I walked off quickly. I was going to fix this. How could the bet have slipped my mind? It was stupid. It wasn’t worth the money.
I had wanted to tell August how I felt. But I wanted to because that’s how I actually felt. Not because of any conversation that Nick and I had had what seemed like ages ago. I was calling it off. And he had talked about doing the same thing with Carmen today, hadn’t he?
I hadn’t paid enough attention to him this trip, my mind solely on August. I had to get to him before he did that. To put my mind to rest.
At least August hadn’t found out about it. I probably still could have told her what I had wanted to and even won the bet. But I didn’t feel right about it. Before, when we had discussed the boundaries of the bet, it had all been in theory. Now, it involved someone. It seemed more personal. Now, it was a question of morals and ethics.
And I wanted to be a better person. For her. For myself. Maybe all the ‘Prince Charming’s’ in the Disney stories weren’t as unrealistic as I used to think. With their corny lines, I thought, only toddlers could by with and them always falling in love with the girl and people like Eric in the Little Mermaid or Aladdin willing to risk their lives to save someone they barely knew.
But, as weird as it sounded even to me, if something were trying to hurt August I’d do anything, even risk my life, to make sure nothing happened to her.
“Hey! Nick, I need to talk to you,” I said, obviously interrupting his important conversation.
“Can this wait?” he asked, obviously annoyed.
“Nope, come on. Sorry, Carmen, the others are in front of the castle if you want to hang with them.”
“Uh… yeah, okay,” she said, looking from me to Nick suspiciously.
When she was out of earshot, I turned to Nick. “We need to call this bet off.”
“What? Why? Just because you knew I was about to tell her how I felt?”
“That’s not how you feel!” I contradicted. “You’re not in love with her.”
“How do you know?” Nick asked. Then added, “and it doesn’t matter how I feel. That wasn’t part of the agreement. So you’re telling me that now, after two weeks, right before I win, you want to call off the bet? I don’t think so. If she says ‘I love you’ back you owe me the money.”
“This isn’t about the fact you were about to tell her… I don’t feel right.”
Nick looked at me incredulously. “That is so lame. Look it’s not my fault you got so close with August and waited too long.”
“She wasn’t about the bet… I wasn’t even going to try and find anyone…”
“No, you had to at least try, or I still would’ve won.”
“Well before this didn’t have anyone getting hurt.”
“No one’s getting hurt. No one but us even knows about it. Me and the video games I was going to buy with my winnings. Or use it for dating money… and you with your guitar, even though you never stood a chance. You’re just a sore loser. You know I was right. It’s possible to fall in love and, bam, just know, right then, that that person’s right for you.”
“This isn’t about me being a sore loser… Nick…” I started.
“I don’t want to hear it,” he put his hands up. “In a few hours from now, you owe me money.”
“You know what? Fine. Tell Carmen. There’s no way in the world she’ll tell you she loves you, too. And then I win.”
“Dude, you’re forgetting your part of it. You have to tell August, too. If she says it back, I still win.”
“What?” I had forgotten that. I was just going to find some random person. Someone who didn’t know me at all. But August and I had become close.
When I told her that, I wanted to hear her say it back. But if she did, although on one level I would win, on the other I would lose with Nick.
“I’m not going to play games with August …”
“Okay, then go ahead and pay me now,” he held out his hand.
Just then, I looked behind him and paused.
~August’s point of view~
“Look at this cool t-shirt,” Michelle showed me, grinning from ear to ear.
“Oh, that’s cool,” I said, admiring the Mickey Mouse logo.
“Hey, guys,” Carmen walked up. “Where’s Cassie at?”
“She went to the bathroom a few minutes ago. She should be back soon,” I responded, as Carmen sat down.
“Oh, here she comes,” Michelle pointed. “What took you so long?”
Cassie grinned. “I was listening to an interesting conversation between Nick and Brian.”
“About what?” I asked, wondering why Brian had gone off so suddenly.
We had had some sort of… ‘moment’ in front of the castle. I had been sure he was going to say the three words that every girl wanted to hear from a guy like him. But I guess I had been wrong. What was with his sudden change in behavior?
“The bet. Which explains both of you,” she said vaguely.
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Nineteen
Drowning
Frick's Fairytales