Twelve

Twelve

62 days until the wedding

"Dude—s-stop! I c-can't breathe." My sister manages to sputter out the words in between fits of laughter while I'm speechless.

I'm laughing so hard that no sound is emitting from my throat. Instead, the wide smile that encases my mouth hurts my cheeks and my eyes are squinting beyond belief. The ache in my stomach has me doubling over on the inflatable raft bench. It hurts so much that I allow myself to slip off the edge and plop my butt down on the bottom of the raft. My sister follows suit and soon we're both just sitting there bobbing back and forth in silent laughter. I can only wonder what we look like to our relatives on shore, but my mind can't even seem to be bothered by the task. Instead, all I can think is that the muscles in my stomach are hurting in the best possibly way.

It's times like these that nothing else seems to matter. Not even breathing. All that matters are the memories that were said, the images that keep replaying in my head, and the smile they bring to my face. A smile I'm now convinced could never possibly be erased. Especially, if there's someone else doubling over right alongside me. Who is just as far gone as I am. Who's always been the one that seems to be beside me during moments like these.

"I can't decide if I'm crying because I'm laughing so hard, or if it's because I got sunblock in my eye." My sister's words continue to propel me over that blissful edge of unawareness. All I can focus on is the way she attempts to rub at her eye, but her laughter shakes her arm too much and prevents the action for being successful.

"It hurts." I manage to groan as I lean back against the rubber bench behind my head and that only makes Aubrey try to smile as she continues to assess the damage to her eye.

"Are you guys okay?"

Now that our laughter has reached uncontrollable giggles we both poke our heads over the side of the raft to find Ben's head hovering above the green lake water and he flicks his head, flicking the little hair that was on his forehead away from his face.

"Yeah, we're fine." My sister's breathy chuckle has Ben's concern transforming to curiosity.

"What are you laughing at?"

Aubrey and I share a look and just like that we're sputtering again. Unlike me, though, Aubrey quickly attempts to gather herself as she focuses her attention on her fiancé.

"We we're just talking about the time we got our heads stuck in a carnival cutout."

"Weren't you guys like eight?" Ben's amusement now overrides his curiosity as he grips the end of the raft with both hands and lays his head back.

"I was five." I'm quick to correct him. "And was already mad enough because Aubrey forced me to be the pirate while she got to be the mermaid."

"And then when you realized you were stuck you started to cry." Aubrey continues to recount the events we just recounted moments before. "And then I started to cry only because you started to cry."

"Yeah and you screamed 'I don't wanna be a fish forever!'" At my high-pitched mimic of eight-year-old Aubrey we both start laughing again this time accompanied by Ben's halfhearted chuckle.

"The best part though—the best part—" My sister's laughter prevents her from being able to formulate a proper sentence, but since I already know what she's going to say my own laughter prevents me from trying to help. "Is that they had to call the paramedics because everyone was too afraid they'd yank our heads off and then Avery kept screaming 'I don't wanna lose my head!'" Aubrey finally loses it again just as I regain some momentum.

"We both screamed so much that we managed to pop our heads out, but we literally had black and blue rings around our heads for weeks."

"Weeks!" Aubrey repeats, and we laugh for a few more seconds before it finally fades.

I finally manage to pull myself back up onto the raft bench as Ben sticks his hand out towards my sister.

"Would you mind pulling me up, darlin'?"

"Why, of course." She grips both of his hands and pulls him far enough so him and his red swim trunks can plop down on the raft.

Now that Aubrey's back on the bench he leans his back on her knees, gazing up at her with the same amount of adoration her eyes hold as she gazes down at him. It's too cute too be true, but because it is, I find myself clearing my throat.

"Well, that's my cue."

Both their eyes snap back up to mine, holding their protests.

"No, Avery, you don't have to." My sister's words are completely sincere, but I shake my head.

"No, it's okay I'll just—"

"Avery, don't!"

Standing up and slipping on the water Ben brought into the raft with him was not what I planned, but I suppose it's my fault for standing up in the first place. If I hadn't stood up, I wouldn't have lost my footing. I wouldn't have lost my balance. And I most certainly wouldn't have flung myself off the side of the small two-person raft.

The water momentarily stings when its slaps my back despite the swimsuit and sport clothes I have on. The sting is nothing compared to the water that sails right up my nose, and that's what has me coming up on a gasp before dipping back below to harshly blow the water out.

In between my bobbing, I hear someone shout my name. That's when I momentarily pause my actions and meet the gaze of my mom with her hands cupped around her lips. She asks if I'm okay, and holds her thumb up to ensure she gets the message across. My own hand flings up above the water as I mimic the gesture before I slap it back down on a sigh. I'll admit that despite the fact I wasn't ready to encounter the water in such an abrupt manner it still feels good compared to the sun that was starting to stick to my skin.

With that thought in mind, I dip my head back below the surface, but when I come back up for air I'm greeted by both oxygen and a nice smack to the forehead.

"My bad." The comment is laced in chuckles opposed to sincerity, and all I can do is turn my head around to reveal my confusion. My expression only promotes Nate's laughter, though, as he looks down at me from his position on his own inflatable raft.

"Are you done yet?" My deadpanned tone matches my raised eyebrows, but as his shoulders continue to shake I go to duck under the water again.

"Wait," he sputters out the word and I watch as his white t-shirt covered chest expands as he inhales a steady breath. "Here." He holds his hand out towards my face again. As I continue to wade in the water for an extra second contemplating what I should do, it's the heavy weight of my clothes that ultimately has me accepting the offer.

"Thank—ah!" My body stumbles over the puffy outer wall of the raft before it slides across the bottom of it, and I hit my head against the other side.

"That was a lot less graceful than I anticipated..." Nate trails off as I gather myself up onto the opposite raft bench.

"You think?"

"At least I tried." He barely gets the words out before he's sputtering and chuckling again, and all I can do is peel the soaked shirt up and over my head and begin ringing it out in my hands.

"I don't know how you have all this energy considering the events of last night." I finally grumble as I lay my shirt over my legs for the sun to dry.

"What can I say, Avery James, I just love the outdoors." He swipes up the plastic paddle he most likely discarding in my supposed rescue before flashing me with a megawatt smile.

I'm momentarily blinded by his smile, and all I can seem to do is compare it to all the other times he's smiled. All I can seem to think is that it's never been this genuine.

And just like that any trace of my annoyance is gone, and amusement takes its place.

"Never would've guessed, Mr. Stargazer."

"Is that judgement I hear, Avery James?" He tilts his head to one side as he uses his arms to row the raft on the other.

"No, no, not at all," I quickly assure, but his smile only reveals that I didn't have to. He was only mocking and, yet I still find myself continuing. "I just... I just never would've pegged you as a 'look at the stars' type, but I suppose that's my own fault for jumping to conclusions." I mumble that last part because it's the truth.

I hate how easily we assume things based on our own reasoning and our own conclusions, but we shouldn't. We should be more open to possibilities. To the idea that there's so much more to people than what we see. There is so much more to people than what we believe.

"Earth to Avery James."

I blink my eyes a few times only to find my shirt being waved in front in of me, draped like a flag around the end of the paddle.

"Nate!" I laugh when I finally register what he's doing and rip my shirt back.

"I thought I lost you there for a second." His chuckles echo mine as I glance around to find we're drifting father into the lake.

Both my grandma and Mikayla's sunbathing forms would barely be visible if it wasn't for the rainbow one-piece my grandma has on.

"Before I lose you again."

I meet Nate's gaze again as he clears his throat, clearing away the last of his chuckles.

"Considering what you said, I realized we still don't know each other very well."

"You're... right."

"That's really so hard to admit?" Nate's furrowed eyebrows only have me realizing my expression mirrored his and that only makes me laugh.

"Oh gosh, no." I shake my head. "I'm just weirded out I guess because... you're right. Like, I know you, but I guess I don't know you."

"You're a real scholar, Avery James." Nate nods his head, but because his eyebrows are raised, and his mouth is a chiding line of a smile, I find myself ripping the plastic oar out of his hand and hitting him in the shoulder with it. He flinches, but his laughter only reveals my effort to literally knock his ego down a few notches was trivial. It always is.

"Why do I even bother?" I voice my thoughts as I shove the oar back in his hand before casting my gaze back out towards the water instead of on his shaking form.

"Are you still in school, Avery James?" I want to be annoyed at his seemingly endless amusement, but when I meet his gaze again I physically can't. Not when he's grinning at me like the Cheshire Cat.

"I actually just graduated this past spring."

"Ah, I see. So, Avery James is taking on the real world now, am I right?" He continues to smile back at me as he begins rotating the oar inside his palms. He twists it over and over, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes by shaking my head.

"I think all this sun is getting to your head."

"So, do you have a job, Avery James?" His smile never falters which both confirms my statement as well as the fact that he's choosing to ignore it.

"I do." I sing-song the words deciding to go along with the teasing tone he's set for the conversation. "But now that I graduated, I'm hoping to find one that will actually require my degree."

"I see." He nods as if processing the information for a few seconds before shrugging. "Well, that sucks."

"Yeah, I know." I half-laugh at the imaginary switch that was just flicked on, and renewed the usual Nathaniel Graham. "The job market isn't that great right now."

"Nah," Nate immediately corrects me. "That sucks because college is awesome and, like I said, you're stuck in the real world now."

"I'm actually ready."

Nate quirks his eyebrows as I'm greeted by his disbelief and I wave my hands around.

"Okay, maybe not ready, but... ready."

"Once again, spoken like a true scholar."

Once again, I yank the oar out of his hand and slap him with it before continuing. "What I mean is I'm ready for the change. I may not be ready for all the responsibilities, but I want to try."

Nate shakes his head as he finally seems to sober up again. "Can't say I felt the same, or maybe even feel the same way now, but that makes sense."

Now my eyebrows are the ones to furrow. "You really loved college that much?"

"Yeah." He laughs as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Didn't you?"

My eyes fall on my hands as I pick at the blue nail polish chipping at the tips of my fingers. "Don't get me wrong, it was way better than high school, but..." I lift my head back up only to find his eyes are mimicking the sun above us as they continue to burn into mine. "It still wasn't 'the best.'" I use my fingers as quotations to lighten up the mood, but that only turns his gaze into full blown curiosity.

He tilts his head to the side once more. "Did you dorm?"

"No." I wrinkle my nose. "I saved some money and commuted from home, which was fine because by the end of the day, when I was finished with my classes, I could never understand how someone who lived close by could call the place home. How anyone could feel like they are at home when my sense of home was in the bed I've always slept in and the taste of my mom and dad's food." Nate opens his mouth to respond, but the words continue to tumble out of my lips. "Then again, I know not everyone has the same kind of family I have. Some people need college to get away from whatever crap they deal with not only in high school, but also at home."

"So, you're saying you didn't enjoy college?" I open my mouth to respond, but this time he's the one to cut me off. "Not that I'm trying to assume things, or whatever."

"No, it's fine." I wave my hand around again. "I did enjoy it, but I guess I—I just—" I run a hand through my hair, but when my fingers get stuck in the sticky saltwater tendrils I pull them out in defeat. "I think what got me, and I guess still gets me, is the whole expectation that it was supposed to be something greater than it was. I mean..." I reach over to support myself on the side of the raft, but immediately retract my hand when the grey rubber material nearly burns through my soul. "Ow, that's hot." I shake my hand out before catching Nate's amused gaze, and I immediately throw my hands up. "You're right I'm not a scholar, or even a philosophy major for that matter."

Nate blinks his eyes a few times as he sits back up and readjusts the oar in his lap. "No, no, I think you're right. I've just never thought about it that way before."

"You mean about the raft being hot?"

Nate sears me with those brown eyes of his, and I hold my hands up in surrender.

"I'm kidding!" I let out a few chuckles as I attempt to sit up a little straighter on the bench that my thighs are starting to stick to. "It's not that I didn't have fun because I did. I joined a few things here and there and I had a few solid study groups with the people in my lab classes, but it still was all just—blah."

"Blah?" Nate tries to repeat the sound I made and my laughter returns.

"Yes! Blah! In the sense that it was still school, and it was still work, and every once and awhile I'd catch myself walking across the campus and wonder what the hell I was doing there. Why am I on this perfectly green grass miniature cookie-cutter, yet unrealistic version of the real world when I could already be out there!" My hand flings out in front of me before it flops back down beside me. "Doing something I love."

When my words are only followed by silence I attempt to run another hand through my hair, but my eyes warily watch as a slow smile stretches across Nate's face.

"I get you." Are the only three words to fall past his lips as his smile remains and my lips quirk upward in response, but I quickly shake my head.

"It's okay if you really don't. Not that I'm trying to assume things," I repeat his words as my eyes fall back on the cabin we've seemed to drift back to. "But I know I'm the one that's different from most people not the other way around."

"Avery James." The teasing, yet serious tone brings the tug back to my lips and my eyes back over to his. "After I graduated I packed a bag and I left. No phone, no goodbyes, and no contact for two years." He ends the declaration on a chuckle and I know it's because my eyes are bugging out of my head to the point that they'll probably fall out of it any minute now. "Well, I actually called my mom every few weeks because she would've killed me if I didn't, but that was really it."

Out of all the questions running around my head I spit out the first one that comes to mind. The one that wanted to tumble past my lips the minute he said he packed. "Where did you go?"

"Hiking." His brown eyes are sparkling again with the help of the sunlight. "I just kind of let my instincts take me wherever, within reason of course, and a few plane tickets."

"That's so cool." I all, but mumble to myself before his smile is once again greeted by my wide eyes. "That's why we've never met until now."

Nate tilts his head to the side as if considering it for a second before nodding. "Yeah, I guess so."

Our eyes lock again, and we stare back at each other as if we are finally seeing the other person for the first time. It's as if two people are now sitting in front of me. Nathaniel Graham, the obnoxious, yet generally friendly guy, and Nate, the soft eyed guy who picked me up in the pouring rain and felt the need to travel the world because he was sick of life's expectations.

"Ah—" I swipe a hand at the side of my ear when buzzing covers it.

I continue to flick my hand around to ensure that the bug is gone, but the buzzing persists. My thighs rip off the bench as I scoot around a little in attempt to save myself when suddenly it stops. I open my eyes back up thinking I'm in the clear only to feel something tickle the back of my head. I ignore it on the basis that I could just be imagining things as Nate whistles and flips the oar in his hands again. My hand reaches behind my head again on instinct, but when buzzing vibrates over my fingertips I let out a totally obnoxious squeal that I'd glare at any other girl for.

"The bug is in my hair!"

As if on cue Nate's eyes dart back over to mine. "It's a bee."

His lack of concern only has me shaking my head around more frantically. All I can picture is the bee's tiny legs crawling around my scalp and the possibility of it sticking its fat ass stinger into it. I duck my head down in between my legs and run my hands through the ends of my hair. Not wanting to probe the bee further into my head, but rather gentle coax it out on its own accord.

That doesn't stop me from repeatedly chanting the phrase, "get it out, get it out, get it out!" Over and over until Nate finally shifts forward with his arm hesitantly reaching out towards me before he immediately pulls it back in. I can't expect anything more than that because there really is nothing else he can do except maybe take the oar and knock me unconscious, so I can no longer hear or feel the constant buzzing.

I finally stand up wanting nothing more than to fling the bee out of my life, but only when my feet start to wobble beneath me do I realize my mistake.

"Avery, don't!" Nate's plea proves to be pointless as he tries reaching out for me.

That was his mistake.

His movements only leave my legs teetering from side to side before they're no longer supporting me, but rather flinging me off the side of the raft. I should have known not to stand on the raft by now, but I'm officially blaming the bee for my lack of judgement as I'm greeted by the cool lake water again.

I come up sputtering a little since my fall didn't leave me a chance to inhale before I went down, but now that the bee is gone I don't even bother opening my eyes. Instead, I turn back around and duck back under the murky water, heading for the shore.

"Wait!" Nate's voice reaches me when I come up for air again, but I keep swimming until my feet sink into the soft mud.

I stomp my way back up to civilization and in my flustered haze to get to the cabin I catch the concerned gaze of my mother. She immediately excuses herself from the conversation she was having with Connor and comes to my rescue like she has all my life. Despite my wet state she wraps an arm around my shoulders and hugs me against her as she joins my path to the cabin.

"Oh, Avery, what are we going to do with you?" The question is riddled in that endearing voice only parents have and I embrace it, allowing her to squeeze me with all her might, as she assists me inside where I plan to stay for the rest of the weekend.