I woke up shaking. Through bleary eyes I could see nothing, not even a sliver of light shining through the window. The sheets around my legs were cold. As I untangled myself and sat up, I tried to remember what I had been dreaming about. I wanted to call Gill and ask him if he was okay. I had to know what happened yesterday.

The doctor had told me it was best if I went home and checked back tomorrow, since Gill had to stay at the clinic for a few hours. And I did go home. But later in the evening I visited his house, only to enter his room and find him asleep, slouched over in bed with a mess of papers across his lap. Hamilton told me everything was fine, but he seemed just as worried as me, if not more.

It was morning, at least, so I pulled myself out of bed and started making coffee, even though I didn't like it. While I stood by the pot, I remembered something I should not have forgotten in the first place. Kathy was getting married. She told me just as I was about to leave the bar, on the night that Luna slapped Gill outside. The wedding date was undecided, but I imagined it would be soon. And today… there was something I was supposed to do today.

Ah, I remembered: My date with Luke.

The rest of the morning went by rather uneventfully. After I ate a salad for lunch that I prepared myself and tended to both my fields and my animals, I went to Gill's house. He greeted me at the door, which was both surprising and relieving. I asked if he was feeling okay.

"I told you, I'm fine," he said.

"About yesterday…"

"I was dehydrated, it was hot, and my blood pressure dropped." Gill leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. "That's all it was."

I frowned. "Did you forget to drink water?"

"I've been preoccupied."

I stood there staring at him for a few seconds. I wanted to hug him so desperately, but I couldn't will my arms to move. There was something about his tone—overly formal and distant—that made me feel an awkwardness I hadn't felt around him for a long time.

"Maybe you should ask Chase to cook you a healthy dinner," I said. "If you're preoccupied, you know. Food and water seem to have taken a back seat to whatever you've got your mind on, huh?"

He seemed to stiffen at my suggestion. His arms crossed tighter, and I couldn't help but notice his expression soured. "I'm fine."

"Okay. You're fine." I didn't want to argue. "Well, see you later then. Call me if you need anything."

Gill didn't say anything as I turned and walked away. I heard the door shut before I even reached the steps.

What was he doing? Every time I saw him, he was either running errands or doing paperwork or writing in notebooks. He was working himself to exhaustion. It had to do with the city; I could just feel it. Gill had said he traveled there for business—to negotiate a deal with the city farmer's market. I believed that, to an extent. But there had to be more. I just hoped I would find out before it was too late to matter.

When I arrived at the designated date location, I spotted Luke right away, sitting on a blanket atop a grassy hill overlooking the ocean, arranging lilies in a vase. He thought Flute Fields was the perfect place to have dinner. I had agreed; it was beautiful. But I hadn't agreed to the picnic blanket being spread across the grass of Chase's front yard.

Of all places… Sure, this particular place had the best view, and it wasn't in a pasture where we would be chaperoned by a herd of cows, but I just couldn't understand. If I was Luke and I wanted to have a date with a girl, I wouldn't have set it up on another man's property. Maybe that was just me, though. It was better, perhaps, if I didn't try to understand. If I pushed aside the thought that Chase could walk outside any minute and stumble on our basket of who-knows-what Luke packed, then I was sure the date would carry on without a hitch.

Taking a deep breath and a second to smooth my hair, I jogged over to Luke and smiled. He was wearing a clean shirt, the usual jacket, and jeans with a rip across the knee. I didn't think he owned a pair of pants lacking a hole. That was okay with me. In fact, I expected it.

What I didn't expect was the eruption of excited butterflies in my stomach when he wrapped his arms around me. My apprehension began to dissolve. Despite my unease over the location, I had to admit, it was well planned. We weren't situated too far off the main road, but we still had a measure of privacy (from the public, that is. Chase, however, was a different story.) Best of all, we could see mesmeric blue waves all the way to the horizon.

"Did you wait long?" I asked.

A short shake of his head told me he hadn't been here a great deal of time, or if he had, he was polite enough not to say. Then he grinned. "You look nice," he said as he settled back down on the blanket. "And so do these sandwiches. Look at them!" I sat down across from him and watched as he pulled out a brown paper bag. He drew out two sandwiches, which appeared extraordinarily normal to me, but I nodded anyway and gave him an exuberant thumbs-up.

"It's a beautiful evening," I mused after a moment. "Did you work today?"

He nodded. "Sanding wood. Simon ordered a new dresser."

Right after my teeth sank through soft wheat bread, I was able to identify lettuce, cheese, olives, mayonnaise, and fish. It was delicious, but I had no idea what kind of fish it was, and I didn't want to ask. It seemed like something I should've already known.

"So," Luke began, "how do you like these sandwiches?"

I chuckled and nodded with my mouth full. "They're really great."

"Don't worry about anything, Angela," he said. "I asked Chase for permission before I set up the date—" I gasped and began coughing at this, so I didn't hear the rest of his words. He didn't see anything wrong with that? Obviously not, because he kept talking, while I couldn't stop laughing.

"Luke, wait, you asked Chase for permission? To do what?"

His eyes widened as if that was a ridiculous question. "To have a date with you! I thought it was proper, you know? I really didn't want to, but I just think… I know you two like each other. I wanted to be cool about this."

"Pardon?"

"He made the sandwiches, too."

"Oh my god."

I felt like I should've been angry or something, but all I could do was laugh. I didn't understand his logic at all. It was absurdly funny. I could only hope my obnoxious laughter didn't draw Chase outside to see what was dying.

"Luke, what?" I wiped mayo off my face with the back of my hand as delicately as possible and shook my head. "You asked him to make sandwiches for our date? And he did it?"

"Well, yeah." Luke smiled shyly. "I would've done it myself but I'm not that great at cooking. I wanted you to have something delicious."

After my giggles faded, I sighed and smiled. "Forget about Chase, okay? I mean, we're sitting right in his front yard, but this is our date."

"Okay," Luke said. He grinned and tilted his head at me. I blushed under his gaze, but he didn't say anything more.

We ate together in silence, enjoying the light breeze and listening to the distant sound of tinkling bells. I had just told Luke to forget Chase while we were on our date, but my mind kept going back to Gill. I wanted so badly to talk to Luke about it, but I knew I shouldn't, or at least I shouldn't now.

When we were finished with our sandwiches, he seemed to remember there was other food in the basket. He pulled out a container of fresh fruit: cherries, apples, and melons. He then discovered two mason jars of water and a handful of orange candies.

Everything Luke took out of the basket seemed to surprise him, so I felt compelled to ask, "Hey, Luke, did you make this lunch?"

"Sort of," he laughed. "Why, can you tell? At first I just had the fruit, then Chase gave me… everything else."

I shook my head, smiling. With all the effort it seemed Chase had put into our date, the only thing we were missing was Chase himself.

Luke handed me a slice of watermelon and I took it gratefully. As we ate, sticky juice ran down our chins and arms. I licked some off my wrist, causing him to laugh and do the same, and soon we were licking our arms like animals and laughing and having a great time doing nothing.

When we were out of melon, he passed me a few candies, but I was too full to even consider more food. I realized I forgot to react and let his hand hover in the space between us when he asked, "Is something bothering you?"

My back straightened in surprise.

"It's okay. Whatever it is, I'll listen," he said. "Even about Chase."

"Well, it's not Chase," I said carefully, lowering my voice as if Chase could actually hear us through the walls. I wasn't sure if I should talk about this with Luke. We were having a good time, and I really didn't want to ruin it. He kept staring at me so expectantly though. Eventually I couldn't resist his pleading expression. "It's Gill. Yesterday… did you hear?" I paused for Luke's answer, but I didn't hear a response, and if he shook his head, I didn't see it. My gaze was fixed on the ground. "He passed out at the Inn. And he's been acting weird lately, you know? I just feel like… he isn't honest with me. I feel like we're so distant now. I want to help him, but he's acting like we're strangers."

Luke nodded. "I heard what happened."

Before he could say anything else, I added, "Chase told me it happened once when you were all young. Do you know about that?"

He fell uncharacteristically silent for a long time. I thought maybe I had said something bad, but then I noticed he was just trying to remember. "We were at school. And…" Luke paused. "We were doing a group project. We had to partner up, I think. And everyone was moving around the room, doing all kinds of things, but Gill was just sitting at his desk. After a while, I heard kids gasping, so I turned around and saw him face down on the floor."

"Was he okay?"

"Sort of," Luke said. "He was always, uh, weaker than most of the kids. I know the falling over was no big deal. He just got dizzy and fainted. But he smacked his head on a desk and it kind of messed him up."

I felt my eyebrows knit together. "Messed him up?"

"I mean, like, headaches and stuff. Ever since then, he started getting them and they just never stopped. Awful, huh?"

I nodded. There was an explanation for something at least. He really did suffer from migraines, and now I even knew how they started. But was that the cause of what happened yesterday?

"A few days went by and everything was still okay," Luke continued. "He even came to school for the rest of the week. Then at the festival that weekend, I heard him complaining about a headache. By the end of the night, he'd gone missing. Everyone was looking for him. Someone found him behind the barn crying. It was… sad."

I imagined Gill as a child, huddled against the soiled walls of a barn, his head buried in his arms as fierce, terrifying pain forced tears to wet his cheeks. The thought made me want to throw up. Luke had described it best—awful. Gill lived with these headaches for most of his life, and I couldn't even imagine living through one once.

"Thanks, Luke," I said. "For talking to me about this."

"No problem." He tossed a small stone and it landed near my leg. "So what are you worried about?"

"Oh…" I looked at Chase's house, wondering if he was actually even home. And if he was, did he know we were sitting here? "Gill… he works a lot… and for what? This island is laidback. It's not like he needs to work so hard." I didn't say everything I was thinking. I didn't ask what I wanted to ask. What is he hiding from me? And why?

Luke looked thoughtful. After a while, he said, "I honestly don't know. I'm sorry." He shrugged apologetically and glanced toward the house. "Maybe Chase knows."

I was doubtful of that. I'd already asked him about it and he seemed oblivious.

In a somewhat desperate attempt to switch up the pace of our date, I glanced down at the rock beside my knee and flung it toward Luke. It hit the ground nearly a foot to the left from where he was sitting.

"Do you have any tattoos?" The question flew from my mouth before I even had a chance to consider what I was asking.

He tossed the stone back. This time I caught it, and I realized we had begun a potentially dangerous game of catch. Luke shook his head slowly and gave a crooked smile.

I laughed. "Probably not, I guess."

The rock thumped against Luke's chest and fell into his lap.

"Do you?" he returned skeptically.

I started to shake my head and say no, but I was interrupted by another voice. "It's my lucky day," it called, sounding not at all surprised and very much contrived. My face flushed instantly. "No one said there'd be a stoning today. In my front yard, no less. What a spectacle!"

"Hey, Chase," Luke greeted, the stone forgotten.

Out of nowhere, an orange candy came whirling at Chase, and he barely raised his hand in time to catch it. Then he closed the front door of his house and walked toward us. He was turning an orange around in his hand.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something important." Chase knelt down behind our picnic basket. "Like a stoning. If it's a stoning, then by all means, please continue."

"And I hope you're kidding." I rolled my eyes and smiled.

We all looked at each other in silent evaluation for a few seconds. Chase's hair was dripping water on his white button-down, and the ends were already curling in the sun. He smiled at us as he unwrapped the candy. Did he even care Luke and I were on a date?

"Wanna join us?" Luke asked.

My eyes widened. I'd never really been on a romantic date before, but I was pretty sure that's not how it was supposed to go.

Chase's eyes met mine and he gave me a coy smile. I raised my eyebrows at him. What the heck was Luke doing? If I was Luke, I would've tried my hardest to stay away from Chase. It made no sense.

"I really shouldn't." Chase spoke in such a nonchalant manner that he seemed to know a secret we didn't. "But maybe something interesting will happen if I do." He sat down, halfway cross-legged with his arms folded over his knees.

"What's with that?" I gestured to the fruit. He only seemed to be playing with it and not really intending to eat it.

"Oh, this? I was going to visit our old friend Gill. Vitamin C and all that, you know?"

That surprised me. I was worried about him, but I had thought I was the only one—aside from his father. If Chase was going to see him, then maybe I wasn't the only one.

"There's something I want to say." Luke leveled his gaze on a point directly between me and Chase. "I give you permission."

Chase snorted after a particularly uncomfortable minute of silence. "What? Weren't you just asking me for permission earlier? Why do I need yours now?"

"Yeah, well, it's more like… I wanted to make sure you were okay with it. And now I'm saying I'm okay with… the other way around."

"Luke," I mumbled. "Chase isn't even—"

"Interested in you?" Chase was staring at me. "Oh, I'm very interested. How can I not be? You're so interesting. What makes you think otherwise?"

I was red. My cheeks, my nose, my ears. Everything was burning, even my eyes from the sudden rush of heat. "I just… I don't know… when I called us 'friends' back in the city you nearly threw up, so I may have been led to believe Luke's theory of us was a bit far-fetched."

"Fair enough," Chase said. "But I'm confused. We need to start dating now?"

"No!" I blurted. "Luke was just… I don't know… but it's okay. I don't even want to talk about this right now, especially when all I can think about is Gill. I'm sorry."

I might have been making it up, but Chase seemed relieved. At least he had stopped acting so elusive. Maybe he knew Luke was going to do this. It made me wonder about a lot of things, but mostly why Luke had orchestrated our date so strangely revolved around Chase. I wasn't prepared to ask, or maybe I wasn't prepared for the answer, so I let it go.

Chase stood up. His hair was drying quickly. In the sunlight, it was glowing, and it looked soft. I wanted to touch it.

"Can I… can I go with you?" I asked. "To visit Gill? I can just wait outside, even. I'll be ready in a minute."

Chase shrugged and nodded. He went back to the front door of his house and sat on the step to wait for me.

Luke shifted on the blanket across from me. For a second I had forgotten where I was, and who I was with. A cold feeling spread over my arms and across my chest. That's why I couldn't do this. Luke was one of my best friends, but that was it. Maybe under different circumstances it would've happened the way he wanted it to. But as long as there were Chase and Gill, I was hopelessly confused about relationships and what should be.

There were choices I still had to make, but one thing was certain: I had not chosen Luke.

I turned to Luke and took a breath. He smiled at me, and I really tried to do the same. I could see that he knew. "I'm sorry," I said quietly. "I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just trying my best."

"It's okay. This is how I hoped it would end."

"What do you mean? What were you doing?"

He stared at the ground, and when he looked up, he couldn't shake the sadness from his expression. "Trying to give up."

"Luke." My voice hitched. He didn't just want to be friends. He loved me. But he was making this harder than it had to be. Why was he pressuring me like this? I took another breath and stood up. "I'm sorry, Luke."

I had to be there for people who needed me—for Gill, for Chase. But now I wondered, was that even true? Did they need me or was I just making an excuse? Whether they needed me or not, I had to be there for them.

It wouldn't have been fair to Luke if I started dating him, because I knew my heart could never be focused on him alone.

Luke nodded slowly and pulled a lily from the vase. He held it out to me. "It's okay. Chase is sure lucky to have your attention, though."

I held the stem between my thumb and index finger, twirling it idly, thinking about what was happening. All I could do was nod. "Do you… need help cleaning this up?"

He bent over to gather our trash and leftover food and tossed it in the basket. Then he grabbed the blanket and threw it over his shoulder. It fluttered like a cape. He straightened and looked me square in the eyes. Suddenly, he was close. His face was inches away from mine. His hand was in my hair.

His lips were on mine.

A noise of surprise escaped from my throat, but I didn't do anything. Luke's scent—fresh, rich like a forest—entangled me, and I found my hands on his shoulders, not pushing him away.

My heart took off racing faster than I'd ever thought possible. A ridiculous thought—his face is on my face—passed through my mind and almost made me laugh mid-kiss. I knew I was possibly the most awkward kiss participant in the history of anything ever, but Luke didn't stop.

And in fact, I kind of liked it.

Then all at once, he pulled away, his breath coming out heavy through lips curled in a smile.

My lips did the same.

"For the love of god, just stop," Chase whined. He stood and threw his hands up. "I am going to vomit."

I laughed and lifted my hand in a wave. Luke was beaming. I really didn't think he cared about anything else at the moment besides our kiss. Our goodbye kiss. Seeing him so happy made this feel easier.

Chase was already walking toward the path, so I hurried to follow him. I turned around one last time, and then set my focus ahead, on Chase tossing the orange with one hand and crushing the candy with the other, and on Gill and how I was going to get the truth out of him.

A/N: Hello! I'm NOT dead! The problem was that I had to write this chapter from scratch because, unlike all the other chapters, I never wrote this scene out months ago when I was on my writing spree. I hope it's okay. I didn't spend a lot of time editing/revising because I wanted to post it quickly.

So... LUKE GETS THE FIRST KISS! Didja see that coming? I didn't! Then there's Chase tryna be cool over there, lol. Angela is confused about everything and tends to give in to suggestion. Luke's like "heck yeah!" And Chase is like "what the heck." So Angela ends up in the middle somewhere... "heck the heck" maybe? Who knows? Angela doesn't. :p

Thank you so so much for reading and leaving reviews. I really appreciate every single one! You're all amazing, never forget it!