“I can’t get out of work that night, so I just can’t swing it,” he responded sincerely. I honestly felt a little relieved. “Maybe you can join me Saturday night for soccer? I know the kids would love to see you again. If you’re back in time from your camping trip, obviously.”
“Sure, I’ll call you Friday night. I can just leave a message if you’re busy at work. I should know by then what time we’ll be heading back,” I explained. “How’s Lucy doing?”
“She’s doing great, and my mom loves her. They both don’t have a lot of energy, so it’s actually a perfect match. She lights up when she talks about her. It’s really wonderful. So thanks for that, by the way. I know it wasn’t easy for you to give her up. But I hope you genuinely know how much it lifts my mom’s spirits.”
“I’m just glad she found a home. She deserves it. Maybe I can see Lucy Saturday night after our date?”
“That sounds good,” he said warmly. “I’ll see you then.”
We eventually hung up the phone. Butterflies surged through me as we made plans, and I was genuinely eager to see him again. I knew these feelings were something beyond my usual two-day fling. Making plans for the weekend on a Tuesday night? That was very unlike me.
With my phone still in my hand, I dialed Steve. There was still no answer. Reluctantly I grabbed my keys. I knew what I needed to do; groveling with a side of beer. Somehow it worked every time.
CHAPTER 15
Steve and I made it out for a lengthy run on both Wednesday and Thursday morning. He said everything was fine between us, but he still seemed a little off. As I watched the sun rise both mornings I thought of Ben. I genuinely missed him. I missed our conversations, and the way his warm lips felt pressed against mine. The through of not seeing him for a few days really ate at me. Part of me felt like a teenager, wanting to crawl through his window for just a few moments alone with him. The other part of me felt seduced by the anticipation of seeing him again in a few days. My eagerness to touch him grew by the minute, and I really wondered how I would shut off my primal need to pounce on him as soon as I saw him Saturday evening.
As Friday afternoon rolled around, I left work early to head home and grab all of my camping stuff. I was grateful the guys had all of the gear. All I needed was a duffle bag of clothes and a cooler full of drinks.
Around two o’clock, there was a knock on my door.
“I see you have your camping boots on,” Steve said mockingly as I opened my door. I always wore the same heeled boots on our camping trip. I didn’t see the point in dressing like a savage just because I would be out in nature for twenty-four hours.
“Is Mallory with you?” I asked inquisitively. I found it odd that she didn’t come up to my apartment with him since we were all driving together.
“Nope, change of plans,” he said, grabbing my cooler to haul downstairs. “Johnny actually got called into work this afternoon, there was some kind of emergency. Something caught fire in the kitchen at his restaurant, but I’m not sure of the details. But his boss was pissed so he didn’t have a choice. And then Greyson’s event got cancelled tonight, so he’ll actually be joining us. A newbie at the campfire, that’ll be weird. We should make up some type of initiation for him,” he said, reaching for my other bag.
“I’ve got this one,” I replied, thankful for his genuine chivalrousness. He treated all of us girls like that, and it never got old.
“So I assume, like usual, we’ll get there first so the entire set-up is on me. Mallory and Greyson will show up with all the food, and then Griffin and Addie will pull up the moment right after everything has been all set up and prepared,” he said with a smirk.
“Wow, Mallory is bringing a plus one camping? I mean, I know her and Greyson are really serious, but this is just weird. Now Addie and Mallory both technically have boyfriends there. It throws the whole thing off. Oh my gosh, she’s my tent-mate. Where am I going to sleep?” I said raising an arm.
“Well now that Johnny’s out, it looks like you’re in my tent,” he said with a slight laugh as we left my apartment. “I’m cutting you off after three drinks, Meg. Before you get all handsy,” he said, continuing to laugh.
I slapped his arm and we loaded our stuff up into his Jeep.
The drive took about forty-five minutes or so, around to the other side of Lake Tahoe. We had several different spots we liked, but they were all very similar. The huge fir trees all around us were tall and commanding, but the simple beauty of the still, blue lake softened them. With the top down on his Jeep and the wind whipping through our hair, we sang loud as he put on one of our favorite play lists. I watched him sing, animated and dramatic at the best parts, and I couldn’t help but smile. We had made this drive many times together, and it never got old. This was us, and I loved it. We finally pulled into our campsite and started unloading the vehicle.
“I have all the tents, so I’ll start putting up those first,” Steve explained, marking out where he would set those up. He wore jeans and a Bill Murray t-shirt, which made me snicker.
“Perfect, I’ll make us a drink,” I replied, dragging my cooler over to a wooden picnic table.
Steve had set up our campsite so many times before, so he made it look effortless as he put together the three tents. He staked them down and unloaded the rest of the gear we had.
“Thanks for all of your help with the set-up,” he said with a smirk as I handed him a mixed drink.
“Hey, I put all the chairs around the fire,” I retorted. “That’s a big part of our night, so that seems like quite the contribution.”
“Yes, more important than shelter, right?” he teased back. We settled in and a short while later, Greyson’s big black pick-up truck pulled up the path.
“Wow, everything is already set up?” Greyson asked, climbing out of his truck.
“Steve is very good with his hands,” I said with a smirk. “He usually does all of the hard physical labor.”
“Yes, but our resident bartender here keeps it all together,” Steve replied, helping Mallory and Greyson pull all of their coolers out of the truck. “Are you much of a camper Greyson? This will be your first campout with us. Has Mallory warned you about all of this?”
“Honestly I haven’t done a lot of camping in the past couple years,” Greyson answered genuinely. “And from Mallory’s stories about people jumping in the lake after dark, and some story about a bear, I’m a little nervous.”
“We’ll keep it tame this time around,” Steve said winking at me.
Mallory and Greyson unloaded all of the food they brought, and eventually began prepping for dinner. Addie and Griffin showed up as the food was cooking on the campfire.
Dinner was amazing as always, especially since two expert chefs were involved. We dined on steak and chicken kabobs with baked potatoes. Mallory of course had an assortment of desserts laid out, and she reminded us twice there were also chocolate covered strawberries in the cooler. We were all too full of food and cheap boxed wine though, so we decided to save those for later in the evening.
As the cool night air settled in, we all gathered around the campfire. Addie and Griffin clung to each other all night, helplessly in love. Greyson and Mallory looked similar. Around eight o’clock, we were surprised to see two headlights pull into our campsite.
I immediately hoped it was Ben. But was I even ready for that? To introduce him to all of my friends? I guess he already knew Greyson and Mallory, but it would still be weird to have him there as my date. I looked over at Steve sitting by the fire, his face glowing from the heat. His blonde messy hair looked youthful and fun, and he looked so relaxed by the fire amongst all of our friends. Then in an instant, despite being eager to see Ben, the thought crossed my mind that maybe it would be better if it was anyone other than him.
CHAPTER 16
“Johnny!” Mallory exclaimed, jumping up from her chair by the fire. “I thought you were called into work tonight.”
“Yeah, we had a little incident,
” he said, unloading a small duffle bag and a case of beer from his car. “There was a fire in the kitchen this afternoon. So between cleaning up that mess and getting some new supplies in so we could keep the restaurant open for the night, it was a little chaotic and the owner was in a panic. But I got it all taken care of, and it actually didn’t do too much damage. It looked worse than it was. So now I get to drink and be irresponsible with you slackers,” Johnny said smiling as he twisted off a beer cap. He slugged down the entire bottle.
We all hugged him hello, refilled our drinks, and sat back down around the campfire.
“I thought you had a plus one tonight, Meg,” Johnny said, leaning back in his chair. “Rumor has it you’re getting serious with someone.”
“Since when has Megan ever been serious enough with someone to bring him around us,” Griffin said with a laugh.
“Hey, first off, that’s his roommate right there,” I interjected, pointing at Greyson. “So perhaps we can paint me in a favorable light tonight,” I said with a giggle.
“Nothing leaves the campfire, man,” Johnny said towards Greyson. “House rules.” Greyson awkwardly nodded in agreement.
“And besides, Ben had to work tonight,” I continued. “So even if I wanted him to come, I mean, I did, but he couldn’t. So it’s not up for discussion.”
“So wait, are you admitting that you’re smitten enough by this guy to actually consider letting him hang out with us?” Addie asked. “I hear about all these guys, Meg. But other than you going rogue and disappearing on us at a nightclub, it’s like these guys don’t even exist.”
“I know,” I replied honestly. “I get it, it’s kind of a chronic issue with me.”
“So what is it, Meg? I mean, we all know your theory about love, and we watch how fast you run away from it. But what would it take for you to actually fall for a guy? Like completely, head over heels, stupid in love?” Mallory asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“Simple,” I responded. “A reason. I just need a guy who can give me one reason why it should be him.” I shrugged my shoulders matter-of-factly, as if I really did have all the answers.
“A reason?” Steve asked, almost spitting out his sip of beer. “You’re telling me all of these guys you go through, weekend after weekend, and you’ve never come up with one good reason to keep one of them around?”
“You misheard me,” I said simply. “I can come up with plenty of reasons why I may like a guy, that’s easy. But every guy I date, any guy I’m actually into, they seem dumbfounded by it when I ask them.”
“Wait, what?” Mallory said, a little confused by what I was saying. “What do you ask them?”
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’m admitting this to you guys,” I said nervously, a little embarrassed that I was sharing this with the group. I shook my head, wondering if my explanation would seem stupid to them. But then again, did I really care?
“So after hanging out with a guy, assuming I like him enough to see him more than once or twice of course,” I explained, “I just… ask them. Point blank. I literally ask them for a reason why I should stick around. A reason why I should be with them.”
Everyone’s mouths dropped open, and no one spoke for a minute.
“That’s your move? Your signature dating move?” Griffin asked with an expressive face.
“So what do they say?” Addie asked. “No one has ever given you a reason?”
“Oh they do, sure. Except it’s always the first dumb thing that comes to their mind,” I explained. “Like ‘cause you’re hot,’ or ‘cause I’m drunk and we should do this.’ Or the question scares them off completely and they babble and don’t know what to say, and then I know I’m over it.”
“What?” Johnny said, completely exasperated. “Every time I think I understand women, and then there’s a total curve ball.”
“How have you not told me this before?” Mallory said, shaking her hands in the air. “I just thought you had a short attention span. I never realized you were actually having a real conversation with these guys.”
“I know, it probably sounds stupid to all of you,” I said quietly. “But if a guy can’t give me an intelligent reason to stay, what’s the point? I don’t need to be told than I’m pretty, or that I’m fun to drink with, or that my legs look killer in a mini-skirt. And yes, that was actually the line one guy used to answer my question. I just want a real reason to be with someone. And if that freaks them out, I don’t care. Then they’re not the guy for me anyway.”
Everyone in the group still looked dumbfounded by this conversation.
The buzzing of my phone startled me in that moment. Ben’s name flashed on the screen.
“Oh no, is that the guy?” Johnny asked, pointing to my phone. “Have you asked him for a reason yet?”
I shook my head no and stood up, moving away from the campfire to answer the call.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working right now?” I asked, answering the phone.
“Yes,” Ben’s smooth voice said in the other end. “But I got some amazing news today, and you’re the first person I wanted to call.”
I smiled as he spoke, and in that moment I did wish he was camping with us. I wanted to see his face, and to lay with him under the stars.
“Do you think we can meet up a little bit earlier tomorrow night before soccer starts? I have something really important to ask you. I want to talk about it before we have people all around us,” he explained.
“That sounds wonderful,” I said flirtatiously. “Where do you want to meet?”
“How about Luca’s at six-thirty? We can grab a quick bite to eat before heading over to the hospital.”
“Sounds perfect,” I said, swooning. I could hear the excitement of his news in his voice, and I couldn’t wait to see him. What did he need to ask me? The way he said it made it sound important.
I hung up the phone and sauntered back to my chair at the campfire, visibly smitten.
“Did you ask him?” Addie questioned, studying my face.
“No,” I responded. “That’s what confuses me about being around Ben. I’m actually nervous to ask him. I feel like he might really give me a reason. And that terrifies me. But he said he has something to ask me, strangely enough. He said he got some good news today.”
“That’s right,” Greyson interjected. “He was supposed to get his letter today about the international grant.”
“Do you really think he would move to Europe?” I asked inquisitively. I didn’t even think about Ben’s soccer program when he said he had news. I figured his question was more about me. Or maybe about us.
“I’m not sure,” Greyson answered honestly. “But I think he would be crazy not to go.”
I sat back in my chair, unsure of how to feel at the moment. I was just starting to like this guy, but something in my stomach made me feel uncertain.
“Darenanza?” Johnny said a little too loud, changing the subject. “It’s been forever, come on guys. Let’s get a little crazy.”
“I’m in,” Griffin said, grabbing another beer out of the cooler.
“I’m scared to ask,” Greyson replied.
“I thought we already did the dares earlier this summer at the first camping trip. The dare box? Isn’t that over until next year?” Addie asked, looking utterly puzzled.
“This is different than the dare box. This is far more immature, trust me,” Steve explained, leaning forward in his chair. “Darenanza is more like a drinking version of Truth or Dare, except it’s all Dares. We can’t do any truths because we all know each other too well, so they’re pretty pointless with this group. Aside from this new omission from Megan tonight,” he said winking at me. “So we invented this dumb drinking game one time on a camping trip. Everyone does a shot, and then someone calls out a dare. Whoever does the dare is off the hook from taking another shot, so it’s good to get in there early and just do the dares so you don’t drink too much. Because then we do another shot and another dare is ca
lled out, and the next dare may be worse than the first one.”
“So as long as you do the dare, you don’t have to do another shot?” Addie questioned. Since she moved to town earlier this year, technically she was still a newcomer to the idea of Darenanza too, just like Greyson. She had participated in the dare box back in June during our first camping trip of the summer, but this game was new to her.
“Don’t you ever miss being an idiot?” Johnny asked Greyson, handing him another drink.
“I’m really not sure how to properly answer that,” Greyson said with a smirk.
“Look, we’ll go easy this time around,” Johnny said sympathetically. “It’s all dumb stuff anyway. You know, jumping into the lake in your underwear, climbing up a tree and eating a sandwich while dangling from one of the branches, that sort of thing. Although they tend to get a little weirder as the shots keep flowing.”
“What?” Greyson said, turning towards Mallory. “I knew about the dare box thing you did earlier this summer, when you were dared to open your bakery full time and all. That actually seemed kind of normal. But how is it that you never mentioned Darenanza to me before coming up here? I thought you were a mature, sane, rational person before this night.”
“I know, sorry. It was fun when we were twenty, but we’re all probably a little too old to be doing this now,” Mallory replied. “But I’m in,” she added, jumping up from her chair.
Everyone laughed, and Greyson and Addie both shrugged and joined in. I poured seven shots, and the game began. The first person to slam down their shot glass got to shout out the first dare.
We had already been drinking heavily that night, so the game got a little sloppy. One of the dares involved Johnny running down the trail to another campsite to shout the phrase “Tony Darenanza Danza is the best TV actor of all time!” For some reason Griffin really got a kick out of that. He was doubled over with laughter for a good ten minutes. Most of us ended up in the water in our skivvies at some point, so we had to warm back up by the campfire. For another dare, Johnny found a frog by our campsite. They cooked it in the campfire and Greyson, Mallory, and Griffin took bites of it. They didn’t feel so good after that.
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