Lights on the Lake

Alana awoke with a start in her aunt's house three days later. The house was completely empty for all that she knew; her aunt and uncle had gone on a camping trip a few days ago with the kids to help Paul feel more in touch after his accident and weren't coming back until the afternoon. They asked Alana if she wanted to come, for some "family bonding", but she was pretty sure they both knew she was never quite into that.

Alana's eyes burst open when she heard a loud crashing noise in the kitchen and she sat up suddenly in her bed, her long wavy reddish brown hair falling against her shoulders in a million different bedhead angles. She perked her ears up like a dog, one of her hands clutching her blanket as if it was going to protect her from whoever was burglarizing her aunt's house.

She heard a set of footsteps making their way on the hardwood floors of the house and Alana cautiously threw her blanket off of her and got up out of the bed. She grabbed a glass picture frame from the shelves next to her of the guest bedroom and slowly opened the door, trying to remain as quiet as possible, her breathing daring to heavily escape her throat.
She waited cautiously for another noise, and then conducted a plan in her mind that if there was another, she'd charge out and hit the assailant across the head with the corner of the glass frame adorning the picture of...

She stopped and looked down.

A picture of Jesus. Nice.

Once again, she heard a tumble of feet, as if the person almost tripped and Alana immediately ran from her room with the frame in hand and charged down the hallway toward the living room.

"Who is here!?" She yelled in a high-pitched, not even threatening at all voice, the frame held high above her head.

"Woah, Alana, don't kill me!" She heard a familiar voice say. Alana stopped and looked around to see none other than her best friend from New York, Julie, walking towards her. Julie's hair was still black with random blonde streaks that was pulled tight into a bun, extenuating her strong jaw and ice blue eyes. Her gymnast body glided over towards Alana while she had a huge smile on her face.

"Julie!?" Alana squealed and pulled Julie into a bone-crushing hug. "What are you doing here!?"

"New York was boring without you!" Julie replied. "I got fired from the studio, just because I accidentally lit a little boy's pant leg on fire. Like seriously, we got it out in time, no need to freak the eff out."

Alana laughed. "So now we're both unemployed wannabe photographers living off the land?"

"Exactly. And what better land to live by then.." Julie looked over at the Lake Vedleu - The Lake of Lights napkins on the counter in the kitchen. "The Lake of Lights!"

Alana scoffed. "That's coming up in a few weeks, hopefully I'll be gone by then."

"Why?!" Julie responded. "It sounds fun. I read about it in a brochure at the airport. You guys light lanterns and lift them into the sky while singing this creepy song celebrating your town. It's like Tangled except without evil stepmothers and shit."

Alana smiled and shook her head. "It got old after seeing it happen 18 years in a row."

"Well, I want to see it," Julie rebutted while looking through some random books that were arranged next to a bowl where her aunt put their keys. "Oh by the way, you should tell your aunt that that picture of Jesus isn't actually accurate at all. He definitely was not white with blue eyes... stupid people."

Alana ignored Julie's comment and just pulled her into a hug again. "I'm so glad you're here," She said. "I need someone here to remind me that I have an actual life outside of this town."

Julie put her hands on her hips. A secretive smile lurking on her face. Alana stared blankly back at her.

"Oh don't act like I forgot," Julie said and her smile grew bigger. "Happy Birthday, Alana."



The sentiment that was raised by Julie soon became all Alana could hear in the backyard of her aunt's house later that day. Julie had somehow gotten ahold of Ker (Alana had no idea how that even happened taken that they never even knew about one another) and planned the whole thing. Mackenzie, Weezer and Abigail (along with her boyfriend Jason who seemed to never leave her side) showed up, along with some people from high school that Alana used to be somewhat friends with. She thought it was funny that they decided to ignore her existence at the scavenger hunt but now they were showing up wishing her a happy birthday with open arms. Alana smiled at them fakely and looked over and her aunt and uncle and cousins who were running around in the tall grass of the large backyard. The sun was lowering in the sky and gleaming in everyone's faces. Alana put a hand over her eyes and couldn't help but smile. She could feel warmness in the pit of her stomach and suddenly felt calm, like everything was how it used to be, except she couldn't help but feel that one person was missing.

He'd of course been on her mind, she had left when he was trying to be honest and caring to her. It was probably the fact that he had never been honest and caring to her that threw her off and scared her the most. If Leo was finally able to be a friend to her, then what happens from there? She'd never experienced anything like that. She never experience that side of Leo.

"You're twenty-one." Alana heard a voice behind her say, a voice that was deep, yet still held a lightness of a boy. She turned around to see none other than the boy she was talking about standing in front of her. He had an awkward look on his face and his hands were laying limply by his side. He then lifted them up in a self-defense way. "Mac invited me. I thought I'd at least stop by. I come in peace."

Alana smiled without realizing it. "It's fine, Leo. I'm surprised you're even talking to me."

"Yeah, I ask myself that a lot," He said. Alana raised her eyebrows and scoffed. "About you. How you are still talking to me." Alana laughed. "Yeah, see how I turned that around?"

Leo grinned, showing his perfectly straight years-of-braces smile.

"Yes I did," Alana replied. There was comfortable silence between them. "Oh hey, so I can legally drink now," She added in a light tone.

"Like not being of age had ever stopped you before," Leo replied mockingly. Alana frowned slightly, thinking of Mackenzie's scar, but quickly let it go. "You look nice."

Alana looked down at her plain black dress that hung loosely on her body and shrugged. She hadn't really planned on having this whole shindig, and this dress was what she had planned on wearing to her father's funeral, but had opted for another one last minute. She didn't exactly feel too "nice" in it.

"Thanks," Alana replied.

"Look, can I talk to you for a second?" Leo said quietly. Alana shifted her feet in the grass, the bottom of her heels sinking into the dirt.

"You are talking to me," She replied.

"I know that," Leo responded, his tone flat. "Just... come with me all right?"

"... will I come back?" Alana asked. Leo rolled his eyes at her poor excuse for a joke and she followed him around to the side of the house where no one was. She leaned her back against the house while he stood in front of her, somewhat pacing back and forth. "You all right there? You look all nervous like you're going to confess some big bad secret," Alana teased.

Leo stopped pacing and turned to face her.

"I'm going back to school on August 2nd," He said suddenly. "Thirteen days."

"And I'll be back in New York hopefully long before then," Alana replied. "Why is this relevant?"

Leo scoffed and shook his head, a small cynical laugh escaped his mouth. "Why is this relevant..." He muttered.

"Why are you acting so crazy right now?" Alana asked.

"Why am I acting crazy?" Leo asked back.

"Yes! You're repeating everything I'm saying!" Alana said, her voice louder.

Leo took a step forward, but then thought twice about it and took a step back. "That's because I can't comprehend what you're saying to me," He said, his words quick and deliberate. "Are we just not going to talk about that night? Or our conversation in the morning where you basically left, making me feel like a total douche for trying to change and actually be nice to you for once?"

"Leo-"

"No, I mean, seriously, I stand there and tell you the truth, trying to treat you the way you should have always been treated by me, and you walk out. That's kind of sending mixed messages."

Alana stood there, not really knowing what to say. One second Leo was smiling at her, saying she looked nice, the second he is frantically and angrily speaking to her.

"Can't we just... forget that whatever happened happened?" Alana asked meekly. "I mean, we were just having a civil conversation with each other and you had to go and do this and make everything dramatic. Aren't I supposed to do that? I'm the girl."

Leo stopped in his tracks. "Are you calling me a girl?"

Alana shrugged. "You're sure acting like one."

Leo shook his head, his shoulders loosening a little bit and Alana exhaled her breath, hoping that she'd never have to confront anything between them again.

"So what's going to happen then?" Leo asked, "You're going to leave, so am I, so are all of our friends. Next summer I'll be graduated and off to grad school, or Europe, or freaking Cambodia, I don't know, and you'll be in New York probably, and will we just never speak to each other again? Will it be just like it was when you left? Where I don't even know you?"

So much for never having to confront anything again...

"Leo, why are you talking like this? Why do you care? I mean, we'll talk sure, maybe..." Alana thought for a second. "I don't know.." She added. She really didn't know. Both her and Leo always hated each other and then semi-liked each other the next. She wasn't quite sure if that was enough standing for them to keep in touch when they both part ways.

"Exactly," Leo replied. "And this sounds so unbelievably stupid, but even though you're so annoying to me, and you're selfish and your voice gets so high pitched when you're angry to the point where it makes my ears want to bleed... I know that I don't want it to be like it used to be. Where we go from being around each other every day to not even speaking. It's bound to happen."

"Good to know I make your ears want to bleed," Alana said bitterly. "You just know all the right things to say."

Leo took a step forward. "You know what I mean," He replied, his voice low. "I don't know what's going on here, Alana."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't even know what I mean. All I know is that if I leave, and if... if you leave, I just..."

He took another step forward, straight towards her.

"Leo, what are you doing?" Alana asked.

"Please," Leo said quietly, once again another step forward. He placed his hands on either side of her against the wall. She stayed right where she was. He lowered his head so it was level with hers.

"Leo," She said quietly, her heart thumping in her chest. She didn't even know why. Him being that close to her was just something she couldn't handle.

"I just need to get this out of my system, all right?" He whispered, his breath hitting her lips. He took another step forward, their bodies closing in on one another. Alana closed her eyes, she could feel her heartbeats banging in her ear, in her neck, in her arms.

And finally, Leo kissed her. And she didn't stop him.

His lips crashed onto hers with some type of urgency that neither of them quite realized was there. He pushed his body into hers and he grabbed the back of her head. She didn't even comprehend what was happening, but she kissed him back, feeling euphoric and out of place. Like it wasn't even her that was passionately kissing Leo Cronin against the side of her aunt's house.

Alana let a breath escape her lips before Leo covered them again with his own. She held onto his face and pushed him closer to her, their bodies doing all of the work for them. Moving against and with one another as close as they possibly could.

But suddenly, Alana's mind caught up with her body and she gasped mid-kiss and violently pushed him away. He stumbled backward and looked straight at her, not saying a single word.

They stared at each other silently, both of them panting and both of them knowing that they wanted to go back exactly where they were two seconds ago. But Alana shook her head. She didn't need to say anything to him, so instead she turned her back and walked away from him as quickly as she could, leaving him standing there behind her and leaving her debating going back.

Her footsteps felt heavy, but her head felt light as she made her way back to the backyard. Once she reached it, she saw everyone just like they were, still in conversation with one another, music playing in the background and the BBQ smoking. It was as if time had stopped and she came back right where she had left. She saw her aunt smile at her and then grab her husband's hand, who looked back at her. She looked over at Abigail and Jason, who were both sneaking glances at one another. She looked over at Weezer who was looking over at Mackenzie, and then Alana felt more lost and alone than she had ever felt.

"Hey, you all right?" Julie asked, slipping right beside Alana. Alana turned her head to Julie who smiled back at her.

"Yeah, totally fine," Alana lied. "Thanks for all of this, it's really great."

"It's the least I can do, your friends are amazing. That Leo guy isn't too shabby either," She said and wagged her eyebrows. Alana inwardly scoffed.

If she only knew.

"Look, I have a surprise for you," Julie said, her voice holding a playfulness that Alana had missed. Alana raised her eyebrows, trying to sound like she was at all interested in what Julie was saying, but her eyes were still looking towards the corner of the house, where Leo had yet to return. "Don't get mad, okay?"

"Why would I get mad?" Alana replied. Julie grinned and gestured toward the house.

And then there was Trey.

He was walking from the other corner of the house, a large grin on his face. He was holding a small perfectly wrapped box as he glided over towards them. His hair was shorter, but he looked just the same. His blue eyes, his slim yet muscular build, tan skin, brooding German features. Alana's stomach sank when she looked at him. Surprise was clearly written all over her face, because Julie was laughing excitedly at her reaction.

Alana stood frozen where she was until he reached them. By now, everyone was looking.

Trey grabbed Alana and wrapped her in his arms and she could feel on her skin everyone's eyes on them, probably 'aww'ing at their cuteness. Alana hugged him back in shock.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart," He whispered into her ear and then pulled away. "Surprise!"

"You... you're here, I... you're here!" Alana said, not even being able to comprehend the words she was saying, or what anyone else was saying for that matter. Trey grinned and grabbed onto her face to kiss her on the lips.

"Aw, she's so excited she can barely speak," Julie said teasingly.

It was then that Alana saw in the corner of her eye, Leo, standing where he was at the opposite corner of the house, watching as Trey kissed Alana once again.