The Last Summer Apart

Chapter Five

After everyone was full of Roger’s homemade buttermilk pancakes (recipe courtesy of his mom), sausage, and coffee, we discussed the plan for the day. Roger suggested that while we were out canoeing, we could paddle over to the other side of the lake and visit the neighbors. They were some football team or something that were always there during the summer. Everyone liked the idea of canoeing and swimming this morning. We all went upstairs to change into our swimsuits. I brought a couple swimsuits with me, but I chose the hot pink bikini halter top, with the black bottoms that had the bows on the hips. I threw on a loose white tank top with some beach design on the front, and plain black shorts. I took my flip flops in my hand and went downstairs to wait. All the guys were ready, Roger was shirtless again, the other guys had plain white tee’s on.

“How much longer are they gonna be?” Ethan asked.

“No idea. Lauren always takes the longest though.” I mentioned.

“I know EXACTLY what you mean. I picked her up for dinner once and she took half an hour to get ready!” Ethan said.

“Well luckily we aren’t going for a fancy dinner so I don’t really care what I look like!” Lauren said, coming down the stairs with Mahira.

Before Ethan had a chance to shove his foot farther into his mouth, Roger took us out to the shed where the canoes were. Roger also gave us all life jackets that fit properly. I helped Ethan portage one of the canoes out to the lake. We set them next to the tiny dock and tied them to the cleats. Roger gave a quick mini lesson on how to paddle and how to keep your balance for Mahira’s sake. He partnered with Mahira and Ethan, and I took Lucas and Lauren. Getting in the canoes were the hardest part. After that, it was relatively smooth sailing... excuse the pun. We managed to get all the way across the lake in about 20 minutes, with only one tip over, courtesy of Mahira in the other canoe. My canoe laughed for a good 5 minutes before going over to help them. Mahira felt terrible, but Roger and Ethan were too busy laughing to care.

***

When we got to the dock, three large, muscular guys came out to meet us. One had a blonde mullet, one had a blue football jersey on, and one had shorter brown hair. They shook Roger’s hand, exchanging friendly words, then Roger introduced us. Their names were Cody, Emmett and Warren. Emmett (clearly the oldest, maybe the captain of whatever team they all played for), took us over to their fire pit and introduced us to four more guys and three girls (maybe cheerleaders). Warren passed out beers to everyone while the rest of us got acquainted. I chatted with some of the other guys and the girls. They were all nice, but the girls only talked about hooking up with guys and getting drunk. The guys I talked to only talked about football. I'm more of a hockey girl, so I excused myself from the conversation and went to sit down. Warren came over and sat right beside me moments later.  

“Hey, uh, I don’t think I got your name earlier?” Warren said. He had a Southern drawl. I really can't stand those accents. 

“It’s Audrey.”

“Audrey. Pretty name for a pretty girl.” Warren winked.

I forced a smile. Typical football guy, thinks he can win every girl over just by being charming.

“So Audrey, uh, where are y’all from?” He asked.

“Calgary.”

“Ah, a city gal! I can tell by the way you talk. But the way you drink your beer would’ve had me peg you as a country gal...” He nudged me with his elbow.

“Nope, born and raised in Calgary.” I clarified, moving away a little bit.

“Ain’t that somethin’... And how old are you pretty girl?”

I’ve got a bad feeling about this, I thought. I moved away more, “I’m 18, turning 19 in 3 weeks.”

“Well this is just your luck. I’m turnin’ 19 too.... today actually!”

“Oh really? Well happy birthday, but how is this my luck?”

“Naw honey, it’s your lucky day because you get to make the birthday boy feel real special...” He said, putting his hand on my knee.

I moved it off, “I’m not that kind of girl Warren. Why don’t you ask one of your cheerleader friends?”

He leaned over and whispered in my ear, his hot breath pouring down my neck. He smelled like the inside of a liquor store. “Come on now, don’t be like that... Let’s take this upstairs to my room where we can talk a little more in private...”

“No thanks...” I began to say.

“Hey guys!” Lucas suddenly appeared in front of us. “Is there something wrong over here?”

“Actually partner I was just-” Warren began.

“...Going to get me another beer? Great, thanks!” Lucas cut him off, passing him his empty beer bottle, and sitting down right in between the two of us.

Warren pursed his lips and went over to the cooler, getting distracted by one of the cheerleaders.

“I can’t thank you enough for that Lucas... What a creep!” I shuddered.

“Don’t worry about it. The last thing I need is to sit and watch my friend get harassed by a football player who’s drunk off his ass.” Lucas replied. “We should get out of here before he tries anything else.”

I nodded, and got up and went over to Roger, who was talking to Emmett and another football player. “Hey guys, sorry to interrupt, but can I steal Roger from you for a moment?” I asked.

I took Roger away from the crowd and explained what happened with Warren. “What a creep!” Roger said, “I’m sorry Audrey, I didn’t mean to put you in that position. I’ll gather everyone up and we can head back.”

“Thanks Roger, don’t worry, you had no control over what happened anyways. Thank god for Lucas, he mostly saved that guy from getting a broken nose and a knee in the crotch!” I reassured him.

“Lucas is good for that. He’s always looking out for you...” Roger trailed off and said goodbye to Emmett and gathered everyone up. We headed back out to the canoes and took off. Ethan suggested we paddle around the lake once before heading back. The cool mist from the lake made the intense sun bearable. We passed other docks, and said hello to the neighbors all around. Once we got back, we tied up the canoes and hung up our life jackets.

“Man it is hot out!” I said, wiping sweat from my shoulders. “Who else is going to go for a dip?” Everyone put up their hands, except Mahira.

“I’ll stay on land and work on my tan instead.” She said.

“Well what are the rest of us waiting for then?” Roger said, running out to the edge of the dock and jumping in.

Lucas laughed and took off his white t-shirt. He had quite an impressive 6 pack. Wow... I’ve never noticed before... I thought. Wait, what am I saying? Of course I’ve never noticed, we’re friends. Only friends. I shook my head and snapped out of my own thoughts.

“Audrey! Get in here! The water is awesome!” Lucas shouted from the water.

I pulled off my tank top and my shorts and did a cannonball off the edge of the dock. The water was cold at first, but once my body got over the initial cold shock, the water warmed right up. I swam over to everyone else.

“Was that so bad?” Lucas teased. I splashed water at him. Soon it turned into a full our splash war between the 5 of us.