"You tired of Dee?" I asked.
"No, not at all. We decided we're better friends than anything else we could be." Daniel sat the sunscreen down and pulled off his shirt. "I'm thinking it’s for the better, anyway. Med school is going to require all of my attention, you know?"
"Yeah, I can imagine." I moved to the fridge and pulled out a six pack of beer. "Where the fuck is Derek?"
"He's still asleep. I think Cindy stayed over last night. You wanna draw straws on who's going to go wake him up and get her outta here?" Clay laughed and walked to the pantry to get the cooler out.
"Um, no. Emily interrupted me and Cora the other morning, and she's lucky she's so cute or I'd have bitten her head off." I chuckled as Clay growled at me. The boy was in love. I had no doubt that he and Emily would be together for a long time, and I was almost jealous.
Some part of me couldn't help but wonder if Cora was really sick or just too upset over the situation with Tinsley to be around me. My fucking sister and her lies. I couldn't believe it, but after talking with her, she'd confessed. I sat in shock half the afternoon after talking with her. She'd been nothing but a prude from what I knew, and it was crazy how you could live with someone your whole life and not know them, at all.
Cora was struggling with all of it. Her stomach might be upset, but she was struggling, too. Her lack of texts after Tuesday left me with two options: to step up and sweep her off her feet, or let the relationship fade away like she seemed to be trying to do.
I couldn't fathom not having another night with her. Or a day. Or a few hours.
"Hey. Did we lose you?" Daniel waved his hand in front of my face. "You go get Derek up."
"What? Really?" I glanced over at Clay, who was loading up the cooler.
"Come on, dude. You're the only one that he listens too. Go get him, shit." Clay gave me a look.
"Fine." I walked to the cooler and grabbed a beer. "But next time something comes up, one of you limp-dicks is up to handle it."
"Whatever." Clay scoffed at me and closed the cooler. "Daniel, help me lug this shit out to the porch."
I turned and walked down the hall, stopping outside Derek's door to listen. No fucking way I was going in if they were still getting it on. A soft whine caught my attention, and I pressed my ear to the door to hear the sounds of lust pouring from the other side of it.
"Shit, fuck that," I mumbled and walked back to the front as my cock twitched in my swim trunks. I was used to having sex a few times a week at minimum and quite a bit more than that when I went on vacation. The situation with Cora had changed that drastically, yet I still felt myself needing her, wanting her time and attention.
"What's up?" Clay glanced up as I closed their door.
"They're still fucking. I'm not going in there. No matter the size of the stick I drew." I rolled my eyes and grabbed one side of the cooler as Clay got the other.
"I'll leave him a note and he can text us later." Daniel walked back toward the house as I let my eyes move across the beautiful scene before us. The lake was a dark blue, and the brilliant green pine trees almost hovered over the edge of it.
"I love it out here. My dream house would be tucked into those large pines over there." I pointed before taking another drink of my beer as we wrestled the cooler down toward the dock.
"I couldn't agree more." Clay stopped at the edge of the pier and sat the cooler down. "Let's grab some lunchmeat and bread so that we're not starving later."
"Alright." I ran my fingers through my hair and walked back toward the house with him.
"Did you decide on whether you're going up north after this summer yet?" He gave me a sideways glance.
"No, I think it's going to really depend on what happens by the end of the summer. If I'm still single and not tied down to the thought of being with one girl, then I'm headed out of here. If by chance someone steals my heart…”
"Steals your heart?" Clay laughed and patted my back. "Where the fuck is my best friend? What have you done with him?"
I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean. Don't throw that shit at me, either. You know you and Emily are talking long-term stuff and you barely know each other."
He nodded. "Yeah, we are. We just fit, you know? It's an amazing feeling."
"I can't imagine." I opened the door as Daniel walked back out.
"We ready?" He took his glasses off and started to clean them.
"Yeah, just grabbing food." I walked into the house and let out a sigh. My eyes moved to the darkened hall, and I couldn't help but wish it were me and Cora wrapped up in my bed together. Desire raced through me, but I shoved it back down. I was going to go over there in the morning if she hadn't called or come over first. There was too much between us that I wanted to explore to let things fall silent. Did she want that? For me to leave her be and let things just fizzle out?
"Have you talked to Cora about the possibility of you leaving here after the summer?" Clay's voice behind me jolted me. I'd assumed he's stayed out on the porch with Daniel.