The Broken Lake by Shelena Shorts

trees everywhere—behind us, beside us, and surrounding the lake on all sides, at least as far as I could see.
    I waited for him to get out first, to check and make sure it was safe. For some reason, I was apprehensive. It could have been because swimming in a lake still didn’t sound all that appealing. Luckily, he got out and went straight to the back and pulled out all our fishing supplies.
    I carried the rods and tacklebox down to the water and he carried everything else, including a cooler I hadn’t seen before.
    “What’s in that?”
    “You’ll have to wait and see.”
    “Oh, come on, Wes, you know I don’t have patience for secrets or surprises. What’s in it?”
    “Just drinks, lunch. Stuff.” He set everything down without looking at me.
    I put down my load and smiled. “Aw, you packed us a picnic? That is so romantic.”
    His shyness was surprising, and I was getting a kick out of it. I stepped over to him and turned his face to me by holding his cheeks. I gave them a slight squeeze.
    “You are so sweet. I just want to kiss you all over.”
    He smiled and pulled his head back just far enough that I couldn’t reach it anymore. I jumped up, and he turned away, laughing. I wasn’t ready to give up, so the chase was on. He started to run and I jumped on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck. He placed his hands under my legs to hold me up.
    I was doing some sort of embarrassing laugh by then. I’m not sure why, other than this was a lot of fun. At least it was until he headed toward the water and then it registered. I tried to put my legs down, but he held me to him even tighter.
    “Wes! What are you doing? Stop.” Now he was the one laughing. “It’s not funny, Wes. Don’t go in there. I have my clothes on!”
    Somehow, he pulled me around to his front, so he was carrying me. I was wriggling, but he was winning. Once we got to the edge, he held me out over the water.
    “Wes, I swear. Please!” He moved as if to toss me. “My clothes!” I yelled.
    He tossed and I closed my eyes, screaming. I braced for the impact, but there wasn’t one, only the sounds of him cracking up. I opened my eyes and he still had hold of me. I smacked his chest and wriggled my way down.
    “That’s not funny.” But I couldn’t contain a smile, even though I was trying very hard.
    “I don’t understand why you’re so concerned about your clothes.”
    “Because they’re all I brought. What? Am I going to go home naked?”
    He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “You could.”
    “Yeah, right.” I was still smiling, but I brushed past him in an effort to get away from the water before he changed his mind.
    He followed after me. “What? You’re the one who said you wanted to kiss me all over.”
    I smiled, but kept walking. Once we got back to our little spot, we unpacked the supplies.
    He leaned toward me, all puppy-dog-eyed. “You don’t want to kiss me anymore?”
    “Nope.”
    “No? Why not?”
    The truth was, I did.
Really
bad, but I was hoping that playing hard to get would spark him to kiss
me
.
    “Because, I just don’t,” I answered, not sure if my face was serious enough.
    “Okay.”
    I knew him well enough to know that he had called my bluff, but I wasn’t going to cave. Acting satisfied with his giving up, I situated myself with the fishing supplies. I remembered a lot from the times with my dad. I baited the hook and everything. Even Wes watched me so he could learn.
    “I’m impressed,” he said.
    “Why?” I asked, casting out.
    “It’s nice to watch you do something I’ve never seen before.”
    “There are a lot of things you’ve never seen before.” I wanted to smile when I said that, but I remained serious.
    “Is that so?” He cast his line into the water with ease.
    “Uh-huh.”
    “Like?”
    I was holding my rod steady and looking out over the water. “Well, let’s just say you’d need to have a clear head before I showed you.” I was cracking up inside.
    “Is