***
“Just in time!” Maggie said, opening the front door and hugging her friend.
“Hi, Mag, is everybody here yet?” Amanda asked, peeking into the living room through the hallway.
“Yes, we are!” Stacey called from the living room.
“Wow, you are very punctual!” Amanda exclaimed.
“Just like you!” Andy said.
“Almost,” Amanda said, laughing. “I am two minutes late.”
After savoring some more of Maggie’s delicious cooking, everyone got ready to go and to meet the construction company as George had planned beforehand.
Andy and Stacey had cars, so they decided to divide into two groups and get into two cars. Amanda and Maggie got into Andy’s car, while George and Luisa rode with Stacey.
The construction company was not too far away. When they reached the place to meet with the representatives of the company, those were already ready and waiting for them. The head of the constructing department as well as a few chief workers met Amanda and her friends.
The ride to the forests was fun.
“Mag, I wonder how long we have to ride till we reach there?” Amanda kept asking.
Maggie rolled her eyes. “Amanda, are you serious? You are so shaky, calm down, baby.”
Amanda laughed. “I am too excited, Mag, that’s why.”
Andy looked at Amanda through the rear mirror. “You are just a tad bit nervous. But I’m sure it will pass if you try Maggie’s delicious cakes.”
Maggie started rummaging in her bag and got out a piece of cake, wrapped in foil wrapper. “Help yourself, my dear,” she said, reaching to the backseat and giving it to Amanda. “Andy, here, take this one,” she added, getting another piece of cake. “Oh, you’re behind the wheel, okay, never mind, I’ll eat this one, and you will get yours when we stop.”
Amanda giggled, while Andy shook his head, laughing, as Maggie savored the cake with much pleasure. “I can’t stop when I see them, it’s not my fault,” Maggie started explaining away.
Chapter 2: Fresh and Easy
Running through the forests was his most favorite pastime. It kind of relaxed him, made him calmer, stronger, it kept him fit as well. Besides eating berries, fruits and other food the forest could provide, Roger loved to climb the hills, covered with forests and to look down at the green forest which he considered his. Whose else could he consider it, if he was the only one living in around here. Finding some more berries, he got them easily with his claws and sniffed them. Delicious. Being a bear was fascinating. And easy, too. Living in the wilderness in a human form would be impossible. He wouldn’t be able to hunt for food, and running wouldn’t be as satisfying. So he rarely shifted into his human form.
Suddenly the bear stood still. He could smell something else than food. He strained his nostrils and listened. Noise. Hurriedly climbing up the hill and hiding behind trees, he looked. In some distance he could see moving cars, which stopped, and several people got out of them. “People,” he grunted. He wanted to see what these people wanted to do. Of course he had seen people before, as he had gone to the city himself. But he didn’t like when people came to his forest. Sometimes they came to have a picnic, or just go hiking. Most of the time they left their garbage right there, which annoyed Roger.
But this time it seemed different. Those people were neither hiking, nor having picnic. They were measuring the area and talking for a long time. Roger frowned. In his bear form he looked menacing when he was angry. But he didn’t want to scare the people, so he just stayed where he was, and watched them. It took about a couple of hours. He was becoming impatient, when he saw them leave. Well, most of them. Some remained and even set up a few cabins around the area. He felt that he wasn’t going to like it.
***
A few days had passed. Sitting on her bed, Amanda turned on her old radio. To her surprise, it wasn’t telling the news or some ad, instead it was playing the most wonderful melody she had ever heard. It was both soothing and energizing at the same time. It seemed as though she was playing that music herself. She knew that it was because of her state of mind, her dreams, her fantasies, her hope for a better future, for a better life. The sweet and slow melody woke in Amanda such feelings, which she didn’t recognize. Those were other feelings and weren’t related to the hotel business at all. She felt that even though she had lots of friends, she was lonely. She needed someone, who would hold her hand in the gentlest way, and thinking about it, she shivered and felt uneasy. Being a virgin, Amanda hadn’t even kissed a boy in her life. She had unpleasant feelings about men because of the ugly old boss that she had had, who wanted her. That’s why she had never bothered to have a boyfriend. She had always avoided men because of the unpleasant association, but this time it was different. The melody made her heart crave for new feelings, new needs and new emotions. She fell asleep with the radio on.
In the morning Stacey called her:
“Hey, honey? Are you asleep?”
Amanda jumped out of her bed, switched off the radio, with the phone in her hands. She had totally forgotten. They had decided to go to the construction site in the morning, to see the setup and everything.
“Amanda, we can stay in our cabin there, so you’d better do some packing,” Stacey said. “We’ll come after you in two hours and head to the forest. I personally can’t wait to get there. George has talked with the chief and he has told George that they have started the initial stage of the construction.”
“Yeah, that’s wonderful,” Amanda said. “I can’t wait too. I have never lived in a cabin before.”
“Okay, bye for now, Mandy,” Stacey hung up.
Amanda was beginning to grow fond of this new life. Getting under the cold shower, Amanda closed her eyes, letting the water caress her naked body, as she smiled and hummed a tune under her nose. She was becoming fully aware that the new happiness and excitement had started to banish the unpleasant emotions and negativity that she used to have while working for other people, and a totally new, audacious emotion was starting to creep onto her, making her hands caress her body under the cold shower and feel hot. Her long black hair, reaching her hips when wet, made her feel like a charming fairy, lost in the woods, secretive and seductive. She spent some more time under the shower than usual, which surprised her as well.
Amanda joined her friends shortly and they headed in the direction of the forests again.
“They’ve started the work,” George said. “They will be working day and night, as they must finish the project in one month, according to the contract.”
“And we can stay in the cabin overnight today,” Stacey added.
When they reached the place, Amanda was pleasantly surprised. Apparently the workers had worked during these days, which was quite visible. Heavy equipment, special constructing machines, materials, everything related to the construction was already in place; and the cabins were not far from the construction site as well. The day shift workers were almost ready to take over, while the night shift guys went to sleep in their cabin.
“So, Amanda?” George said, smiling proudly. “What do you think of this?”
“I can’t find words, really,” Amanda said, her blue eyes sparkling from happiness. “I feel that each penny spent on this is going to be worth it.”
***
The girls got into the cabin in which they were going to spend the night. They wanted to see it from the inside and to unpack. It was a rather nice cabin, with four small beds and one table. There were a couple of windows there, too. The boys were going to stay in another cabin.
“Girls,” Luisa said, “I can’t imagine us staying here overnight.”
“Why? Are you afraid of something?” Maggie asked her. “Don’t worry, we can lock the door. Here, see?” she added, locking the door from the inside.
“Luisa, really, are you scared? You’re not alone here, baby,” Stacey said, sitting down onto her bed and starting to unpack her small brown suitcase. “We and the
boys, and the workers, everybody is here. So there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
“Besides,” Amanda said, “it’s going to be exciting and interesting. After all, we haven’t stayed in a cabin before, have we?”
“Well, I have, once,” Stacey said. “But it doesn’t count. I was six then, staying in the cabin with my parents.”
“Okay, so we saw the cabin, girls, let’s go get the boys and have lunch!” Maggie said, taking her small backpack, which was obviously full of food.
They went out and saw that George and Andy were heading in their direction. They also had bags. Full of food, as Maggie thought.
“Ready to lunch?” Andy called them.
“We were going to ask you the exact same thing!” Amanda said, as all of them sat down onto the soft green grass in front of the cabin and unwrapped part of the food that every one of them had brought.
“Having lunch in nature is so appetizing!” Luisa said, breathing in the fresh forest air. “Amanda, Fresh and Easy will be a hit! No one will be able to resist the temptation to be here!”
“I hope so!” Amanda said, biting into the tastiest pizza that her friends had brought.
“We’ll do the best promotion ever,” George said. “In that case the whole world will know about Fresh and Easy.”
Amanda smiled. She felt hopeful. She felt secure being surrounded with such good friends.
***
In the evening they went for a nice walk in the forest. It was calm, and the soothing song of various birds was relaxing.
“I wonder if there are any wild animals in these forests,” Luisa thought aloud, looking around herself.
“No, there aren’t any,” Andy said. “As far as I know.”
“Luisa, calm down!” Stacey said in an exasperated voice. “The place is just perfect. No wild animals, no one to deal with, nothing. So just relax and enjoy the fresh air.”
“Okay,” Luisa said tentatively, but to be on the safe side she moved between the two boys, just to be sure she was safe.
“Guys, when are we returning to our cabin?” Maggie asked after some walking and talking. “I guess it’s time to have supper.”
Amanda giggled. She loved her best friend, who loved to eat tasty things. Especially sweets. “I guess so, too,” she said, winking at Maggie, who smiled approvingly.
After the supper the boys went to their cabin, leaving the girls alone.
“Don’t be afraid, girls!” George called from the outside, waving.
“We are quite near here, okay?” Andy added. “Our cabin is over there. You can even see it from your window.”
“We’re fine, don’t worry!” Maggie called back.
“Luisa?” George asked.
“Yes, sure, we’re fine,” Luisa answered shakily.
The girls started getting ready for bed.
“This is such a nice time in my life,” Amanda said, yawning. “Away from the noise, away from people. Just a lot of fresh air and my best friends.”
“Imagine, Mandy, when your hotel is ready, you will literally live here!” Stacey said, adding: “And we’ll visit you pretty often,” she winked.
“Of course! You will come as often as you will be able to,” Amanda said, beaming. “Otherwise I’ll drag all of you up here myself.”
“Seems so nice that I want to spend the next few weeks in this cabin,” Maggie said. She looked at Luisa, who was looking out of the window, apparently still afraid of potential wild animals.
“I dream of staying here for a long time, too,” Amanda said, lying down into her small bed.
After some silence Stacey said: “Mandy, did you notice one of the construction workers who was looking at you like he had seen something supernatural?”
“No, why?” Amanda asked, forcing herself up on her elbows. “Which one? And how was he looking at me? What’s so supernatural about me?”
The other girls were also interested, especially Maggie, whose smile widened immediately.
“Mandy, he was looking at you like he was admiring you. Of course you were clueless, as always,” Stacey said, rolling her eyes.
“Well, Stacey, whatever he was doing, I don’t care,” Amanda said. “I am not interested. Now I have other stuff on top of my priority list.”
“Of course, the boys can wait,” Luisa said.
“Well, they can wait, sure, but it wouldn’t be bad to make new acquaintances and have a little fun,” Stacey said, winking at Amanda, who grew more and more serious by each minute.
Amanda hadn’t noticed any worker staring at her, but when Stacey said it, she felt a sudden intense desire to be stared at, to be the target of woman-hungry men, to be touched by men. She shook the scary feeling away, thinking that she needed to concentrate on the hotel at the moment.
“Amanda,” Maggie said, “you have never had anyone, any relationship in your life. I am not meddling, but you are human, and humans need romantic emotions and relationships. Beware of those feelings secretly accumulating inside of you and then bursting out of you unexpectedly, when it’s the most inconvenient time.”
“Oh, Maggie, what are you talking about?” Luisa asked.
“Maggie, you are meddling,” Amanda said. “I don’t have any needs or romantic emotions. All I think about now is my hotel.” She knew deep down in her heart that Maggie was right. She could feel the emotions accumulating. But she didn’t believe that it would harm her anyway.
“Okay, your life, your choices,” Maggie said. “Luisa, this applies to you, too,” she added, smiling.
Luisa pretended not to listen. She had problems with boys, as she had a cheating boyfriend, which was her first and last boyfriend. Luisa had acquired a secret negative distrusting feeling towards men, even though she knew that not all men were the same.
“Maggie,” Amanda said, after some pause, “I know you’re my best friend and have my best interests at heart, but remember all of your boyfriends, who made you unhappy instead of happy.”
“All of them are a history now, Mandy,” Maggie said, waving her hand. “I take it easy.”
Chapter 3: The Handsome Stranger
It was morning. The sunrays were breaking through the windows into the cabin, falling onto the girls’ faces. Amanda was struggling with the sunrays, her eyes still closed, Stacey had put her head under the pillow, to avoid the sunrays from directly falling into her eyes, Maggie was sound asleep, and Luisa was sitting upright, looking very worried. It seemed that she couldn’t wait till the girls woke up. She was impatient and moved around all the time. Amanda opened her eyes at last, sitting up and looking around sleepily.
“Good morning!” she said. “How did you sleep?”
“Not too well,” Luisa said.
“Why?” the other girls had also woken up by their voices.
“Because I heard a wild animal’s howl at night,” Luisa said. “There are wild animals here.”
Just as Amanda opened her mouth to protest, Stacey said: “It was a bear. I heard the howl too.”
“Me, too,” Maggie said. She was also kind of shaky.
“But I didn’t hear a thing,” Amanda said. She was upset about the fact that there were wild animals in the forest. It would hinder her business. She would lose potential clients.
There came a knock on the door. George and Andy could be seen from the cabin window.
Amanda unlocked the door, letting the boys in.
“Did you hear the bear howl at night?” was the first thing Andy asked, which made Amanda more upset.
“All of us did,” Luisa said. “Well, except Mandy.”
“Amanda, I know there aren’t any wild animals around here,” George said. “But we heard a single bear’s howl at night. It must mean that there is one bear in this forest.”
“I think I can handle that,” Amanda said protectively. She didn’t want to hear that there was a problem in her project. Not when she had invested all that she had.
“I understand that, Mandy,” George said. “But we c
an also consider moving the hotel to another location, to a safer location.”
“I don’t agree, George,” Amanda said, on the edge of tears. “The construction is already halfway through, the payment is already done, everything is already set and planned. I can’t afford stopping this construction and starting another one.”
“Calm down, Amanda,” Andy said. “Of course we won’t do that if you don’t want to.”
“We just don’t want to scare the clients away,” Stacey added, while Luisa nodded vigorously.
“I don’t think they will feel insecure here,” Amanda said, trying to sound confident. “We’ll set up good security systems.”
Romance: The Campus Player: A College Romance Page 72