>>JULIA<<

We returned to the cabin for lunch, figuring they'd probably return soon and come to our door. But they didn't. A little over an hour later, we decided to go for a little walk to the Lake Store, about a mile down the road. Passing their cabin on the way out of camp, we saw that their car still wasn't there.

"They'll definitely be back by the time we get back," I assured Nicole.

It took us about twenty minutes to walk to the store, where we spent most of our time using the pay phone to call our friends. After about another twenty minutes, we headed back. The round trip was a little over an hour long. To our unfortunate luck, their car was still absent from their parking spot. We groaned and I suggested we take the note back since by the time they read it, it will already be evening considering that it was nearly 3 PM.

"No, just leave it," Nicole convinced me. "Besides, what's the worst that can happen? We get embarrassed and never have to see them again? It's worth the risk, Jule."

"Okay, okay, leave the note," I gave in. She was right, it wasn't a big risk at all.

Back at the cabin, we played two rounds of Boggle, three games of Spit, and one game of War. Doing nothing made me sleepy. I curled into my bed and declared, "I'm taking a nap."

I shut my eyes, contented, until Nicole said, "Well, I'm going to the lean-to." My eyes shot open and glared at her as she tied her shoes. I knew that if she went alone to the lean-to that the brothers would show up and I'd be here, asleep.

"I'm coming, too," I jumped up, no longer tired and tied my shoes in a rush.

"Take your summer reading along," Nicole handed me the dreaded Brave New World. "We'll read."

"Okay," I said rather flatly, taking the book from her.

I got to about page three in the book when we heard voices approaching the dock/lean-to area. It was the three brothers! I became quite nervous, wondering if they'd read our note and thought we were complete dorks.

Zac ran past us, but did take about about half a second to wave before he dove into the bitterly cold water. How could he stand it, I wondered. His two brothers followed shortly after and The Hairy One also waved before totally passing us up for the ice water lake. Nicole and I were both feeling pretty dumb. They must have just been polite to us and didn't really care at all since we figured they'd possibly, you know, stop and talk to us.

The Hairy One jumped in after Zac, but The Middle One shyed away and instead, came and joined us in the lean-to. We were actually quite surprised since we hadn't talked to The Middle One before; we'd hardly seen him. He was really sweet though.

"Hi, my name is Taylor," he introduced himself, smiling at me.

"I'm Julia," I said, relieved that someone had finally come to speak to us. So I guess they did find our note?"

"I'm Nicole," Nicole said in a flirtatious voice. I looked to her slyly, wondering if she had a new crush.

Within a few akward seconds, The Hairy One came and joined us as well.

"Kinda cold, huh?" I directed to him as he situated himself in one of the lean-to's Adirondack style chairs.

"Yeah, I couldn't really get used to it," he replied.

"It looks like he's having a ball," Nicole pointed to Zac, who was happily demonstrating 101 Ways to Jump into a Body of Water.

"That's Zac," The Hairy One explained. "He's like a charged battery -"

Taylor interrupted, "Haha, he's got energy all day, but once his head hits the pillow -"

"He's gone," The Hairy One finished. "I'm Isaac, by the way," he extended his hand out to me.

"I'm Julia," I told him, reaching out my hand to meet his.

He turned to Nicole, "I'm Nicole, nice to meet you." Isaac smiled as we continued in conversation. He was pretty funny, not the best looking guy ever, but definitely handsome in that kind of way. Taylor was rather quiet, so I decided to try and include him more in the conversation. I turned toward him and asked him what kind of music he liked.

"All kinds," he replied, "mainly classic rock."

"Oh cool!" I answered. "Like Aerosmith?"

"Totally," Taylor said. I guess we had a lot in common.

"Well, he mainly only likes the kind of music he can play," Isaac jumped in. Taylor gave Isaac a slightly annoyed look.

"What do you play?" I asked.

"Mainly the keyboards, but I'm also a decent drummer and guitarist," Taylor bragged.

"Wow," was all I could say. I played the keyboard when I was 10, but all I could play was "Happy Birthday." I tried out the flute when I was 12, but that didn't really work out, either.

"I'm the guitarist," Isaac seemed perturbed.

"Oh, so you two play in a band?" Nicole inquired.

"Well, yeah, but not together," Isaac informed us.

"We're both in bands, just not the same one," Taylor finished.

"Okay," I said, which was followed by several seconds of empty silence.

"So, how old are you guys?" I changed the subject.

"I'm 19," Isaac told us.

"I'm 17," Taylor added.

"How old is he?" Nicole asked, referring to Zac. I really hoped she wasn't being too obvious about his incredible looks and her, well our crushes on him.

"Fourteen," Isaac said as Zac finished his jump-in-get-out-jump-back-in routine he'd been doing for the past fifteen minutes. Drying his long blonde mane with a towel, he joined us in the lean-to.

"Hi!" he said with bright caramel eyes and a shining smile.

"What's your name?" Nicole was enthusiastic about capturing his attention.

"Zac," he told her before averting his eyes back out to the lake.

Still trying, she told him, "I'm Nicole." He turned to look at her again, then to me.

"I'm Julia," I said.

He looked from one to us to the other then said, "Hey, were you the girls who videotaped me the other day?"

Nicole's breathing seemed to stop as she most likely began to go into shock. I, on the other hand, quickly decided to give the blame where it was due, "Nicole's the one with the video camera." I could tell she wanted to kill me as she stumbled for an explanation.

>>NICOLE<<

My mind raced for and explanation that wouldn't make me sound like a cradle-robbing, psychotic, 17-year-old freak. Before too much time slipped by, I realized that I had to react to Julia's last comment because four pairs of eyes were on me, awaiting a response. I only hoped that my face hadn't blushed at all.

"See, here's what happened," I started. I could tell that even Julia was waiting with anticipation to hear what my excuse was going to be, even though she already knew the truth. She thinks it so hilarious when I get put on the spot. "Julia and I had gone swimming -"

"You guys went swimming that day? It was so cold out!" Zac interrupted me. The interruption was gladly welcome because it made me feel as ease because it didn't seem as though Zac minded being filmed.

"Yeah; so my parents would actually believe that I did such a stupid thing, I got the camera and we went back to the dock to explain everything. As we were walking back, I saw someone in the distance, but I couldn't tell who it was, so I zoomed in and it was you,"

"Oh, okay," Zac said, seemingly content with my reply. I shot a look at Julia, but she was smiling, so my attempt at a death look soon vanished.

"So, where are you guys from?" Julia asked.

"Oklahoma," Isaac replied.

"Oklahoma? What are you doing all the way up here?" she asked.

"Every July we come up to visit our aunt,"

"She was the lady on the dock with us the other day," Isaac interrupts Taylor.

"We visit her every July -she lives in New York- and this week she was going to be here, so we came with her," Taylor finished his explanation. "What about the two of you? Are you from around here?"

I could tell from the way that his head was tilted, the way his eyes shone and the tone of his voice that he was directing the question more towards Julia than towards me.

"Maryland," both Julia and I answered at the same time, making everyone laugh. We continued chatting up a storm for at least another fifteen minutes. Zac suddenly stood up and looked at his watch, which had to have been waterproof because of it's bright yellow plastic face.

"We've been here too long," he said. "Mom said that dinner would be ready in ten minutes and that was about twenty minutes ago." He then wrapped his towel around his shoulders and left to go eat. Isaac stood as well.

"He's right. And now that I think about it, I am pretty hungry. Mom's making her famous hamburgers," he said, getting ready to walk out of the lean-to. Julia made a face; she's a vegetarian.

"Well go ahead," Taylor encouraged him. "I'm not very hungry. I'll stay here."

"Are you sure?" Isaac asked. Taylor nodded, Isaac only shurgged his shoulders in response and waved goodbye.

I guess you can say that I'm sort of on the quiet side, and this situation proves my shyness to its fullest extent. Julia and Taylor were talking so much, yet I hardly said a word. Though they would ask me questions, I would only give one or two word answers. I know that I'm shy, but for some reason, I felt myself growing more and more shy as their conversation continued.

As they talked, I could tell by the little flirtatious gestures that Julia was tossing around, and by the way that Taylor smiled at her, that there was some kind of connection between the two of them. That was mostly why I was being more quiet than usual. I felt like a third wheel. He liked her and she liked him.

To my fortunate luck, within a few minutes of leaving us, Isaac returned to the lean-to wearing regular clothes instead of his swimming trunks.

"Hey Tay -" Isaac said. We all turned our attention to him.

"You ate already?" I asked, incredously. "Damn, you must've been hungry."

"No ... it's just that Mom wants you back at the cabin," Isaac told Taylor, "pronto."

"But I'm not hungry. Tell her I'm not hungry," Taylor said to Isaac, who only shook his head.

"I did tell her that, but she sent me down to get you anyway. You better get back to the cabin before she comes down here and drags you back herself."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," Taylor said, getting up. "I'll be back in about ten minutes."

"We'll probably be here," Julia assured him. He gave her one last smile and walked ahead of Isaac, who smiled at the both of us.

"Trust him ... it'll be about ten minutes. It won't take us long to eat," he told us. We waved to him as he left. Just as he walked away, Julia and I both busted out in hysterical laughter. I then guessed to myself that she had seen what I had seen. Isaac's fly had been all the way down.

After our laughter subsided, we got serious.

"So, what do you think?" I asked Julia, referring to her opinion on all three boys.

She smiled slyly. "I think," she said, then gave a little giggle, "that I like Taylor." I smiled in response. I loved being right. "What do you think?"

"They all seem really nice," I said. "I also think that Taylor's in love with you!" She shoved me playfully and I fell over from my sitting position on the bench. I knew that she detected his fancying towards her as well.

"He can't love me," she protested, "because he doesn't even know me."

"Hello?!" I said, as I sat back up, then tucked my legs under my body in an Indian-style manner. "Ever hear of love at first sight?"

"Yeah, but shouldn't both people feel the same way for love at first sight?" she asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

Chapter Two