Violet snickered, louder than necessary. Everyone turned to look at her. She pulled Mick closer, taking his face in her hands, kissing him until a noise came from his throat that should’ve been reserved for a more private setting.
Mitch visibly twitched at the show and released Penny. He lifted a hand toward me. “Do we have a deal or not?” His voice was laced with irritation. He swiped his beer bottle from the grass, guzzling it until the can crinkled in his grip.
Brando set his beer beside him, sitting up, eyeing Mitch with a narrow stare. Brando had sat farther away from the group, keeping to himself, but apparently had been watching the bet unfold. Mitch caught Brando’s look, but the hold wasn’t solid.
I let Mitch’s attitude and his comment slide. His poisoned arrow had been misdirected. I knew it. More importantly, I knew that he knew it.
“That’s what you’re good at, right, kid? Known all over the world for. Dancing.” Mitch’s tone had softened a little, but his laugh was forced. “Come on.” He sat up, slapping at the air in front of me. “You know I’m just messin’ with you, kid.”
“Yes.” I smiled at him. “I know. But if I’m going to do this, give me a beat.”
He gave me a sideways grin and then started to sing an Aerosmith song. His voice shocked me. It came out smooth but had just enough grit.
I should’ve been ashamed of myself. Mitch’s bet afforded me easy money. The small crowd watched as I rose up on my toes, en pointe, in boots that were meant for rocking out, or kicking someone’s ass. I stood that way until Mitch’s eyebrows shot to his forehead.
“Long enough?” I asked. “Or is there a time limit?”
A few guys whistled. It might’ve been Penny who whispered to her friend, “I bet that’s easy enough.”
Violet’s response came right afterward. “You only wish.”
Mitch sat up straighter, running a hand through his hair. “Hot damn. How do you do that, kid?”
“Magic.” I shrugged and held my palm out.
He looked at it and laughed, then gave me a down-low five. “Can I catch you next time? Or better yet, give you four more of those? They’re worth five each.”
“Now you know a man who reneges when you meet one,” Violet said. Her tone came out playful enough, but it wasn’t just me that felt the undercurrent of bitterness to it. Tension lent itself to the mood all of a sudden.
“Next time I’ll get it up front,” I said, easing my feet back down to the ground, attempting to defuse the situation.
The group laughed. All but Brando, who had sunk back into his chair. He lowered his Ray-Bans, covering his eyes, absorbing the autumn sun.
A cool wind blew, rippling the lake and causing displaced leaves to swirl and drift, some of them landing at the water’s edge to float. That morning I had partially pulled back my hair, some of the longer pieces framing my face, and with the wind those same pieces covered my eyes.
I tucked the wild strands behind my ears, turning my back on the group and surveying the land.
Fall had touched the area with chill, but not so much with the vibrant colors that usually follow. My parents were frequent travelers, and I had come to know that as far as seasons went, our little section of the world was not bothered by the distinction of fall and summer. My father’s property included. Not that it wasn’t beautiful, it was, but in its own way.
The land felt more bayou than farm, which meant that lazy oaks rustled in the wind, swaying to and fro, in the loving embrace of the sun. The Spanish moss that somehow weaved itself around their long branches floated, going whichever way the tempest directed, but still holding tight to the anchor of their existence.
The rest of the property was filled with pine trees, long, thin things that perfumed the air with their heady scent and littered the ground with their needles.
No, I couldn’t say that anything extraordinary caught my eye. Instead, it held my attention because I had fallen in love with how secluded it felt from the rest of the world. That alone felt magical. It was pristine—no revving of engines or toots from a horn, no trains or suffocating fumes.
I could settle into silence, get high off of fresh air, and fall in love with nature, not people. And a great love story had bloomed here once upon