Gavin Faces His Fears

When the duo stepped outside and saw the pier, Chloe curled her fingers around Gavin's wrist. Hard.

Gavin heard her say, "Let's go back inside", though her voice was just barely discernible. Her skin was pale enough that you couldn't identify the freckles sprayed across her nose. She also had a terrible habit of biting on her lower lip whenever she got nervous. And, holy shit, she was biting on it very hard right now.

Gavin couldn't blame her. It seemed as if the whole cabin was at the lake. Victoria and Ashley were talking to each other on the dock; Brandon and Zack were wrestling in the water; Heather was floating on her back a bit farther out than where Brandon and Zack were; even Kurt, who Gavin had not expected to see after Heather had chewed him out, was sitting on the shoreline. He looked to be reading, but Gavin had a strange thought: The book is just a cover. He's really checking out Victoria and Ashley.

Perhaps Chloe had expected only a few people to be out at the lake. It wasn't as warm now as it had been when the group had first descended on the cabin. It was chilly; in fact, this was the kind of weather that was supposed to repel people from the lake. Supposed to.

Suddenly, Gavin wanted to go back inside, too. They could still run away without anyone noticing them. And, even if someone did notice their escape, why should Gavin care? He only really cared about two people on this trip, and both of them had seem him run away plenty of times in the past.

He took another glance at where Heather was floating by herself. For the second time that day he wondered if she might have a thing for skinny guys with pale skin. The Pete Davidsons of the United States of America.

"I know you're scared," Gavin said. "So am I."

But, that was why they had to do this. Gavin knew that without even saying it, and by the look Chloe exchanged with him, she knew it, too. Taking his hand in hers, they walked to the pier, where Kurt was the first one to notice them.

"Woah, Gavin. Leave some meat for the rest of us," he joked.

Embarrassed, Chloe dropped Gavin's hand and stared daggers at Kurt. Gavin expected the little freak to say something smart, but he only scoffed and returned to his book. He was reading an _Action Comics. _Gavin wondered if Kurt knew that Superman was supposed to be the hero. Probably not.

"He's such an ass," Chloe muttered when she and Gavin got to the end of the dock. Ashley threw a glance over to Kurt, who was pretending to not stare back. "Yup." She said. "That's a dangerous one. I don't know why Heather invited him."

"He's not too bad," Victoria said. Ashley and Chloe both blanked at her. Even Gavin was surprised, though he tried to hide it.

Trying to change the conversation, Gavin asked, "Why is Heather by herself?" He found that he could speak to girls if he was not looking directly at them and took this opportunity to look at Heather. She was too far away for him to see what she was wearing, but he suspected that she had put on a two-piece bathing suit.

Ashley was the first to recover. "She swam over there when Kurt came out. I think they got into some fight." Then, she asked, "Why do you care?"