Meet Me By The Dock

Chapter 35

"They're late." I state, obviously. Mattie and I are leaning against a tree surrounding the market waiting for the boys.

"Well, Monty's driving." Mattie replies as if that clears everything up, and it does.

"How could Dean allow Monty to drive?" I ask.

"Democracy?"

"Probably."

Suddenly a black car comes pulling into the parking spot in front of us and Monty springs out. "See? We made it here in one piece." He exclaims.

Dean shuts his door and says, "Barely."

"How was I supposed to know there was a stop sign?" Monty asks, incredulously.

"Probably because there was a sign right in front of your face that said 'stop'" Miles chimes in and they stop in front of us.

"Then you drive next time." Monty says.

"Gladly." Miles replies.

"I'd actually prefer that." Dean adds.

"Hi!" I say brightly, to distract them before someone throws a fist. Probably Monty.

"Hello." Xander nods to me and slips his hands into his pockets.

"Sorry that was incomplete," I say apologetically, "Hi, we're never waiting for you ever again."

We finally start walking past the stands, I look out to see if there's anything new. Sometimes at the end of the summer, people set up stands of their old stuff and they might be getting rid of some books. Xander, Dean, and Monty went off and did their own thing immediately after we started walking, heading down a different aisle.

Mattie slips his hand into mine and I drag him to a stand I've never seen before. There is a cardboard box on one of the tables and a piece of paper with 'books $2' scrawled on it.

"Lilo—" Mattie says when I pull him abruptly.

"Look, look, look." I say quickly.

I start sifting through the box, handing Mattie books to hold while I look at the ones underneath. I don't find anything but Mattie picks up The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle.

His head pops up and he calls to Xander, "Xander, Holmes." He waves the book in the air. Xander hands the stand owner the money she asked for and that's how I learned Xander loves Sherlock Holmes.

The sun warms my face and I try to keep up with Mattie's long strides. He's walking slowly but somehow he's still faster than me. "So," Mattie starts, "my mom was going on and on yesterday about how she had a feeling about us."

I laugh, "well apparently everybody did."

"I did." He says confidently.

"Oh, really?" I ask.

"Mhm." We had walked to the edge of the stands and he turned me around and wrapped his arms around my waist. The butterflies took off immediately, which is a little embarrassing.

"Well, my mom just freaked out." I say and smile up at him. "We're famous." I shrug.

"Yeah, we can't help it." He shrugs too.

I laugh, "Mhm, everyone just—"

"Okay, we get it you guys like each other but this PDA is bordering on PG 13." Monty interrupts me. I roll my eyes and Monty continues, "Dean and Miles are already at the fruit stand."

"Oh yeah, let's go see Jasmine." I exclaim.

I grab Mattie's hand and start towards her stand, I hear him laugh behind me.