One Hot Summer

by Heidi McLaughlin

  Once again, feelings of jealously threatened to overwhelm me. What would it be like to be one of the wild, beautiful girls who could hang out at a party all night, hooking up with any guy of my choosing?

  Not that I wanted that lifestyle, necessarily, but I was envious of the confidence and freedom this girl obviously possessed. And her perfect boobs. Mine were okay, small perky handfuls, but nothing to write home about.

  Part of me wondered why Aiden had chosen to hang out with me tonight instead of her. That could’ve been him in there, being pleasured by a gorgeous naked girl with bombshell boobs. Instead of watching a nerdy girl paint with ketchup on pavement.

  By the time we made it back to the camper, my feelings must’ve been evident on my face.

  “Hey,” Aiden said gently as we stepped inside the dimly lit space. “You okay?”

  I stared at his handsome features. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.” His eyes met mine. They were the most amazing shade of blue. Reminded me of the cerulean crayon I had loved deeply as a child.

  I glanced down at my Converse.

  Put your big girl panties on, Em.

  “Why did you pick hanging out with me tonight over, uh, what your brother was doing? I mean, I saw her earlier. You were definitely her first choice.”

  He looked at me as if I’d just asked why brains weren’t considered a delicacy. “Seriously? That’s what you’re thinking about right now?”

  I nodded. “It’s a reasonable question. Most guys would pick that over this any day.”

  He leaned forward, his lips almost grazing mine. “Two things,” he said softly. “One, I’m not most guys. And two, I’ve learned that most things worth having don’t come easy.”

  I wanted to kiss him again, but more than that, I wanted him to kiss me. My body ached for contact and he was so close.

  “I’m worth having?”

  His thumb traced my bottom lip. “You’re worth whatever it takes to get to know you. I’ve wanted to get to know you all summer, but you always rush into class late and run out of class early. Want to know a secret?”

  “I’m bad at time management?”

  He grinned. “I go into the coffee shop like three or four times a week hoping to see you.”

  My heart plummeted straight into my stomach. Swallowing became difficult. “You do?” I choked out.

  His eyes gleamed down at me. “I don’t even like coffee that much. You’re just…not like anyone else I’ve ever known. You’re intense. Focused. Thoughtful. Most people I know are addicted to their phones, attached to them, like, I don’t know, a lifeline or something. You let yours die and hardly look at it unless you’re checking on the well-being of someone you care about.”

  “So, you’re interested in me because I can’t keep my phone charged?”

  He huffed out a breath and gathered his thoughts before speaking again. “I’m interested in you because you turn everything into art. I’ve seen you making mosaics out of straw wrappers in class. I’m interested in a girl who takes care of her little brother, one who didn’t judge me earlier, or slut-shame Kenzie because she enjoys sex. I’m interested in spending every second I can with someone who is happy with a few packs of condiments as paint. You’re the first girl I’ve spent time with that isn’t constantly taking selfies or looking at social media trying to find somewhere better to be.”

  “You want to know a secret?” I asked, gathering all my courage and boldly stepping into his personal space.

  He eyed me carefully and nodded.

  “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

  This time, when our mouths met, he kissed me.

  6

  Aiden

  I didn’t know how she ended up straddling me on the couch, but it felt so good I never wanted it to end.

  My hands couldn’t get enough of her skin. She moved like a porn star above me, grinding her pussy against my lap and moaning into my mouth. Every time our tongues met, it sent heat coursing through my body like lightening.

  “Aiden,” she whispered when I pulled her hips down onto mine. “I need…”

  I knew what she needed.

  “You need to come, sweetheart,” I rasped into her ear. “Has anyone ever made you come?”

  She shook her head. “Just myself. In the shower.”

  Oh, fuck yeah.

  “We can fix that.” I lifted her easily, moving our dry humping party to the bed in the back of the camper. Together we removed the shirts of mine she wore and the sweatpants.

  In only her pale pink bra and panties, she was laid out before me like a meal I couldn’t wait to devour.

  I stood at the end of the bed, pulling my shirt overhead. When I began to undo the button of my jeans, I saw panic in her eyes.

  “I’ve never,” she began quietly, dropping her eyes from mine. “So, um, maybe just—”

  “We’ll go slow. We won’t do anything you don’t want to do.” I swallowed thickly, leaving my jeans on.

  She was a virgin. I hadn’t seen that coming. Maybe I should have, but not many girls I knew made it to college without having had at least one or two sexual relationships.

  “I don’t know if there is anything I don’t want to do,” she admitted as I lowered my body onto hers.

  I grinned, bracing myself with my hands on either side of her head. “I’ll ask permission every step of the way.” The warmth of her skin against mine was equal parts comforting and maddening. I ran a hand up her bare thigh. “I want to taste you, Emersyn. Is that okay?”

  “Mmhm,” she mumbled as my mouth began its descent from her throat to her chest.

  The scent of her arousal had my cock twitching as I licked a path from her stomach to her inner thigh.

  Her panties were already damp when I kissed her mound. “I’ll leave these on, okay?” I slid my finger between her flesh and her underwear. “I can do everything I need to with them on.”

  Parting her folds with my tongue, I gathered the taste of her juices.

  She tasted like honeysuckle.

  She clutched the soft gray comforter for some type of support, to anchor herself to something I imagined. Breathy panting sounds escaped her as I ran my tongue up and down her center. Her entire body jerked when I ventured lower, spreading her while probing deeper inside. I plunged my tongue inside over and over, then came up to circle her clit.

  She began thrusting against my mouth.

  “Mmm, you like that.”

  “Yes. Please,” she begged, her voice needy. “Don’t stop.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

  Pressing my finger into her impossibly tight opening, I sucked her clit completely into my mouth. I flicked my tongue a few times and in a matter of seconds, she was coming, convulsing and moaning around my head.

  “Oh my God,” she whined, attempting to clamp her legs together. “Oh God, please.”

  I licked her hard through her orgasm, retracting my finger and making her body spasm once more.

  “Please what, pretty girl?”

  “Please…” she hesitated. “I don’t know. I can’t think. Can’t make sentences.”

  I chuckled proudly against her skin. “We can take a break if you need.”

  Before she had a chance to answer, a loud ringing sound interrupted our moment. I recognized the tune—the generic iPhone ring.

  It would ring and ring, then stop. Then ring and ring again like it was angry.

  I grumbled about being interrupted as I reached for my phone on the nightstand. I was prepared to tell whoever it was calling over and over that it better be a life and death situation. But when I checked my notifications, there weren’t any missed calls.

  It wasn’t mine.

  7

  Emersyn

  I shut my eyes and groaned. “That would be my phone.”

  Ringing at the most inopportune time.

  Aiden’s mouth had wound me so tightly then left me spinning uncontrollably, as if I’d been drinking.
My body felt weightless as he continued covering it in warm, wet kisses.

  “I’d better get it,” I said reluctantly. It was probably my mom threatening to off herself if I didn’t get home by midnight. We’d been in our private little cocoon for so long I’d almost forgotten the outside world existed.

  My stagecoach was turning back into a pumpkin.

  Aiden lifted himself off the bed with grunt and pulled my phone from the countertop. He handed it over to me and I thanked him.

  “That’s weird,” I mumbled as he traced my inner thighs with his fingertips,

  “What’s weird?”

  I frowned at my phone. “My friend Drew’s mom has been calling and texting me for hours. I must’ve missed them when my phone was dead. She left me a voicemail just now.”

  “Does he still live at home?”

  “Um…” I tried to focus on listening to her frantic message while processing that Aiden was a grown man and I was a seventeen-year-old high school student. A fact I still hadn’t disclosed.

  After listening to the voicemail, I read Mrs. Echols’ texts begging me to please let her know if I’d heard from Drew.

  It dawned on me that Aiden thought I was in college. Of course, he did. I was in his art history class and I worked at the coffee shop on campus.

  Glancing at him sprawled on the bed after everything we just did, I knew I should tell him the truth. But he might freak out. Drew’s mom was freaking out enough for all of us. I could only handle so much at once.

  “Yeah, he still lives at home.”

  “His mom super overprotective or what?”

  I pulled in a deep breath and sorted through my jumbled thoughts. “Not really. It’s just that he bailed on us tonight. He told Camille he had other plans. Now his mom is acting like she expected him to be with me.”

  “So, he had other plans he wanted to keep private.” Aiden tossed me a mischievous grin. “Are you going to tell your mom what you did tonight?”

  My face heated. “Fair point. But he doesn’t use me as a cover without confirming his story first. He’s the one who convinced me to come tonight.”

  “Actually, I think that was me.”

  I chucked a pillow at his head. He used it to prop his elbow on.

  “So, what’s the deal with you and this guy, Drew, anyway? Friends with benefits?”

  I couldn’t even stifle my unladylike snort. “Um, no. I’ve known Drew forever. We’re neighbors. We’ve been inseparable since we were like eleven, but it’s not like that. Never has been.”

  Returning my attention to my phone, I called Drew’s number, listening as it went straight to voicemail. I left a message about his mom being worried.

  Now I was worried.

  Aiden looked perplexed. “Inseparable, really? And he’s never even tried anything? Ever?”

  “Nope. Well, we tried kissing once in eighth grade. It was pretty awkward and neither of us liked it.”

  “Is he gay?”

  His abrupt question caught me off guard, even though I realized it probably shouldn’t have.

  I wracked my brain for the best possible answer. “What he does is his business, and honestly, we’re both pretty inexperienced so we don’t talk about it much.”

  I didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone Drew’s private business. He could come out when he was ready. I knew he’d find the courage one day. Probably after he’d moved off to college.

  “I understand,” Aiden said quietly. “Didn’t mean to pry.”

  “It’s okay,” I said as I pulled up Camille’s number and pressed call. She didn’t answer either. I was out of ideas.

  I turned to Aiden, unsure of what to do next, but thankful that he was with me and not acting weird after what we’d just done.

  “I can’t seem to reach him or Camille.”

  Aiden cleared his throat loudly. “You know, there’s all those apps now. Find my friend or find a fuckbuddy or whatever.”

  Relief washed over me like tidal wave. “Yes! He’s on my Find My Friends! I completely forgot!”

  I opened the app, then selected Drew’s avatar. The hold-one-moment circle started going around and around for what seemed like eternity, damn spotty wi-fi service in the Airstream, until finally he popped up on the street map.

  I stared at my phone, confused.

  I’d gotten another text from his mom just moments ago saying she was going to call the police if she didn’t hear from one of us soon.

  According to the app, Drew was at the city park not far from Southeastern’s campus, which I found highly unlikely. The only thing that went down there after dark was drug deals.

  That plus the fact that he wasn’t answering his calls or messages made me wonder if his phone had been stolen. He didn’t take a piss without his phone in hand—something I was pretty sure he did to take dick pics, but I tried not to think about.

  “I think I need to go.”

  Aiden sat up so quickly it startled me.

  “Not because I’m in a hurry to leave,” I explained. “But this says his phone is at the city park by Southeastern.”

  “That’s fifteen minutes from here. Not really a safe place to be after dark,” Aiden commented.

  “Exactly. I’m thinking maybe someone stole his phone.”

  “Only one way to find out. I’ll drive you.”

  We dressed quickly. I continued alternating between calling Drew’s phone and Camille’s number, stopping only to tell Aiden when the GPS said to turn, until we arrived at the park.

  It was dark and deserted from what I could tell. Aiden’s headlights swept across the grassy area and the playground equipment but there was nothing and no one. At the edge of the parking lot was a heap of what looked like blankets. His headlights lit it up as we drove toward it.

  “Stop!” I screamed. The brakes slammed us forward. I lurched while scrambling to unbuckle my seatbelt.

  I’d sat behind Drew for years in various classrooms.

  I’d recognize the back of his head anywhere.

  Even on the ground covered in blood.

  I didn’t remember screaming, but when I mentioned that my throat was inexplicably sore, Aiden said I woke up half the neighborhood yelling for help. All I remembered was hearing Drew groan in pain and the relief that flooded through me when his eyelids fluttered.

  He’d been attacked, beaten within inches of his life, but he was alive.

  The doctors said their guess so far was fists, feet, and possibly a lacrosse stick or baseball bat. I heard the police say something about “multiple assailants” in the waiting room.

  Me, Aiden, Drew’s mom, and his sister, Stacy, sat in silence in the Emergency room waiting area. Aiden had called 911 and they’d made us wait in excruciating purgatory on the paramedics. Because they didn’t know what had happened, they didn’t want us to move him.

  I knew I’d have nightmares about the sounds his mom made when she arrived and saw them putting his broken body into the ambulance.

  After over an hour at the hospital, they still wouldn’t give us any real answers. Mrs. Echols asked if his condition was stable and they wouldn’t confirm. She asked about his vitals and they said a doctor would come speak to her shortly.

  Though we couldn’t get any answers, we were bombarded with questions.

  The police had shown up shortly after we’d arrived. They’d asked how long I’d known Drew, if I’d known who his plans had been with, and if he’d received any threats. Now, two uniformed police officers and Camille’s dad were questioning Drew’s mom incessantly, asking if she had any idea why anyone would do this to her son.

  Does he have any enemies?

  Just half the country.

  Has he recently been in conflict with any of his classmates?

  He was a passive aggressive smart ass, so yeah. Weekly.

  Can you think of anyone in particular who would’ve had a grudge against him?

  Anyone on the lacrosse team who knew his secret.

  I’d tol
d Aiden repeatedly to go home, that I was okay. But he hadn’t listened. He’d already brought me a coffee and some peanut butter crackers from a vending machine, but I couldn’t stomach either.

  Finally, around two in the morning, when the police were gone and the waiting area was quiet, Drew’s mom stepped over to me with red-rimmed eyes and a weary demeanor.

  “Emersyn,” she said, sounding a hundred years old. “You should get home. It’s late. I’ll text you if anything changes.”

  I swallowed the constricting lump in my throat. “I can stay. Really. I don’t mind.”

  She placed her small, frail hand on my arm. “I know. And I appreciate that, and Drew will too. But there’s no sense in worrying your mother to death. Go home. Get some rest. You can come back tomorrow.”

  I didn’t speak for fear I’d cry, just nodded and made my way toward the exit doors. Aiden followed close behind and again, placed a guiding hand on my lower back. I appreciated the comfort, but I felt so…numb.

  Part of me wanted to flip out and become completely hysterical and outraged. I wanted to find whoever had done this and murder them with my bare hands. Immediately. But the entire ordeal made me feel weak. Helpless.

  Much like how watching my mother deteriorate before my eyes made me feel.

  Aiden seemed to sense that I wasn’t up for talking and made no attempts to initiate conversation. I’d put what had happened between us earlier so far in the back of my mind the moment I saw Drew, that I still hadn’t processed it.

  Everything came crashing down on me at once.

  My mom’s volatile temper.

  Ethan disappearing at the carnival.

  Aiden and I doing... all the things we’d done.

  Drew. Beaten bloody and fighting for his life.

  It weighed on me, each event another heavy cement block to carry, making walking into my house facing my possibly irate mother and having to tell her about Drew, paralyzed me completely.

  I couldn’t imagine having to say the words out loud.

  “I don’t want to go home,” I whispered once he’d gotten in and closed his door. “Not yet.”