In Tune: The Road to Rocktoberfest 2022 by Elle Keaton

Author:Elle Keaton [Keaton, Elle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dirty Dog Press LLC
Published: 2022-11-07T16:00:00+00:00

SIX

August - thirteen summers ago

“Let’s go to the lighthouse, I double-dog dare you.” The excitement in Dean’s light eyes was impossible to resist.

Luka had a love-hate relationship with the month of August. It was always the warmest and, to him, most magical month on the island. The downside was that school started after Labor Day, and now that meant Dean would be heading back to the opposite side of the state way soon and wouldn’t return until next June.

And that was only if his parents kept sending him away for the summer. They could change their minds.

“My parents want to get rid of me for two and a half months of the year and the fact that it’s free is even better,” Dean scoffed when Luka mentioned his worry, his expression a cross between fierce and hurt. Luka was struck by the realization that Dean’s family shuffling him off every year made him feel unwanted, even though he complained about them every summer.

“What does double-dog dare even mean? Fine, I double-dog dare you back,” Luka challenged, an effort to distract Dean from thinking about his family. The lighthouse was one of his favorite places. “But it’s closed at night.”

“I bet we can find a way to get in.”

The lighthouse was on the southwestern edge of the island, technically on Brooch Resort property, but the owners gave tourists access, and several paths led out to the cliff where the structure had stood watch for nearly one hundred years.

This year, Dean was leaving the island two weeks early because this year his family was taking some kind of vacation to the East Coast for Labor Day. Luka resented that they were stealing him away. Dean said that his dad thought it would be educational and he seemed low-key excited—and Luka finally understood why.

“It’s probably gonna be awful. All Channing does is take selfies and she has, like, suitcases full of makeup shit. And Mom and Dad fight, like all the time.”

“That sucks. You should take selfies too, and send them to me.”

Dean’s eyes had widened. “I’m totally going to.” Then he’d added conspiratorially, “Selfies of my sister taking selfies!” He’d started laughing and before Luka knew it, they were both howling. Neb had found them laying on the floor of Luka’s bedroom and asked them “Why are you braying like donkeys?” which only made them laugh harder.

It was mid-August already, and the height of the Perseid meteor shower. Once it got dark, he and Dean would be able to watch the meteors burn across the sky, one after another.

“Okay, let’s go to the lighthouse.”

Since Dean and Luka met that first summer, it had become habit for Dean to spend most of his time with Neb and Luka instead of at his cousin Ben’s. In the beginning, Marigold, Ben’s mom, had felt bad about her teenage nephew eating all the food in Neb’s house. But soon enough they’d come to an understanding and Luka ate with Dean, Ben, Marigold, and Sage several times a week while Dean was in town.

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