Read Online I Know It's Over by C. K. Kelly Martin - Free Book Online Page A

made him dream up a fictitious shift.
    It was blistering on the beach by then and Sasha and I changed out of our suits and left soon after Nathan had gone. We walked around the lake, sweating in our clothes and downing gulps of bottled water from the snack counter. “There’re trees on the hill up ahead,” I said, pointing. “Let’s sit down.”
    We climbed up the hill and secured a shaded bench. Sasha’s face was flushed. Her nose was nearly as pink as Nathan’s shoulders. “Do you have sunscreen with you?” I asked. “Looks like you should put some more on your face.”
    She fished some out of her straw bag and applied it carefully to her face and arms. “You’re burning too,” she said, holding up the lotion. “Can I?”
    “Yeah.” I closed my eyes and let her smooth the lotion across my face. I felt her dip in closer, like she was studying me, and then her lips were brushing against mine, feather soft. I licked her lips and slid my tongue into her mouth, really gentle and slow. Something told me I had to be careful with her, that I’d be sorry if I wasn’t.
    Her tongue skimmed against mine. We kissed for a while, my right hand on the back of her head and my left on her knee. Then she drew back and smiled.
    “That was a surprise,” I said.
    “A good one, I hope.”
    “Yeah.” I smiled and pulled her back towards me. I kissed her mouth and her neck and said, “You smell like the sun.”
    “You do too.” She tilted her head pensively. I was about to ask her what she was thinking when she dropped her gaze and said, “I better go. My dad’s picking me up at the beach at six-thirty. Do you want a ride home?”
    “Okay.” I was disappointed that we didn’t have more time and I wasn’t in a hurry to meet Sasha’s dad. We walked slowly back to the beach together and stopped at the edge of the parking lot. “Give me your number,” I said suddenly. “I’ll call you.”
    “I don’t have a pen.” Sasha surveyed the parking lot, her eyes honing in on a silver Dodge Durango. The man in the driver’s seat stared back at her. Sasha blinked and turned towards me. “Will you remember it?”
    She recited her phone number and I repeated it, stamping the number into my head as we headed for her father’s SUV, not really friends yet, not really anything, just two people who happened to kiss by a lake in July.

 
    six
    Mom was eating a Greek salad in the kitchen, the Globe and Mail spread across the table and her legs resting on the chair across from her. She glanced up at me as I walked through the doorway. “Nicholas.” She put down her fork and folded up the paper. “I thought you were out with Nathan for the night. There’s salad and bread in the fridge.”
    “Maybe later.” I explained that I’d come from the beach and was still too warm to be hungry.
    “You got a lot of sun,” she said, examining my face. “You should be careful with that. You have your father’s coloring. He was always quick to burn.” She had this way of talking about Dad that made him sound like a distant, rarely seen relation, which in some ways he was. “Dani called here looking for you not ten minutes ago.” Mom picked up her fork and stabbed at a fat black olive. “You should invite her over sometime. I’d like to get to know your girlfriends.”
    “She’s not my girlfriend,” I said, drumming my fingers on the counter like it was no big deal. “We’re just friends.” Seemed like I was saying that a lot lately.
    Mom frowned and popped the olive into her mouth. We’d spent tons of summer evenings eating cold salads and sliced meats for dinner since Dad left. Mom said that she could never stomach heavy meals in the warm weather. “You never tell me what’s going on anymore,” she complained. “You were such an open little boy. Now it’s like pulling teeth to get any information from you.”
    “There’s nothing to tell.” Open little boy. Was I supposed to climb into her lap, hug her neck, and