Verita (25 page)

“Brett, I don’t think you realize what you do to me. You’re driving me crazy. I just want to get as close to you as I can and you keep pushing me away.” He continues to look wounded.

“I’m not pushing you away,” I protest, but even as I say the words I know there’s some truth to them. “I want to be as close as I can to you, too. Today has been such a wonderful day. One I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Our first time together will be another wonderful memory I’ll remember forever. It will just be on a different night, that’s all.”

He relaxes his shoulders, and I know the fight is over. I walk over to him and he wraps his arms around me, buries his face in my hair, and sighs. As I hold him, I realize that the long engagement I was considering won’t actually be an option. I mentally chide myself for being the most commitment phobic girl on this planet.

After we eat dinner, we walk back toward the
rec
halls. Brody tells me that I can find
Andi
in the library. He jokes that half the fun of getting engaged for girls is telling everyone about it. He couldn’t be more wrong in my case. Just the idea of telling
Andi
has me full of angry butterflies. He kisses me goodbye, and I head to the library. I stuff the ring into my pocket before finding
Andi
.

“Hi,” I casually greet her.

“Hi, what are you doing here?” I can hear the anticipation in her voice.

“I just figured I’d find myself a good book to read. What are you reading?” I intentionally grab her book, so she can easily see that my finger is bare.

“It’s just a murder mystery. How was your day with Brody?” She looks confused now, and I have to work to keep a straight face.

“It was nice. We spent the day at his friend’s house, just relaxing and talking. He even had eggplant for dinner.” I watch
Andi
closely, waiting for her to betray herself.

“That’s it?” Her voice cracks as she questions me. I can tell she isn’t sure what else she should say, just in case Brody had cold feet. The librarian glares in our direction, and I gesture towards the roof access.
Andi
follows. I can feel her building anticipation with every step we take. We finally reach the roof.
Andi
cautiously asks, “So he didn’t say or do anything unusual?”

“Ha! I knew you knew!” I shout, pointing at her chest. “
Andi
, you really need to give me more warning on surprises like that. He caught me completely off-guard, and I almost had a heart attack.” I say the words slowly, emphasizing my distress.

“Surprises are good for you. Besides, you would have never forgiven me if I told you ahead of time.”
Andi
is back to her usual bubbly self.

“You could have dropped some subtle hints so I at least suspected something was up.” I cross my arms and pretend to pout.

“Oh, stop whining and show it to me already. You’re still standing, so I know you didn’t have a heart attack.” She is smirking now.

“No, but I had a panic attack and passed out.”

I pull the ring from my pocket and place it on my finger.

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious,” she says dryly, but then seeing the look on my face she asks, “No! You didn’t? Did you?”
Andi
covers her mouth in an attempt to control her laughter.

“Yeah I did, so next time there’s a big surprise, a little warning would be appreciated.”

I hold out my hand and allow her to inspect the ring.

“Wow, it’s beautiful. You know how strange you are, don’t you? You’ll face wolves, wild monkeys and will go toe-to-toe with any soldier out there, but throw commitment your way and you fall apart.”

“That’s not fair,” I chide her, but drop my eyes and add, “That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about, though.” I drop my head into my hands, and let all my conflicting feelings wash over me.

“So you’re having second thoughts, but you already said yes and accepted the ring?”
Andi
asks incredulously.

“No,” I say harshly. “I never gave him an answer. I passed out. And when I came to, Brody said we’re engaged. What was I supposed to do, tell he we’re not and crush him?” I exclaim with obvious irritation.

Andi
scowls at my reaction. “So is Brody the person you want to be with?” I nod; she continues. “Can you see yourself old with him?” Again I nod. “Do you love him?” Seeing the look on my face, she amends, “It doesn’t matter if you’ve said it to each other. It matters if you feel it. Do you love him?” she asks and patiently waits for some kind of response.

Exasperated, I blurt out, “I think so… yes… maybe.” I huffed and threw up my hands. “Oh, I don’t know. My heart tells me one thing, but my stupid brain keeps getting in the way. I just don’t know what I feel and what I should do.” I finally break down into tears.

Andi
smiles sympathetically at my forlorn expression and wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Oh, honey, you’ll be okay. For starters, you need to calm yourself down, and stop putting so much pressure on yourself.” I sniff and nod my head in understanding. “Alright, now you don’t need to listen to me, but I suggest wearing the ring for a few days a see how it feels. If in a week it still doesn’t feel right, talk to Brody. He’ll understand, and even if he doesn’t, a decision still will have been made.” She arches one of her perfectly plucked eyebrows at me.

“You make it sound so simple.”

“And you make everything harder than it needs to be. That’s why we get along so well: I balance you out.”
Andi
laughs and says, “I’m guessing you haven’t had a chance to pick a date yet.”

“No, but I do know who my maid of honor will be.” I look at her with a devilish glint in my eye.

“Really? Oh, Brett, thank you!” She knocks me over with her hug.

“You act as if I might have asked someone else,” I laugh as I stand myself back up.

Chapter 18

The next morning I quickly eat breakfast alone and head to the field lab. I’m wearing the ring like
Andi
suggested, but I’m not in the mood to be the center of everyone’s attention. I know I can’t put the gawking off forever, but I can at least delay it until after my field visit.

When I get to the lab, Ryan is the only one there. I grab my pack and begin loading
Andi’s
inventions into it. I notice Ryan’s eyes fall upon my ring, but he’s kind enough not to ask any questions.

I sigh and unpack everything. I can’t get it to zip shut with all of
Andi’s
stuff added to it.

After struggling for several minutes, I finally get everything to fit. Of course if I need to take something out it’s going be a nightmare getting it back in.

Finally, I relent and take one of the cameras out. I can carry it until I find a spot to place it. I stand up, and see Ryan watching me with an amused expression.

“What?” I demand.

“Since when do you find it necessary to bring the kitchen sink? Up until now, I thought you were a bare essentials kind of girl.” He crosses his arms and chuckles at me.

I roll my eyes and ignore his question. Instead I busy myself with going over the map.

“Oh, Brett, congratulations!” Molly squeals and hurries over to hug me. I’ve been concentrating so hard on ignoring Ryan that I didn’t notice Jake and Molly enter.

“It’s beautiful. When did he ask you?” she squeaks, and I cringe. Molly is only one girl, a girl that I like, and the attention is already unbearable.

Reminding myself that she’s just genuinely happy for me, I answer, “Last night.” It might have been my imagination, but out of the corner of my eye I think I see Ryan and Jake exchange a meaningful look. They suddenly appear uncomfortable and impatient to leave.

“So how did he propose? You’ll have to tell me all the details,” Molly continues, and now I feel just as uncomfortable and impatient to leave as Ryan and Jake. “Did you cry?” she adds.

I blush. “I’ll tell you all about it later, but for now I think we should get going before these two flee over the idea of commitment.”

I grab my pack and put it on my back. It’s undeniably bulkier, but not much heavier.

After our lifesaving experience with Caper, we decided to revisit the
meerkit
area. We’re disappointed when we find that they are gone. There are no signs of recent activity in the area, which also explains why we hadn’t seen Caper yet. So instead of visiting the
meerkits
, we continue on to the river that we had originally intended to explore the day we first met Caper. We find that it’s at the bottom of a tall, narrow canyon.

To appease Ryan’s worry, I allow him to rappel down the cliff into the canyon first. I follow next. Then we wait impatiently by the side of the river. Apparently, Jake is having equipment issues. The hot sun reflects off the water and the rock, making it feel even warmer.

We both kick rocks to distract ourselves while waiting. I suddenly have the urge to look up, and when I do, I realize something is profoundly wrong. The rest of our team is dancing around, yelling, and trying to get our attention. I can’t hear what they are saying, but I see them point upriver, and I strain to hear their words.

“Ryan,” I say in alarm as I try to figure out what’s going on. I look down at the small trickle of water at my feet, and then glance up to the different shaded sections on the side of the canyon walls. A sense of foreboding hits me. I’m not sure if I hear or feel the rumble that confirms my fear.

“Flash flood!” I bellow at Ryan and watch as the blood drains from his face.

How could I have been so stupid? The amount of water in the canyon doesn’t match what the satellite pictures had shown. A quick glance at the canyon’s walls would have told me that we were in danger here. But I neglected to notice it earlier, and my mistake will condemn us both to death. Now as I look, I can clearly see erosion marks from previous flash floods, and a line where the usual water level is.

Ryan and I stare at each other in horror. In his eyes, I see he’s deduced the same thing. There’s nowhere for us to go, and no way to climb above the flood line in time. I look around desperately for some form of hope, and remember
Andi’s
inventions stuffed inside my pack. I quickly rip it off and grab her igloo from inside.

“What are you doing? We’ve got to get out of here!” Ryan yells at me. “You climb first; I’ll follow.” He tries pushing me in the direction of the rope, but I pull away.

“We both know there’s no time. We’ll never make it. I can feel the ground vibrating already. You’ll have to trust me.”

I quickly erect the igloo. It pops up as easily as it had the other night.

“Get in and start sealing up all the vents,” I order Ryan.

He looks at me confused, but he climbs in and grabs the duct tape I hand to him. I quickly zip the igloo shut and join him in covering vents. The rumbling outside grows louder and louder. As we cover the last vent, the sound is deafening.

Ryan wraps himself around me, and pushes me down to the floor with him, just as the water hits. We’re slammed against the side of the igloo. It tumbles in the rushing water and debris. We hold onto each other as we’re rolled around with the igloo. I let out a grunt as one of the packs slams into me. Ryan manages to bat it down to his feet, and wraps it between them. After several attempts, I manage to do the same with the other pack. I bury my face in his shoulder. Even if the igloo somehow holds together and doesn’t sink, the tumbling alone may kill us.

The igloo is jolted to a brief stop, and we’re both slammed into the wall again. I feel a crack in my ribs, and let out a gasp of pain. Ryan’s arms encircle me more. I can’t hear him over the roar of the water, but I feel his breath against my ear as he tries to reassure me. Fortunately, whatever we hit pulled us out of the churning lead waters of the flood. Instead of tumbling uncontrollably, we’re now rushing along, upside down, on the top of the flood waters. We now have a chance of surviving – if the duct tape holds.

We seem to float forever, but the ride is far from smooth. We stay wrapped in each other’s arms as we periodically slam into random objects. I’m beginning to worry about our air supply, when things finally feel like they’re slowing down. The ride becomes rough again as the water recedes, and we begin hitting more objects. I feel a blinding pain as my head slams against the side, and we tumble to a final stop.

The igloo is upside down, so Ryan reaches up and carefully unzips it. We both breathe a sigh of relief when we’re greeted with blinding sunlight and not water. Ryan climbs out, and starts dragging the igloo with me still in it. Before I have a chance to protest, he says, “I’m clearing us out of the debris field. Don’t move. You hit your head really hard.”

Once he seems satisfied, he climbs back in, and I try to sit up. Ryan holds me down. “Can’t you listen to anything I say?” he barks sternly, but his face is washed with relief. He laughs at me in spite of himself.

“So we’re both alive then.” I laugh back at him, and confirm that I definitely have a broken rib. “Ouch,” I exclaim.

“What’s wrong?” He looks worried again.

“Broken rib, I think. Hopefully I’m wrong, and it’s just cracked.”

“Does anything else hurt?” he asks, alarmed, looking at me as if I could break into pieces at any moment.