Matilda caught sight of me and bounded towards me. She’d knock me over, since she was used to vampires who could handle her lunging at them, but Jack overtook her and playfully tackled her. Then he stood up, brushing the grass from his swim trunks, and grinned at me.

“Are you gonna go swimming with the towel too?” Jack teased.

“Maybe.” I pulled the towel more tightly around me, and he laughed.

Matilda sniffed me heartily before concluding that it was only me, and then sauntered off, wagging her tail slowly behind her.

A mischievous glint caught Jack’s eye, and after spending a summer getting thrown in the lake, I knew exactly what it meant. Dropping my towel, I turned and ran towards the dock. He trailed a few steps behind me, even though he could easily sprint past me. The sport was in the chase for him.

I almost made it to the edge of the dock when I felt his strong arms looping around my waist. I squealed and let him twirl me around once before he released me, sending me soaring into the air and landing in the lake with a loud splash.

Jack took a running jump and leaped out, flying over me and splashing way out in the lake. He howled excitedly, as if he hadn’t made that same jump a million times.

“Jack!” Mae leaned out the French doors and shouted out at him. “You’ve got to keep it down so the neighbors don’t call the police again.” It was after midnight on a Wednesday, and the neighbors weren’t big fans of the noise.

“Yeah, Alice,” Jack said.

“Oh, whatever,” I rolled my eyes. “As if I’m even half as loud as you are.”

Jack laughed, taking long strokes out farther into the black water. He swam slow circles around me, but I was content to float on my back, staring up at the full moon and the stars shining.

I had never really had the courage to swim too far from the shore when the water was so dark. I always had these horrible visions of being eaten by some unseen monster coming up from the depths of the lake.

Milo joined us in the lake a bit later. Mae stayed inside to continue chopping fruit. She always went overboard trying to feed us. We were just two people, but she cooked like we were an army. It only made it more obvious when they didn’t eat anything, but Milo had only made a few comments about it.

Surprisingly, he hadn’t really caught on that they weren’t human. Jack had been more discreet about his paranormal abilities, but Milo was a smart kid. I thought that he suspected something but let it go, because they didn’t seem dangerous and they made me happy.

“It’s a really beautiful night out,” Milo said. He floated on his back, admiring the night like I was.

“It’s been a fantastic summer.”

“I can’t believe it’s almost over,” Milo sighed.

“Don’t remind me!” I cringed.

School was only three short weeks away. Milo tried to convince me that it had little effect on my life, but it changed everything. There’d be no more all-nighters with Jack, and soon everything would get cold and snowy, and Milo would make me do homework.

Something grabbed me and pulled me under. I tried to scream but water buried me. I pictured some evil sea creature coming to eat my soul. Clawing my way to the surface, I grabbed onto something strong and soft and pulled myself up.

As soon as I reached for him, Jack pulled me up out of the water and let me cling on to him. Over my own frightened gasps, I heard him laughing softly, and I realized he’d been the one that grabbed my ankle. After a summer of similar antics, I should’ve caught on that Jack thought it was funny scaring the crap out of me.

I should’ve slapped him or told him he was a jerk, but the feel of his arms distracted me. His chest pressed up against mine, and he had to feel the frantic beating of my heart that drove him crazy.

I looked up in his soft blue eyes, and I felt breathless for a whole new reason. His laughter died down, and his smile faltered as his body temperature started to rise, smoldering against my skin.

Ordinarily, he would’ve pushed me away by now, but he let me linger in his arms. I tilted in towards him, hoping he’d let go just long enough for one innocent kiss.

“Hey! Look! A shooting star!” Milo shouted.

It was just enough for Jack to realize what was happening, so he pushed me back and swam away. Jack did everything he could to keep from letting things get out of hand, and sometimes that meant that he’d physically push me away. It was getting harder to shrug off, though.

Although I hadn’t asked about it, his temperature only seemed to rise when things between us got physical. During our one crazy passionate kiss, his skin had felt like it was on fire.

“Did you see it?” Milo asked.

I meant to shoot him an angry glare for disrupting my rare moment with Jack, but then I saw Milo just staring blissfully at the sky. He hadn’t been paying attention to anything but the stars, so he hadn’t known that he’d interrupted.

“Nah, sorry, I missed it,” I said.

“There’ll probably be another one,” Milo assured me, and I probably sounded very heavy with regret. Sure, I do love a good shooting star, but kisses with Jack were even a rarer commodity.

“I hope so.”

I treaded water, and Jack moved on to harassing Matilda. He’d gotten very good at finding ways to ignore me. Poor Matilda stood at the end of the dock, barking her refusal to jump in. Milo tired of his stargazing so he went over to join Jack in cajoling the dog in the water.

Being in the water suddenly didn’t feel like much fun. The adrenaline from the near sea monster death, followed by the near kiss, left my body feeling achy and tired. I knew Jack would do his best to steer clear of me for awhile, and even if I understood the routine, it didn’t feel good.