Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Two-Bright Idea

The Tullaka mansion was so close to the lake you could almost—almost—jump off the balcony and into the water. No one was really allowed inside the place, so the parties mostly stayed outside. I myself had only stepped one foot inside the building before chickening out.

"We’re going inside," Logan told me, staring up at the mansion with awe.

I laughed. "Oh, Logan, you are so funny!"

My friend gave me a look of mock hurt. "Now, Beth. You promised."

I frowned, putting my hands on my hips. "You are totally milking this thing, you know that?"

With a shrug, Logan easily picked the lock. The old door creaked open noisily, making me jump and look around in my paranoia. Logan laughed at me. "Ladies first."

I narrowed my eyes at him as I stepped in. I had expected white sheets over the furniture and cobwebs littering the walls and crevices. But, no. What I saw was a picture out of a story book. While, yes, it needed a good dusting, sweeping, and mopping, the place looked almost pristine. The walls were decorated in old papers, the high ceiling painted with fat babies and naked ladies.

No windows were broken, although they needed to be cleaned as well. The place was mostly unfurnished, but a few minor things remained. A chair or two, a couple of wall clocks. All of the lingering furniture looked fairly vintage.

"Wow," I breathed, carefully stepping through the enormous hallway to the staircase.

Logan took my hand and silently led me up the winding staircase.

The upstairs was a little less impressive. There were only four rooms, one of which was a bathroom. We merely passed by the rooms, though, and walked toward the French doors that led to the balcony. Down below there was a vine people always climbed to get to the balcony, but today we acted as if we owned the place.

I had always been the one desperately explaining to people, including Logan, how extremely dangerous it was to climb those vines. But now I wished I had. The view was absolutely breath taking. At nearly sunset, the lake water looked almost tranquil; something from an oil painting picture.

I was so lost in the moment, I almost leaned against the worn out railing. Logan stopped me, though, by grabbing a hold of my elbow.

"Probably not the best idea," he said with an easy smile.

I smiled back. "Thanks."

For a minute, everything hit me and I couldn’t breathe. Not wanting Logan to see, I turned my face back to the lake. Would this be our last sunset together? He didn’t seem too bad, but then again he was in and out of the hospital at odd moments. I wished he would tell me more about it, but he absolutely refused. He would rather pretend everything was normal…even if he was acting different.

Tears stung the corners of my eyes and I tried to swipe them away discretely. "So, um," I mumbled, my voice choked on a lump of emotion. "We gonna swim in that filth or what?"

When Logan took my hand, his grip was tight in a comforting way. As much as I’d tried to hide it, he’d seen through me. "Yeah, let’s do it."

I nodded, clearing my throat. Yeah, I was ready to get soaked in disgusting water.

But as soon as we reached the lake, I was shaking my head. Logan had stripped down to his boxers and swung off the rope string attached to the oak tree. His head bobbed in the water, but I knew that all he had to do was stand up and the water would only reach his waist. For me, I would barely reach the bottom. Logan was a good six feet, forever leaving me behind at my pitiful 5’3".