"I-it's okay." She blurted out, realizing at once how stupid she sounded. And she could tell by looking at him that he wasn't stupid at all. She knew that he didn't believe her for a New York minute.
"No it's not okay." He replied. "I just… I got carried away I guess. I can't help myself really. I'm a cannonball fanatic and I love doing them. Whenever I see a pool and a diving board, I just-."
"You certainly made a splash." She quipped, making him laugh.
"Yeah, I guess I did."
"You're very good at it." She said, shivering as she pulled the object around her shoulders (which she had discovered to be a large beach towel) closer to her body.
"Look, I really am sorry." He repeated.
"It-It's fine." She replied, trying to keep her teeth from chattering.
"Let me make it up to you."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Make it up to me? You don't even know me."
"You know, you're absolutely right." He extended his hand in greeting and smiled. "Will Gardner."
"Alicia-um-Cavanaugh." She stammered.
"Pleased to meet you, Alicia-um-Cavanaugh."
She laughed. "You're mocking me."
"I'm a lawyer, it's what I do."
Her eyebrows rose. "You look awfully young to be a lawyer, Mr. Gardner."
"You're right. The defense rests. I'm not a lawyer yet. But just wait. It'll happen. You can bet on that."
She smiled, her heart fluttering. "So you mentioned something about making it up to me?"
His hand went to her back. "Come on. You're freezing."
Reluctantly she allowed him to lead her away from the pool and to a dimly lit area. You must be insane! Her conscious screamed from inside her head. What are you thinking? the voice in her head continued. She'd heard so many horror stories about girls her age (and even older) who fell for a boy (or a man's) charms only to have their bodies violated and then those lifeless bodies dumped deep into the woods where they were found months or even years later.
The images of grieving friends and families came to her now, haunting her with the memory. She shuddered once more, fighting back tears. She was suddenly too terrified to protest, so she blindly walked beside him. If she was going to die at the hands of Will Gardner, she might as well get it over with.
She couldn't imagine what her mother would do when she heard the news, but most likely she'd do what any mother would do; go into complete hysterics, never to fully recover from such a tragic loss; not to mention her father and her brother Owen. She and Owen fought like... well, brother and sister, but she loved him and she knew that he loved her. And she had a feeling that Owen would take Alicia's impending death the hardest of all But even that horrible thought didn't stop her from following this Will Gardner person to an unknown location.
And then she was hit with the surprise of her life.