“I’m from Clayle. Why do you ask? Where are you from?”

“I just remember your name is all. I live over in Rocklin.”

“Oh yea? What’s your last name?” He adjusted his hat again, and I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful his blue eyes were, and how nicely they contrasted with his dark brown hair. The light wrinkles at the corners of his eyes through his curiosity intensified his eyes. I really liked the way his eyes gently but deeply sunk into mine.

“Claury. Alexis Claury.” I slipped behind the opening of his jacket. He must have noticed cause he took a tiny step closer and zipped it up three fourths of the way with a little smile on his face.

“Alexis Claury, huh. I’ve heard about you.” He said with confidence as he looked back up into my eyes, his hands slowly falling away from his jacket. “Only good of course, from a couple of girls that go to my school. Honest, trusting, and easy to get along with.” His hands slipped back into his pockets as he glanced down at the ground, then bashfully looked in my eyes again. The strange effect his eyes had on me. They were soft, but they stood out.

I blushed. He seemed like quite the charmer. “So what are you doing here anyway?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“Well, right now I’m talking to you silly…” He laughed light, I giggled. “No, actually we came out here to just hang out, do some jet skiing, spend the time away from home. What about you?”

“Well, a few friends of mine and I came out here to hang out, get out of the house and away from that tiny town of ours.”

“Yea, it is pretty small, huh. Well, we’re not doing much of anything, you’re more than welcome to go back with me if you want. They’re probably still roasting marshmallows and singing around the campfire. Not that exciting, but hey, wouldn’t you rather spend the night with some people than walking around all by yourself?”

“Wouldn’t you rather spend time with people than walk around all by yourself?”

“I could say touché, but on the contraire, why would I want to be alone, if I’m asking you to come with me now?” He asked with a genuine smile as he held out his hand for me to grab.

I considered pushing his hand away and giving a flirtatious smile, but he seemed like a gentleman, so I went ahead and laced my fingers with his. He pulled my arm closer to his, in order to get me to walk closer to him every now and then. It was cute. He took me on many twists and turns; luckily I knew this lake, in the case of us getting lost. Finally we reached a quiet place, with a low burning fire, two people wrapped in a blanket to the side, a boy still roasting marshmallows, two girls dipping their feet in the water at the beach, and another girl sitting at a picnic table with a small candle, doodling away on paper.

The boy with the marshmallows, the girl at the table, and one of the girls near the water all looked up. Consecutively they all said hello. The other girl near the water also joined in.

Tom looked down at me. “Lexis, that’s Rochelle at the table, Mimi to the left and Liann over there by the water, and Chad here at the fire. Everyone, this is Alexis.” Everyone gave a friendly smile and wave. Tom then took me over to the couple in the blanket and pulled the covers back so I could see their faces. “This is Bryan and Kayla. They’re obviously sleeping…”

We then stayed around for about an hour and hung out with his awoken friends. They were quite entertaining to say the least, most similar to my own friends. He’d have to find that out later.

After awhile, he lightly tugged at my hand motioned his head to go on a short walk and pulled me over to another table down the beach a little ways. He sat down and pulled me up onto the table next to him.

“So what do you think of my crazy friends?” He said with a slight giggle.

“They seem much like my own. Very fun. We should all hang out often.” He pulled out his phone.

“What’s your number? I can definitely give you a call and we can hang out sometime later.” I took his phone from him.

“Here, take my phone.” He started to look for contacts and was about to put his number in there, but I took it down so he couldn’t see what he was doing. I looked him in the eyes and grinned a little. “You really want to hang out again?” I asked.

He looked so deeply into my eyes, I was almost scared to look back. He kept drawing me in, but it was so amazing. “Yes, I really do.”

“Okay. If you really want to, then you keep my phone, and call yours later after I go back. If you want to get your phone back, you’ll have to see me, so either way we’ll both be happy with meeting again, and getting our phones back.” I said with a little giggle.

“Smart thinker you are. That’s cute.” He pushed my phone down into his pocket. I put his into my overthrow’s zip-pocket and zipped it shut so I wouldn’t lose it.

We sat there in silence for about another half hour, holding hands, watching the lake ripple side to side, and seeing the sun begin to make a small semi-circle of light blue sky start appearing. In about another hour the sun was going to be peaking over the horizon. Over the period of time he gradually, yet very smoothly scooted even closer to me.

Tom looked deep into my eyes, then lightened his look and asked me to follow him because he wanted to show me something. He grabbed a blanket and a beanbag from their truck and carried them over to this big hill. He the beanbag down, sat in it, and asked me to sit in his lap.

“Are you sure you want me to sit on your lap?” I looked at him like he was half crazy.

“Yes, I do. Come here.” He patted his thigh, so I lightly went and sat down. His thought was slightly different. He widened his legs and sat me between them. Then he lightly pulled at my shoulders and had me lay down across his chest, pulling the blanket over the both of us. He rested his chin on my shoulder, his arms wrapping around my stomach, and told me to just watch the lake and the sky.

I stole my phone out of his pocket, sent a text to my friends telling them I was hanging out with some people from a different campsite, and would be back later. I slipped my phone back in his pocket and he lightly tightened his hold on me. Cuddling up to him beneath the blankets, we laid there for an hour, until the sun came reached the horizon, and the ripples of the lake reflected the yellow blob. He rubbed my forearms and looked out.

“See how beautiful it is?” I looked. It was absolutely gorgeous how the hills rolled, the water shimmered, the sky beamed, and how he was so sensitive.

“I’ve always wanted to share this with someone.”

“I’m glad it was me.” I said in a whisper. It almost made me speechless how romantic he was.

Over the past few hours, I grew to like him even more. So, instead of keeping him all to myself, I took him back to my campsite to meet my friends. After that, it was party time!

We put everything back where it went, told his friends where we’d be, then set on our way. He held my hand inside his jacket pocket; he knew I was still cold so he kept me as warm as he could.

The time slowly elapsed and about half way home he stopped me in the middle of the road.

“Something wrong, Tom?” I asked. He seemed to be contemplating something.

“Yea. But it’s not that big of a deal.” He shrugged, still standing there instead of walking.

“What’s on your mind?” I ran my free hand along his chest and looked up at him.

He took my hand, looked at me, and tenderly, but so passionately kissed my lips. His lips were so soft, his breath warm, his face smooth. It was so sweet.

“It’s been on my mind since I met you.” Not only was he a good kisser, but a hopeless romantic. He never ceased to amaze me. I felt my face flush. He must have noticed cause he just smiled, laced his fingers with mine, and we kept walking until we reached my campsite.

The look on everyone’s face, was quite amusing at that.