Falling into Summer

Chapter 14

Haley

After sleeping comfortably the rest of the night, we wake up fairly early on Sunday morning. Once we see how beautiful of a day it's shaping up to be, we decide to go jet skiing. Eager to get the day started with Carter, I jump in the shower before he leaves. When I get out, I'm not at all surprised that he's gone, but I'm absolutely flabbergasted by how he left my room. Without me having to ask him, Carter made my bed the exact way I like it, opened my drapes, and tuned my stereo to my favorite radio station. These gestures show me he's paying attention to even the smallest details when we're together, that he listens to me, watches how I do things, and makes the effort to do and leave things the way I like them. He's done this for me, and in a way it shows me he cares... and it nearly moves me to tears. Here we've been inseparable all week, and I've relished every minute of it. Sleeping together as we have, it makes me think this is how life should be with someone. The routine of it all has seemingly painted a picture of a life that fits for me... a life I feel like I could be happy in. Carter has turned out to be a wonderful, thoughtful, and caring guy... and all his actions seem to attest that he likes being with me... but he's not mine... and can't be right now... With that thought, I push away the developing feelings of melancholy and longing before they can dampen my mood fully.

By lunch time we're riding Carter's jet ski around the chain of lakes near Universal. Expecting to get wet, I wear my bathing suit and French braid my long hair into pigtails, which Carter insisted he loved my hair in pigtails the minute he saw me. Following his lead, I leave my tank top, jean shorts, and flip flops in the car, and wear my life jacket over my bathing suit. After making our way through a couple of canals, Carter drives us to a larger lake that isn't as crowded with boat traffic as the original lake we launched into. While passing through, he speeds up when he approaches wakes so we can make a couple of small jumps. The whole time I'm clinging to the straps of his lifejacket, and bouncing all over the place as we glide along the water. Even though we're going faster than I'd prefer to go, jumping, and doing donuts, I'm having so much fun and can't stop giggling. Even after nearly falling of the back of the seat a couple of times, I'm still having so much fun. After getting some of the excitement out, Carter takes me around to show me some of his favorite lakefront homes, some of which belong to celebrities.

After a while we start to get hot, being that we've only been sprayed by water a couple of times. He drives us towards what appears to be an island full of trees and vegetation, but only gets close enough for us to see the sandy bottom. "We can't actually pull up to the shore or set foot on it because it's protected conservation lands," he informs me as he cuts the engine. Even though it's silent right now, there's the constant engine noise from other boats and jet skis on the lake all around us. "You wanna swim?" he asks.

"Sure," I insist as I release him from my grip and we both unbuckle our life jackets. After he's removed the safety strap from his wrist, he removes his life jacket and hangs it on the handlebars, revealing his bare torso and long swimming trunks. Gracefully, he pulls his leg over to the right and just as the ski starts to tilt from the shift of his weight, he leaps into the water, and I'm surprised he doesn't get fully submerged under water. Seeing him stand in the water, even paces off the beach of the island, I'm less nervous now that it's my turn to jump in.

As he dips down into the water to cool off, I remove my life jacket and hang it on the opposite handlebar, revealing my bikini. Copying Carter, I pull my legs to the right, and as the ski starts to bobble, I jump in the water, less gracefully than he did. I instantly fall in under water, and begin to paddle back to the surface, when I come to the realization that the water's too deep for me to touch. As I get my face out of the water, I feel Carter's hands around my stomach, seemingly helping to pull my head back out of the water. "You ok," he asks with a chuckle, as he continues to hold me in his grip.