Four Summers - By Nyrae Dawn Page 0,7
what’s your name?” he asks.
I stall a few seconds and he probably wonders what’s wrong with me. He only asked my name. Shouldn’t be that hard of a question.
“Oh, yeah. It’s Charlie, right?”
I shake my head and look at him. “Charlotte. My name is Charlotte.”
“I’m Nathaniel. Cat’cha later, Charlotte.”
This time when Nathaniel walks away from me, he doesn’t stop.
Long after all the guests have gone back to their cabins, and everyone from town has gone home, Dad, Alec, Alec’s parents–Maggie and Randy–Sadie Ann and I are cleaning up the mess. It has to be ready for tomorrow, where we’ll be up bright and early for another day. That’s probably the only reason Dad made Sadie help.
“It sucks he makes us do this. It’s not our job,” she whines for the millionth time, as she walks by me. Like all the other times, I ignore her.
I’m thinking about Nathaniel. Still wondering what made him decide I was a mystery. Yeah, I know it was probably just because I went off from the group and hid out in the woods, but he had to have been watching me to know that, right? So why? What made him watch me?
Suddenly looking less annoyed than before, Sadie whispers, “Oh my God. Did you see the boys in 3B? They’re freaking gorgeous!”
No! No, no, no, no. I don’t want her to think that. Don’t want her to have anything to do with 3B and Nathaniel because he’s intrigued by me. He talked to me. She gets a part of everything, and I want this for myself. “No. I didn’t notice them.”
“I swear, Charlie. When are you going to grow up? You wouldn’t notice a cute boy if he kissed you. That tomboy stuff might be okay when you’re younger, but you need to get out of it.”
“I’m not a tomboy.” Kind of a lie. We both know I am, but who cares? Can’t I be both? Not like to wear dresses and notice cute boys?
“Whatever. I think the younger one is your age. Not that you aren't practically married to Alec already, but still. The other one is my age. I can tell. I think I heard them say his name is Brandon.”
“Cool.” I try to ignore her as I pull down keep filling the bag with trash.
“He’s going to be the perfect way to spend the summer, Charlie. I’m finally excited about something. I can’t wait to have him.”
She dances away. Sadness wraps its ugly, lonely hand around me. Brandon has nothing to do with Nathaniel, but I don’t want her to want him. Being around Brandon means being around Nathaniel and no one notices me when Sadie Ann is there. No one but Alec, who I know to the marrow of my bones doesn’t see me as more than his best friend. The one who doesn’t understand when I say I want more than the life I have right now. I think Alec looks at me and sees The Village he loves so much.
The next day, Sadie Ann doesn’t stay in the store. She’s outside with the rest of us, working in the sun. And when there isn’t work to do, she’s still out here, which I guess isn’t as unusual as her breaking a sweat for The Village. She suntans by the water, and again, that isn’t anything new. She does it every summer, but it feels different right now because I know she’s hoping to see Brandon. It shouldn’t bother me, but no matter how hard I try I can’t stop the anger from glaring daggers every time I look at my sister.
“What’d Sadie do? You’ve been giving her the evil eye all morning.” Alec says. Leave it to him to notice.
“Nothing.” I walk over to the dock, which isn’t too far from Sadie, and sit down. Alec sits beside me.
“What do you wanna do today?” he asks.
We spend a lot of time working, but it’s not like that’s all we do. Lots of the guests are pretty much on their own and don’t need us often. There are boat rentals and sometimes people want us to take them on a tour, but usually they’re good to go by themselves. It isn’t like I don’t have any free time here, even though it never really feels free. I’m still always inside the cage of this town. Of my life. “I don’t know. What do you want to do?”
Alec shrugs, pushing his blond hair out of his eyes. As he does, I