Out of Summertime

Chapter 8: Dani Knows

I jump a little upon her entrance.

Mel gives me a crushing hug, "Hey baby! How did it go?" She jumps onto my bed and settles in for the second time in twenty four hours to hear my story.

I sigh happily and Mel gasps, "Are those stars back in your eyes? And- Wait! Do I hear wedding bells?"

I smack her arm and giggle, "Oh Mel... He is so amazing-" A knock sounds at the door before I can continue, Dani peaks her head in.

She glances between Mel and I, "Who is amazing?"

I pat the spot next to me, "Come on in and you'll find out."

Danica is only a year younger than Mel and I so I know she can handle this kind of stuff. I point my finger at her, "But you have to keep it a secret until I tell Mom and Dad. Okay, and you can't ever tell your friends or put this on social media."

She makes a crossing motion over her heart, "Promise. Now can you please tell me why you haven't been home for more than five minutes in the past two days. And why Mel is looking at you like you are holding a juicy steak?" Mel and I bust up laughing at the look on Dani's face, she quickly joins us. After we recollect ourselves I retell how we met at the fair, skipping all the minor details in order to get to the more crucial parts. Dani almost faints when I by the time I'm done. She is as hooked on my story as Mel is. They are both holding hands and sighing.

Melanie starts squirming around again and I inform Danica, "And that's where you came in."

"Come on Cals! You're killing me! I want to hear about your date," Mel is quivering with excitement. 

Dani pats my leg, " Yeah! Now you have to tell us how it went!"

 I shift my position to get more comfortable, "Well I picked him up at the fairgrounds. Oh he is so good looking... He is so handsome. And girls... Girls he's named his truck like I have, her name is Loretta... So I drove us to the lake. Oh Mel, he loves it there. He gave me a hug, he's really good at hugs... His skin is so warm, I actually sighed and embarrassed myself, he heard me..." the girls squeal and giggle. 

"Oh Cals," they utter in unison.

"I know! Oh! And it helped that he is quite muscular. But anyway, we went swimming, he was impressed with my double back-flip. Oh! We were taking a break and he laid his head on my legs-"

They gasp, "He DIDN'T!"

I cringe at their volume, "He did! And we talked... He doesn't have a girlfriend."

Mel does a happy dance, "Score!"

I roll my eyes, "So we kept alternating back and forth between being in the water and hanging out on the blanket..." My two best friends were nodding and smiling eagerly at me, genuinely excited to see me this happy. Should I tell them... Here goes nothing... I take a deep breath, "And well, we were on the canoe... Just casually rowing around. That was another thing girls, I had a tough time looking away from him, and I always caught him looking at me... He told me I am the most beautiful, thoughtful, kind girl he has ever met... We got lost in each other's eyes and... And we- he tried to... kiss me."

"No WAY!"

"I can't..." Dani falls off the bed and rolls around squealing. Mel shakes my shoulders and screams into a pillow.

When they get themselves together, Dani is the first one to ask a question, "But why did you say 'tried'?"

I smile one sidedly, and quickly realize I got that from Scotty, which only makes me smile more, "He was holding me and I guess we both leaned in and that rocked the boat. Next thing we knew we were in the water..." I say giggling.

"And he didn't try again," Mel asked.

I shake my head, "No, I think we decided that we will take it slow. But we held hands a lot, he wrote his number on my hand..." I lift my right hand that I have been cradling. Dani holds it like it is a relic and the pair sit there and ogle the blue ink.

They look up and smile at me, "Yeah we actually just set up another date tomorrow," I wave my phone in the air.

Mel snatches it and read our whole conversation, passing it to Dani she looks at me shocked, "You're introducing him to your parents?"

I shrug, "It's going to happen sometime and I really like him..."

Dani gives me my phone back, "I'm super happy for you Sis!"

I bite my lip and confess, "Well I want to tell Mom and Dad about us before he gets here. I need y'all to help me come up with a way to say it so they don't freak out."

Dani sleeps in my room that night with Mel and I. We stay up late; I tell the girls that I plan on taking Scotty to the Du Quoin Family Restaurant. The last thing I recall thinking is Thank you God for a perfect best friend and little sister...