Page 17 of Hot Summer Nights

“You want me to shove hot dogs down my throat? Think of the choking hazard!” I hiss at him, and some teenage boys next to me laugh and elbow each other.

I roll my eyes at them, and Gavin hands me a bib. I reluctantly tie mine on as he does the same.

An announcer grabs the mic and my face heats as he goes over the rules and the clock is set to a minute.

“It’s just sixty seconds. What could go wrong?” Gavin asks, and I glare at him.

“On your marks, get set, go!” the announcer yells, and I grab a hot dog and take a bite.

Gavin grins at me as he grabs one and we have to be the only two in this competition who aren’t trying to win.

I laugh as he grabs a second one, and I reach for one too. We make it through one and a half each and are officially declared the losers.

I laugh as Gavin grabs my hand and drags me off the stage and farther into the carnival. I can tell that he wants to ask me if I still believe that I’m cursed, but instead he leads me over to the Ferris wheel and helps me on.

I expect him to ask at some point on the ride, but instead, he turns to me and kisses me. I close my eyes, getting lost in him and the sounds and scents of the carnival.

The ride stops and Gavin pulls back from me. We’re both slightly out of breath, our lips red and swollen. I take his hand this time and we wander around, checking out some of the arts and crafts booths before we ride some more rides.

Gavin buys us popcorn, cotton candy, and an elephant ear, and we sit at one of the picnic tables and watch the kids and families walk by.

“Are you ready for the last activity?” he asks and I turn to him.

“Bring it on,” I tell him, and he grins at me.

SEVEN

Record

“I can’t believethat you tipped me over,” Gavin says with a laugh as we duck under one of the bay doors of his mechanic shop.

“It was only fair. I got wet, so you should have been too,” I tell him and he grins at me.

“You got wet because a wave tipped your kayak over, not because I tipped you over,” he reminds me and I try to hide my smile.

“Semantics.”

He laughs and passes me my tote bag.

“Want me to throw your towel in the wash with mine?”

“No, that’s okay. I can do laundry when I get back to Madelyn’s place. I’ll just hang it up somewhere to dry for now.”

“Here,” he says, taking the towel and heading into the lobby.

I watch him as he starts to hang up our wet stuff and smile. Today was the most fun that I’ve had in a really long time. Maybe ever.

My phone buzzes in the tote bag that Gavin bought me at some little store near the beach. I have to fish around inside and when I finally grab it and see the screen, I’m starting to wish that I had brought it kayaking with us and it had fallen overboard.

There are over thirty missed calls from my family. I’m surprised to see that over half of them are from my younger sister. She never calls me unless she needs something, and I wonder if something bad happened.

Oh god, what if someone died or was in an accident? They could be in the hospital and I’m over here gallivanting all over town and drooling over some hot guy.

I’m just about to call her back when I notice the text messages.

There are over a hundred of them, and my heart races as I start to read. I’m expecting them to be letting me know that someone was hurt or passed away and asking me to come home, but that’s not what I get.

Instead, it’s message after message of them accusing me of ruining their lives and demanding that I return home.

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