The Story of Us (9 page)

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.”

“What’s your major then?” I counter,
fully expecting him to have the same answer as me.

“Special education,” he blurts out
without even giving it a thought.

“Yeah, right.” I don’t believe him for
a second. Craig Morgan is not the type of guy to work with
children, never mind children with special needs.

He sighs. “You don’t believe me.” It’s
not a question, but a statement.

“I think it’s hard to
believe.
You
want
to be a SPED teacher? You’re either going to start laughing any
second now or this is some plan to win brownie points with girls to
get them in bed.” As soon as I say it, I regret it because his eyes
cloud over and his face gets too serious. I can tell I offended
him.

“Okay, this conversation
is over,” he declares taking a deep breath. “But for the record, I
don’t want to be a SPED teacher. My
goal
,” he stresses in order to spit
my very own word back at me, “is to become a therapeutic recreation
specialist.”

The fact that he even knows what that
is leaves me speechless. Now I feel horrible. I know he’s upset,
but I literally have no idea what to say right now so I just stare
out the windshield at the road in front of us. I want to ask him
what exactly a therapeutic recreation specialist does, but I don’t
feel like I have a right to know now so I just sit here feeling
guilty. After what feels like forever, I finally look over at
him.

“I’m sorry.”

He nods his head, but doesn’t say
anything in return.

“Why do you put up with me?” I ask,
suddenly. Now he’s the one surprised. He looks over at me, his
brows creased in question, so I go on. “Let’s face it, I’m mean to
you.”

“You’re not mean to me.”

“I kind of am.”

He laughs, no longer upset about my
calling his bluff on his major. “Okay, princess. You want the
truth?”

Honestly, I’m not sure I do. He parks
his truck in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot and I’m tempted to just
jump out and go into the store. But when I look over at him, his
eyes are so intense. I can’t help but want to know what he’s going
to say. So I nod my head for him to continue.

“You’re a refreshing change from the
ordinary,” he starts, “You’re different from the girls I usually
hang out with.”

“How so?” I press, my curiosity
peaked.

He runs his fingers through his hair
before fixing his gaze on mine. “You’re reserved and confined. And
that’s great, but I can also see what’s lying just under the
surface. You’re brave and confident. You don’t take my shit. You
have self-respect when a lot of girls now-a-days don’t. And the
more I break your shell, the more I see that I like. You’re right.
You are mean to me most of the time. But I think you do it to push
me away. And I think you work so hard at pushing me away because
you know that if you stop fighting it…” he inches closer to me, “If
you stop trying to convince yourself that I’m some bad guy, then
you might actually realize that I’m a refreshing change from the
ordinary for you too. You might actually like me. Hell, you might
actually love me.”

I stare at him in
disbelief. Never in a million years would I expect something like
that to come out of Craig’s mouth. He’s so close to me, I could
just bridge the gap between us, allowing myself to fall into him.
If I’m being completely honest with myself, I want to. But instead,
I just continue to stare in disbelief. This is Craig Morgan. He’s
not the kind of guy to say these things and
mean
them. He’s not the kind of guy
I want. I have to keep reminding myself of that. He wouldn’t be
good at an actual relationship. He’s nothing like Tyler. Tyler’s
sweet and loyal. Craig would be bored with me in no time. He’s a
player. I have to remind myself of that fact or else it’d be too
easy to believe him right now, to lose myself in him. I get out of
the truck without responding to him at all. After a few seconds, he
follows.

When we get up to the register, he
walks in front of me right up to the counter. He starts with my
coffee, knowing exactly how I take it. Then he continues on,
ordering enough for everyone at the campsite. I help him carry it
all back to the truck. We don’t talk at all on the whole ride back.
There’s an awkwardness in the air now, a tension that wasn’t there
before. I bite my bottom lip, feeling nervous and uncomfortable. I
want him to talk to me, but I know the ball is in my court. I just
don’t know what to say. So we both remain silent.

When we get back to the
campsite, I see everyone awake.
Will Tyler
be upset?
Craig shuts the engine off and
sits there, waiting for me to say something. Instead, I jump out
and immediately walk over to Tyler. As I get near him, his face
lights up. I can see Hailey give me a questioning look as I pass by
her, while everyone else just goes about whatever they were doing
before Craig and I returned. I don’t see Tiffany at all.

“I was worried,” Tyler says softly,
embracing me in a hug.

“Sorry. Craig wanted to get Dunkin
Donuts for everyone and needed help carrying it all. I was the only
one awake,” I explain, not completely lying. While I’m hugging him
back, I catch Craig’s glare so I turn my head the other
way.

“What’s this?” Dave asks Craig,
laughing, “Some sort of peace offering for keeping us up all
night?”

I look at Julie’s boyfriend in
confusion. Julie sees my expression and explains, “Craig and the
two girls he’s with were at it all night,” she spits out in
disgust. “You’re repulsing,” she directs towards him.

“Watch it!” Tiffany yells at Julie,
coming out of her tent. She’s wearing a silk cami and shorts… on
Halloween in New England. She must be freezing but if she is, she
doesn’t show it.

“You’re just jealous,” Craig accuses
Julie with a smirk. “Could’ve made our threesome a foursome.” He
winks at her.

“Ew.” She makes a disgusted face
before walking away.

My heart sinks at the realization. At
first I’m hurt, but that instantly fades into anger. I can’t
believe I was tempted to kiss him just minutes ago. I can’t even
fathom how he could sit there and say those things to me after
indulging in a night of… I don’t even want to think about it. He’s
an ass. There’s no doubt in my mind now. Anything I might have felt
for him is now replaced with a feeling of utter repugnance. I can’t
believe he had me questioning my feelings for Tyler, wondering if
Craig would change his ‘bad boy’ ways for me. And I can’t believe I
secretly wanted him to. I should have known better.

This whole trip was a bad idea and
it’s only getting worse and worse. I debate asking Tyler if we can
leave early and not stay for the rest of the day, but I know Hailey
would never let me live it down if I bailed on her. So I just
decide to tune everything out that doesn’t make me
happy.

I convince Hailey, Drew and Tyler to
take a hike with me, just the four of us. We pack our backpacks up
with lunch and drinks and we head out, leaving everyone else
behind. After we hike up the trails, we eat lunch, picnic-style, on
the top of one of the larger hills, overlooking the entire town.
The fall foliage is so beautiful from the top. Afterwards, we head
down to the lake. It’s too cold to go swimming, but we walk around
it, throwing bread pieces to the ducks and talking. It’s a perfect
day. I don’t even want to go back to the campsite and deal with
everyone else there, but we have no choice. We have to pack up our
stuff and take the tents down.