Throwing clothes over my shoulder into the pile in the corner, I danced to the music bursting out of my radio and sang along. I tried to clean my room twice this week with no avail and hoped this would work. I wasn’t allowed to leave the house until my room was clean, and it was Saturday, and I hoped I could get it all done so I could be out and about. The plan really was to get back out into the dating scene, after a horrible break-up. Actually, it wasn’t really horrible at all. But I could use any excuse I could get to stay out as long as possible.

My friend Kat called about six times and I answered once. I hated when people pushed me and I hated when they wasted my time. And knowing Kat, she could talk up a storm, leaving me with a still messy room. Five o’ clock was nearing and I knew I had to speed it up when my brother walked in.

“Your friend keeps calling me.” He smiled.

“Kat, yeah, tell her to shut up, I’m almost done!” I threw underwear in the hamper knowing fully it wasn’t dirty but not wanting Bryan to see it.

“I saw that.”

I shrugged and kept cleaning, blushing.

“Come on, its past five, I want to go. You promised.” He whined. Some hair fell into his face and he puffed out his cheeks.

“When they pierced your lip, I think they messed up.” I straightened and said with concern. “ I think they meant to pierce your mouth shut.”

He rolled his eyes and bit his lip. And bounced in place. And made faces at me. I hated the fact that the only boy in town I would consider dating was my brother. But he was my older brother, and older by about year. I gave up cleaning and hid everything in my drawers.

“There you go!” He grabbed the car keys off my desk and my wrist and we were out of the house in seconds. We hopped in my dad’s Durango and drove off in seconds. Seconds later Kat called. Bryan held the phone to my ear as I drove.

“Kat where are you?”

“At the par-tay!” She said with enthusiastic sarcasm. “There’s nothing going on here. Everyone’s mulling around like a bunch of losers. And where are you guys?”

“Driving there!”

“Kat, Kat!” Bryan yelled.

“What does he want?”

“Who knows? We’re almost there, meet us outside.”

But she hung up as I pulled into the gravel stretch of a driveway. There was about a half a mile to go to reach the actual house. The house was built so that it was suspended over the lake, and our friend Chris lived there. Bryan was bouncing in his seat. Chris’s parties are usually a blast, even without drinking or any drugs. I could feel Bryan’s excitement. But I was really excited to meet some new people. Usually I hung around with Kat, and we’d never talk to any boys because we already had them. But this time, I was single, and I could now mingle with the opposite sex.

We finally pulled up to the house and parked in the grass somewhere. Kat ran up to me and jumped on my back. Although we’re both really small, she was much smaller, so I carried her to the party.

“So, any new fish?” I asked her.

“I spotted one. He’s pretty quiet, but looks like a good catch. He’s been sitting on the couch the whole time.”

“Catch for you or me?”

She slapped my head.

“I’m practically married, you buffoon. Of course a catch for you.”

“I wonder if girls talk about me that way.” Bryan wondered aloud.

“Not a chance.” Kat grinned.

“Hello there, Leah!” Chris purred. Did I mention the creepy crush he had on me?

“Hey Chris.” Bryan slapped his back in a manly way and led him towards the house. “ How about a beer?”

“No drinking!” I yelled after them. But Bryan waved and gave a thumb-up sign. I knew he was safe.

“Come on, he’s still on the couch. Look!” Kat kicked my leg. I howled in pain, grabbed my leg, and tumbled into some guy trying to juggle five cups of beer in his arms. Well, he spilled all but one, but unfortunately, Kat’s new shirt was over thirty dollars. So she pummeled him. The poor guy ended up with no beers, and a black eye. I apologized to him, but he ran away from us as fast as he could.

“Thanks Kat. You always manage to make my day magical.”

“You still haven’t looked!” She whispered. I took her head, and shoved it towards my leg where she had kicked me. I lifted up my pant leg and rolled my eyes.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t think I kicked that hard. But I’m not kissing it, you haven’t shaved in a few weeks.”

“Thanks.” I growled and that’s when I noticed the guy on the couch. It was like he had accidentally sat in super glue, and didn’t want to tell anyone. Either that or he wet his pants.

“He’s gorgeous. In a way.” Kat’s voice rang in my ear.

“Kat, I’m not the type of girl to go up to some guy that probably peed himself.”

“He did not pee himself. He’s probably shy!”

“Look at us, we’re talking about him as if he’s some kind of animal.”

“Isn’t he?”

“KAT!” I felt a tap on my shoulder as I said her name. I turned to face her boyfriend Craig. I didn’t know what to do, or what he wanted.

“Come on, boys are animals. They don’t have feelings, they’re here for our amusement, and when we get bored, we can put them back in the animal shelter.” Kat said with a smirk.

“That wasn’t very nice.” Craig sneered.

“Baby!” Kat twirled around and grinned a very wide grin signifying that she knew punishment was coming.

“ I’m going to leave you two ‘animals’ alone then.” I bowed to them and wandered off. I ran into a few friends, but none interesting enough to strike up a conversation with. My cell phone vibrated, and I opened it to a text message from Bryan.

“Lame.” It said.

“Lame indeed.” I said to myself. I walked around the house for a few more minutes before deciding to go outside. There was a dock outside that I loved to sit on, and it was always nice staring out at the lake and thinking.

I took my shoes off once I got to the end and sat down. The water was warm as I slid my feet in. I usually couldn’t stand people’s feet, but I always thought mine were okay. I moved my feet back and forth in the warm water and thought. I was over my last boyfriend, but I didn’t think I was ready to re-enter the dating scene. I closed my eyes, and try to let my worries flow out into the lake.

“Hey.” A voice startled me and I turned around. I couldn’t make out who the person was.

“Who-”

“It’s the boy from the couch that peed himself, apparently.” The voice said.

“Oh.” I stood up and shook my feet off. “Hey I’m sorry…”

“No, it’s alright.” I detected a smile in his voice. “It was all sort of funny.”

I tucked my hair behind my ear and gave him an embarrassed smile. I hoped he wouldn’t see it.

“I’m Leah, but you can call me Lee. I’m really sorry about all that peeing yourself stuff.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. It did kind of look like I peed myself and was sitting on the couch to hide it…well, I didn’t.” He laughed. “I’m Miles.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“That sounds like a really sophisticated name.”

He ran his hand through his hair and chuckled a bit.

“Nah, my mom’s an art teacher and my dad’s a dentist.”

“Cute.” I found myself saying, and I mentally slapped myself for it. “So uh, what are you doing out here?”

“Well, I was about to ask you that question. And that’s why I’m out here.” He stepped a little closer to try and see me in the little light of a light post.

“I don’t know. I needed to get away. I come here most of the time because my brother likes to hang out with his friends. But by this time he’d usually come find me to chill. But I guess not today.” I frowned. Where was Bryan?

“Hey, want me to help you find him or…go somewhere? There’s a little place on the lake not too far from here that’s really beautiful in the moonlight.”

“What?” My head snapped back to Miles.

“Yeah, it could be fun. If you want to see it and all.”
“That was random. Sounds like you want to get in my pants.”

“Well, we could look for your brother instead.” He shrugged, but I gave him a grin and got up.

“We’ll go to your special place then.” I told him. “Take me to it.”

He started walking in a direction and I followed him through the trees and bushes. It took about ten minutes of walking, and neither of us spoke the whole time. But all of a sudden he stopped and we were on a shore with the waves crashing at our feet. The splash of the water felt really refreshing in the hot summer air, and Miles turned to me then.

“Look at the reflection of the moon here, it’s brilliant.”

“I’ve never heard a guy say brilliant before in my life.” I said. “You do know that the moon hits the water the same way, no matter which side of the beach you’re on, right?”

He sighed and looked down.

“Well…I’m going to try and not feel too stupid. But there’s something about this particular place that makes me feel at home.”

I laid down on the sand and let the water come up around me. I felt a shift in the sand and he had laid down next to me. The water splashed around us and caught us off guard with a huge wave that covered our bodies, drenching us. I spit up water and coughed, looking around. I couldn’t see too much detail because it was too dark, but it seemed like Miles wasn’t moving. I felt a sudden nudge.

“That was refreshing.” He whispered.

I whirled around to face him and he didn’t move. In the dim light I could make out his face, and the droplets of water clinging to his eyelashes and eyebrows. His black hair was sticking to his face and he was smiling widely, revealing small dimples. I almost reached out to touch him, when I heard voices.

“Danny! Come back here. You’ll drown, sugar pie.” A slurred voice called out. I looked at Miles and he was laughing at a figure stumbling towards us. These people were definitely drunk, and thrashed through the small trees surrounding the lake. I looked at Miles again and he wasn’t smiling anymore.

“Something could happen.” He said as he got out of the water.

“Oh my lord!” The female voice called out. “There’s someone in there!”

“Hey are you lost?” Miles asked the girl, and the Danny person stood around swaying.

“No.” She said and she huffed.

“Well, in your state, I wouldn’t suggest going near the water.” Miles looked over his shoulder to me.

I climbed out of the water and grabbed my cell phone, and followed him back to the house.

“Interesting.” I told him.

He shrugged.

“People are stupid.”

---

“I’m tired.” Bryan complained.

I didn’t say anything to him. I was still mad that he didn’t come to hang out with me at all, and he claimed that he last track of time, but I knew he had met someone.

“Are you still mad? Seriously.” He shook his head and pressed it to the window. “I didn’t think you’d be this pissed.”

“Oh, so you knew I’d be pissed huh? What? Is it because I’m your sister, and it’s embarrassing being with me?”

“ No it’s not that at all…”

“ Whatever Bryan. You wanted us to go to this party really badly.”

“ Lee…if it bugged you so much, why didn’t you try and find me?”

Flashes of water and Miles ran through my mind and I blinked them away.

“I did.” I lied. “I couldn’t find you.”

“You obviously didn’t try hard enough.” He snorted, and didn’t lift his head from the window.

“Don’t try and turn this around on me…you should have found me. I was alone.” I lied again.

“Sure you were.”

“Just shut up Bry.”

“What are we, a married couple? You’re my sister! I don’t have any obligation to find you at some dumb party and hang out with you. I choose to do it, but tonight, I was busy, alright? So you shut it. I’m getting sick of you expecting me to be there for you all the time. I’m not going to.”

I started to cry at that point but I kept my eyes on the road. I tried not to sniffle but Bryan heard me because when I pulled into the driveway, he took the keys from me, and turned to me.

“Hey I’m sorry Leah. I didn’t mean to be so harsh…”

I stifled a sob and blinked to get rid of the tears. I really wanted my brother to be there for me. Bryan sighed and leaned over to grab me. He pulled me over to his side and looked at me with that half smile on his face.

“ Stop smiling.” I stuttered, but starting smiling myself. He grinned more. I could smell a bit of alcohol on his breath, but he didn’t seem tipsy at all.

“Did you mean those things you said?” I asked him.

“No…” He leaned closer so that his forehead touched mine.

“Are you drunk Bry?”

“No…”

“You seem pretty drunk to me.” I commented. “You should stop drinking.”

“I had a couple beers.” He whispered grinning and his warm breath grazed my face and I wondered if my brother was about to kiss me. I pushed him away but he grabbed my arm.

“You’re really beautiful Lee. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

“Thanks Bryan, can we enter our house now? I kind of want to sleep.” I pushed him away again and this time he let go.

“Fine.” He said, with a hint of disappointment in his voice. I let it go, because I really wanted to sleep.

When I got inside, I crashed.