My Wish for You (18 page)

But then again,
maybe he just needed something to show him that I was the right choice. His mom
even thought I was better for him.

A motor pulled
up a short distance away and my heart started. It almost sounded like Sean’s
truck. Startled, I sat up and looked over to where it was coming from.
Disappointed, I discovered that it was just Alisha pulling up in Cara’s Jeep. I
sat back and pouted slightly.

“Okay,” she
called out, slamming the door. “If it wasn’t official before, it is now. Tasha
McKnight is the biggest, most annoying you-know-what on the face of the earth!”

I tensed up as
Alisha plopped down next to Cara.

“What happened?”
Cara asked.

“So, I’m hanging
out with Brian, right? And he’s trying to help Sean. And she will not stop
calling his stupid phone. It’s to the point of like psycho, ridiculous stalking.
So, I answer the phone to tell her to quit trippin’ and to leave him alone, and
she flips out on me. She’s cussing me out and calling me horrible things.

“So, I just hang
up on her and take the battery out of Sean’s phone. What does she do? She
starts calling Brian!”

“Uh-oh.”

“So, he tries to
tell her that he doesn’t know what’s going on and she won’t leave him alone.
Finally, I took the phone from him and told her if she didn’t stop calling my
boyfriend she would deeply regret it.”

She huffed out a
sigh and I smiled. That was the most that I had ever heard Alisha say in one
sitting. Ever. And it was really cute how protective and jealous she got over
my brother. It made me like her even more.

“So did she
stop?” Cara pressed.

“Yeah,” she
answered, retreating back to her normal self. She grabbed Cara’s drink and
tilted her head back before glancing skeptically at Cara. “Ice tea? Really?”

Cara laughed.

“Well, we
figured we didn’t need to do any drinking today.” She looked pointedly towards
me.

“Har har. Like
you haven’t had any drunken mishaps.”

“Too true,”
agreed Sarah.

“So,” I started,
turning to Alisha. “What’s Brian helping Sean with?”

I had hoped to
pull off a nonchalant tone, but I guess I didn’t, because Cara and Sarah raised
their eyebrows at me.

“Oh Sean’s just
trying to figure out how to make up for ditching you.” She paused in
realization of what she just said. “Oops. I didn’t just say that.”

“Really now?”
Sarah asked, intrigued.

Not saying
anything, I sat back and listened.

“Yeah, but I’m
not saying anymore. I was sworn to secrecy!” She crossed her arms in protest.

“Fine, fine,”
Sarah conceded, knowing that she wouldn’t leak out any more details. She was
the greatest secret keeper. Sarah and Cara were gossiping away about Tasha and
her past drama schemes when Alisha got up and sat next to me.

“You know,” she
said quietly. “I think that he’s really done with her.”

“What?” I asked,
taken aback.

“Tasha. I think
that he’s really done being with her. Over her.”

“Yeah….”

“I’m just sayin’.”
And with that she picked up a magazine and started flipping through it.

I considered
what she’d said, and what she said about him trying to make it up to me. I took
it all in and tried to figure out some kind of resolution. And in my
contemplation of it all, I realized that I wasn’t so angry anymore.

Suddenly, I had
a crazy desire to call him and talk about what happened, and to let him know
that I forgave him. I leaned forward and grabbed my phone off the log.

“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.”