''You know how they came up with the word Lunatic?'' he asked.
I shook my head, feeling like I probably didn't want to know the answer. His lips pulled up on one side in a mischievous, lopsided grin.
He stepped closer. ''Because all of the worst m...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Every time I touch you."
He looked embarrassed when he said it, which was unusual because he rarely ever showed too much emotion. He was always reserved and contained, but not when he whispered those words.
They sounded like an embrace coming from his lips. We were both silent as the words floated between us. If he'd felt the electricity and the power that surged between us, I wondered if he felt as strong of a pull toward me as I did to him.
Silently, we both decided it was time to return to land and to the real world. There were monsters waiting on the shore and we had to face them.
We drifted back into the dock without so much as a word to each other. He tied the boat off and I tried to ignore the way his long fingers worked the knots. It didn't work.
I turned, ready to walk back to the house. His voice stopped me.
"Lou," his voice was soft, "come back. Please. Can I show you something?"
My feet moved on their own accord and crossed the dock to where he stood on the end. He reached a hand out for me, and tentatively, I took it. Images flooded to my mind, so strong and so powerful that I couldn't stop them.
Ben was looking at me comically from the chair by the kitchen counter. I rolled my eyes as I pulled three boxes of pasta from the pantry. There were five growing boys in the house and never enough pasta.
"So you just...dumped her?" He asked, still shocked.
"I didn't dump her-"
He huffed a little and sank into his chair. "I can't believe you broke up with Rose for Lou."
I spun to face my brother. His words stopped me in my tracks.
I shook my head. "That's not-"
Ben waved my comment away and stood up. I couldn't help but notice how thin he'd gotten- how pale. My stomach rolled.
"Oh, please. She's like the sun, brother. You look at her and when you try to look away, all you see is an afterimage of her. You've seen the sun, and you're an idiot if you think the other stars will ever be good enough."
***
I was looking at her, and she was so strangely beautiful. A different beautiful than Rose or any other girl I'd seen. Her eyes were wild and her hair was never tamed.
The way she sat so close on the rocking boat made me want to crawl out of my skin. Only a thin layer of blanket between us was not enough to quell the static. I could still feel... her. I could feel the humming and the tingling and the, well, whatever it was.
"You're going to continue to be with someone who doesn't know who you are?"
