Straight Laced Read Online Free Page A

without a flashlight.”
    “Well , go get Brent then!”
    “Okay, okay.” I started walking back down the hill towards the docks.
    “Summer …” I turned around and looked at her. “You guys better not leave me here.” The seriousness of the look on her face made me realize she was actually scared.
    “Tori, if only Brent and Nate were with you , I’d be worried. But you seriously think I’d leave you there?” I laughed again as I continued down the hill to the boat docks. When I finally got on the dock, I realized I had no idea which one was their boat. I walked across the wooden boards until I saw the light from a flashlight. Then I heard that laugh again—yep, that had to be them.
    “Um , Brent…?” I waited until he turned around to look at me. I shielded my eyes from the beam of the flashlight. “Your sister is a little stuck.”
    “Stuck?”
    “Yeah, she’s like all tangled up in this tree. I tried to help her but I couldn’t see.”
    “Well , I guess she’ll have to wait until we head back up that way.”
    “Brent , you can’t just leave her there. At least give me the light and I’ll go help her if you’re not going to.” I knew he wasn’t going to send me out with their only flashlight.
    “Fine. Where’s she at?”
    “I’ll show you.”
    “No. You stay here. I don’t need to be trying to keep an eye on both of you.” He stepped out of the boat and held out his hand to help me in.
    “She’s just right up the hill.” I pointed in the direction we came from. “She has a loud mouth, I’m sure you’ll hear her when you get closer.”
    “I wouldn’t doubt it.”
    Now that I was on the boat, I realized it was a pontoon. I only recognized it because my grandparents used to have one when I was a kid and the set up of this one was almost identical. I could see Nate’s silhouette; he was kneeling on the couch at the back of the boat looking into the water. I slowly made my way over to the couch and kneeled down beside him.
    “It’s pretty nice out tonight , huh? You can see a lot of stars.” This was my attempt at making some sort of conversation.
    “Yeah… it is.” He looked up into the sky.
    “So how long have you known Brent?” I asked.
    “About five years.”
    “Oh, did you guys meet at school?”
    “Yeah, high school.”
    I looked out over the water. Then I heard this strange sound, it reminded me of nails on a chalkboard. It startled me and I fell in the opposite direction of where the sound was coming from. Nate’s laugh started up again and it was right behind me. It took me a minute to realize that I could feel the vibration of his laughter on my shoulder. I had fallen right into his chest.
    I looked up into his eyes and admired his features from the moonlight reflecting off the water. I slowly pulled myself away from him but I didn’t take my eyes o ff his face. As I pulled away, his body followed, so I stopped. I watched as his face inched closer and closer to mine. I could feel the warmth of his breath, I could smell his cologne, butterflies started to flutter in my stomach.
    “I’ve officially decided my sister is adopted!” A bright light beamed into my eyes. I held my hand up to shield my eyes and turned back to look over the water. My weight shifted as Nate got up off the couch and walked towards the front of the boat. It took me a minute to get myself together. I wish I could’ve found out what was going to happen if Tori and Brent wouldn’t have shown up.
    “I am not!” Tori climbed into the boat and sat beside me.
    “Well , I don’t know how anyone who is related to me can be that uncoordinated.”
    “I’m not uncoordinated!”
    “Tori, you just got stuck in a tree. Trees don’t even move.”
    “T hat’s not fair. It was dark.” I’m sure if I could see him, Brent would be rolling his eyes.
    “ Well, everything looks good. We better head back.” Brent jumped out of the boat and waited for us to follow.
    On our way back to the campsite,