"They made it!" Nicole exclaimed in a loud whisper. We stumbled down the steps to the lean-to, trembling not just out of anxiety, but it was freezing outside. I doubted it was much more than 50 degrees out by the lake.
"Hey!" Taylor jumped up, happy to see we'd made it.
"You beat us here!" Nicole delared the obvious.
"How long have you been waiting?" I asked, as I sat next to Taylor. He immediately took my hand in his and rubbed them softly to keep them warm. His touch warmed my whole body and I scooted closer. I could see Nicole giving me the "I knew it" look.
"Only about five minutes," Isaac told us.
"How did you ever get out?" Nicole asked Isaac curiously and flirtatiously. Looks like Nicole and Ike could have a possibility tonight.
"Well, we heard someone out in the main area, so we knew we couldn't go out the front door. We looked around for another way and realized: hey, what about the window!" Isaac explains.
"But your cabin doesn't have real windows, does it?" Nicole pondered.
"Yeah, we just popped out the staples," Isaac bragged.
"Didn't that break it?" I asked.
"Nah," Isaac continued. "It's easy to fix."
"Did Zac know you guys were sneaking out?" I wondered aloud. Nicole gave me a little look as if to say 'you have Taylor, get over the little one!' I didn't want Zac anymore though, I was just curious.
"We didn't say anything to him, but I think he knew we were up to something," Taylor said.
"So we wanted to be really quiet," Isaac continued. "We didn't wear our shoes, we took them along. We didn't put them on until we got here.."
"Wow," I admired their efforts. It must not have been all that pleasant walking on gravel in the dark without shoes.
"The stars are really nice tonight," Taylor changed the subject and dazed into my eyes. "Do you want to look at them with me?"
"Sure," I told him. Even though it was dark, I could see a twinkle in his eye that set me on fire. I followed Taylor out to a rock right beside the lake where we began our stargazing, leaving Nicole and Isaac awkwardly alone in the lean-to.
"Sooo..." I started. Isaac offered me a nervous laugh. Why was he nervous? He was talking with such ease and confidence before, what was his problem now? "Your email address is really weird. Where did it come from?"
"Oh, haha, that's the name of a song that Taylor and I wrote," Isaac said. He seemed to be thinking about something because of a faraway look in his eyes.
"But I thought you guys weren't in the same band?"
"We're not, but he and I wrote the song. His band plays it, though," he explained. It still sounded kind of weird to me, but I decided not to question it any longer. Then, out of nowhere, the wind picked up for a brief second, chilling the already cold air. I felt a shiver make it's way though out my entire body and goosebumps prickled all over. I guess that without even realizing it, I pulled myself into a ball and my teeth began to chatter.
"Cold?" Isaac asked, a hint of humor filling his voice. I smiled and nodded. He put his hand over mine. His hands were so warm! How could it be possible when it was so cold outside? Warm hands, warm heart? I looked down at his hand over mine and then up into his golden brown eyes.
"Not as much now," I said sweetly. He was obviously trying to be sweet to me, and I had to admit that it was working. Then he let his fingers entwine with my own, which forced a feeling of glee in me. I'm a sucker for romantic stuff, and even though hand-holding is such a common theme for couples, it still makes me feel special when someone voluntarily holds my hand. But I wasn't sure on Isaac's motives. Why was he doing this? Just because he didn't want to be left out? Or did he really want to get to know me? Gently, I let my thumb stroke over his. Then, without hesitation, I leaned my head onto his shoulder. I could hear him inhale the scent of my hair, which was only Suave shampoo, but he seemed perfectly content with that. Something with us clicked. I wasn't sure as to what it was, but our personalilties connected and once we started talking, we couldn't stop.
"Let's play a game," I decided. He seemed open to pretty much anything. "I'll ask you a question, you'll answer it, then you'll ask me a question, and I'll answer it and so on and so forth."
"Okay, you go first, though," he agreed. I thought for a few second and chose to start with something easy.
"Is this your first time at Indian Lake?" I asked him. My head was positioned on the right spot of his chest/shoulder area and I could both hear and feel him take a deep breath before answering.
"Yes," he replied simply. "But my aunt has been trying to get us to come up here for years. Now I wish we would've come with her sooner. It's so beautiful. What about you?"
"It's my first time here, too," I admitted, then waited for him to asked my a question, but he appeared to be waiting, too.
"Your turn," he smiled slyly.
"Oh, you loser. That was such a cheap shot," I joked. That's when I decided to get a little more personal. "Have you ever kissed a girl before? And if so, how old were you?"
He hesitated before answering. "Yes, I've kissed a girl before ... and my first kiss was about three months ago," he said. I didn't know what to think. He was 19 and just had his first kiss? Then I concluded that it was sweet. Aww, he's such an innocent Christian boy! I smiled. He reversed the question on me.
>>NICOLE<<
I couldn't think of anything to say to Isaac after Julia and Taylor had taken off to look at the stars. I searched my mind for something interesting to talk about; just something to break the ice. Mmmbop@aol.com stood out as I remembered their email address and how I wanted to asked them about it.
Chapter Five
Chapter Seven