We rode dirt bikes that day and all the next. I was so tired that I didn’t even try to go up to the barn; I fell asleep before anyone bothered to ask. The day that we were packing up to go camping, I finally talked to Avie.
“I know you’re mad at me,” I said when we met in the hall with our sleeping bags in our hands.
“Yea?”
“I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I don’t want it to be that I’m hogging your brothers.”
“Well you are.”
“I know it may seem that way, but that’s really not true. I know that you come before me in their minds. They love you, Avie…”
“And it would be easier for them to show it without you around,” her tone was biting.
“I’m really sorry,” I repeated, “and I hope that you don’t hate me. You have to know that I don’t do anything on purpose. I don’t want it to be this way, you know. I’d like for us all just to get along.”
“And because you want it that way, it should be that way?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don’t want to be your friend?”
“Well we should at least get along for your brothers’ sake. It’s not their fault we’re in disagreement.”
Taylor came down the hall then, and saw us in the hall. The looks on our faces must have given him an idea of how that talk was going. “Girls,” he sighed, putting one hand on each of our shoulders, “Please, can’t we just get along?”
“I don’t want to, Tay,” Avie whined, “I want things to be the way they were before she came along.”
“Come here,” he said, leading her into one of the bedrooms. They talked for a while, and when Avie finally emerged with tear stained eyes.
“I’m sorry, Tayler,” she mumbled, and she dashed down the hall.
I don’t know what Tay said to her, but for the whole hike up the mountain, she didn’t give me one single dirty look, and she even gave me some of the water from her water bottle after I drank all of mine.
“What did you say to Avie?” I asked Tay later when we were taking a rest under some bright leafy trees.
“I just explained that even if I stopped being friends with you, things would never be the way they used to be because we’ve all grown and gotten different since then. Her asking us not to hang out is her asking me to be unhappy,” he smiled.
“Why do you say such nice things when I can’t jump on you?” I whispered teasingly, motioning to his entire family.
“Hey, Taylor,” Carla called, eyeing me carefully.
I shoved Tay in her direction muttering, “You’re up, Slugger.”
“Shut up,” he laughed.
Glancing over her shoulder evilly at me, Carla slid her arm around Tay’s waist and began to whisper softly in his ear. I rolled my eyes and joined Heidi and Zac under a huge pine tree.
I woke in the middle of the night and found that there were more people in the room with me. I could hear voices outside, and so I exited the Ladies Room and approached the campfire.
Stopping in the darkness before I could be seen, I eavesdropped on the conversation that was occurring among Tay, Zac, and Francis.
“So she asks me to call her,” Francis was almost hysterically laughing, “and climbs out of my window wearing only my little brother’s underwear.” The other boys burst into laughter. Zac almost fell off the log he’d been sitting on. “I’m serious,” Francis’s eyes were wet with tears.
“Well that’s a typical Francis story,” Tay wiped his eyes, “Naked girls and strange sexual exploits.”
“And you haven’t been doing so bad for yourself either,” Francis high-fived him.
“What can I say?” Tay shrugged, smiling.
“Do you mind if I say that your chick was bangin’ when she was all rolling in the mud with my sister? Cuz she was. All angry and dirty… Damn…”
Tay shook his head, but smiled rather proudly.
“And what about you, Zac,” Francis turned to him, “Have you gotten any action lately?”
Oh boy. I cleared my throat and made my presence known. “Hi, guys,” I smiled, hugging my sweatshirt close around me.
“Hi,” Zac sighed, chucking little pieces of wood into the fire, looking slightly disappointed that I’d interrupted his big chance to gloat.
Taylor, on the other hand, looked relieved that Francis would not be finding out the story just yet. “Sleep well?” Taylor asked, inviting me to sit next to him.
I nodded, cozying myself beside him and adjusted myself as he wrapped his arm arond my shoulder. “What’s up?” I asked everyone.
“Nothing,” Francis flicked his finished cigarette into the fire and then pulled out another one.
“Want one?” he offered everyone, but we all declined. “Damn, I hate this camp out,” he sighed, inhaling deeply.
“You say that every year,” Zac laughed.
“I know, and I hate it every year.”
“You parents said you don’t have to come,” Taylor replied.
“Yea, but I know they want me to come. Besides, it’d be a drag without me here, right?”
“Uh huh,” we all laughed.
“I have to take a piss,” Francis got up off the log he was sitting on and disappeared into the darkness of the woods. Tay, Zac, and I remained silent. How could Francis hate this? We were sitting around a friendly, warm fire during an otherwise chilly night. There were a billion and a half little stars blinking in the sky, and we were all surrounded by people we loved (well, I didn’t love Carla, and I don’t think she was so hot about my presence…but whatever).
“So what are we doing tomorrow?” Francis asked when he returned, zipping his fly.
“Fishing,” Zac answered.
“I love fishing,” I said dreamily, not really speaking to anyone in particular.
“You do?”
“My dad took me once before he started dating Heidi’s mother.”
“Did you catch anything?” Zac wanted to know.
“A cold.”
“Seriously?” Tay laughed.
“Uh huh.”
“Well,” Francis waved his cigarette as he spoke, “we people here are very serious about our fishing. You gotta do it right.”
Taylor laughed, “Half the people here don’t even come on the fishing trips because our dads are so into it.”
“I was banned from since I was eight until last year,” Zac informed me.
“Really?!”
“One year I threw rocks into the water while they were fishing.”
“He almost got thrown in the river,” Francis laughed.
“Are you guys trying to scare me, because if you are, it’s working.”
“No, we’re serious.”
“Maybe I should stay here with the others,” I suggested.
“No, you can come,” Francis offered, “You’re new… they probably won’t cause bodily harm.”
“That’s reassuring.”
They all started laughing, probably picturing Mr. Hanson chasing Zac around with his fishing pole, Zac dropping the pebbles he’d been holding and crying as he ran. At least that’s what I was picturing.
“On that note,” Zac said, “I think I’ll go get some shut eye.”
“Me too,” Francis agreed, getting up from his place on the log.
Taylor and I wished them goodnight as they tip-toed into the cabin. “So,” I looked up at Tay, “Sharing stories of strange sexual exploits?”
He raised his eyebrow, “Eavesdropping, huh?”
“I couldn’t help it…”
“Your arrival was perfectly timed.”
“I know. The last thing I want Francis thinking is that I’m some random band slut.”
Tay laughed, his bright blue eyes sparkling in the firelight. He was so beautiful I wanted to cry. “I’m gonna go back to sleep now,” I said, my voice hushed.
“Okay,” he reached down for my hand and squeezed it.
Squeezing his hand back, I kissed him on the cheek and said, “Good night.”
I was about to walk away, but he held my arm and pulled me down to him. “Are you going to come fishing tomorrow?” he said, cradling me in his arms.
“Whatever you want,” I said, deliciously warm and cozy.
“No, really,” he laughed.
“Sure, why not?” I shrugged. The fire crackled. “I wish we could stay like this,” I snuggled into him.
Staring into the fire, he smiled in agreement. His voice was kinda detached when he said, “But we can’t.”
“Nope,” I sighed, and un-cozied myself. I said good night again with a kiss, and then made my way into the Ladies’ Room.
We hiked for the whole rest of the day, and by the time we reached camp, I thought I might faint from exhaustion. Mr. Hanson and Mr. Herbert made food on the campfire while the rest of us set up sleeping bags in the bunk beds in the little log cabin that Mr. Herbert built like thirty years ago for the express purpose of this annual camping trip. By the time the food was done cooking on the campfire outside, I had fallen asleep on the bottom bunk in what was dubbed “the Ladies Room.”
