Today, I get a double-whammy. Tiffany’s working and Tyler’s sitting at a table with an iced coffee in hand. Tiffany will never like me, that I can be sure of. So I walk over to Tyler, thinking maybe I can figure out why he’s been avoiding me and try to fix it so we can be friends again.
When he looks up and notices me walking towards him, he doesn’t smile like he would have before the Hansore House party. I wonder if I said anything to him while I was drunk. I almost want to come right out and ask him, but I refrain. Instead, I act like everything’s fine between us.
“Hey.” I give him a bright, cheery smile.
He doesn’t smile in return, but he still replies politely. “Hey.”
“I haven’t seen you around in a while. How’s football going?”
“You were at our last game.” He shrugs. “It wasn’t great.”
“We didn’t win, but you guys were still pretty good,” I reassure him.
He just shrugs again.
“Are you mad at me?” I finally ask.
“Why would I be mad at you?”
“I don’t know. Did I do something the night of that party? I had too much to drink and I can’t remember most of the night. But I swear you’ve been avoiding me and it’s kind of breaking my heart. I miss talking to you.”
I can see his tense posture loosen up. “I’m not mad at you, Val. I just thought maybe we were starting something here. I mean, I know we haven’t even gone on a date or anything, so I guess maybe it’s ridiculous to be upset about you and Craig -”
I interrupt him before he can finish. “Craig and I are not together.” I can tell Tiffany is listening so I continue loud enough for her to hear too. “I don’t know why everyone thinks that we are, but we aren’t. Craig and I will never be together. We have mutual friends. That’s it.” Even as I say it, I know it’s not true. As much as I want it to be true, it’s not. I’m sure of the fact that we’ll never be together. But there’s also more to us than just mutual friends. I can’t deny that I care about him, despite how mad he makes me. But I know that I’d never allow myself to be with him because I know he’d never take any relationship seriously. So I repeat it for both of them to hear, “I am not, nor will I ever be, with Craig Morgan.”
“Okay,” Tyler responds, nodding. “If you’re sure that you and Craig aren’t…”
“We’re not.”
“Okay.”
“Will you just ask me out already?” I try not to smile, but I can’t hide it.
He laughs in return. “Will you go out with me, Val? Saturday night?”
“I would love to.”
I’m not sure why I did it. Maybe because I don’t want to lose Tyler. Maybe because I need to prove that I’m not interested in Craig. Maybe neither. Maybe both.
Saturday night goes like any other typical date night would. Tyler picks me up at my dorm at seven-thirty on the dot. He brings flowers and tells me I look beautiful. He’s a sweetheart and a gentleman all night. He holds the doors open for me, pulls my chair out at the restaurant, let’s me pick the movie we see. He really is a catch and I’m lucky that he’s interested in me out of all the girls that I’ve seen openly flirt with him in school. Unlike Craig, he’s utterly oblivious as to how hot he is and ignores the flirtatious girls in a way that’s both polite and yet non-participative. When he walks me to my dorm, he says goodnight and then briefly brushes his lips over mine. Not rushing, not pressing. Chaste and gentle. When I get inside, Hailey asks me a million questions about the night and we stay up late discussing every little detail. Everything was perfect. So why do I not feel as giddy and excited as I should? I push the thought out of my mind as I finally drift off to sleep.
Chapter 7
As chance would have it, my favorite holiday falls on a Saturday this year. Despite being the biggest baby in the world, I’ve always loved Halloween. So, when Hailey decided to put together a camping trip, I couldn’t refuse. I’m not thrilled about Craig going, especially since he’s bringing Tiffany. But I’m determined to have a good time. Things are going really well with Tyler and I’m excited about getting away from school and cheerleading practices, even just for one night. Cheerleading has been especially demanding lately, leaving little time for anything else other than homework and term papers. I make time for Tyler here and there but I’m glad he’s on the football team and completely understands a busy schedule. Hailey and I’s dorm-mates Ashley and Julie, or the twins as I still jokingly call them, are coming too. Julie is bringing her boyfriend and Ashley is bringing a girlfriend of hers. When we get there, I notice that Tiffany has also brought a girlfriend of hers too. That makes eleven of us in four tents. The twins are sharing a two-bedroom tent though. It’s practically state-of-the-art, since Julie’s boyfriend used to be a boy scout. It makes the rest of our smaller tents pale in comparison. Tyler and Drew start setting up the tents right away, as the rest of us unpack the coolers and bags. Before anyone’s settled in, Craig takes out cups and alcohol.
“What’s the rush?” I ask, “We have all night.”
“What’s camping without alcohol?” he counters, as if it’s an obvious match.
Despite the fact that I’m clearly here with Tyler, I get a death glare from Tiffany for daring to talk to Craig, so I make a mental note to avoid both of them for the rest of the night. I don’t need the drama.
As it gets darker, the guys start a campfire and we all gather around it. I snuggle up to Tyler and he wraps a blanket around us both. I glance over at Craig to find him full on making out with Tiffany. I don’t know why my stomach drops. I’m with Tyler and it feels good to have his arms wrapped around me. So why do I feel what I can only define as jealousy towards the scene to my right? It’s absurd. I need a distraction.
“Let’s tell ghost stories,” I suggest.
This gets everyone’s attention.
“Ooh, I’ll go first!” It’s Tiffany’s girlfriend who speaks up. I figure she probably needs a distraction too. Watching her best friend make out with a guy right beside her all night is probably not her idea of fun. She tells a story about her friend’s house being haunted. Lights would turn on randomly, things would move. She swears someone took the blanket off of her in the middle of the night one time when she slept over. Stuff like that. Everyone listens intently, but I can tell no one’s buying into it.
“Val, come to the bathroom with me?” Hailey holds out her hand for me to grab.
“I’ll go,” Ashley offers.
“I’ll still go too.” I grab Hailey’s hand and let her pull me up off of Tyler’s lap. I figure I might as well walk with them now rather than by myself later. The bathroom is about a five minute walk from our campsite up to the main building. Ashley’s friend and Julie trail along behind us too.
When we return to the campsite, about twenty minutes later, no one’s there. All of our cups are thrown on the ground, food left out, and blankets tossed about. None of us look surprised, only annoyed. It figures they’d do something like this to try to scare us. So instead of looking for them, we figure we’ll let them sweat it out. We make new drinks and the four of us sit around together drinking and talking. About an hour goes by before we do actually start to get worried.
“You know what gets me?” I ask the girls. “I’d expect this from Craig, but not Drew and Tyler.”
“I was thinking that too,” Hailey admits. “I don’t think Drew would be gone for this long. I mean if he were trying to scare me, I think he would have just jumped out and said ‘boo’ by now. What are they doing in the woods for a whole hour? I’m starting to get nervous.”
Julie, on the other hand, replies, “Nope. This is Dave all the way. He’d wait it out until we went to search for them. I know my boyfriend. He doesn’t surrender.”
“Let’s just go check,” Ashley suggest, wringing her hands together. I can tell she’s getting nervous too.
“Yeah, let’s go find them, let them scare us and have it be done and over with already.” I roll my eyes, an
noyed by the fact that they’re ruining the camping trip by being gone for so long.
I grab my flashlight that I had in Tyler and I’s tent and then the five of us stick together as we walk through the woods, calling out to them.
“C’mon David! Just get it over with so we can go back to drinking! This is stupid!” Julie calls out.
“Drew! This isn’t funny! I’m really getting worried!” Hailey yells.
Ashley and I remain quiet, as we search the woods. I hear a twig snap further behind me, so I swing around quickly, flashing the light in search of someone.
No one.
“Where’s Ashley?” Julie asks with wide eyes.
I move my flashlight all around, but she’s no longer with us.
“Seriously guys! Ashley was scared! You guys are jerks!” Julie fumes, clearly pissed.
We all look around but don’t see or hear anything other than the cool October wind blowing through the trees and fallen leaves. I wrap my sweater tighter around me and start walking again. Julie, Hailey, and Ashley’s friend follow behind. Julie doesn’t stop yelling out to the rest of our crew, who are obviously messing with us.
I notice I’ve gotten too far ahead, so I stop to let them catch up. Suddenly, I feel a hand over my mouth as I’m lifted into the air and carried away. Although it surprises me, I’m not that scared because I know it’s one of the guys. I still kick my legs relentlessly because I’m pissed. I only stop when I feel my feet hit the ground. Although I’m now standing, I’m still being kept in place. Whoever’s behind me is holding me so tight, I can barely breathe. And I still have someone’s hand over my mouth. If I didn’t know it was one of the guys, I’d bite down on it. But I figure that would be too harsh since I know it’s just a prank, so I refrain. I wait it out, letting whoever it is call the shots. But when I’m pushed down to my knees, I start to get furious. That hurt. I try to turn around, but as I turn my head, someone grabs a hold of my hair and uses it to firmly turn my head back facing forward. That hurt too.
“Okay, I’m seriously getting pissed,” I bark to whoever’s behind me.
No answer.
I try to lift myself up when I feel a foot on my back, pushing me down into the leaves and keeping me there.
“This is ridiculous! You made your point! Now stop being an asshole!” My heart pounds in my chest and I’m not even sure if it’s from the anger or if I’m actually starting to get scared.
Silence.
“Dude, what the hell?” I recognize Craig’s voice coming towards us from farther away. He doesn’t sound happy at all.
“Dude, what the hell to you! Now she knows it’s us,” I recognize Julie’s boyfriend, Dave, mumble in irritation.
“Get your foot off her, man. Seriously, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Craig scolds him while reaching down to help me up.
I’m finally able to turn around. I look at both of them with absolute fury. “Have you two lost your minds?”
Dave responds first, “Relax princess, it’s just a joke.”
Before I can respond, I see Craig’s fist fly into Dave’s face. I gasp in surprise. Dave hesitates for a moment, looking at the blood on his hand falling from his nose. His face goes from shock to rage in an instant and then he lunges at Craig. Before I can do anything to stop it, not that I could do much anyway, they end up in a full-blown fist fight. I wasn’t that scared before, but now I’m petrified.
I call out to the others, “Drew! Tyler! Get your asses over here! Hurry!”
They must be able to tell by my voice that I’m serious, because they both come running. Drew reaches us first and immediately pulls Craig off of Dave. Tyler shows up right behind Drew and holds Dave back. It takes a few minutes, but they finally calm down and stop trying to get out of Drew and Tyler’s arms. Dave spits blood out of his mouth as Julie runs over. She looks at us accusingly. “What the hell happened?”
No one talks at first. When I realize neither one of the guys are going to say anything, I begin, “Dave took the joke a little too far,” I explain, never taking my eyes off of him. He doesn’t say anything, so I continue. “He pushed me down, grabbed my hair, kept me on the ground with his foot on my back.”
When Julie gasps in surprise, Dave finally talks. “It wasn’t that bad. She’s exaggerating. Every one of us was playing a part. I was just trying to scare her a little.”
“You’re a sick bastard,” Craig spits out calmly but with clear disgust.
“Alright,” Julie reasons, “It’s done and over with. Let’s just try to salvage the rest of the night. For the record, I think you guys are all assholes. That was a horrible prank and you know it.”
When I look around, I realize everyone in our group had gathered around when I started yelling. Tiffany is trying to tend to Craig, but he’s brushing her aside. Drew is with Hailey. Tiffany’s friend, as well as Ashley’s friend, are just standing around, unsure of how to proceed. Julie and Dave both looked pissed. And Ashley still looks petrified, with her arms wrapped tightly around herself and her eyes searching the woods. Tyler walks over to me.
“Are you alright?” I can see the concern on his face.
“Yeah. Let’s just go back,” I tell him, as I start walking.
Everyone seems to follow suit, heading back to the campsite. We all sit around the fire and try to return to the way it was before the stupid prank.
Tyler puts his arm around me and whispers in my ear, “I’m so sorry. I had no idea it was going to end up like that. It was supposed to be fun.”
I don’t say anything, but I snuggle closer to him, letting him know he’s off the hook. It wasn’t his fault Julie’s boyfriend was acting like a dick. I glance over at Craig and get a chill down my spine when I see him staring straight at me with an intense look in his eyes. I look away, but find myself looking back again a few minutes later, only to find him still staring.
“Let’s go to bed,” I whisper to Tyler. I figure my mood can’t be salvaged and I’m pretty sure everyone else feels the same. They all sit around the fire drinking, but there’s no more excitement in their voices. That stupid prank brought everyone down.
Tyler obliges, gathering up the blanket and helping to clean up first. We settle into our tent and into the over-sized sleeping bag he brought. He wraps his arms around me and gently kisses my lips. He never pushes me to go further and I’m grateful for that. I kiss him back and then lay my head on his shoulder.
I wake up early in the morning, before anyone else does. I’m careful not to wake Tyler as I make my way out of the sleeping bag. I gather my things and make the trek up to the bathrooms and showers. When I get back to camp, the only one up is Craig. He’s sitting by the empty fire pit, looking deep in thought. When he lifts his head and notices me, he smiles.
“Hey,” I whisper to him so I don’t wake anyone else.
“Hey. You alright?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Last night,” is all he responds.
I nod in understanding. “Thanks for that, by the way.”
“For what?”
“Defending me. Helping me with Dave. I still can’t believe how far he was willing to take it.”
“Yeah, me either. I had no idea he was going to be that much of an asshole. It was supposed to be fun.”
“What were you guys doing out there for an hour before we started looking?” I take a seat in the empty chair beside him.
“Coming up with a plan.” He shrugs. “Just passing time. We thought you guys would look for us sooner. You want breakfast?” he asks, changing the subject.
“Shouldn’t we wait for everyone else to wake up?”
“Nah. Let’s go for a drive,” he suggests.
“To where?”
“Dunkin Donuts. There’s one a couple miles away.”
I debate it for a moment. I’ll probably get hell from Tiffany if I go. Ultimately, my desire for caffeine wins. “Let’s go.”
He helps me up into his truck. It’s
something my old friends at my private high school would have made fun of me for riding in. To say it’s a beater is an understatement. But it’s clean; I’ll give him that. I inhale the musky scent and relish in it. Tyler’s car always smells so perfectly new. Most people would prefer the new car smell, but I actually prefer the masculine woodsy scent that Craig’s truck holds. I watch him shift gears as we drive out of the camp.
“Is Tyler gonna be mad if he wakes up and you’re not there?” He takes his eyes off the road to look over at me.
“Not if I bring back coffee,” I lie. Secretly, I’m hoping he doesn’t wake up, because I’m not sure what his reaction will be. It’s not like I’m doing anything wrong, but I still have a feeling he wouldn’t be too happy with me taking off with Craig, even just for a coffee run.
He raises his eyebrows and nods his head, making it clear that he doesn’t believe me.
“Will Tiffany be mad?” I counter.
“She knows we’re not serious. She shouldn’t care who I hang out with.”
“Do you take anything seriously?” I ask with irritation that surprises myself.
He scrunches his eyebrows in confusion but still answers. “I do.” Then he turns it around on me. “Do you?”
“I take everything seriously.”
“From what I can tell, that’s just school and maybe cheerleading,” he debates.
“That’s what matters right now. I’m working towards a goal.”
“Really?” he turns to look at me, while he shifts to stop at the red light. “Let me ask you something then. What’s your major?”
“I don’t know yet.” I know he’s going to make a smart-ass comment, so I hurry to explain. “But we’re only freshman. I have plenty of time to decide on one.”
“You don’t even know what goal you’re working towards? Being so serious is gonna get tiring, princess. You have to be passionate about something.”
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