Who Needs Boys

by Stephanie Rowe

  So I pushed him away from me. "I'm not in the mood."

  "Why not?" He tried to pull me back toward him, so I shoved him hard and caught my foot under his, dumping him on his butt in the water. "Allie!"

  I ignored him and walked back to camp, feeling absolutely no urge to go back and help the seventeen year old hottie back onto his feet. In fact, I felt psyched and liberated, and the closer I got to camp, the faster I walked, and the more excited I got--

  But when I returned, Tad and Natalie were busy carving out a watermelon and they were laughing. Natalie had no makeup on, her T-shirt was stained with watermelon juice and her hair was shoved up in a crooked ponytail, and Tad was grinning at her like she was the best thing he'd ever seen.

  I looked around. Everyone seemed to be busy getting dinner ready, or chatting with someone. It was family at its fairy-tale best, and I felt so out of it. My fault. I could be down at the lake with Rand getting cozy. I would have been in my comfort zone. But now?

  I didn't want to be at the lake with Rand. I didn't want to barge in on everyone's little groups. I just wanted to go home.

  "Allie!" Natalie waved at me. "Come help!"

  Tad looked up sharply, then I saw him look past me, no doubt searching for Rand.

  "No, I'll just take a nap." I wasn't in the mood to be a third wheel.

  "Don't be ridiculous." Natalie grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the watermelon. "Sit down, and help.” She put a knife in my hand and a watermelon quarter on my lap, on my cute little skirt.

  "Um, Nat?" Pink juice was already dripping onto the fabric.

  "What?" She sat down next to me and started carving again.

  I looked at Tad, who was watching me out of the corner of his eye, and I decided not to complain about my skirt. I mean, seriously. Who cared? It was just a skirt. I could buy a thousand more of them, and it still wouldn't matter. A skirt didn't make my life any better, did it?

  "So, where's Rand?" Tad asked.

  I shrugged and jabbed my knife into the watermelon, feeling mildly satisfied when juice sprayed everywhere. "I left him at the lake."

  Natalie glanced sharply at me, but she didn't say anything.

  Tad raised his brows. "Why?"

  "Because." I couldn't explain what I didn't really understand. I still wasn't sure what had happened. I just knew that I was glad I'd left, and I'd rather have watermelon juice all over my clothes than to have Rand's hands all over me.

  "Did he ... um ... do something to you?" There was an undercurrent of tension in Tad's voice that gave me goose bumps.

  I looked up to find him staring at me intently, his knife immobile over the watermelon. Did he care? Was he worried about me? A warm feeling settled in my belly. "Nothing I couldn't handle," I said quietly, not quiet able to muster up my usual bravado.

  Tad narrowed his eyes. "What does that mean?"

  "It means I'm fine." It felt so weird to have someone worried about me. I should resent it, right? I mean, I don't need anyone. But who was I kidding? It felt awesome.

  Tad's gaze left my face and flicked over my shoulder. Then his mouth curved up into a smile. "Rand's all wet," he observed.

  "Is he?" I kept my voice as innocent as I could and plunged my knife into the watermelon. "I have no idea how that happened."

  Tad looked at me again. "You're dry."

  "Uh-huh."

  "So, you didn't roll around in the water with him?"

  I glared at him. "Of course not. What kind of question is that?"

  "Just trying to put the pieces together." His voice was soft, but it was hard at the same time. "Did Rand deserve to get dunked?"

  I bit my lip. "Probably not," I admitted.

  Tad tapped his knife restlessly on the watermelon rind and flexed his jaw. "What does that mean?"

  I flicked a watermelon seed at him. "It means I'm probably overly sensitive right now."

  He caught it easily, not taking his eyes off me. "Why?"

  "Because I am." Talking about my dad with Tad would be too weird. It would make me sound like a whining loser.

  Tad put his hand on my arm. "Allie."

  I stared at his hand. That was the second time tonight he'd touched me, and I liked it so much better than when Rand had put his hand on my shoulder. "What?" I asked, trying not to move and accidentally dislodge his hand. I wanted it to stay right where it was.

  "What did Rand do to you that got him dunked?" There was tension in his voice again. "Tell me."

  I swallowed and dragged my gaze off his hand, which was still on my arm. My eyes met Tad's. I had never realized what an interesting shade of green they were. "We discovered we had differing philosophies about certain things." I wasn't used to someone wanting to fight my battles for me, and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. A part of me just wanted to start crying and telling Tad everything that was so awful about my life, but I couldn't do it. I didn't know how. "It's not a big deal, Tad. Let it go."

  He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he pulled his lips together and shrugged. "If you want to talk, I'm around."

  I swallowed and focused on my watermelon. What was up with the tears burning in my eyes? A little kindness from Tad and I was some ball of emotional mush? Ridiculous.

  I cleared my throat and blinked several times. There would be no tears or any kind of dependent behavior from me. So what if I suddenly wanted nothing more than to spill all my miserable guts to Tad? Not going to happen. I wasn't weak and wimpy. I really wasn't.

  "You guys almost finished with the watermelon?" Tad's mom hollered. "Burgers are done."

  "Yep." Tad gathered up all the pieces that Natalie and I had sliced, then carried the platter over to the picnic table, but not before he gave me a small nod and a half smile.

  I watched him walk away, and I felt so confused. He was wearing his camping shorts again, with a pocketknife hanging off the waist and a water bottle on his left hip. Tad was not the kind of guy who would care what the kids at school were wearing or thinking. Not my kind of guy at all.

  "He's cute, huh?" Natalie scooted closer to me and leaned on my shoulder. "Such a nice guy too."

  I jammed the blade of my knife into the dirt. "You two seem to be getting along."

  "As friends, only." Natalie laughed softly. "He obviously likes you." She tugged on my hair. "You know, he couldn't stop looking toward the lake once you and Rand headed down there."

  I turned my head so I could see her face. She looked completely serious, and my heart started to beat a little faster. "Really?"

  "And look at him now. What do you suppose they're talking about?"

  I followed her glance and saw Tad and Rand in a heated discussion at the edge of the woods. Tad was a good five inches shorter than Rand, but he was leaning forward and giving Rand some serious heat. Rand was giving it right back, and he looked big and tough.

  And Tad wasn't backing down.

  "You don't think they're talking about me, do you?" I was fascinated by the interaction. Was Tad really out there defending my honor against the big bully? It was the weirdest feeling, and not something I ever would have expected from Tad.

  First of all, he didn't like me. Second of all, he hardly seemed like the type to take on Rand. He seemed more interested in pruning flowers and staking tomatoes than worrying about a girl he didn't even like.

  Then I saw Rand look over at me, and Tad did the same.

  Yikes. I immediately pretended to clean my knife. "Are they still looking over here?"

  "No. Their dad is over there now trying to straighten it out," Natalie said.

  I peeked over there again. Their dad had his hands on the boys' shoulders, and was giving them a major lecture. Both Tad and Rand still looked mad and were glaring at each other. "Can you sneak through the woods and see if you can hear what's going on?"

  Natalie snorted. "Yeah, that'll be me. City girl tramping through the woods to sneak up on a family squabble."

  "You could at least try." I had to find out what w
as going on over there. Was Tad really mad at Rand for making a move on me? That would be too cool. No one had ever stood up for me before, and if he was doing that, I really wanted to know.

  "Or you could ask Tad later on and find out from him," Natalie said. "You know, take him aside and have a little private moment with him."

  "No way." As if! How egoistic would that be to ask him whether they were arguing about me? Besides, I didn't care. I didn't need boys and I certainly didn't need one to defend me.

  But I couldn't quite stop thinking about Natalie's idea of having a private moment with Tad. Not to have him kiss me, or anything like that, but just…well…the thought of having his attention all to myself now that he was being nice to me? It sounded good.

  * * *

  Later that night, we'd been in our sleeping bags for almost two hours, and I still couldn't go to sleep. "Nat?"

  "What?" she mumbled.

  "Are you awake?"

  "No, I'm talking in my sleep."

  I rolled over so I could face her, and kept my voice low. After all, Tad and Rand's tent was only a few feet away. "Can I ask you something?"

  I heard her sleeping bag rustle and she sighed. "Yeah, sure. What?"

  "If you hadn't made this bet about me and Tad, would you like him for yourself?" I didn't want to know, but at the same time, I had to know.

  She moved around, then a flashlight snapped on and blinded me. "Sorry." She turned it to the side, so it lit up our faces but shone against the tent wall instead of in my eyes. "Allie, I swear I have no interest in Tad."

  I studied her face. She looked totally serious, and she was meeting my gaze. I kinda thought she was telling the truth. "But you guys seem to be so close."

  Her cheeks were shadowed and pale in the beam of the flashlight. "He's my buddy. Like the guys on my track team. We're friends, we hang, we have fun. But that's all it is."

  A little pulse of hope began to beat in my chest. "Are you sure? You really don't like him?"

  She grinned. "Absolutely. He doesn't do it for me."

  Oh…was there something wrong with him then? "Why not?"

  She rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. He's awesome. He just isn't the guy for me."

  I digested that, rolled it around in my mind, and it felt good. I was totally relieved she didn't like Tad. But there was one more concern... "Have you told him that? Because I think he likes you."

  She snorted. "No, he likes you."

  I turned the flashlight on her face, and she squinted. "How do you know?" I demanded. "Did he say that?"

  "He didn't have to." She batted the flashlight away. "It's obvious."

  "How? Why is it obvious?" So he hadn't said it. Bummer.

  "Because it is."

  Which was not an answer, in my opinion. With a groan, I flopped on my back and stared at the tent ceiling.

  "You like him?" Natalie asked.

  I hesitated. "Um, no."

  "You like Rand?"

  This time, no hesitation. "Definitely not."

  We were quiet for a minute, then Natalie said, "Do you think Tad is as much of a jerk as you originally thought?"

  "No," I admitted, thinking of how nice he'd been during the tent contest, and when he'd thought that Rand had been a jerk to me. "But that doesn't mean I like him or anything."

  Natalie sighed. "Oh, come on, Allie. What's wrong with admitting you like a guy?"

  "A lot." I could talk for hours about how wrong it was to admit you liked anyone. The instant you admitted that, even to yourself, you lost control of the situation. They could hurt you, like my dad had. I couldn't help how I felt about my dad, but I could make certain that no one else ever had that power. Which meant I didn't like any boy and I didn't care if they liked me.

  Natalie didn't say anything else, but it was almost dawn before I finally fell asleep. Because I kept thinking about Tad, and the fact that I wasn't sure it was true anymore that I didn't care if he liked me.

  And that was just not a good thought.

  * * *

  When I woke up, the sleeping bag next to me was empty. Natalie's duffel was gone, and so was her pillow. My watch told me it was only eight o'clock. Natalie never got up that early. What was going on?

  I stuck my head out of the tent, then promptly withdrew. Tad was in front of the tent talking to one of his other brothers—other than Rand, that is. I still hadn't gotten everyone's name down yet.

  As I had told Natalie, I wasn't interested in Tad, but I certainly wasn't going to let him see me with bed head, no makeup and wearing the T-shirt and sweats I'd slept in. So I retreated, found a hairbrush, put on some makeup and tried to look presentable.

  FYI, it's a lost cause to look good after you've spent the night in a tent and have no bathroom available. Even my cute T-shirts were wrinkled, and something had spilled in my bag. Something that smelled like peaches and had spread a heavy oil stain on half my clothes.

  Something that I identified as my Victoria's Secret body lotion, after I dug my way through all my clothes and found the cap on one side of the bottom of my bag and the bottle on the other.

  Bummer.

  I salvaged one T-shirt, one pair of shorts, a pair of jeans, some underwear, my bathing suit, and that was it. So much for looking good for Tad. Or Rand. Or whoever. Myself. That's who I wanted to look good for. Myself.

  Well, it wasn't going to happen. So I pulled on my only clean cute T-shirt, a pale pink cropped scoop neck that showed off my stomach. Add my low-slung shorts and makeup to cover my oily skin (thanks to the lack of a shower), and I was halfway decent.

  Except my hair. Yikes. Even the ponytail was lumpy. Almost bad enough to make me willing to wear a baseball cap.

  Note to self: Camping is a bad idea if you want to impress a guy.

  Finally, I gave up, threw the flaps aside and stepped out into the sun, lumpy hair and all. Tad had moved off and was playing horseshoes with a couple of kids who were so small they could only throw the horseshoes about two feet. They looked really cute standing so close to the pegs and hurling the heavy horseshoes as hard as they could.

  I glanced around, but saw no sign of either Rand or Natalie. The wonderful smell of bacon frying reached my nose though, and I decided I was glad I'd gotten up. Now, if only I could avoid seeing Rand or Tad until I got home tomorrow and had a chance to shower.

  "Allie! Come over here!" Tad's mom gestured to me from the picnic table, where she was pouring glasses of orange juice. When I reached the table, she handed a glass to me. "Here you go."

  I took a sip of the cold drink. It tasted awesome. "Do you have a fridge out here or something?"

  She laughed and pointed to a truck with a bed cover on it. "We have a huge cooler in there. I have to confess, we like to camp with some of the comforts of home."

  "When it comes to food at least." A woman whose name I couldn't remember, but who I thought was married to one of Tad's brothers, sat down next to me. "I'm Beth. Married to brother number two."

  I nodded. "Thanks. I wish I was better at keeping everyone straight."

  She indicated the two kids Tad was playing with. "They're mine. Thank heavens for Tad. It's nice to have a break." She filled her coffee cup and smiled at the horseshoe game. "He's so good with them."

  I didn't turn around. I'd already noticed how well Tad interacted with the kids and I didn't want him to look up and see me watching him. "Are there any showers around?"

  "Nope." Beth turned back toward me. "Take a jump in the lake. It's the best thing. Did you bring biodegradable soap?"

  Was she kidding? "Um..."

  "You can borrow mine." Tad's mom raised her voice. "Tad, go get some soap for Allie!"

  "No, really, it's okay." I cringed when I glanced over my shoulder and saw Tad nod and head off toward the tents. "So, where's Natalie?" I didn't want to ask about Rand and give the impression I was looking for him.

  "She left with Rand early this morning." Beth set a plate of bacon on the picnic table. "Grab some before the bo
ys realize it's ready."

  Left? As in left? Like to go find milk, or forever? "What do you mean, she left?"

  Tad's mom set a plate of scrambled eggs in front of me. Or rather, a massive platter of egg and a stack of smaller plates and little forks. How weird was it to have a mom cooking breakfast for me? I kinda liked it, actually.

  "Rand decided he didn't want to spend the weekend camping," she said. "And Natalie said she wanted to go as well. So they left."

  "They went home? As in, they aren't coming back?" I suddenly felt very exposed and alone. How was I supposed to handle all these strangers without Natalie there with me? How could she take off on me like that?

  Tad's mom sat down across from me and put her hand over mine. "I'm sorry, Allie. I know you like Rand. Unfortunately, Rand's not a very good boyfriend. I hope you'll be able to have an okay time this weekend even if he's not here. We're really a fun group."

  I stared at my Mom-for-the-Weekend as her words sank in. "Rand's gone?" Of course Rand was gone. Hadn't she just said that? But I'd been too freaked about Natalie leaving to register the second part. Wow. How awesome was that? I wasn't going to have to deal with him for the rest of the weekend!

  "Oh, dear, she's upset." Beth patted my shoulder. "Allie, I told them they should wake you up to see if you wanted to leave, but I was overruled. Natalie was adamant that you wanted to stay."

  I shook my head vigorously. "No, I don't care that Rand left." Well, I did care. I was psyched! "But why did Natalie leave?"

  "Oh, I forgot." Tad's mom jumped up, grabbed a piece of paper from a canvas bag near the grill and handed it to me. "She left you a note."

  A note. "Thanks."

  I took it and turned away to read it.

  Hey Allie. Have fun with Tad. I want all the details when you get home on Sunday. Smooches, Nat

  I folded the paper up and tried to catch my breath.

  She'd left so I could be alone with Tad. Knowing Natalie, she'd probably convinced Rand to leave as well. Oh my God. She was amazing. So, yeah, guess she meant it when she'd said she didn't like him, huh? I couldn't help but grin, even while my heart was pounding.