Lake Emerald Chronicles: The First Summer: A Reverse Harem Romance

by Melissa Adams

  ‘Hey, I see you are meeting people without needing my introduction...’

  Oh, my god! Of course Joel has just arrived and is looking confusedly at my flushed face and angry expression and at the annoying guy still keeping hold of my biceps.

  ‘Oh, I haven’t really met anyone new yet...’

  He says with the most angelic look on his smug face.

  ‘... Tessa and I are old friends.’

  Joel looks even more confused.

  ‘Tessa? I thought your name was Clarissa...’

  Ok, so these are the first words he ever spoke directly to me in two years and of course douchebag had to be here to ruin the moment.

  ‘Oh, it’s just my nickname for her, as I said, we are old friends.’

  He says trying to keep from laughing but I can hear the scorn in his tone.

  ‘Oh, cool. So you will help me make Xander feel right at home, won’t you? He’s our new water sports and tennis instructor...’

  And with a distracted smile he runs away. I can’t believe that this hideous, infuriating caveman is going to spend the whole summer here! And he hasn’t let me go yet.

  ‘Will you please...’- I say with a strain in my voice, trying to keep my tone even and not to yell at him again-‘...Let me go, now?’

  He does but not before saying, with his usual smirk:

  ‘Why? Are you going to chase your crush?’

  ‘I don’t know what you are talking about!’

  He winks at me.

  ‘I noticed how you blushed when Joel spoke to you. Even an idiot could figure that one out. You are in loooove with him.’

  He sing songs the last bit mockingly and I am seriously about to lose it and slap him across the face: I have never wanted to hit anyone as much as I want to hit him.

  ‘Lower your voice, you asshat! I am red because you piss me off, not because of Joel!’

  He walks away with another wink:

  ‘So glad that you blushed because of me... but I better go mingle a little bit, we have the whole summer to get to know each other, Tessa.’

  ‘I don’t want to get to know you, just leave me alone!’

  I burst.

  ‘Who the hell is the hottie you were hugging?’

  Brie and Hazel approach me with curiosity.

  ‘We weren’t hugging, I actually absolutely loathe that guy.’

  I tell them about my first meeting with Xander.

  ‘You are telling me that you don’t like him? He’s smoking hot.’

  Brie is the one in our group who always exaggerates everything and I protest that it doesn’t matter how he looks like, he’s just insufferable.

  ‘From where we were observing, it looked like he was totally flirting with you...’

  Observes Hazel.

  ‘Well, it looked wrong. He was just being an ass and I hope to stay away from him before I kick him in the shin!’

  I pontificate while following my two best friends to the restaurant and sitting at a small table on purpose so we can chat about the people at camp this year and our likes and dislikes.

  Brie starts:

  ‘Ok, let’s talk about your guys situation here, Clary...’

  ‘What do you mean, guys situation?’

  Both Brie and Hazel chuckle and exchange a knowing look.

  ‘I seriously don’t get it, girls, so would you mind explaining?’

  ‘Oh come on, Clarissa!’- Brie laughs teasingly - ‘Logan of course?’

  I instantly blush: my body remembers the unusual reaction I had to his touch. Especially considering the fact that last year I used to hate having him always around.

  ‘Ok, well, he’s definitely grown up quite well...’

  I concede.

  ‘Are you fucking kidding? He’s hot and totally smitten with you. He’s determined to be way more than friends with you.’

  Trust Brie not to tip toe around a subject.

  ‘But on the other hand, you will have to compete with every single girl here. You should have seen the way everyone was looking at him. Including older girls and counsellors.’

  States Hazel.

  ‘And do we want to talk about Xander?’

  Brie again. Irritation surges through me at the only mention of his name.

  ‘What about Mr. Douche bag?’

  I snarl and that causes Brie and Hazel to exchange another look.

  ‘He can’t take his eyes off you, Clary.’

  I tell them both that they are totally mistaken and that the guy hates me and seems to really enjoy making fun of me and embarrassing me in public. I tell them about the airport and the flight.

  ‘He can’t even be bothered to use my real name and keeps calling me Tessa, the dip-shit!’

  Brie starts laughing until she is bright red.

  ‘What?’

  I retort.

  ‘First of all, I love your new potty mouth. Usually you are so polite and soft spoken and I end up being the sailor of the group but I see a certain guy has lit a fire in you, my dear friend...’

  I tell her that she has it all wrong and the only thing that Xander has managed to light is a fucking short fuse that will soon blow up in his face if he doesn’t leave me alone.

  ‘Well, Hazel and I totally disagree with your assessment of the situation, my dear...’ - she laughs to herself and observes that right now she sounds exactly like me - ‘...And guarantee you that Xander is only trying to get your attention and he definitely is interested in you.’

  I shake my head: unbelievable! Those two have completely misread the situation.

  ‘Competitors, though? Practically every single girl at camp again. And he’s an instructor so even the counsellors and female instructors will want to date him.’

  ‘And they can absolutely have him, so maybe he’ll be too busy making out with some unfortunate girl to bother me...’

  As for Brie, Ella is here and she was overheard saying that Matt will be here in a couple of days, which means that the two of them have stayed in touch but we don’t know if they are an item. Their social media don’t shed any light on the subject as they are both listed as single. She also caught the eye of one of the new instructors, a skinny, dark haired guy called Justin.

  Again, instructors are a bit of a touchy issue because they tend to be 18 or slightly older and don’t always pay attention to guests but prefer other instructors and counsellors.

  Hazel says she still likes Paul and Rob, who apparently is another new instructor and Justin’s best friend, has caught her eye too.

  Girls we don’t like?

  Ella is first on the list. Brie caught her making out with Matt last year and that makes her our enemy number one.

  There’s another counsellor called Lucy: a brunette who seemed really into Joel and is sitting with him at dinner too: she was here last summer as a guest and kept getting caught into the boys cabins, so had a bit of a reputation. Not that I have any shot with Joel but that makes me really dislike Lucy. And I did notice a few more girls who were eying us up in quite an unfriendly manner, two of them are new but we’ll see what they are like in the next few days.

  After dinner we all head down to the pool where the owners have lit some mini wood pits and provided the fixings to make s’mores and put music on for us.

  Large padded sofas and lounge chairs dot the poolside area and lots of fairy lights have been lit to give a bit of an enchanted vibe to the whole place, with the pool water shimmering with different coloured underwater lights.

  The girls and I look for somewhere nice to sit and in the meantime my eyes scan the room for Joel: I can’t help it, for the last two years it has been almost second nature for me to know where he is at all times.

  I spot him sitting near Lucy and her sister Bonnie and a blue eyed blonde I have never seen before: as usual he’s surrounded by girls, so I take notice of where he is and move on.

  Brie points out a poolside table which is empty and we head there and on our way we pass a table where Log
an is sitting also surrounded by girls. There’s a girl I don’t know with frizzy brown hair and beady eyes and another skinny one with poker straight brown hair and freckles sitting right by him and chatting him up a storm and those girls were eyeing us up at dinner in quite an unfriendly manner.

  I feel a pang of jealousy seeing Logan surrounded by girls and while that leaves me very confused, I just follow my BFFs to that empty table and watch Hazel turning on the gas fire pit in the middle of the coffee table and start making a s’more just to keep my hands busy and not look like I am spying on Logan or Joel.

  Once the s’more’s gooey goodness is ready, I sink my teeth into it and for just a second I enjoy the rich, velvety taste of the chocolate, the sticky sweet marshmallow and the crunchy Graham cracker and stop thinking about the summer, the camp, my family at home and just concentrate on the lovely treat I am enjoying.

  ‘You have some marshmallow on your face...’

  Logan startles me: he’s sitting on the plush pool couch just by my side and his eyes are twinkling in the soft evening light.

  I finish chewing and deposit the rest of the s’more on a paper plate, intending to grab a napkin and wipe my mouth when he swipes a finger at the corner of my bottom lip and shows me the white melted marshmallow on the tip of his finger before inserting said finger in his mouth to lick away the sugary substance.

  Somehow, I can’t take my eyes away from it and I swallow, suddenly a bit nervous.

  ‘I missed you at dinner, you sat with just Brie and Hazel but I was hoping to catch up...’

  He says with a smile.

  ‘It’s a bit of our tradition to have the first dinner just us three but she’s all yours now...’

  Says Brie with a knowing smile on her face.

  He smiles, his blue eyes dark and inscrutable in the dim poolside lighting.

  ‘Would you like to go for a walk with me?’

  Would I? Unbelievably, the answer is yes and I just nod. Somehow this all grown up Logan makes me a bit nervous and speechless as opposed to annoyed.

  We stand up and to my surprise, he grabs my hand and guides me out of the pool area and toward the beach through a wooded area.

  The air is fresh and the sky is full of stars now that there’s fewer artificial lights and the pine trees and the flowers of the wooded area that slopes down to the lake and the beach fill the air with an exhilarating mix of fragrances.

  Logan’s hand is dry and soft and envelopes mine completely while we stroll silently towards the beach.

  When our feet land on the soft sand, we both take our shoes off and leave them at the end of the paved path before stepping on the cool sand.

  We unlink our hands briefly and for some absolutely strange reason, I miss the contact with his skin but only briefly because he grabs my hand again and rubs his thumb between my thumb and index finger, giving me goosebumps all over again: this feeling isn’t completely unwelcome but at the same time it’s new and surprising because it’s Logan, who I never considered nothing more than an annoying little boy, never thinking he could make my heart beat a bit faster and make me feel excited an anxious at the same time.

  ‘So, Clary, how have you been this past year?’

  We walk along the water but keep away from the wet sand, still hand in hand.

  ‘To be honest, I just studied hard and narrowly avoided an internship at my mom’s firm, just because I am not 18. Nothing special really. What about you?’

  He stays quiet for a little while and then he says almost too quietly:

  ‘I just thought about you all year...’

  What? Did he really say that? I ask him to repeat and he explains:

  ‘I concentrated on school and sports, I played football and lacrosse at school last year and all year round, I was counting the days until I could be back here and see you again. I was hoping... I am hoping that this year we could get to spend more time together and to get to know you better and hopefully, you won’t just think that I am a nuisance this time around...’

  I seriously don’t know what to say: he was indeed a nuisance for the past two summers, following me around everywhere when I considered him a kid. But this new, grown up and hot version of him leaves me curious and a little bit breathless: damn, Brie is right that he’s hot and I cannot believe that he isn’t mad at me for ignoring him and he actually wants to be around me when this year he could have any girl he set his eyes on here at camp.

  He asks me if I want to sit down on a hollow tree trunk near a group of shrubs on the sand and I agree: he doesn’t let go of my hand and we lower ourselves on the smoothed out tree trunk, our shoulders and outer thighs lightly touching.

  We are nearer the water and a cool breeze is blowing towards us making me shiver: I totally blame it on the breeze but Logan’s closeness is definitely a factor.

  ‘Are you cold?’

  I nod and he takes his hoodie off to place it gently on my shoulders: I am instantly enveloped in his sweet cotton candy scent and I shiver again.

  ‘Oh, poor thing, you really are freezing!’

  He says letting go of my hand and wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pushing me closer to him.

  Our cheeks almost touch and for once I am glad that the moon and the stars are the only light we have on the beach tonight so he can’t see me blush at having him so close.

  ‘Is this any better?’

  He asks.

  ‘Yes, thank you.’

  I nod and I can’t say I am sorry when he pushes me just a little bit closer.

  ‘Clary... Before I get my heart seriously broken, I have to ask you a question...’

  I encourage him to ask me whatever he wants.

  ‘Do you have a boyfriend back in LA?’

  If we weren’t alone on the beach and if his intoxicating masculine scent and proximity weren’t making my heart beat super fast in my throat, I would actually laugh.

  Thankfully, I think before telling him that I spent the whole year thinking about Joel and I just tell him that I don’t have a boyfriend.

  ‘No... Do you?’

  He chuckles and his lips come near my ear, his warm breath tickling my jaw and neck.

  ‘Do I have a boyfriend? Hmm... No, I don’t.’

  I laugh at his goofiness.

  ‘No, silly. I mean a girlfriend. Do you have a girlfriend?’

  He’s quiet for a moment and I think he’s going to tell me all about his girlfriend back in San Francisco but he puts his index finger under my chin, tilting my head towards him and looking into my eyes.

  ‘No, I don’t. As I said, I had my heart set on someone the whole year but since she wouldn’t friend me on any social media, I didn’t even know if she was taken until tonight...’

  He’s looking into my eyes and in the soft, dim light, his eyes look dark and deep.

  His eyes leave mine for a second and go down to my lips and I totally think he’s about to kiss me until a shriek from a group of trees right behind us startles us and makes us jump apart from each other.

  We hear the rustling of leaves and bushes and Lucy walks out of the thick of trees followed by Xander.

  ‘You are a real asshole, dude! Seriously!’

  She yells lowering the skirt of her clingy jersey dress while he comes out right behind her zipping back up the fly of his shorts.

  She stomps towards us until she finally sees us and scolds:

  ‘What are you kids doing here in the dark? Go back to the pool party or go to bed, it’s almost curfew anyway! Come on, scram!’

  We stand up and start walking away back towards the cabins and I swear that all the way back out of the beach, I feel Xander’s eyes boring holes in my back.

  Whatever’s his problem! Sure, he might be eighteen but what gives him the right to judge when he and Lucy were doing who knows what and Logan and I were only talking.

  He takes my hand again and we walk back up the paved path and stop in front of my cabin.

  He looks down at me with his
cloudless sky coloured eyes.

  ‘I would really love to have breakfast with you tomorrow morning...’

  ‘That would be nice...’

  I agree.

  ‘Well, I am in cabin 8, so I am on your way down to the restaurant, would you come knock on my door to make sure that I don’t oversleep? If you don’t see me out, please come in and open the curtains, I am a bit of a sound sleeper and I really would like to have breakfast with you tomorrow...’

  We agree on 8.30 and he lets go of my hand to give me a hug: he distances himself from me just enough to look again in my eyes and like he did on the beach, his gaze drops to my lips.

  His face comes closer and closer and this time, I really think that I might get a real first kiss: my heart is racing and he pushes me closer, our chests touching until we jump apart again, startled by two different voices giggling from my front door.

  Brie and Hazel have the door slightly ajar and are looking at us shrieking and giggling.

  The moment is definitely gone and Logan places a soft, warm kiss on my cheek and lightly squeezes my hand before saying goodnight and walking up towards his cabin.

  ‘Night Brie and Hazel!’

  He chuckles on his way out and I stay on the door until he’s out of sight, then I get into my cabin and shut the door behind me.

  ‘So, tell us, tell us, tell us!’

  Shrieks Brie bouncing up and down excitedly.

  I sigh.

  ‘Well, there’s nothing much to tell, since I have some very nosy friends who definitely can’t be trusted with my privacy...’

  I say only partially crossed and then I tell them everything including the encounter with Lucy and Xander on the beach.

  ‘Sorry for the cock blocking, Clary but wow! I think you have a boyfriend... On the first day of camp, nonetheless, I think its a world record!’

  I protest that he isn’t my boyfriend but the butterflies in my stomach seem to be hopeful that very soon Brie might be right.

  It’s all exciting and a bit incredible that the boy causing all these feelings is Logan.

  I go to bed a bit excited about tomorrow but the last thought in my mind is surprisingly that Joel knows my name, so he must know that I exist after all.

  3.