My Wish for You

by Destiny Webb

  “You’re not seriously going to go call him, are you?” Cara asked me disbelievingly.

  “I am indeed,” I confirmed, standing up.

  “His phone is probably still off.” Alisha warned.

  Once inside, I tried to think of something to say so I didn’t sound like an idiot when I called. I didn’t want to sound too forgiving, like he wasn’t wrong at all or something. But I didn’t want to sound too high and mighty. Finally, when I felt confident in my prepared speech, I punched in Sean’s phone number and brought the phone to my ear.

  Alisha was right. It was still off. So, I quickly dialed Brian’s number and waited.

  “Yo,” he answered.

  “You are so white,” I teased.

  “Yeah. I know. What’s up Sams?”

  “Is Sean around?” I asked, not even attempting to sound casual.

  “Does no one ever just want to talk to me anymore? Am I just a nobody who is the Keeper of Sean?”

  “Nope and yes, yes you are,” I mocked. “But really? Is he around?”

  “Nah, he left a while ago to do some things. Why?”

  “Oh….” I wavered. “No reason.”

  “Alright,” he allowed. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, of course.”

  “Okay. I’ll talk to you later Sams.”

  “Kay Bry.”

  I hung up the phone and headed back outside. I heard a chorus and ‘shhs’ and the three of them looked up at me.

  “No answer.”

  “Ah. See. I told you.” Alisha said, almost too quickly, as if she was trying to push a conversation. I looked at them skeptically while they all tried to act normal. Convincing myself that I was crazy, I shook my head and lay back down in the sun.

  ***

  I still couldn’t get ahold of Sean and things were just getting downright fishy. I didn’t run into him anywhere, and he wasn’t at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The next morning was the same way. His truck was gone by the time I woke up, and anytime I asked Brian, he would just say, “Oh, you just missed him.” I was getting seriously frustrated.

  Cara and Alisha came over mid-afternoon and Sarah and they decided that I needed to have a full makeover to solve all my problems. Unwillingly, I was forced to go take a shower, shave my legs, and let them cover the rest.

  Sitting in a chair in the middle of my room, I found myself being turned into a full sized doll. There was a tub of water at my feet and my hair was in a towel, my head tilted back so I was looking up at Sarah, who was rubbing an avocado mask on my face. Alisha was filing my nails evenly and Cara was giving me a pedicure.

  “Tell me again why we’re doing this?” I asked, for what seemed like the hundredth time.

  “Because you want to look wonderful for your eighteenth birthday,” they answered in unison.

  “Yeahhh….” I exaggerated. “Sure I do. You all sound so suspicious about this.”

  “Suspicous? Us? No way. All pure intentions,” Cara scoffed.

  “Sarah, is this to keep me away from Sean?” I glanced up at her. “I heard what you said to him.”

  “No Sam. It’s not. Just relax. People pay good money for this.”

  I tried to listen to her. I really did. I could feel the mask drying up. The massage Cara was giving my feet was awesome. And my nails didn’t feel so jagged. But I had this nagging feeling that everyone was hiding something big from me…something epic. And the more that I tried to push that thought away, the more it bothered me.

  “There you go,” Sarah said wiping the last of the mask off. “Was that so hard to enjoy?”

  “What color should I paint her nails? Blue? Pink? Purple?” Cara asked, looking up for an answer.

  “If you paint my nails purple, I….” I paused for effect, glaring at her. “Will kick you in the face.”

  “Okay, okay, Miss Grumpy Pants. Pink it is.”

  “Plus, it’ll match the shirt!” Alisha added. Sarah and Cara both shushed her quickly and she focused back on my nails. Sarah started on my hair, drying it while Cara painted my nails. I tried to sit patiently while Alisha was doing my makeup, but I wasn’t succeeding.

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Nothing. Stop talking or you’re gonna make Alisha ruin your make up,” Sarah scolded.

  I shut my mouth and closed my eyes. Once my hair was dry, Sarah straightened it. Alisha finished my makeup and Cara finished painting my fingernails.

  “Okay, one last thing,” Sarah said, finally letting me stand up.

  “Yeah? And what’s that?”

  “What you’re gonna wear, of course,” Cara stated as if I was dumb.

  “What I’m wearing for what?”

  “Tonight.”

  “What’s tonight?”

  “Stop asking questions Samantha. We will not answer.”

  I shut my mouth again as Cara brought out a box. It wasn’t wrapped, but had a bow on it.

  “Open it. It’s from all of us…a pre-birthday gift.”

  Ugh. I thought. So it began. I lifted the lid cautiously.

  It was a cute outfit…I couldn’t deny that. A pink and white plaid button up shirt with sleeves rolled up three-fourths of the way and a pair of washed out cut off shorts were folded neatly in the box. I pulled off my track shorts and t-shirt and pulled them on. They both fit perfectly, of course. Cara certainly had a gift. I looked in the full-length mirror on the back of the door. It was a really cute outfit, and I had to say, they did a really good job with my makeover.

  “Okay, so what am I doing tonight that I need to look so special for?”

  “You’ll see.”

  The three of them surrounded me and led me downstairs. Once there, they blindfolded me and ushered me outside.

  “Seriously,” I whined. “What’s going on?”

  They stood me on the porch and made sure I was standing just right.

  “Ready?”

  “Yes!”

  They undid the blindfold and took a step back. I let my eyes adjust and looked around. There was a small fire going in the fire pit. I could hear some crickets, and a frog or two. I shuddered. I glanced towards the forest to see Sean standing with a camping lantern by his feet, a smile beaming on his face.

  “Wow. You look fantastic.”

  “You always sound so surprised by my good looks.”

  He just laughed and I studied him. Maybe it was the moonlight, or maybe he did something different to his hair…I didn’t know. But he looked changed—even more stunning than usual. There was excitement radiating from him, and I felt myself grow excited too, even if I didn’t know what was in store for the night.

  “Are you ready?”

  I almost answered yes immediately, but then I remembered that he had been missing for the last two days.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Where were you?” I asked abruptly.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, the smile fading slightly.

  “All day today. And yesterday. You just disappeared. I tried to find you. And to get a hold of you. I wanted to tell you—” I stopped myself before I finished that statement.

  “Tell me what?”

  “Tell you….” I paused. “That I forgave you.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Not a problem.” I paused briefly. “So. Where were you?”

  “I was getting things ready.”

  “For what?” I asked, even though I had a clue.

  “Your birthday slash ‘I’m-sorry-for-being-a-major-jerk’ gift.”

  “Oh. And what would that be?”

  “You’ll see.” His smile returned and he took my hand.

  Heading towards the other side of the forest, we walked through the camp area. I glanced back towards the cabin to see that the three of them were no longer in the doorway, but they were watching us through the window of my room. Before taking a step into the trees, he glanced back at me and smiled softly. I planted my feet and stayed
my ground.

  “What are you doing?” I questioned, slightly worried. “You know how I am about the woods, especially at night.”

  “You see this little glow stick?” He pointed to a green glow stick tied to a tree. I looked at him and just nodded. “You see that one right there?” He pointed into the trees and sure enough, about three feet away there was another one.

  “Yeah,” I replied, “What about them?”

  “They’re a path for you. From this point to where we’re going. They will take you in or out. You can always see the next one so you won’t get lost.”

  I glanced at him hesitantly.

  “Plus,” he grinned mischievously, “I don’t intend to let you out of my sight tonight.”

  I weighed my options.

  “You promise?”

  “I promise.” He held his hand out to me. I shifted my weight from side to side, trying to decide, before grabbing his hand surely, trusting him, and following him into the woods.

  ***

  It was the summer before eighth grade…the summer Sean and I realized we liked each other…the summer before I quit coming to the cabin. It was before Sean went to high school, and Tasha, and everything that came with the two. Before Sarah and I became best friends. Before my parents had crazy marital problems, or at least before we were smart enough to realize them.

  It had been a stormy summer, with a lot of rainstorms, lasting for a few hours, a day at the most. One afternoon, after lunch, our parents sent us all out, to get us out of the house. So, we obliged and decided to go on a hike. That’s where things got out of hand.

  “We’re never gonna get anywhere if she doesn’t walk faster,” Sarah complained, loud enough so I could hear her.

  “Sams, come on, you need to keep up,” Brian called out from the front of the group.

  He wasn’t being mean. I knew he was right…I was holding everyone up. We were hiking to some amazing area that used to be a battleground or something. At least, that’s what Cassie and Mitch had told us. It turned out that there was no battleground or anything like it. It was just a story they told us to get us out of their hair so they could go hang out with their friends.

  “Just go on ahead without me. I’ll catch up with you guys,” I told them, feeling bad about being the slow poke. Brian looked back at me, considering the thought for a moment.

  “Are you sure, Sams?”

  “Of course she is,” Sarah butted in. “She wouldn’t have said it if she wasn’t.”

  “Yeah Bry. I’m sure. Go on. I’ll be there soon. Don’t worry.”

  He and Sarah turned away from me and continued to hike. Sean, who had been quiet up until then, stopped and looked at me.

  “Do you want me to stay with you so you won’t be lonely?”

  I thought about it for a short second, and then completely shut the idea out of my head, despite the feeling that him asking gave me. I didn’t want to be a burden on him or any of them for that matter.

  “No, I’ll be okay,” I reassured him.

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. Positive.”

  “Okay.” He turned and started to walk up the mountain. Once he got to the edge of it, he looked back at me and smiled. I faltered slightly before giving him a small smile back.

  After he left I found a rock to sit on and pouted for a while. I didn’t even want to go on a hike to begin with; I wanted to go swimming. But noooo, everyone wanted to go hiking. Stupid hiking.

  Eventually, I got up and started to go find them, but once I got to the other side of the ridge of the mountain, I found that I didn’t know which direction they were headed. Mitch and Cassie told Brian and Sean how to get there. So, I was completely clueless and really regretting not having Sean stay with me. I went left and wandered around for hours and hours, whereas, if I had gone right, I would have eventually run into the lake and been able to find my way home.

  By the time it started to get dark, I was freaking out. I was hungry, and the air felt thick, like a storm was going to roll in. I tried to wander around for a short while after the sun went down, but it was too dark in the woods and I couldn’t see anything around me. As I had feared, a rainstorm rolled through, and it poured for most of the night.

  There was no sleep for me. At one point, during the rain, a few frogs were passing by and one jumped on me like it was attacking me, ruining my mindset that it was dark and if I couldn’t see anything, nothing would get me. It was the longest night of my life.

  The next day wasn’t much better. While it had stopped raining, it was unbelievably hot. I wandered around until it got too hot, and then took refuge underneath a tree. There were no hikers, no rangers…nothing. I was hungry, thirsty, exhausted, scared, and alone.

  Once it started cooling down, I started to walk again. I walked until I came across an old picnic area. Since it was close to dark and I felt it was the closest thing I would find for shelter, I curled up on the table and hoped that someone would find me.

  At some point in the night, I must have fallen asleep, because the next morning, I was being awakened by a ranger, carrying me back home where my mom was waiting for me, worried sick. She brought me inside where I showered, ate, and then slept for a whole day.

  It was the turning point of my friendship with Sarah. She felt horrible about what happened, as did Brian and Sean, and they all got in huge trouble. It was the only time that our pact was not in effect, and the only time it didn’t even get brought up.

  After those two days in the woods, I had a fear of the dark, and frogs, and the woods at night. As I got older, I grew out of my fear of the dark. Frogs were now a major inconvenience and I wanted nothing to do with them. But the woods, especially at night, were something I could never get over.

  It was nothing like that now though. Sean was right about the glow sticks. I could always see at least one in front of me and one behind me. Sensing the anticipation that Sean was feeling, I remained silent, and he didn’t push conversation. We walked and walked until I noticed that there were a few blue glow sticks amongst the green.

  “Why are those different?” I asked pointing them out.

  “To signal the end,” he said simply.

  And with that, he stopped walking and got behind me, covering my eyes.

  “What are you doing?”

  “We can’t ruin your surprise now, can we?” He chuckled at my apprehension.

  “Yes. Yes we can,” I said seriously.

  “We cannot. I’m sorry.”

  “You are not,” I disagreed.

  “You’re right,” he whispered, leaning down and kissing my cheek.

  We walked about ten steps and he stopped us.

  “Ready?” he eagerly murmured into my ear.

  “As I’ll ever be,” I muttered sarcastically, smiling in spite of myself.

  Slowly, he pulled his hands from my eyes, and my jaw dropped in amazement as I took it all in.

  It was beautiful. More than beautiful…it was exquisite. It was a small campfire picnic area, one that probably hadn’t been used in years. Before I had quit coming to the cabin, they used to have Boy and Girl Scout camps in some of the bigger cabins. Depending on what time of the year we came, we would see various troops, all varying in age. They stopped using the site when they found a better place, and since then, it had just sat there, unused. It looked so forgotten, yet so magical.

  In the grass area, there was a large picnic blanket. Surrounding it were a bunch of small tea light candles in glasses. A small fire was going, and sitting on a log next to it were two gifts.

  “Would you like to open your gifts first or eat first?” he asked, putting his hand on the small of my back.

  “Let’s eat first,” I said quickly, and he chuckled at me.

  He led me to the blanket and we sat down across from each other. He pulled the picnic basket over to him, opened it, and started pulling out dinner.

  “Okay, so I wanted something much better, much more…romantic…than ham sandwiche
s, but a; I can’t cook, and b; I didn’t have anything to keep it warm.”

  I laughed lightly.

  “Well, a; we don’t need hot food, and b; ham sandwiches are my favorite.”

  “I know,” he smiled.

  He handed me a sandwich and pulled out another container, this one filled with strawberries…my favorite fruit. I picked one out and popped it into my mouth.

  “So, did you do all this on your own?” I asked, breaking off a piece of my sandwich.

  “Sadly, I didn’t. I had some help. As I said, me and food don’t mix. So, my mom helped with some of that. Brian made sure you weren’t in danger of figuring out what I was up to, and the girls were to keep you distracted. But everything else was me.” He gave me a cheesy smile.

  I looked around again, and thought about all the effort he must have put into this one night. I shifted my gaze back to him.

  “Thank you.” I smiled back.

  We managed to keep the conversation light through dinner. I got a little worried when I told him about Alisha’s outburst about Tasha, but all he did was laugh and carry on with the rest of the conversation. When we were done eating our sandwiches and fruit, Sean led me over to the fire, where we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores. And when I felt like I couldn’t eat any more, Sean looked down at his watch, got up, and walked over to the picnic basket, where he pulled out a cupcake and a candle. He lit the candle and sat back down in front of me, holding out the cupcake.

  “It is officially your birthday.”

  “Oh goodness!”

  He gave me a look and I quit joking around.

  “Happy Birthday, Samantha. Make a wish.”

  Looking deeply into his eyes, I already knew what I was going to wish for; the same thing I always wished for whenever I saw a shooting star or a birthday candle. I glanced up at the night sky above us before looking down at him, smiling, and making my wish. My wish for him.

  I blew out the candle and we shared the cupcake, because I was so beyond being full. Once we were all out of food to share, I knew the inevitable had arrived.

  “Are you ready for your gifts?”

  “I guess so,” I conceded, and he handed me the first box, which was a small one. I held the box up to my shirt, matching the pink plaids. “Did you match my shirt on purpose?