Justin ran out the back doors and saw Leila run into the forest leading to the lake. He followed her into the pitch black forest. When he reached the lake he found her sitting on the dock. He walked out onto it and sat down. "Leila I…"
"Shut up Justin. I just realized how full of crap you are."
"Leila I swear, I didn't kiss Brooke, she kissed me."
"That's what they always say. Am I supposed to believe you now? Do you want me to throw myself into your arms and make you feel like you have done nothing wrong?" she stood up. "I knew this wasn't going to work out."
"What? No Leila, I swear. I like you, I like you so much." He tried to garb her hand but she moved back.
"No, Justin stop it!" her face was lit up by the moonlight and she was crying.
"Leila please don't cry."
"You know what Justin? I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm hesitant to be with you because my first and only serious relationship was with a guy exactly like you. Joshua, he was a hot, popular water polo player and I thought he was perfect. I told him I loved him and we were together for a year and a half. The day before our eighteen month anniversary, I found out he had been cheating on me for over a year with my own best friend. My parents couldn't get me to leave the house for a month. I missed school, I missed soccer, I didn't want to do anything. It felt like he had ripped my heart out of my chest and river danced on it."
"And Duke?"
"You don't want to know. But Justin, you remind me so much of Joshua. I don't want to feel like that again. He broke my heart and I'm scared that if I give you mine you're going to do the same."
"Leila, I never would. Please you have to believe me. I told you all those things because I meant them and it's how I really feel." He slowly grabbed her hand. "Please tell me we're ok." He kissed her forehead and kept his mouth there, his warm breath hitting her skin.
"Promise me you won't break my heart."
"I promise." He moved down to her lips and after a bit of nose grazing they kissed.
"We can't let anyone find out, especially Duke, at least not yet," she said, leaning her head on his chest.
"Then we wont, you want to head back to the dance?"
"No, I want to head back to the cabin." He nodded and grabbed her hand and they walked back to the cabin.
"So…" Justin said when they got there. They were standing in front of each other having a strangely awkward moment.
"Um…"
"I guess we could just," he said leaning forward.
"Um, Alan can walk in."
"I'll lock the door, he never takes his key so that means he'll have to knock before coming in."
"Ok." Justin locked the door and then went straight over to Leila and they started kissing.
"Oh!" Justin said when he hit the bed and fell onto it on top of Leila. They laughed for a second before Justin took his shirt off. "Baby have you ever?"
"No." she didn't look at him directly.
"That's alright, you don't have to look away."
"I know its just…I don't know, Joshua always wanted to I just wasn't ready."
"And if you're not that's fine." She smiled. He laid down next to her.
"Why did you stop?"
"Stop what?"
"Kissing me?"
"Oh I just thought…"
"No." he pulled her over to him and they started making out. Twenty minutes later there was a knock on the door.
"Hey, anybody in there?" Alan asked from the other side. Leila looked at Justin's bare chest.
"Go into the bathroom, I'll open the door," she said.
"Ok." He got up and was about to walk into the bathroom when he turned around. "One more." He kissed her and ran into the bathroom. Leila opened the door for Alan.
"Why was it locked?" he asked.
"Oh, Justin is in the bathroom and he didn't want anyone to walk in on him or anything."
"Then he could lock the bathroom door."
"Well he's and idiot, you should know that by now."
"Funny, I see you're bitchiness has returned," Justin said, walking out of the bathroom.
"Only because your cockiness has." He rolled his eyes and sat down on his bed.
"Ok, so I came over to grab my toothbrush because I am staying over at Derek's cabin tonight," Alan said.
"Why?"
"A bunch of us guys are, he's got one of those new movies, if you know what I'm talking about. Anyways, he asked me to ask you to come." Leila's eyes widened. She didn't want to stay alone in the cabin, it was the most isolated. Justin noticed and decided to make up and excuse to stay.
"Sorry man, I'm really not in the mood."
"Alright man, see you guys tomorrow." He walked out of the room. Justin stood up and locked the door.
"Well we got lucky tonight," he said. He walked over to Leila who was lying down on the bed and started kissing her neck. He stuck his hands in her shirt and she lifted her arms and he took it off followed by his. She wasn't planning on doing it that night but a little skin contact wasn't going to kill anybody. He stopped and smiled at her. "You're so pretty," he said.
"You're making it really hard for me to keep my pants on, especially when…" he started softly kissing her neck. "You do that."
"I'll stop if you want me to," he said.
"No, it's ok." He let out a small laugh. About an hour later they were both asleep.
It was eleven thirty when there was a knock on the door. Justin and Leila opened their eyes. They were in Justin's bed, both shirtless.
"Hello, open the door!" Duke yelled from the outside. They shot up from bed. Leila grabbed her shirt and ran into the bathroom. Justin opened the door. "What the hell took you so long?" Duke asked.
"I was sleeping," he said.
"Where's my sister?"
"In the shower I guess." Twenty minutes later Leila walked out of the bathroom with a towel around her body.
"Leila, what are you doing out here in a towel?" Duke asked.
"Relax, I forgot to take my clothes into the bathroom." She grabbed her clothes and walked back into the bathroom.
"You bother her while I was gone?" Duke asked Justin.
"No man, do you think I have something against her? Just because I hate you doesn't mean I hate her." Duke clenched his fists but Leila walked out of the bathroom so he controlled himself. She came over to him and hugged him.
"Where were you?" she asked.
"Just taking care of some stuff that needed to be taken care of, don't worry about it, really." He kissed her head and sat on his bed. "I'm going to go out to the field for a while, want to come with me?" Justin walked into the bathroom.
"Sure, but I left my headband in the bathroom."
"Ok." She knocked on the bathroom door.
"What?" Justin asked.
"Can I come in for a second?" he opened the door and let her in then closed it. Duke walked over.
"Hey, you don't have to close the door," he said. Justin and Leila let out small laughs and started kissing.
"I'll see you later," she said.
"Bye." She grabbed her headband and walked out of the bathroom.
"Why did you close the door?" Justin heard Duke ask as he and Leila walked out of the cabin. Another week went by and Justin and Leila had kept their relationship under wraps. Nobody knew and Duke still thought that Leila hated Justin.
"So, how's the soccer field treating you?" Duke asked Leila as they had a late night snack in the nearly empty dining room.
"Great, coach said that Justin and I are the best ones. He said that's the reason he paired us up together, because he knew we were the best ones and would get even better if we were working together." Justin walked into the dining hall.
"How do you feel about him?" Leila kept her eyes on Justin as he sat a few tables away. He looked over at Leila and smiled.
Duke noticed Leila staring at something behind him. He followed her gaze and it landed on Justin who was smiling their way. He looked back at Leila and she was smiling as well.
"Hey Leila, Leila!"
"Huh? What?" she asked.
"Why are you and Justin smiling at each other? Is there something going on between you guys?"
"What? There's nothing going on between us and I wasn't even smiling at him."
"Then why was he smiling over here and you smiling over there?"
"I don't know but we weren't smiling at each other."
"I don't want you hanging out with that guy, only when you guys are on the field, alright?"
"Ok, damn Duke, calm down." She got up and left, she could only take so much of Duke's over protectiveness. Duke got up and bumped into Justin.
"How about you watch where you're going," Justin said.
"Why you smiling this way?"
"Why the hell do you care, all I got to say is that I sure as hell wasn't smiling at you."
"Problem gentlemen?" a counselor asked.
"No problem here, mam," Justin said. He raised his eyebrows at Duke once and walked out of the dining hall.
"Hey," Leila said when Justin walked into the cabin.
"Hey, you're brother and I almost got into it again."
"You guys need to stop that."
"I know, it's just hard, we really hate each other."
"Yea, which is why he can't know about us. He caught me smiling at you today and I had to make something up."
"Yea, he brought that to my attention." He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Does it bother you that we have to keep this from your brother?"
"I guess it does a little bit. It's just that we tell each other everything, I never really keep things from him."
"Do you want to stop then?" she looked up at him.
"Are you saying that you want to?"
"No, it's just that if you don't feel comfortable doing this I…" she grabbed his hand.
"I don't want to end it, it's probably the last thing I want to do. I'll tell him eventually, I just need to do it the right way and make sure you're miles away." He smiled. He was about to lean forward to kiss her when the cabin door flung open and Duke walked in. "Whatever stupid," Leila said, pushing Justin's hand away.
"Whatever stupid," Justin said, mimicking her. Duke sat down next to Leila.
"Sorry if I made you mad in the dining room," he said.
"You did, but it's alright." He put his arm around her and kissed her head. He laid back and turned the TV on.
Justin laid down on his bed and looked over at Duke and Leila. They seemed to have the perfect brother/sister relationship. He had his arm under her head and she had her head on his chest. They were smiling and saying stupid little things to each other. At one point Leila slapped him and turned her back to him.
"Leila I was just kidding," Duke said.
"Then why did you say it? You know how I feel about him." He wrapped his arms around her and turned her to face him.
"I'm sorry." She shoved her face in her pillow. He let out a small laugh and lifted her head up. "I'm sorry, really. Do you still hate me?"
"No."
"Alright, then let's finish watching the movie." Leila fell asleep before the movie finished so Duke got up and went to his own bed. By eleven thirty they were all asleep.
"Hey Leila, wake up," Duke said the following morning. "You're going to be late and coach will make you run." She shot up from bed and ran into the bathroom. She was ready within minutes.
"Where's Justin?" she asked.
"He left already, why?"
"Forget it, I'll see you later." She left the cabin. When she got to the field she saw Justin talking to the other goalies. She walked up to him. "Hey guys," she said to the other goalies.
"What's up Leila?"
"Um, can I talk to my partner alone?" she asked.
"Sure." They left them alone.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Why did you leave the cabin without me? I thought we were going to walk over together."
"I was waiting but Duke started asking me why I was still there and what I was waiting for, Leila I think he is getting suspicious." She nodded.
"I think so too."
"Have you thought about telling him?"
"Yea but I still don't want to. Maybe you guys can try to get along."
"I don't think that's going to happen."
"All of you take two laps around the field and then get ready for diving practice," the coach said. Leila and Justin started running next to each other.
"So do you think he'll kick my ass if he finds out we're together?"
"Well, um yea, I think he would."
Duke looked at the track and the goalies were running. Leila was with Justin, talking. They had both been acting strange recently.
Leila saw Duke looking at her so she pushed Justin and ran ahead of him. Justin was confused but when he saw Duke looking at him he knew why she had done it.
'What is going on between them?' Duke asked himself. 'She knows how much I hate him, there is no way she is with him and he knows better.' He dismissed it and continued practicing. Later that night Leila was in the dining hall with Duke.
"So…" Duke said.
"Yea?"
"I saw you and Justin together today at practice."
"Well he is my partner."
"Yea but…"
"What?"
"Never mind."
"Ok."
