It was the day they were leaving for the camping trip. Despite the fact that it was 5 AM, the guys were in good spirits. Amanda and Claudia, on the other hand, were not even half-awake.
“Sleep…” Claudia mumbled as her head fell on Howie’s shoulder. He laughed. She had been so excited about it the night before that she had failed to get much sleep.
“Flight 1024 for California is now boarding,” the intercom declared.
“Come on,” Howie said, taking Claudia’s arm. Nick looked at them suspiciously.
“They sure are acting like a couple,” he murmured to himself. He couldn’t wait until they got to California and picked up Gretchen. She would probably look adorable in whatever kind of camping apparel she had chosen.
“When we get to California is when we meet those other girls,” Amanda whispered to Claudia. Claudia nodded solemnly. They had decided to let the new girls know that they were hardly replacing Leighanne and Mandy. Not in a mean way, though…
“I hope the tents don’t get damaged with the baggage,” Kevin was mumbling. He had decided not to bring a date.
“I hope Michelle knows not to pack any expensive clothes,” Brian said to Nick.
“I hope Gretchen doesn’t change her mind at the last minute,” Nick replied.
The plane lifted off, and the 7 of them prepared for a 7-hour flight to California. By the time the first hour had passed, they were all sleeping like babies.
Arriving in California…
“Yes! We’re here!” Nick exclaimed, barely able to contain himself. He was in Gretchen-withdrawal, not having seen her for a month.
The 7 of them got off the plane, and Brian and Nick left the group to go find Gretchen and Michelle, while the rest went to collect the luggage and see about getting the rental van they needed.
“There’s Gretchen!” Nick said, grinning like a Cheshire cat, pointing. She spotted him at the same time, picked up her duffel bag, and ran over. She and Nick hugged as Brian awkwardly stood by. She let go and smiled at Brian.
Hey Brian, nice to meet you.” He gave her a short, polite hug, and then the 3 of them went to find Michelle. They found her shortly.
“Hi, I’m Gretchen,” Gretchen introduced herself.
“Hi, Gretchen, I have your CD,” Michelle said, smiling. Gretchen laughed.
“Let’s go find everyone else. They’re probably renting the car right now,” Brian said. The four of them walked off, Gretchen giggling at Nick’s excitement.
“Well, well. What do we have here?” AJ muttered to Amanda as Michelle, Brian, Nick, and Gretchen walked up to them.
“Hey guys,” Gretchen greeted them. Kevin, Howie, and AJ all shook her hand in introduction fashion, and Amanda and Claudia just kind of smiled and gave half-waves. The same with Michelle, except since AJ already knew her, he didn’t shake her hand.
“Did you guys get the van?” Nick asked.
“Actually, we got a Ford Explorer,” AJ said.
“That probably cost more,” Brian said.
“So? It’s nicer than a regular van,” AJ said.
Nick rolled his eyes. They had the same argument every year. “Let’s get going.” They went down to the parking garage, and there was a man there with the baby blue Explorer they had rented.
“It has to be back here by 9 PM three days from now,” the man told them, handing the key to Kevin, who was driving first.
“OK, guys. Let’s get all our stuff in the back!” Kevin said.
After loading up their stuff and getting situated, they were finally on their way to the camping ground.
“Let’s sing a song,” Claudia suggested. “Remember last year when we sang ‘99 Bottles of Beer On the Wall’ and got through the whole song?”
“I’d rather not remember that,” Brian joked, rubbing his temples. The 5 guys and Amanda and Claudia all laughed, while Michelle and Gretchen just smiled, since they had not been a part of the experience.
“Remember two years ago when Mandy and Nick got lost in the woods, and when we found them, they were… well, you know what they were doing!” Amanda said. Nick glared at her, and glanced at Gretchen to see her reaction. Gretchen just stared out of the window.
Brian gave Nick a worried look, and was just thankful they hadn’t brought up Leighanne.
“At least they did it in the privacy of the woods, unlike Brian and Leighanne in the tent that one time!” Claudia said. Brian grimaced.
“Uh, I don’t think we need to be discussing these things,” Brian interjected. Michelle just stared down at her hands.
“Aw, get in the spirit, Bri!” Amanda said. Brian turned to Michelle.
“Believe me, the fun starts when we get there.” She smiled at him.
“Leighanne is my ex-girlfriend, in case you wanted to know,” he said quietly. She just nodded.
Gretchen and Nick played ‘Thumb War’ a couple of times, and then arm-wrestled. After Gretchen beat him once, he decided that it would be a good idea to stop, so that he wouldn’t get embarrassed too badly.
Michelle and Brian just sat quietly and watched Nick and Gretchen mess around with each other.
Nick playfully insulted Gretchen’s toes, which were showing because of her sandals, so in response, she said jokingly, “Oh yeah? Well you STINK!”
“No… you stink!”
“Can’t come up with a better come-back, can ya?” Gretchen asked playfully.
Nick pretended to be mad. “That’s it.”
“What ya gonna do, tough guy?” she taunted.
“I’m just going to have to… TICKLE YOU!!!!!”
“NO!!!!” He attacked her sides, tickling her until she was pleading with him to stop.
“Nickolas Carter! STOP IT!!!” she screamed. He finally did, and they were both laughing so hard they couldn’t talk.
Amanda and AJ, who never played around with each other like that, just gave them weird looks. “Chill out you guys,” AJ said.
“Jerk,” Gretchen said, but she was just joking. Now Nick pretended to be hurt. “Why did you call me that? I can’t believe…” He turned away from her, and tried to look sad, but he still hadn’t gotten over the tickling incident, and started laughing.
“I think you should leave the acting to Michelle,” Gretchen commented.
2 Hours Later
“Look! The McDonald’s sign! Whenever we see that sign, it means we’re 10 minutes away from the camping grounds,” Claudia said.
“Thank God,” Kevin said.
Shortly, they pulled into the entrance of the grounds, and then they got out and got their backpacks and stuff on.
“We always take the Fredrickson Trail, and we have to hike about 2 miles to get to where we set up our tents. It’s by a lake, and there are rarely any other campers out there near us,” Kevin told Gretchen and Michelle.
“I’m so glad we’re here,” Nick said to Brian.
“Me too. It just feels kind of weird without Leighanne here, but I’m getting over that,” Brian replied.
“Hopefully, this will only bring me and Gretchen closer,” Nick said, glancing back at Gretchen who was chatting with Michelle.
“Nick, about that… I’m sorry for giving you such a hard time. I know you don’t want to play the field anymore… I won’t tease you about it again.”
“No prob.”
“OK! Let’s go!” Kevin said, leading the group to the entrance of the trail.
“I hate this part,” Amanda complained.
“It only takes a half hour to get there,” AJ consoled her. Kevin led the pack, and behind him was AJ and Amanda, then Claudia and Howie, then Michelle and Brian, and trailing the group was Nick and Gretchen.
“I’m glad you decided to come,” Brian said to Michelle.
“So am I. I’m glad AJ hasn’t… said anything to me.”
Brian’s face looked pained. “I’m sorry if he hurt your feelings. He doesn’t think sometimes.”
“No… it’s OK. First impressions last, don’t they? He didn’t get the best first impression of me.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“So… tell me about Leighanne. What happened with her?”
“We were together for 3 years. She just… couldn’t handle the separation we always had between us. In this business, free time is rare, and she’s a few years older than me, so she’s ready to settle down, get married… and when she never got to see me, not only did she not have a husband, but she felt like she didn’t even have a boyfriend. So she dumped me.”
“That’s sad. How long did it take you to start dating again?”
Brian froze. If he told her that Leighanne had dumped him the day before he had met her, she’d be disgusted.
“Well, I haven’t really dated anyone since then,” he told her truthfully. Michelle nodded sympathetically.
“What about you? Any major break-ups in your past?”
This time, it was Michelle who froze. She didn’t want him to know that she had never had a real relationship. At 21 years old, one would think that was strange.
“Not really…”
Amanda and AJ walked next to each other, neither one talking. AJ couldn’t stand it anymore.
“What’s up, Amanda?”
“What do you mean?”
“What’s going on between us?”
“I don’t want to discuss this right now, AJ. We’re on vacation.”
“How can I feel like I’m on vacation if I’m having problems with you the whole time?” he asked.
“Look. Forget about it, OK? You’re just paranoid.”
“Really?” he asked, wanting to believe that it was only paranoia.
“Yes. Now drop it.”
Claudia had feelings for Howie again, and she didn’t know how to go about telling him. Every time they had gotten together, he had initiated it, but she got the feeling that he wanted her to initiate it this time.
“Howie…?”
“Yes?”
“Why did you invite me up here this weekend?” she asked.
“Because I knew that you would enjoy it.”
“Oh…” Nope, that didn’t give her enough reason to believe that he wanted to hook up again.
“Here we are,” Kevin announced.
Gretchen admired the beauty of the place. There was a little spot cleared out right in front of the lake, and behind the lake stretched out beautiful mountains. The guys started setting up all 5 tents they had brought, and they instructed the girls to get some wood so that they could start a fire when it got dark.
“We brought flashlights, right?” asked Brian, worriedly.
“Yes…”
Gretchen and Michelle followed Claudia and Amanda, picking up big sticks and such.
“So… um… Gretchen, is it?” Claudia asked.
“Yes…”
“Are you and Nick… dating?”
“No.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
Gretchen glanced at her curiously. “Why is that good?”
“Oh… it’s just that Nick has a tendency to… mess around on his girlfriends. You know how guys are. That’s probably why he and Mandy broke up for the 50th time. He’s cheated on her every time they’ve been together.”
Gretchen felt her stomach drop.
“Really…”
“Yeah, he’s a real ladies’ man. Who knows if he’ll ever be serious enough about a girl to not cheat on her!”
Amanda nodded. “Yeah. If I were you, I’d watch out for him. He might try to make a move on you or something, and then as soon as the weekend’s over… who knows who he’ll be fawning over behind you’re back? The best thing to be is his friend. And only that.”
Gretchen clutched the sticks she had gathered. “I’ll remember that…”
Michelle noticed the forlorn expression on Gretchen’s face and attempted to change the subject.
“So, how long have you and AJ been together, Amanda?”
“A long time,” she replied shortly. “But not as long as Leighanne and Brian were together. Talk about commitment! I can’t believe he’s moved on from her so fast.”
“What do you mean?” Michelle asked.
“They only broke up a month ago. That is how long you’ve been seeing him or whatever, isn’t it?”
When the four girls got back to the guys setting up tents, Michelle and Gretchen were speechless.
Nick couldn’t figure out why Gretchen was being so quiet. The 9 of them had all started to eat supper after getting the tents set up and the fire started, and he had sat by her, but she had yet to say a word to him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Yes, there is. Tell me,” he pleaded.
“We’ll talk later, OK?” she asked.
“OK…”
“When everyone else goes to sleep,” she told him.
Brian was having the same problem with Michelle.
“Nice night, isn’t it?” Brian asked.
“Yep.”
“Don’t have much to say, do you?”
“Nope.”
“Do you want some more soup?”
“Yep.”
“Do you want me to get it for you?”
“Nope.”
Brian sighed in exasperation. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t answer him.
“Fine!” he exclaimed, aggravated. He stood up and stalked off.
Michelle watched him leave, and momentarily felt bad, but then remembered what Amanda had told her and looked away. If he and Leighanne had only broken up a month ago, that must mean that he had asked her for her phone number shortly after. That just didn’t seem right. When you’re in a relationship with someone for that long, you usually wait awhile before dating again. Unless he was on the rebound… that must be it. He was on the rebound! Now instead of being angry, Michelle was hurt. If he was only on the rebound… then she was only temporary in his life.
She didn’t feel like eating anymore. She threw away her Styrofoam bowl with the remains of her soup and sat back down. Across the fire, Amanda was feeding AJ, and Claudia was giggling at jokes Howie was telling her. Kevin sat by himself away from everyone else, and Nick sat next to Gretchen, looking sullen. Gretchen was obviously not talking to him.
Michelle saw some real chemistry between the two of them, but they weren’t dating, and Michelle guessed that they probably never would, because Gretchen had seemed pretty appalled to learn that Nick was a player.
And her and Brian… they were sort of dating, but he had failed to mention Leighanne, or any of his other past girlfriends, or the fact that he and Leighanne had broken up recently, and that bothered her. She didn’t like the feeling.
Howie wandered along the trail, his path lighted only by moonlight. He felt lonely… even though Claudia was there, yes. He didn’t know what to think of Claudia. She liked him again, that was obvious. It was also obvious that she wanted to get back together with him, but… he wasn’t interested, and he knew that he’d have to give her the ‘Let’s just be friends’ speech by the end of the trip. He hated to do that to her, but… He continued to ponder that for awhile, until he heard voices. It was another campsite, he could see the campfire lit up.
He peeked around the corner and saw two girls sitting by the fire. There were two tents set up. A guy came out from one of the tents and sat next to the girl on the right. Howie tried to get closer so that he could make out their faces.
He finally moved right up behind a tree, about 10 feet away from the campfire. He gasped as he recognized the girl on the left. It was Kara Kimball, the PEOPLE journalist! He was so surprised, that he lost his balance standing on a root of the tree, and fell on his ankle... hard.
“Ow!!!!!!!!!”
Nick followed Gretchen silently as they walked up the trail. What did she have to tell him? God, he didn’t know if he wanted to hear it.
She stopped suddenly, on top of a hill overlooking the lake.
“Let’s sit here,” she said softly.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Look, Nick… I heard something today… and it really disturbed me. I know I have no right to judge you in any way, and I don’t think you’re any less of a person because of it, but Claudia and Amanda told me that you cheat on your girlfriends. Is that true?”
Nick sighed. “I knew you would find out sooner or later. I used to cheat on my girlfriends. I don’t anymore… I don’t want to be like that. I confirmed that I wanted to change after you told me the pain you went through with Brandon. First with him cheating on you, and then with that… other thing, so… You must think I’m a jerk, huh?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that. I was just a little upset to hear it though…”
“Why is that? It’s not like we’re dating or anything. You don’t have to worry about someone cheating on you if you’re not even with him.”
“I know… I don’t know why it made me so upset. I guess because I thought that you were different from other guys…”
“I am different. I’m willing to admit that I’ve done wrong in the past and I want to change that. Isn’t that good enough for you to go out with me? I feel like I’m entering this whole new world where I’m the one begging for attention from the girl. Usually, it’s the girl begging for attention from me. No one has ever challenged me like you do, Gretchen. You’re different from other girls, and that… intrigues me. I just want to know you more.”
“Nick, I… don’t know what to say…”
“Don’t say anything,” he replied, and then he kissed her.