p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella pulled her car up outside the school. Many parents were already there picking up their kids, so she was lucky to get a parking spot so close to the entrance. From where she sat she could see the midriff of a kid standing close to her car, probably waiting for his ride. She couldn't resist leaning over to the passenger seat to get a better look at him./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The only word you needed to describe him was embig/em. He was at least six feet tall with a wide chest and shoulders. She could see the muscles bulging on his arms because his red flannel shirt had its sleeves ripped off. They were covered in tattoos and his blond hair hung down to his shoulders. The thug look suited him well, complete with baggy jeans and what she imagined were worn out combat boots (she couldn't see them below the door). Unfortunately she couldn't see his face completely because his hair was in the way, and she was sat too low to see it in a proper angle./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She only had so long to ogle him before Greg and Andre came towards her. She waved at them, but they didn't see her. For some reason they started talking to the boy she had been staring at. Since when do those two make friends with scary people? When all three of them walked in the other direction, she got out of the car and called out to them./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Hey guys, I'm over here. Where are you going?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They turned around, looking surprised to see her. Greg replied, "Oh, hey. We totally forgot you were picking us up."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"That was all the explanation they offered her. They fell silent and looked a little lost. Greg and Andre stood in the middle of them, Stella waiting for them to come to her or at least say something else, and the big guy waiting a few steps away, looking bored and impatient./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Where you going anywhere? Do you need me to drive you?" she asked. It's not like she had anything else to do. She'd promised Becky she would help with the monkey, but her little sister could hopefully wait a bit longer. Right now Stella just wanted to get to know the new guy a bit better./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Well," Andre said hesitantly, "We were going to hang out with Braden. He suggested we do something we're not supposed to." It was such a un-Andre thing to say, he had to be quoting the guy- Braden./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"A thought hit her. "Well, I might now something that would fit that description."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You got something in mind?" Braden asked, coming closer./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella immediately decided that she liked his voice very much. "Maybe. How about an introduction first?" she asked slyly. "I'm Stella Feder, Greg's sister."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Had there not been a car between them she would have offered her hand. He had now walked past the guys and leaned against the roof above the door on the other side. This close up she could see that his eyes were blue, and he sported some facial hair that didn't look too bad at all./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I'm Braden Higgins."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Her thoughts froze and she didn't move for about ten seconds before his words had settled in her brain. Had she really heard him correctly?/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He was still staring at her when she came out of her thoughts. "Did you say Higgins? As in Marcus Higgins?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yeah, that's my dad," he said casually, as if it wasn't a big deal. But this was a huge deal! Although she couldn't really be surprised at the fact that Higgins had a kid, considering how much he slept around. The surprising part was that this muscle mountain had come from that tiny little man. The only likeness they had was the color of hair and eyes. How the hell didn't she know about this?! She looked at her brother and friend for an explanation, but they just shook their heads. She didn't even understand what they were trying to tell her with that. "So, whatcha have in mind?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She shook her head a bit to come back to her senses. "Uh, yeah, there's this really cool place where you can swim about a twenty minute drive from here. You're not really supposed to go there but everyone does anyway. You'd probably like it." She hoped he would. He looked like a rule-breaker./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yeah, sure," he said. "You know this place better than I do." Without another word he got in to the passenger seat and shut the door./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She looked over to the others. "You guys coming or what?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They hesitated. "Are you sure about this, Stella? I mean, you saw the guy, right? And you heard his last name?" Andre asked, trying to be discreet by keeping his voice down./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Hey, you're the ones who talked to him first. I assumed you wanted him to be your friend. Might be good to have in case of bullies next year." They still wouldn't move. "Don't screw this up for me, guys," she hissed, hoping he wouldn't hear her. "Either come with us or stay, but don't just stand there like total losers. If you don't make up your minds now I'm telling mom who really broke her favorite vase, and that I just took the blame because I was feeling nice."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"That got Greg moving and he pulled Andre along with him. They jumped in to the backseat and Stella sped off to the old quarry. The ride was mostly silent. She actually wanted to talk to Braden, but she got a feeling he wouldn't want to open up to much while the others were right there behind them. Luckily they soon reached their destination. She parked the car about fifty yards away behind some high bushes where it wouldn't be seen by the college kids. The reason the quarry had popped into her mind earlier was because she remembered Andy talking about going there. Where he and his crew were there was bound to be a party going. Stella didn't want to make it too obvious that she really wanted to be alone with Braden, so she chose a spot where she knew there would be people- otherwise she would have left the younger boys there to walk home./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They walked up to the rusty fence. Braden pointed to the signs. "emKeep out/em. That just make you want to not keep out." He crawled under the fence and Stella was right behind him./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was about a five minute walk to the cliffs through the forest. Andre took the lead. Stella was about to walked next to Braden when Greg took hold of her arm and held her back. The others walked ahead./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What did you mean back there by "not screwing this up for you"?" he asked./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella raised her eye brows and looked meaningfully at Braden's back. "You really can't figure it out? If you had an opportunity to hang out with Nancy Arbuckle- even though two other people were there too- wouldn't you take it?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He followed her eyes and looked back and forth between his older sister and the blond giant. She could see a light turn on in his head when he caught her meaning. "No. No, you can't be serious, Stella! Did you see the guy? Did you hear his last name?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I saw him and I heard. I just don't care. It probably won't lead to anything, but it's nice to have something pretty to look at for once. Why should you be allowed to stare at Nancy all day long, but I'm not allowed to have a little eye candy too?" Instead of waiting for his answer she jogged up to Braden and fell in to his steps. Though she was a bit taller than average he had longer legs than her and she had to make an effort to keep up with him. She smiled at him when they were next to each other. He didn't return the gesture, but looked more like he was unsure how to respond./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I heard our dads used to come swimming here back in the day," Andre said as they approached the cliff. "They claim to be all squeaky clean, but I think they were nuts."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella heard the music playing long before she saw the people occupying the place. Someone had brought a boom box to the otherwise peaceful place. Though the music wasn't bad, Stella was not in the mood to party with college youths who got drunk before three o'clock on a weekday. She wished they had gone somewhere not so crowded, where the people around where a little less annoying./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""College kids," Greg stated the obvious. "We better go."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Braden slapped his hand on Greg's chest to stop him right there. He spoke in his deep voice, "No go. Stay."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He spoke like a caveman, but there was something about him- most likely his delighted smile- that made Stella forget that she would rather be somewhere else./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yeah, maybe we should stay, guys," she agreed. She was about to say something more, but she forgot what it was the second Braden removed his shirt. emOhmygodohmygodohmygod /emwas all that went through her head. She thought she would faint when his pants came off too. He was built like she didn't know what, and she couldn't tear her eyes away from him as he dove into the water. Not a second later she was taking off her clothes as well./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Whoa, Stella, what are you doing?" Greg asked. Both he and Andre were looking the other way, looking a bit uncomfortable at being in the presence of their sister and longtime friend who was currently in her underwear./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What? I want to swim." She stepped right up to the edge. It was a really high jump and it made her stomach tingle. She had the urge to jump, as you do when standing before a great height, but she hesitated for a few seconds. Andre and Greg were trying to convince her not to do it, while Braden shouted from the bottom to join him. She thought about, and realized she would rather be celebrating the first day of summer down there with a hot guy than go home and sit quietly in her room./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She jumped with a squeal. Her stomach dropped and the wind went through her hair. The impact of the water hurt a bit, but passed very quickly. The sense of being under water calmed her racing heart a bit, and she went up to the surface to be greeted by a grinning Braden on one of those floating mattresses and sunglasses on his face./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He laughed for the first time since she'd met him… which was like half an hour ago, but still. He gave her a thumbs up. "Summertime."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Dude, that was such a rush!" She swam closer. "Where'd you get that stuff?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He pointed his thumb at the kids on the other side of the rock. "Took it from some guy," was all he offered as an explanation./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella never thought she'd laugh at someone admitting to a technical crime, but here she was, doing exactly that. She felt a bit silly, giggling like a schoolgirl with her first crush, but for some reason she couldn't help herself./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Any room for me on that thing?" Instead of answering, Braden lifted her up out of the water like she weighted nothing and made her straddle his waist. "What are you doing?" she asked in an annoyingly high-pitched voice, courtesy of her surprise./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I don't really feel like moving, and the view is much better like this, don't you think? I know I'm much more comfortable."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She giggled again and felt her cheeks warm up. "Stop that. You're making me blush."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He took off the stolen glasses and threw them in the water, neither caring much that they would soon be lost on the bottom. "Well, you look cute when you blush. So no, I don't think I'll stop."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella thought he looked better without the dark glasses. Now she could see his eyes. Again, she could feel her face turning red at the thought that they were sitting there in their underwear. She had promised herself that when she met a boy she liked she would act levelheaded and play it cool, but that plan just went out the window. Without thinking she leaned forward and put her lips on his./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was meant to just be a short peck, a heat of the moment sort of thing. She would have brushed it off as some spontaneous thing caused by the adrenaline from the jump, if she hadn't felt Braden's hand on the back of her head holding her in place./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Surprise made her freeze for a moment, before finally she moved her lips in sync with his. The kiss quickly went from innocent to steaming hot when she felt his tongue asking for entrance, which she happily gave. He was a bit of a sloppy kisser, and it seemed he couldn't really figure out how to control his tongue. Not that she minded, of course: it was very nice. Stella put her hands on his muscular chest and pushed him backwards to lay them down. Unfortunately she forgot the small detail that they were currently on a floating mattress in a lake. With their combined weight the mattress was already barely staying on the surface, but when she gave him the small push, which he didn't resist at all, it gave away. They landed in the water and both of them swallowed a mouthful out of shock before they came up again coughing./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They treaded water. Braden flipped his hair from his face and said, "Well, that was fun."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella did the same. "Not bad for someone who's never kissed anyone before, huh?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Braden's eyes got wider and he halted his movements, but not so much that he drowned. "Wait, that was your first kiss?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella was hesitant to answer him. She wasn't really ashamed to never have been kissed at the age of nineteen: it wasn't that uncommon. But Braden had no doubt kissed a lot of girls before, and might mock her for it or worse: not want anything to do with someone as unexperienced as her. Some guys were weird like that./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Uhm, yeah, yeah it was. If you're not cool with that- I mean, if you didn't like it, we don't have to…"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""No, no, it was fine," he was quick to interrupt her. "It was actually pretty great."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Really?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Really. Actually, it was my-" he stopped himself./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She swam a little closer and put her hands on his shoulders. "Your what?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"By the look in his eyes, Stella couldn't determine whether he was going to answer her or kiss her again. Either one would have been fine with her. But before he could do anything, a scream and a splash from the other side of the lake made them look away from each other and see what was going on. Stella was not prepared for what she saw./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Never in her life had she expected to see her father's friends and himself jumping naked from Suicide 35. Never had she expected to just a minute before that to be making out with one of said friend's son. Speaking of Braden, when she turned around to shield her eyes from the terrible sight, he was nowhere to be seen./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Braden?" she called out./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He emerged from under water near the cliffs and started climbing up. She hurried to follow him. He climbed up to the top, put his clothes on in a hurry and walked the same way they'd come from. Stella did the same, forgetting Greg and Andre were still with the college kids. Her clothes clung to her wet skin and she didn't have time to put her shoes on, so she carried them in her hand./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Hey, wait up." He didn't- just kept on walking. "Where are you going?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I don't know," he replied. He was clenching his fists and breathing hard. She could sense he was on the verge of exploding. She needed to calm him down./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. "What are you so angry about?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He took a few breaths. His eyes were fixed on a tree branch of to the right. He looked absolutely furious. "My dad said he was gonna work at the soup kitchen today. He lied."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Marcus Higgins had never set foot in a soup kitchen in his entire life, but she wasn't going to tell him that. Of course Braden felt angry. He had never met his father so he couldn't know what a lying little weasel he was. This was going to give Braden trust issues with Marcus, which he probably already had. What little boy didn't want to meet their daddy? Now that Braden had, he discovered that his dad would rather fool around with his friends than spend time with his own son. His mind must be overflowing with disappointment and self-doubt./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It made Stella angry too, and she was going to give Marcus a lecture he would never forget later. But not right now. She knew Braden could squash him like a bug, so she needed to calm him down before he did something he would regret when he was imprisoned for it./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Look, I get you're angry, I really do. I'm angry too. What Marcus did was wrong, but we're not going after him right now." She raised her voice when he was about to interrupt. "Those douchebags just made ours dads and their friends do the 35 feet jump naked. You need to take your anger out at something, and you want to do stuff we're not allowed to do. What do you say we get revenge?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He finally looked at her when she finished talking. They stood there for what felt like several minutes, just staring at each other, while he was making up his mind. Stella realized her hand was still on his arm, but couldn't bring herself to let it go./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Whatcha have in mind?" he asked eventually./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"The only word you needed to describe him was embig/em. He was at least six feet tall with a wide chest and shoulders. She could see the muscles bulging on his arms because his red flannel shirt had its sleeves ripped off. They were covered in tattoos and his blond hair hung down to his shoulders. The thug look suited him well, complete with baggy jeans and what she imagined were worn out combat boots (she couldn't see them below the door). Unfortunately she couldn't see his face completely because his hair was in the way, and she was sat too low to see it in a proper angle./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She only had so long to ogle him before Greg and Andre came towards her. She waved at them, but they didn't see her. For some reason they started talking to the boy she had been staring at. Since when do those two make friends with scary people? When all three of them walked in the other direction, she got out of the car and called out to them./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Hey guys, I'm over here. Where are you going?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They turned around, looking surprised to see her. Greg replied, "Oh, hey. We totally forgot you were picking us up."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"That was all the explanation they offered her. They fell silent and looked a little lost. Greg and Andre stood in the middle of them, Stella waiting for them to come to her or at least say something else, and the big guy waiting a few steps away, looking bored and impatient./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Where you going anywhere? Do you need me to drive you?" she asked. It's not like she had anything else to do. She'd promised Becky she would help with the monkey, but her little sister could hopefully wait a bit longer. Right now Stella just wanted to get to know the new guy a bit better./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Well," Andre said hesitantly, "We were going to hang out with Braden. He suggested we do something we're not supposed to." It was such a un-Andre thing to say, he had to be quoting the guy- Braden./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"A thought hit her. "Well, I might now something that would fit that description."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""You got something in mind?" Braden asked, coming closer./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella immediately decided that she liked his voice very much. "Maybe. How about an introduction first?" she asked slyly. "I'm Stella Feder, Greg's sister."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Had there not been a car between them she would have offered her hand. He had now walked past the guys and leaned against the roof above the door on the other side. This close up she could see that his eyes were blue, and he sported some facial hair that didn't look too bad at all./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I'm Braden Higgins."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Her thoughts froze and she didn't move for about ten seconds before his words had settled in her brain. Had she really heard him correctly?/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He was still staring at her when she came out of her thoughts. "Did you say Higgins? As in Marcus Higgins?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yeah, that's my dad," he said casually, as if it wasn't a big deal. But this was a huge deal! Although she couldn't really be surprised at the fact that Higgins had a kid, considering how much he slept around. The surprising part was that this muscle mountain had come from that tiny little man. The only likeness they had was the color of hair and eyes. How the hell didn't she know about this?! She looked at her brother and friend for an explanation, but they just shook their heads. She didn't even understand what they were trying to tell her with that. "So, whatcha have in mind?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She shook her head a bit to come back to her senses. "Uh, yeah, there's this really cool place where you can swim about a twenty minute drive from here. You're not really supposed to go there but everyone does anyway. You'd probably like it." She hoped he would. He looked like a rule-breaker./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yeah, sure," he said. "You know this place better than I do." Without another word he got in to the passenger seat and shut the door./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She looked over to the others. "You guys coming or what?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They hesitated. "Are you sure about this, Stella? I mean, you saw the guy, right? And you heard his last name?" Andre asked, trying to be discreet by keeping his voice down./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Hey, you're the ones who talked to him first. I assumed you wanted him to be your friend. Might be good to have in case of bullies next year." They still wouldn't move. "Don't screw this up for me, guys," she hissed, hoping he wouldn't hear her. "Either come with us or stay, but don't just stand there like total losers. If you don't make up your minds now I'm telling mom who really broke her favorite vase, and that I just took the blame because I was feeling nice."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"That got Greg moving and he pulled Andre along with him. They jumped in to the backseat and Stella sped off to the old quarry. The ride was mostly silent. She actually wanted to talk to Braden, but she got a feeling he wouldn't want to open up to much while the others were right there behind them. Luckily they soon reached their destination. She parked the car about fifty yards away behind some high bushes where it wouldn't be seen by the college kids. The reason the quarry had popped into her mind earlier was because she remembered Andy talking about going there. Where he and his crew were there was bound to be a party going. Stella didn't want to make it too obvious that she really wanted to be alone with Braden, so she chose a spot where she knew there would be people- otherwise she would have left the younger boys there to walk home./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They walked up to the rusty fence. Braden pointed to the signs. "emKeep out/em. That just make you want to not keep out." He crawled under the fence and Stella was right behind him./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was about a five minute walk to the cliffs through the forest. Andre took the lead. Stella was about to walked next to Braden when Greg took hold of her arm and held her back. The others walked ahead./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What did you mean back there by "not screwing this up for you"?" he asked./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella raised her eye brows and looked meaningfully at Braden's back. "You really can't figure it out? If you had an opportunity to hang out with Nancy Arbuckle- even though two other people were there too- wouldn't you take it?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He followed her eyes and looked back and forth between his older sister and the blond giant. She could see a light turn on in his head when he caught her meaning. "No. No, you can't be serious, Stella! Did you see the guy? Did you hear his last name?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I saw him and I heard. I just don't care. It probably won't lead to anything, but it's nice to have something pretty to look at for once. Why should you be allowed to stare at Nancy all day long, but I'm not allowed to have a little eye candy too?" Instead of waiting for his answer she jogged up to Braden and fell in to his steps. Though she was a bit taller than average he had longer legs than her and she had to make an effort to keep up with him. She smiled at him when they were next to each other. He didn't return the gesture, but looked more like he was unsure how to respond./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I heard our dads used to come swimming here back in the day," Andre said as they approached the cliff. "They claim to be all squeaky clean, but I think they were nuts."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella heard the music playing long before she saw the people occupying the place. Someone had brought a boom box to the otherwise peaceful place. Though the music wasn't bad, Stella was not in the mood to party with college youths who got drunk before three o'clock on a weekday. She wished they had gone somewhere not so crowded, where the people around where a little less annoying./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""College kids," Greg stated the obvious. "We better go."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Braden slapped his hand on Greg's chest to stop him right there. He spoke in his deep voice, "No go. Stay."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He spoke like a caveman, but there was something about him- most likely his delighted smile- that made Stella forget that she would rather be somewhere else./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Yeah, maybe we should stay, guys," she agreed. She was about to say something more, but she forgot what it was the second Braden removed his shirt. emOhmygodohmygodohmygod /emwas all that went through her head. She thought she would faint when his pants came off too. He was built like she didn't know what, and she couldn't tear her eyes away from him as he dove into the water. Not a second later she was taking off her clothes as well./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Whoa, Stella, what are you doing?" Greg asked. Both he and Andre were looking the other way, looking a bit uncomfortable at being in the presence of their sister and longtime friend who was currently in her underwear./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""What? I want to swim." She stepped right up to the edge. It was a really high jump and it made her stomach tingle. She had the urge to jump, as you do when standing before a great height, but she hesitated for a few seconds. Andre and Greg were trying to convince her not to do it, while Braden shouted from the bottom to join him. She thought about, and realized she would rather be celebrating the first day of summer down there with a hot guy than go home and sit quietly in her room./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She jumped with a squeal. Her stomach dropped and the wind went through her hair. The impact of the water hurt a bit, but passed very quickly. The sense of being under water calmed her racing heart a bit, and she went up to the surface to be greeted by a grinning Braden on one of those floating mattresses and sunglasses on his face./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He laughed for the first time since she'd met him… which was like half an hour ago, but still. He gave her a thumbs up. "Summertime."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Dude, that was such a rush!" She swam closer. "Where'd you get that stuff?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He pointed his thumb at the kids on the other side of the rock. "Took it from some guy," was all he offered as an explanation./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella never thought she'd laugh at someone admitting to a technical crime, but here she was, doing exactly that. She felt a bit silly, giggling like a schoolgirl with her first crush, but for some reason she couldn't help herself./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Any room for me on that thing?" Instead of answering, Braden lifted her up out of the water like she weighted nothing and made her straddle his waist. "What are you doing?" she asked in an annoyingly high-pitched voice, courtesy of her surprise./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I don't really feel like moving, and the view is much better like this, don't you think? I know I'm much more comfortable."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She giggled again and felt her cheeks warm up. "Stop that. You're making me blush."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He took off the stolen glasses and threw them in the water, neither caring much that they would soon be lost on the bottom. "Well, you look cute when you blush. So no, I don't think I'll stop."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella thought he looked better without the dark glasses. Now she could see his eyes. Again, she could feel her face turning red at the thought that they were sitting there in their underwear. She had promised herself that when she met a boy she liked she would act levelheaded and play it cool, but that plan just went out the window. Without thinking she leaned forward and put her lips on his./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It was meant to just be a short peck, a heat of the moment sort of thing. She would have brushed it off as some spontaneous thing caused by the adrenaline from the jump, if she hadn't felt Braden's hand on the back of her head holding her in place./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Surprise made her freeze for a moment, before finally she moved her lips in sync with his. The kiss quickly went from innocent to steaming hot when she felt his tongue asking for entrance, which she happily gave. He was a bit of a sloppy kisser, and it seemed he couldn't really figure out how to control his tongue. Not that she minded, of course: it was very nice. Stella put her hands on his muscular chest and pushed him backwards to lay them down. Unfortunately she forgot the small detail that they were currently on a floating mattress in a lake. With their combined weight the mattress was already barely staying on the surface, but when she gave him the small push, which he didn't resist at all, it gave away. They landed in the water and both of them swallowed a mouthful out of shock before they came up again coughing./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"They treaded water. Braden flipped his hair from his face and said, "Well, that was fun."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella did the same. "Not bad for someone who's never kissed anyone before, huh?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Braden's eyes got wider and he halted his movements, but not so much that he drowned. "Wait, that was your first kiss?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Stella was hesitant to answer him. She wasn't really ashamed to never have been kissed at the age of nineteen: it wasn't that uncommon. But Braden had no doubt kissed a lot of girls before, and might mock her for it or worse: not want anything to do with someone as unexperienced as her. Some guys were weird like that./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Uhm, yeah, yeah it was. If you're not cool with that- I mean, if you didn't like it, we don't have to…"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""No, no, it was fine," he was quick to interrupt her. "It was actually pretty great."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Really?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Really. Actually, it was my-" he stopped himself./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She swam a little closer and put her hands on his shoulders. "Your what?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"By the look in his eyes, Stella couldn't determine whether he was going to answer her or kiss her again. Either one would have been fine with her. But before he could do anything, a scream and a splash from the other side of the lake made them look away from each other and see what was going on. Stella was not prepared for what she saw./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Never in her life had she expected to see her father's friends and himself jumping naked from Suicide 35. Never had she expected to just a minute before that to be making out with one of said friend's son. Speaking of Braden, when she turned around to shield her eyes from the terrible sight, he was nowhere to be seen./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Braden?" she called out./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He emerged from under water near the cliffs and started climbing up. She hurried to follow him. He climbed up to the top, put his clothes on in a hurry and walked the same way they'd come from. Stella did the same, forgetting Greg and Andre were still with the college kids. Her clothes clung to her wet skin and she didn't have time to put her shoes on, so she carried them in her hand./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Hey, wait up." He didn't- just kept on walking. "Where are you going?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""I don't know," he replied. He was clenching his fists and breathing hard. She could sense he was on the verge of exploding. She needed to calm him down./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"She grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. "What are you so angry about?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He took a few breaths. His eyes were fixed on a tree branch of to the right. He looked absolutely furious. "My dad said he was gonna work at the soup kitchen today. He lied."/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"Marcus Higgins had never set foot in a soup kitchen in his entire life, but she wasn't going to tell him that. Of course Braden felt angry. He had never met his father so he couldn't know what a lying little weasel he was. This was going to give Braden trust issues with Marcus, which he probably already had. What little boy didn't want to meet their daddy? Now that Braden had, he discovered that his dad would rather fool around with his friends than spend time with his own son. His mind must be overflowing with disappointment and self-doubt./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"It made Stella angry too, and she was going to give Marcus a lecture he would never forget later. But not right now. She knew Braden could squash him like a bug, so she needed to calm him down before he did something he would regret when he was imprisoned for it./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Look, I get you're angry, I really do. I'm angry too. What Marcus did was wrong, but we're not going after him right now." She raised her voice when he was about to interrupt. "Those douchebags just made ours dads and their friends do the 35 feet jump naked. You need to take your anger out at something, and you want to do stuff we're not allowed to do. What do you say we get revenge?"/p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;"He finally looked at her when she finished talking. They stood there for what felt like several minutes, just staring at each other, while he was making up his mind. Stella realized her hand was still on his arm, but couldn't bring herself to let it go./p
p style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium;""Whatcha have in mind?" he asked eventually./p