Something in the Way (Something in the Way 1)

“Yes.” My voice sounded foreign. “Is everything okay?”

He squinted out the windshield. I knew it wasn’t okay, not really. I’d gone too far. Manning had been good to me the last five weeks. Protected me. Taught me. Confided in me. And I’d repaid him by almost getting him arrested.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

I expected him to scold me, but instead he just said, “Me, too.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I’m just glad we’re okay.” He stopped the truck, turned out the headlights, and looked back at me. “Nobody can know about tonight. Ever.”

“I know that. I’ve told you a million times, I’m not a little girl. And we didn’t even do anything, even though it was our last chance. I can’t say goodbye to you tomorrow. I won’t.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose and inhaled. “Listen to me, Lake. You have your whole life ahead of you. You’re going to one of the top schools in the country. You’ve worked hard to get where you are.”

“But—”

“And so have your parents and sister.”

I closed my mouth.

“Think of all they’ve done for you. They want nothing more than to see you succeed, and I feel the same.”

“I want that, too, Manning. I can do all that. I can do none of it. It wouldn’t matter. I’d still—”

“You’re a smart girl, and I need you to understand.”

I did to a point. Having sex with Manning could change things for both of us. If my dad found out, if he even knew I’d snuck off with Manning tonight, he’d never look at me the same. He’d see me like Tiffany. If Tiffany found out, she’d be embarrassed. And the reality was, Manning could’ve gotten into trouble tonight because of what I’d done. I was a minor. He wasn’t. He’d be punished as an adult. He didn’t have family on his side—in fact, maybe Tiffany and I were all he had right now. He would’ve lost that, and his job, too.

“I understand,” I said. “I understand why we can’t be together right now, but I can wait.” I hadn’t planned to say that or anything like it, but I’d been holding everything in too long. I’d watched Manning go off with my sister more than once. I’d fought to keep my hand from wandering over to his while he’d told me this was our story. I’d almost had him tonight, and I’d blown it. “Wait for me, too,” I said.

“Don’t ask that of me.”

“No matter what happens, where you go, where I go, it won’t change the fact—I’ll be eighteen in two years.”

“But you’ll change in two years, Lake. So will I.”

“My feelings won’t.”

“Get out of the car, Lake. I can’t park until you do, and we’ve been sitting here too long.” Manning leaned over and opened the passenger door. “Go straight to your cabin.”

It was the last thing I wanted to hear, but he was right. I stood as best I could. My legs had fallen asleep. As I got myself over the seat, I became uncomfortably aware that I was wet, sticky, and tired. He waited as I crawled out of the car, grabbed my flip-flops, and eased the door shut. “Goodnight.”

He kept his eyes forward. The window was still down, so as I walked away, I only just heard him respond, “’Night, Lake.”

With my bra stuffed in my back pocket, I carried my shoes so I wouldn’t make any noise. I passed Tiffany’s cabin on the way to mine. For a moment, I was tempted to climb into her sleeping bag instead and hold onto her. I’d never felt so grown up and so childish. Tiffany would’ve understood, would’ve told me what to do . . . if only it hadn’t been her boyfriend I’d been sneaking around with.

It’d all happened so fast, like a dream. We probably hadn’t been gone more than two hours. I touched my cheek, where I could still feel the scrape of his stubble. My heart skipped as I remembered stripping off my clothes by the lake, knowing he was watching. And his enormous hands, in my hair, in my shorts. They could take over whole parts of me—the entire back of my head, half my thigh. By the time I reached my cabin, my heart was pounding but no longer out of fear.

Quietly, I set my sandals down and dug into my duffel bag for my pajamas. I changed limb by limb without making any noise. When I opened my sleeping bag, the zipper hissed.

“Lake?” Hannah asked. “That you?”

“I just went to the bathroom,” I whispered. “Don’t wake the girls.”

She inhaled and turned over, toward the wall. Me, I stared at the top bunk for at least another hour, playing the night over and over in my head.

Manning’s restrained but curious fingers, inching closer up my shorts.