The Island's Secret - 4. Saturday

I woke at seven, as usual, and went for a run outside. I took my camera, and I got a few pictures of granite outcroppings in the early sun. I was back home at seven thirty, and I had a shower and then breakfast. I took the guest ATV and drove over to Asher’s, arriving right at eight. He walked out to meet me, grinning. He was wearing black shorts that made his ass look really good and a tight t-shirt that emphasized his muscles. I could already tell that today would be sexually frustrating. I drove up beside him and he hopped on behind me, not waiting for me to stop. I turned around, heading back to my house, uncomfortably aware of his arms around me. It’s not that it was unpleasant; it’s just that I had trouble concentrating on not hitting a tree. Somehow, I managed to get us home safely, and I stopped just out of sight of the house. Asher looked at me, confused, as I got off.

“We’re walking from here,” I declared. I wanted to take pictures of his reaction.

Asher seemed to recognize that I wouldn’t explain, so he didn’t ask. We walked into the field, and Asher’s jaw dropped as he saw the cottage. I snapped a picture of him, getting the front of the cottage in it too.

“Wow,” Asher said, amazed. I grinned.

“It gets better,” I told him. I took more pictures of him as I showed him the garage, and even more as we walked into the house. He looked around, in awe, and once he’d seen the middle floor I took him to the stairs.

“Up there is Tommy’s floor,” I said, pointing up the stairs. “We can go up if you want, but there’s no real point.”

“Why’s there no point?” he asked, surprised.

“Because it’s the same as my floor,” I said, pointing down the stairs. His eyes followed my finger to the door, and then he looked back at me, disbelieving. I snapped a picture of him and grinned. We walked downstairs, and I showed him around. He looked numb by the time we got to the gym, but he took the rest of it better, acclimatized to the opulence. We stopped in the living room, sitting on the couch, and I started playing some music. He looked around at all the hidden speakers and laughed.

“Wow,” he said. “I don’t know what to say!”

I grinned. “It’s been three days, and I still don’t either,” I replied, turning off the music.

“So what’s in the last room?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I replied, opening the door. We walked in, and he looked around, confused.

“What’s going to be here?” He restated his question.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Tommy’s is empty too. I was thinking his could be an office, but I don’t know what to do with mine.”

“What if you made it into a dedicated picture gallery?” He asked. “I know you have a lot of picture frames everywhere else, but if what I’ve seen of you so far is any indication, that won’t be enough. You could use this as a room for the absolute best pictures you’ve taken, or you could organize it into themes.”

I thought about it, liking his idea already. The more I considered it, the more I liked it, and I grinned.

“That’s an awesome idea,” I said. “Let’s go tell Tommy.” We ran upstairs, seeing Tommy having breakfast.

“Hey Tommy,” I said. “Asher and I figured out what to do with the extra rooms.”

“Really?” He asked, excited. “What?”
“I thought you could make yours into an office, and Asher suggested I could make mine into a picture gallery.”

Tommy thought about it, and by the grin on his face, he liked it. He thought for longer than I’d expected, and his grin kept getting wider.

“I like the ideas you two have for this place,” he said finally. “I’d like it if you’d help me work on it. I have tons of building materials stockpiled, because I can just give any extras to my company. If you guys want to help me build things to improve this place, I’ll reward you for it. I was thinking that I’d give you two the island.”

We were both speechless, and he grinned.

“Of course, I couldn’t just give you an island. I’d give you enough money to customize it however you want, too.”

“I can’t accept that much,” I said, shaking my head sadly.

Tommy grinned. “You’d be doing me a favor. Technically, I’d still own the island, and you’d increase the value of this place. It’s not really that generous of me, since the money I give you will just come back to me in the end. It’s more of an investment than a gift.”

Asher and I grinned at each other, and hugged Uncle Tommy.

“Thank you so much,” we said together.

Tommy laughed. “Why don’t you go see what the island’s like? I doubt anyone’s been on it since the Ojibwa tribe when they hunted here before Europeans came.”

We grinned at each other, and ran down to the water, stripping off our shirts as we went. We ran into the water, and I carried my camera as we swam towards the island. It was almost in the middle of the bay, probably half a kilometer off shore, but we swam quickly. We climbed up onto the shore, and I immediately took a picture of us, recording our breathless exhilaration and sense of adventure. We walked into the small copse of trees just off shore, and I took pictures of everything. We found an eastern hognose snake, and I took a picture of it as it paused, unsure what to think of us. We continued on, and soon we startled a family of deer. I took a picture, and Asher and I grinned at each other.

“They must come here in the winter, when the water is frozen,” I said. “They get trapped here, on a small island with no predators, and they can raise their young in peace. This island is amazing!”

Asher nodded in fervent agreement, looking around reverently. We continued on, and after walking for a quarter of a kilometer, we reached the other side. It was a sheer granite cliff, twenty feet above the water. The forest ended twenty-five meters from the edge, and there was a flat area.

“We should build a cabin here,” Asher suggested.

My eyes widened, and I looked around. “It would be awesome,” I said. “We could make it fairly large, and still have a perfect amount of space.”

I took a picture of the area so we could look at it later, and we continued exploring. We looked around, finding the top of the hill nearby. It was thirty feet above the water, and we climbed down the cliff, using the cracks in the granite as handholds. We reached the water, and I handed Asher my camera as we treaded water. I took a deep breath and dived down, wanting to see how deep the water was. I heard the camera snap behind me, and I knew Asher was taking pictures. I smiled to myself, and kept going. I got a little past thirty feet before I had to stop and let my ears adjust. I hung there, waving to Asher as he took more pictures, and then dove deeper. I stopped again at forty feet, and now I was fairly sure I could see the bottom ten feet beneath me. I tried to go deeper, but forty feet seemed to be my limit, and my lungs were aching. I kicked towards the surface, and I saw Asher come into view above me. He took a picture as I rushed up at him, and then began swimming upwards too. We broke the surface at the same time, and we spent a minute just breathing deeply.

“I think its fifty feet deep,” I finally managed to say. “I had to stop at forty.”

Asher nodded, and we continued swimming underwater along the edge, looking to see if it got shallower. We stuck to thirty feet deep, so Asher could stay with me, and we reached the spot where we wanted to build when Asher stopped me.

“If we want to build here we should see how badly it’s been eroded,” he explained. I nodded, and we checked the rock for any weaknesses. We didn’t see any above water, and I was about to move on, but Asher shook his head. “The way this island is shaped channels the water to this point. I think we’ll find a cave somewhere near here. We need to see if it’s in danger of collapsing the cliff.”

I nodded, and handed him my camera again. This time, I’d only gone twenty-five feet when I noticed he was right. There was a hole in the granite, not very big. I surfaced, and took my camera from him.

“You’re right,” I said. “There’s a cave. I’m gonna see if I can take a picture of the inside.”

He nodded, and we caught our breath before going back down. This time, he followed me, and I swam into the hole, seeing how far it went. He swam beside me, and we stayed close together. There was more room in the cave, but it was creepy being alone in the dark, underwater and in a cave, and I appreciated his presence. Before long, it tilted upwards, and I snapped a picture, using the flash to piece the dark. I turned, seeing Asher beside me, and I grinned at him. We swam out, still close together, and we reached the surface just after letting all our air out.

“That was as long as I could possibly stay under for,” I gasped, and he nodded, agreeing. “We must have been under for a full minute.” Asher nodded again, still to breathless to talk. We swam towards the cliff, grabbing onto a crack in it, and we started to climb up. We had to pause more than once; too exhausted to continue, but eventually we reached the top. Asher sat down on the edge, panting, and grabbed my hand, pulling me up. I held up my camera, selecting the picture I’d taken, but we didn’t look yet.

“What do you think it will show?” I asked, grinning in excitement.

“I don’t know,” Asher said, returning my grin. I turned the camera around, taking a picture of us sitting on the cliff, the lake in front of us and the forest to the back, capturing the look of anticipation on our faces. I selected the picture again, and held it out between us.

“You ready?” I asked, and Asher grinned.

“Yep,” he said, and we leaned in, our shoulders touching as we looked at the screen. The picture showed a granite cave, exactly like the one we’d been in, but distantly, there was a faint glimmer.

I turned towards Asher. “Do you see what I see?” I asked, shaking with excitement.

Asher turned to me, grinning. “Air?” he asked, his grin widening even further.

“Yes!” I yelled, putting the camera down. I stood up, needing to move, and Asher followed, seemingly feeling the same thing. “We found an underwater cave!” I yelled, throwing myself at him in excitement. I hugged him, and we stumbled down the hill, hugging tightly and spinning each other around until we tripped and he landed on top of me.

I laughed, not even the pain dulling my excitement. He rolled off, helping me up, and we kept laughing, too excited to express it in words. When we were done dancing around and hugging, we sat down to discuss what to do.

“Uncle Tommy has scuba diving sets,” I told him. “We can go get those and explore the cave fully!”

Asher grinned. “Awesome,” he said. We were far too excited about the cave to continue exploring the mountain for now, so after taking a picture we ran back through the forest to the other side of the island. We stopped at the edge, catching our breath before attempting the half-kilometer swim. We took another picture, and this time I put the camera on timer mode, resting it on a rock. We struck Columbus-like poses, and the camera snapped a picture. We started laughing, too happy to care that we looked like idiots, and started to swim back.

“Let’s not tell anyone about the cave,” Asher suggested, and I grinned.

“I like the sound of that. It can be the island’s secret!” We laughed, and continued swimming. We reached the shore soon enough, and ran into the house. We ran straight down to my living room, where we put the picture on the TV so we could see it better. We examined it, and we agreed that the cave turned sideways soon after the air reached it, presumably going further. We grinned in excitement as we ran upstairs again, looking for Tommy. I knocked on his door, but there was no response. I opened it slightly, not enough to see in, and yelled his name. He didn’t respond, so we closed the door and went down to the lake. We found him swimming at the beach he’d described yesterday.

“Hey Tommy,” I said.

“Is that a canoe?” Asher asked, interested. I looked where he was pointing, and sure enough, it was.

“Yeah,” Tommy said. “Feel free to use it.”

“Thanks,” we said together, excited.

“Can we use the scuba diving equipment?” I asked him.

“Sure,” Tommy said. “It’s in the shed over there.”

The ‘shed’ was actually a small boathouse containing another canoe and two kayaks. We grabbed the scuba gear and threw it into the canoe, and then paddled it out.

“You know how to use that, right?” Tommy asked.

“I’ve never done it before, but it seems easy to figure out,” Asher said.

“I haven’t either, but I took chemistry. I know the theory behind the bends,” I told Tommy, and he nodded.

“OK then, be safe,” he said. We waved and paddled out towards the island. We went around to the other side, and then wedged a rope into a crack in the granite and tied it to the canoe. We put on the scuba gear and got into the water. We slowly sunk down, reaching the cave, and went in. We stayed close together again, and as it got darker we got closer together. I’ve never been claustrophobic, but being in the earth, underwater, was nerve wracking.

It was soon almost pitch black, and I felt Asher grab my hand. His hand was cold from being in the cooler water of the cave. I squeezed it, thankful for the reassurance of his presence, and I started to fiddle with my camera, looking for the right setting. I soon found it, and the flash went on, providing a flashlight. I took a picture of us, and then we continued farther into the cave. I took pictures of everything, and we soon broke the surface. The water surged upwards, going about twelve inches further up the cave, and then dropped twelve inches, pushed by the waves. I took the mouthpiece out of my mouth, stopping Asher when he started to do the same.

“We don’t know what the air is like,” I said, careful not to breathe in. My voice echoed a bit, suggesting a cavern. I hesitantly took a small breath, and I grinned at Asher.
“The cave reaches the surface somewhere,” I told him. “The air’s fine.” He nodded, and took his mouthpiece out. He was moving slowly, and I saw his eyes were wide.

“Are you OK?” I asked, worried.

He nodded. “I’m just a little bit claustrophobic,” he admitted. “I’m OK right now, but I might get worse.”

“We can go back,” I suggested, but he shook his head.

“This is too amazing,” he said, grinning faintly. I nodded, smiling encouragingly, and looked upwards. The cave continued vertically for about six feet before opening into a cavern.

“Can you hold my tank if I climb up there?” I asked, hesitant to leave him alone. “Then you can pass them both up, and come up after.”

He nodded, and I handed him my tank. He grabbed onto the wall so he wasn’t pulled underwater, and I took his hand, squeezing it.

“I’ll be right there,” I promised, and he nodded weakly, his eyes still wide. I put my camera around my neck, and began to climb. I reached a ledge easily, and I reached back down immediately, not climbing fully up yet. Asher climbed as far out of the water as he could holding the two heavy tanks, and passed one up to me. I threw it into the cavern, grunting at how heavy it was, and he passed me the other. I threw it after, and Asher climbed up. I grabbed his hand, and helped him up to the small ledge I was on. I climbed up further, and he followed, not letting go of my hand. We climbed into the cavern, and saw it was the size of a large room. I felt a bit of fear in the pit of my stomach, and stepped even closer to Asher, trying to reassure myself that I wasn’t alone. It helped a little bit, but Asher got even closer. I looked over at him, and I saw he was breathing deeply, trying to calm himself.

His face was white and his eyes were wide with fear. I sat him down, sitting next to him, and put my arm around his shoulders. He leaned into me, putting his arm around my waist, and he looked like he was less afraid. I was feeling better, too. The cave was just less scary with another warm body beside me. Asher squeezed my waist, trying to get even closer, but he began to breathe easier and he didn’t look as scared. I kept hugging him until he was as calm as he could be under the circumstances. He took a deep breath, easing up his death grip on my waist.

“I’m sorry,” he said, embarrassed. “You must think I’m pathetic.”

I laughed. “It’s not only you that’s afraid,” I told him. “I’m not claustrophobic at all and this is terrifying. I can’t imagine how bad it must be for you.”

“It’s OK,” he said. “It helps to know that I’m not alone in here. If you weren’t here, I couldn’t handle this.”

I laughed. “I know exactly what you mean. If I was alone in here, I think I’d go crazy in under thirty seconds.”

He nodded, looking calmer. He hugged tighter for a moment before speaking.

“Thanks,” he said. “I really needed that. I’m ready to go now.”

“I think I needed that too,” I said. “This is really scary.”

He nodded, and I took a picture of us before we stood up. He’d actually put his arm around me, and I wanted to remember that. No matter how terrifying this cave got, coming in was already worth it for me. We wandered around the cave, still holding hands for comfort, and I took pictures of everything that looked cool. When we had fully explored the cavern, I looked over at Asher again.

“You OK?” I asked, and he nodded bravely.

We walked towards where the cave continued on the other side of the cavern. It curved downwards, like a mirror image of the other side, and we went and got out scuba tanks again. We went down into the water, looking around, and we found that the cave ended at a hole to the lake outside. It was too small to fit through, but it was like a window. We grinned at each other, looking out into the bay, and then went back up into the cavern.

“We could put glass in there, and drain the water,” I suggested, and Asher nodded, excited. We went back over to the entrance, and sat on the edge.

“Will you be OK if we go to the exit of the cave and I leave you there?” I asked, concerned for him. “I want to leave my tank there and swim back in. I’ll take a few deep breaths, and then swim back out and see if I can make it to the surface. If I can’t, then you’ll be there with my tank so I can stop and breathe before going to the surface.”

“Yeah,” Asher said. “I’ll be OK, just nervous about you being in here alone.”

I nodded, and we put our tanks on and jumped in. We swam out, and stopped at the exit. I took my tank off, took one last breath, and swam back in. I was surprised to see Asher follow me, but I didn’t turn back. He was scared, not stupid. Whatever he was doing, I trusted he had a reason. He stopped where the cave turned up, and I continued, worrying for him. The light was with me, so he’d be in the darkness while I breathed up here. I caught my breath as quickly as I could, and dived back down, seeing Asher where I’d left him.

His face was white again, but he looked determined, and relieved to see me back. He swam alongside me through the cave, and I realized he’d come in case I panicked and needed to share his tank. I smiled to myself, wondering how I’d made such a good friend in two days, and I reached the exit of the cave. I kicked towards the surface, and saw Asher behind me. He was swimming as fast as he could, but the tank was slowing him down. The only reason he could even stay close was that I was carrying my camera. His concern wasn’t needed, because I broke the surface right after letting out the last of my air. I gasped in more air, enjoying how fresh it tasted after the air in the cave. Asher surfaced beside me, his mouthpiece already dropped, and he looked scared.

“Thanks for coming in,” I panted. “I know how terrifying that must have been.”

Asher grinned weakly. “I’ve always believed in facing my fears,” he said. “Besides, if you’d panicked, you’d have had nobody there for you. I’d never forgive myself if you’d had to go through that because I was too much of a pussy to help.”

I hugged him, trying to show him how much that meant to me.

“I don’t know what I’ve done to earn that kind of friendship, but thank you,” I said.

Asher frowned. “You were there for me,” he said. “How could I not be there for you?”

“That was different,” I said. “That helped me just as much as it did you. You actively choose to confront your fear.”

Asher shrugged. “You’d have done the same for me,” he said, unconcerned. I thought about it, and I was surprised to find he was right.

We dove back down, grabbing the other scuba tank, and floated back up to the surface. We threw the scuba tanks into the canoe, and got in after, paddling around the cliff to a place where we could pull it up on shore. We found one not far from where we planned to have the house, and we looked around.

“We could easily have a boathouse here,” Asher said. “We could get a laser and keep it here, too.”

“A laser?” I asked, confused.

“It’s a small sailboat,” Asher clarified. “It would be perfect for around here.”

I nodded enthusiastically, and we continued to explore. We decided to leave the rest of the island how it was, since it was a habitat to so many animals. It was shaped roughly like a circle, and it was fairly large. We saw the same family of white-tailed deer again, as well as an osprey nest. We crossed a large expanse of rock, and I stopped Asher when I saw a Massasauga rattlesnake. I took a picture of it, walking slowly closer, and I got a few more good ones before I handed Asher my camera.

“What are you doing?” he hissed, as I walked closer to the snake. “Aren’t those poisonous?”

I nodded, concentrating on the reptile, and I held my hand out in front of it, ignoring its rattles. It lunged, fast, but I was faster. I pulled my hand back and grabbed it behind the head, pinning its tail with my other hand. When I was holding both ends of it, I picked it up and showed Asher. He gaped at me for a minute before taking a picture.

“That was possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,” he said admiringly.

I laughed. “They’re slow moving,” I said. “They can’t strike further than thirty centimeters, either. Want to hold it?”

“Sure,” he said. He set my camera down, and reached for the snake, holding it like I was so it couldn’t bite or wrap around his arm. When he had it, I grabbed my camera, taking a few pictures of him with it and a few close-ups of the snake. When we were done, I took it again, putting it on the ground, and carefully releasing it. I stepped away, and the snake slithered off, disgruntled.

“Should we really be releasing it?” Asher asked. “I thought they could kill with a bite.”

“They don’t really bite,” I told him, and he laughed.

“Then what do you call what that one did?” he asked.

I grinned. “That’s because I provoked it. They only bite if they have no other options. They’re not a very dangerous snake, and there aren’t enough of them to kill this one without a reason.”

Asher nodded, and we continued on. We found the deer again, and we laughed.

“We should leave food out for them,” Asher suggested. “Maybe we can get them used to us. I know you’re not supposed to do that because they’ll bother other people and get killed, but I don’t think we need to worry about them finding anyone else around here.”

I nodded, excited, and we reached the shore where we’d first swam to.

“Want to go back and start designing our house?” I asked. Asher grinned, and we ran to the canoe. We jumped in and paddled back quickly, running into the house. We used the pictures that I’d taken, and we thought about where to put it and how to make it. I put the pictures on the TV so I could charge the battery for my camera while we worked.

Soon, Asher was cold, so we put the pictures on my phone and went into the sauna. We started from the ground, and designed it upwards. We soon had a plan for it, and Asher was warm again, so we went to find Tommy. We showed him the pictures I’d taken of the area and the sketches we’d made, and he let us use his blueprint-designing program. When we were done, he looked it over, declaring it good. We were going to go work on it immediately, but he told us the helicopter had brought everything in, so we went and looked at the ATV and the dirt bike.

They were pretty awesome, and we rode them around for a little bit before going back inside to grab our blueprints. Tommy told us that he’d made a bank account for the budget he’d given us, and he gave us all the information we needed to use it. We immediately ordered a laser, figuring we could pull it up on shore until we’d built the boathouse, and then we ordered everything we needed for the cave. Asher had another idea, and he called his grandparents, asking if we could use their boat. They said we could, so we got on the two new jetskis and went over, racing each other.

Asher ended up winning, and we tied the jetskis to their dock and took the boat. We brought it around to the boathouse, where we put all the materials we’d need. We managed to get them all over to the island in only three trips, and we brought the boat back, thanking Martha and Bernie. We drove the jetskis back to the island, pulled them up on shore, and got to work. We started on the house, and we had the foundation built by the time night fell. I took some pictures of us working, and we rested for a while, watching the sun set from the edge of the cliff.

Finally, I set my camera down and stood up. Asher looked at me, curious, and I ran and jumped off the cliff, falling twenty-five feet and hitting the water in a perfect pencil dive. I flew through the water like a torpedo, passing the mouth of the cave before starting to swim back up. I saw Asher fly by me, and I paused, waiting for him to catch up. We swam to the surface together, grinning with exhilaration.

“I was just thinking,” I told him. “We should put a hydro power generator in the vertical part of the cave. That way, when the water surges up and down, it can power some lights in the cavern.”

Asher grinned. “That would be awesome,” he said. “It would make it far less creepy.”

I nodded, and we climbed up the cliff, grabbing our stuff and getting back on the jetskis. We went back to Tommy’s cottage in the dark, putting the jetskis in the boathouse, and walked up to the house, going into my living room. We went online and ordered a hydropower generator and some electrical supplies for the cave, and some solar panels for the house.

“This will be so cool when it’s done,” Asher said excitedly. “I still can’t believe Tommy gave us the island.”

I grinned. “Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s crazy. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

Asher grinned. “I’m not going to be able to sleep when I’m this excited,” he complained.

“Neither am I,” I laughed, until I had an idea. “You should stay here tonight!” I told him.

“We’re not going to sleep yet anyway, and we can be out working again much earlier!”

Asher grinned, his face lighting up with excitement. “I’ll call my grandparents,” he said, pulling out his phone. He dialed their number, and I heard Martha’s ‘hello’ from a meter away.

“Can I stay at Ben’s house?” he asked eagerly.

I could hear Martha giving him a lecture on getting to sleep early, and we high-fived, taking it as a yes.

“OK grandma,” he said. “Thanks!” He hung up, and we went upstairs for a late dinner.

“Want to make pizza?” I asked him, grinning.

I could almost hear his stomach answer me, but he shook his head. “You’ve had it two days in a row. We can have something else.”

I grinned wider. “I couldn’t get tired of pizza if I tried,” I told him. “I have no problem with having it tonight, and Tommy won’t either.”

Asher grinned, giving in to his craving. “OK,” he said. “Let’s make some pizza!”

We got the pizza oven going, and then got all the ingredients out and made enough dough for three pizzas. We put all our toppings on, and we made Tommy’s for him too. When the oven was hot enough, we threw them all in. While they were cooking, we went upstairs and opened Tommy’s door a bit.

“Tommy!” I called, over his music. “We made pizza!”

We laughed as he immediately dropped whatever he’d been doing to come downstairs.

“Thanks,” he said, grinning.

“We should get doorbells for our floors,” I told him. “We could put the buttons in the middle floor, so we don’t have to open the door and yell.”

Tommy grinned. “I’ll get an intercom system instead,” he said. “That will make it easier.”

“Wow,” Asher said. “You guys are insane.”

Tommy and I grinned at him. “Yep,” we agreed.

We were laughing when my alarm went off, telling us to take the pizzas out. We took them out slowly, taunting Tommy, and put them on the table.

“That smells really, really good.” Tommy said, as we finished and sat down.

Asher and I grinned, and we all dug in.

“We’re done the foundation,” I told Tommy. “We’re going to work on it all tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll get the skeleton and the roof done. The day after that will be the wiring and the walls, and then we’ll do the interior. We should have it finished by the end of the week.”

Tommy grinned. “It sounds good,” he said. “Do you guys mind if I inspect it when you’re done? I need to make sure it’s not going to collapse or anything.”

We looked at each other and shrugged. “Sure,” we said. “Thanks. It’ll be reassuring to have an expert opinion,” I said, grinning.

“Oh,” Tommy said, remembering something. “I ordered a photo printer for you so you don’t have to take all your pictures to Costco,” he said.

Asher and I both gave him identical looks of disbelief. “Thank you so much,” I told him.

Tommy grinned. “I’ve seen you taking pictures almost constantly,” he explained. “I figured it’d be cheaper in the end than driving you to Costco every three days.”

I grinned. “You’re probably right,” I admitted. “I’m going to print almost every picture I’ve taken so far.”

I froze. “Asher, you said before about having the extra room be a themed photo room. I should make the extra room into a timeline of this summer!” I said, excited.

Asher grinned, excited. “That would be so cool!” he said, and Tommy agreed.

“When you’re done, you can take a panorama in the center of it. It’ll tell the story of your whole summer, in one picture,” Tommy said.

Asher and I grinned at him. “That’s an awesome idea!” I said.

Tommy grinned back at us. “I’ve got to studying now, but if you guys need any more ideas, feel free to interrupt,” he teased.

I grinned. “We’ll try to survive,” I said. “Good luck.”

Tommy went back upstairs, waving in acknowledgement.

“What’s he studying for?” Asher asked, confused. “I thought he had a job?”

I grinned. “He does,” I said. “He’s studying for his pilot’s licence. He’s gonna buy a float plane.”

Asher shook his head in disbelief. “Wow,” he said. “Every time I think I’ve gotten used to this, Tommy casually spends another fortune.”

I grinned. “I know that feeling,” I said. “Want to go swimming?”

Asher nodded. “Sure, as long as you’re not going to say you’ve got an infinity pool on your roof,” he joked.

“Don’t let Tommy hear you say that,” I said. “He’d buy one.”

We laughed, and went outside. We went into the boathouse, and I showed Asher the rope and door. We took turns trying to do stunts on the rope, getting more and more ridiculous. Asher laughed as I tried to swing without using my hands and ended up in the water, and I laughed at him as he tried to do a backflip and belly flopped. We climbed up the rope, back into the boathouse, and this time we both grabbed onto the rope. We swung out over the lake, laughing, and Asher let go, instead grabbing me, and pulled me off the rope and into the lake. We came to the surface laughing, and went back to try again.

This time, I climbed onto Asher’s back, and he grabbed the rope. I grabbed onto the rope too, taking some of my weight off him, and we swung. Amazingly, it worked, and we dropped off at the end of the swing, laughing. Asher grabbed onto my legs when I tried to swim upwards, holding me there, and he playfully tried to drown me. I didn’t resist, grinning at him as he realized that I could hold my breath longer than he could. He tried to keep me under by holding me with his legs while he stuck his head up to breathe, but I grabbed his hips and spun, putting him deeper underwater, with me between the surface and him. He let go of me with his legs, and I let him go, because I could already feel a boner starting from having his legs around me. We rose to the surface together, and I laughed at him as he gasped in air.

“OK,” he said. “I’ll admit that I didn’t fully think that one through.”

I grinned, and we swam back into the boathouse, pulling ourselves up onto the deck. We sat there, in comfortable silence, as I thought. Somehow, with Asher, his personality distracts me from how sexy he is, and I don’t have to worry about getting constant boners. The only problem is that when he touches me, I can’t pay attention to his personality anymore, and I realize how hot he is all over again. I glanced over at him, seeing his silhouette in the dark.

Even his profile looks like a supermodel’s, I thought.

Just then, he glanced over at me, and our eyes met. “What’re you thinking about?” He asked.

Oh fuck. “Nothing,” I lied. “You?” Smooth, I thought sarcastically.

He shrugged, glancing away. “Nothing,” he agreed. “Want to go back inside?”

I nodded, and we walked inside again, heading to the living room.

“Want to look at your pictures?” Asher asked, glancing at the TV.

“Sure,” I said, putting them up. We looked through them, laughing at some and grinning at others, until we came to the ones I’d taken in the cave.

“I look terrified,” Asher said, laughing.

“So do I,” I said, pointing out the fear in my eyes.

Asher nodded, grinning. “That cave was creepy as hell,” he said. “It’ll make such a cool hide-out.”

I grinned back. “Yeah,” I agreed. “We should work on that tomorrow, when everything we need arrives.”

Asher nodded. “I can’t wait,” he said. “The sooner we make it less terrifying, the sooner we can use it.”

We grinned at each other. “The helicopter will be coming at one,” I said. “I’d rather explore town than work on the house until then. What about you?”

Asher grinned. “Exploring town sounds awesome. I think it’s time to meet some of the natives.”

I laughed. “Calling them ‘natives’ makes it sound like we’re from another country,” I said.

Asher laughed too. “Well we are totally different from them,” he said.

I looked at him. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“What kind of lucky bastard lives here all year?” he said, grinning.

I smiled, and we went into the sauna, lying down on the benches. We talked about nothing, feeling the heat seep into us and slow our brains. We were comfortably numb from the heat, and our eyes were starting to drift shut when we realized we needed to get out. Trying to think felt like swimming through honey, and my body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

“Oh shit,” Asher panted. “I need to cool down.”

I nodded, and we stumbled outside. Asher headed for the door, but I pulled him into the bathroom instead.

“It’s colder, and faster,” I explained breathlessly.

Asher nodded, fighting to keep his eyes open, and we turned on the shower and stepped into it in our bathing suits. The water was a pleasant shock, and we felt the numbness leaving our bodies, fleeing the cold.

“Well,” I said, catching my breath. “I don’t think it’s healthy to be in a sauna for that long.”

Asher laughed, shivering from the cold water. “Yeah,” he agreed. “I think we should limit it to fifteen minutes next time.”

I nodded, and we stayed under the freezing water for a few more minutes before stepping out and toweling off. When we were dry, we headed back into the living room. I grabbed some blankets and pillows, and we lay down on the couches. We looked at the rest of the pictures, comfortably tired, before going to sleep.