what now? | outerbanks

• sneak peek •

here's a tiny sneak peek of a new project I've been working on 🙈 I'm so excited about this!!

    "Shouldn't he be here by now?" I complained, plopping down onto my majorly overpacked suitcase with a huff.
    The air was cool but not biting, the same it always was at night in the beginning of June. Just enough of a breeze to make you wish you would've grabbed another layer. We'd just arrived in Lake George, New York, the place my family spent every summer since before I could remember. My parents met here as teenagers, vacation kids who never really left. Years later, they bought a house on the lake, with more help from my grandparents' bank account than they'd like to admit. Now, it was tradition. Every June, we packed up and came here for the whole summer.
    This year, our arrival fell two days after my seventeenth birthday.
    "Relax, Liv."
    That was Anna—my older sister, freshly nineteen, always calm in a way that drove me insane. She shifted her weight against the railing of the dock, her glossy brown hair catching in the yellow marina lights like she'd practiced for this very moment. Anna could've been in a toothpaste commercial and made it look casual.
    "I am relaxed," I shot back, bouncing my foot against my suitcase.
    "Sure," she said, eyes scanning the lake.
    Mom sat on a bench, scrolling through her phone, looking half-asleep but unwilling to fully check out. Dad stood a few feet away, Bluetooth earpiece in, pacing the dock while muttering about quarterly reports. It was nearly ten o'clock at night, but of course he'd found work to do. Dad's version of vacation meant answering emails on the porch instead of in his office.
    That left Anna and me standing at the edge of the marina, waiting for our ride across the lake.
    Because, here's the thing: our house wasn't reachable by road. Boat only. Every summer began and ended this way, with Eli pulling up in his little white boat to ferry us over like some kind of summer chauffeur.
    And Eli—well, Eli was complicated.
    I heard the sound before I saw him, the low hum of a motor echoing across the dark water. Then, the shape of the boat cut into view, rooster tail spraying behind it, running lights glinting red and green. The boy stood shirtless at the wheel, his skin already tanned darker than I could ever hope to get in three months. His hair was sun-streaked and messy from the wind, and when he spotted us, he flashed a grin that could've gotten him out of anything.
    "That him?" Dad asked, still half in his call.
    "Yep," Anna said, and the way her voice lifted made me glance at her sideways.
    The boat nosed up to the dock, bumpers squeaking as Eli killed the engine. He hopped out in one motion, tall and lean, moving with the kind of ease that came from living here year-round. His family owned the marina; the lake was basically his backyard.
    "Traffic was a nightmare," Eli said as he tied off the rope. His grin widened.
    "It's ten p.m. on a lake," I deadpanned. "What traffic?"
    He looked at me briefly, amused, then moved past to hug my mom and clap my dad on the back, earning a distracted "hey, buddy" as Dad typed something with one hand.
    "Anna," Eli beamed, and before I could roll my eyes, he lifted her clean off the dock in a spin that made her laugh loud and unfiltered.
    She shrieked. "Put me down!"
    "Missed you," he said.
    I tugged at my sweatshirt sleeve, pretending not to notice.
    Finally, his gaze flicked back to me. "Hey, Liv."
    "Hey," I muttered, already grabbing one of the duffels so I wouldn't have to stand there under the weight of his grin.
    We loaded the boat in silence, except for Dad's cheerful, albeit useless, instructions between muttered business notes. Eli offered to help with my suitcase, but I shoved it onto the deck myself, ignoring how my arms strained. He didn't push; just raised his brows like he was entertained.
    Once everything was crammed in, Eli untied the lines, gave the dock a shove, and jumped back onboard. The motor rumbled, and we drifted into the lake, leaving the marina's glow behind.
I slipped onto the bow while Eli steered us into the dark, the lake air rushing colder against my face. My hair whipped around, stinging my cheeks, but I didn't care. It felt like summer—the start of it, anyway.
    The thrum of the motor drowned out everything else. Behind me, Dad's voice carried in fragments, Mom tapped at her phone with half-lidded eyes, and Eli laughed at something Anna said. Typical.
    I hugged my knees to my chest, staring out over the black water. The stars reflected like broken glass scattered across the surface, and the wind tasted like pine and gasoline.
    After a while, Anna slid down onto the bow beside me. She bumped my shoulder lightly with hers, a silent peace offering. I didn't say anything at first, but I didn't pull away either.
    "You all good, Bug?" she asked me.
    I nodded. "Mhm. Just sleepy." It was true. I was.
    "It always feels different at night," she said, after a moment, voice quieter than usual.
    "Better," I agreed.
    There was something different in the air that year, whether she felt it or not, but in that moment, it didn't matter. It was just her and me and the lake below us.

    Summer had begun.

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