I let the blaze grow bolder, brighter.
I let the heat take over until it’s nothing but a ball of fire.
And in one quick breath, blow it out.
He’s too far for me to hear his chuckle, but I know it’s there.
He winks, and this time, I feel it in my soul.
Chapter 26
Arianna
* * *
I was hoping for an invite to sleep in Noah’s tent last night, but not an hour after our marshmallow fun, Cameron was down for the count, which put me on best friend duty.
I did, however, set my alarm for when he mentioned he was getting up, so I could help him pack and say bye before he took off. Knowing the boys, we’ll be here as long as possible, cutting it to the very last minute before we have to head back to campus. They’re every bit outdoor, hands-on, adventure men.
By six a.m., on the dot, Noah’s pulling out of the campsite, headed home for his visit with his mom.
As quietly as I can manage, I snag the last of the logs near Brady’s truck and carefully arrange them into a tall point around the mess of ashes. There’s enough kindling still burning below that I don’t have to use the brush to get it going today—clearly some campers had a way later night than I did for this baby to still have some life—so I stay crouched, watching to make sure it burns evenly or the fire will weaken sooner than we want.
“You need another log?”
I glance over my shoulder to find Chase stepping up, his hands buried in his hoodie pockets, beanie hanging half off his head, as if he forgot to tug it down when he crawled out of bed.
“These are the last of them.”
He nods, coming forward. “You’re up early. Cam okay?”
I chuckle, pushing to my feet. “Drooling all over my pillow when I last checked. Her ride home won’t be fun.”
He grins, following my steps.
“Want to help?” I gesture to last night’s beer pong mess, pulling two garbage bags from the plastic bin under the food table.
Wordlessly, he grabs the bag, and we start on opposite sides, picking up the empty cans on the ground first, moving to the tabletop second.
“I miss partying like this.” Chase looks across the trees. “Well, I guess this is only our third parent-free camping trip, but still. I could go for more of these.”
“Good thing we’ve got all that practice from sneaking onto the back of Brady’s grandparents’ property, or we’d be coming out here with nothing but tents and an ice chest.”
He grins. “Yeah, we discovered the hard way you have to bring wood camping, didn’t we? That was a failure of a trip.”
“We had to leave in the middle of the night, and we slept in the truck outside my house because Mason didn’t want to see the grin on my dad’s face when he got to say ‘I told you so’ when they said we weren’t ready to go on our own.”
Chase laughs, nodding his head.
I gasp, looking to him. “Do you remember summer of sophomore year, when your parents let us have that pool party at your place?”
“Our first adult-free swim session.”
“That took two weeks to get them to agree to, and in the end, only hit us with one condition… ” I raise a brow at him.
Chase drops his attention to the table. “No fighting.”
“Yes, no fighting, and what do you know, they come home to find their very own son, with a black eye because you just had to go and hit on Jake Henry’s girlfriend.”
I laugh, thinking about it, but when I look over, I find Chase frowning at the stream of beer he’s pouring into the dirt, so I close my mouth and continue cleaning.
After a moment, he sighs. “You bought a new swimsuit for that party. Pink with white stripes.”
My head snaps in his direction.
I did?
“I put you on my shoulders for a chicken fight against Cam and Brady, and we won,” he continues, licking his lips as his eyes rise to mine. “I dropped us back into the water to let you down, and I did… but then I spun around and reached for you.” He holds my gaze. “I pulled you to me, and without a word, you wrapped your legs around my waist. You smiled, and then let go. I didn’t realize until someone splashed that I didn’t. I was still holding onto you.”
I shake my head, confused, and his eyes move between mine.
“It was a total of ten seconds, if that,” he tells me then. “But that was all it took for Mason to see.”
“We were playing a game, celebrating a win.” I swallow. “It was nothing.”
“It was something, Ari, and he knew it.” Chase’s lips twitch. “He’s got a solid right hook.”
Pressure builds along my chest. “It was Mason? Mason gave you the black eye.”