Inspire (4 page)

“All right, let’s do this!” my dad said, leading us into the building.

There were two guys inside that took care of the rental paperwork, one was moderately handsome and looked to be in his thirties, and the other looked to be in his early twenties. Really tall, dark hair, blue eyes and extremely good looking.
Between Travis and this guy, they sure know how to grow them out here in Vermont. Wow!
I thought as I admired his gorgeous face and built physique. My mom clearly had the same opinion because she was waggling her eyebrows at me while nodding in his direction. I knew exactly what she was hinting at, and I definitely agreed, but felt humiliated anyway by her lack of subtlety.

Once we were all set, the younger of the two drove us up the road a few miles with the tubes tied to the top of the van. The whole way my dad kept asking lots of questions about rafting season, fishing, water temperatures, and anything else he could possibly think of. Corey was being a good sport and answered all of them, but I noticed that he kept looking at me in the rearview mirror. A couple of times, we locked eyes and I found myself reddening by the second. Finally, I decided to keep my focus out the window and stare at the river. After all, my parents were with me so nothing was going to happen.

We arrived at the launch, and Corey pulled down our rafts. “Okay, so this is where you put in and it should take you about two hours to get back to the lot,” he explained.

“Great, do we leave our shoes and cover-ups with you?” my mom asked, concerned that she was going to lose her Gucci sandals. I was smart to bring my flip-flops, but still had my cover up to worry about.

“Yeah, you can leave them in the van and then pick them up in the building when you return. No problem,” Corey said, looking straight at me while he answered. Okay, Mr. Hotty you’re being a tiny bit aggressive with the staring.
Hello! My dad is standing right next to me
, I mentally shouted, embarrassed by the fact that I was being ogled in front of him.

“Great. Well, put your belongings in the van and let’s get a-floating,” my dad directed as he climbed onto his raft to get situated.

My mom put her things in the van, and then joined my dad in the water. I pulled off my cover up and threw it in with my mom’s things. Corey, of course, was standing by the door of the van watching my every move. Once I revealed my bikini, he really gave me the once over. As good looking as he was, I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable.

“So, where are you from?” he asked, clearly trying to make a move.

“New York,” I answered simply.

“Are you in town for a bit?” he pried a little further.

“For the summer,” I answered, regretting the words the second they flew out of my mouth. I’ve never been a good liar, but I should have just ignored the question. Now, it sounded like I was encouraging him.

“So, where are you staying?” No, I am not answering that one.

“Sorry, got to float,” I said, brushing past him and making my way into the water. He stood by the shore, and waited until our eyes met to give me a wink. Okay, Yuck. Sexy or not, I don’t like aggressive guys that eye fuck me on the spot.

I brushed it off, thankful that I wouldn’t have to see him again after today, and then caught up with my parents to enjoy the afternoon. The water was a little crisp, but absolutely clear. It was fairly shallow and if I stood it would only go up to my knees, so I could easily see the bottom. After a little floating, I began to search for rocks on the creek bed to see if I could find any worth keeping. My dad was lying back soaking up the sun and the quiet, and my mom was pointing out all of the things she saw along the banks.

“So, Corey was cute Paige!” my mom said once my dad was out of earshot. “Thanks, but no thanks,” I responded, shaking my head adamantly.

“Why not? You’re on vacation; live a little Paige. You should go out on dates and have fun before your world turns into nothing but studying,” she declared.

“He was a little too eager, and I didn’t get a great vibe,” I replied, hoping she would get the gist.

“Yeah, he definitely wasn’t playing hard to get. I know how you like that.” Her remark completely threw me off guard.

“Mom, what is that supposed to mean?” I asked, trying to understand her comment. “Paige sweetie! You have been after Jared for two years now, when you could have taken your pick of any guy in town. Why? Because he hasn’t shown interest,” she stated and then rested her head back on the raft.

“That’s not the reason mom. He’s just the only smart, somewhat down to earth guy in town. And he’s super sexy!” I protested and then giggled at my admission.

“That he is,” my mom teased and laughed at her own remark.

“Mom,” I shrieked, pretending to be disgusted with her comment.

“Cool your jets Paige, I’m only kidding,” she said and then proceeded to splash me with the cold water.

“You’re the one that needs some cooling off,” I laughed and then splashed her right back.

The next thing I knew, my mom and I were in a silly splashing war and were laughing hysterically. It was honestly the most fun I had had with her in a while. My dad clearly felt left out though, because he snuck over and flipped my inner tube up catching me completely by surprise. After resurfacing, I shook my hair out and couldn’t help but join in as my parents were giggling away on their rafts. “You two suck!” I said, trying to readjust my bikini and get resituated on my raft.

Just as I climbed back on my tube, I noticed that we were not the only ones on the river. We had somehow managed to catch up to a bunch of other rafters, and when I looked closer I realized that I recognized the people. They were the group of teenagers that I had seen earlier at the campground. Although this time there were eight of them because Travis was with them.

It was obvious from their stares that they had witnessed the entire water fight I had just had with my parents. A few of the girls were whispering and glaring, while some of the boys were watching and laughing. Travis looked over, gave a little wave out of politeness and then returned his attention to everyone else. His behavior seemed a little less friendly than last night, so I wondered if his girlfriend was on one of the rafts. Although I expected that to be the case, the thought was disappointing.

A moment later, I did notice that he was flicking some water at one of the other guys and shaking his head. Luckily, my parents didn’t seem to recognize them and spared me some major embarrassment. I’m surprised that my mom didn’t recognize Travis, but he was shirtless, revealing his tattoos and was also wearing sunglasses, which did make him look completely different. And in my opinion, made him look incredibly sexy. Now, I could see that the upper left side of his chest was also covered in tattoos. They looked to be different Chinese symbols, and I couldn’t help but wonder what they meant.

We continued drifting down the river and finally made our way back to the lot. I was just about to pop off the raft, and pull it up to shore when I noticed Travis’s group not far behind. They were about to pull in as well, but I was hoping I could make my way back up to a bathroom and pull myself together a little before I had another encounter with them.

Within seconds, Corey was at the shore giving us a hand out of the water and putting our tubes to the side. “So how was it?” he asked, taking my mother’s hand and helping her out of the water.

“Great!” my parents answered in unison.

“And what about you? Did you enjoy it?” he directed the question at me and gave me another wink.

“Yeah, it was great,” I answered, trying to remain polite.

“So, you’ll have to come back and do it again. We are open all summer long and give discounts for frequent visits,” Corey said, clearly trying to encourage us to return.
Huh, I wonder why?
I thought, rolling my eyes at his persistence. “Where are you folks staying?” he asked, while his eyes roamed over my body once more. I hated that he was giving me another eye fucking. My body was now covered in goose bumps and I really wanted to get my cover up on and fast.

“We are at Willow Falls Campground,” my dad answered and I was pissed that Corey now knew where to find me. Clearly, he’s a local and has heard of the place.

“Really, my girl… I mean… Um, I have friends that stay there over the summer.” It was obvious that Corey was about to say girlfriend, which proved my instincts to be correct. I’m always right about this stuff.

“Oh great!” my dad continued, not paying any mind to the eye advances that his daughter was receiving. “Maybe you can introduce Paige here to your friends. We are new this summer, and it would be great if she didn’t have to stay cooped up with us the entire time.” Dad’s attempt at finding me friends was extremely humiliating, but Corey just looked at me and raised an eyebrow suggestively while nodding. “Corey, baby!” a girl shouted from behind, distracting us from the embarrassing, and uncomfortable moment. It was one of the girls from Travis’s group calling from the water. I was hoping that it was his girlfriend, so his flirting would finally end.

“Hey Brit!” he said while starting to fidget. She quickly bounced off her raft and waded her way through the water to get to the bank faster.

“Hi baby! I missed you,” she said, making her way to his side and putting her arms around him. He reluctantly returned the hug, and then gave her a dismissive look.

“These are some of our customers Brit, do you mind? I’m working.” Britney received the message loud and clear, and did not seem happy about it at all.

“EXCUSE ME,” she snapped while turning to give me a nasty glare before tromping back through the water towards the rest of the group.
Nice! Well, I just made a friend
, I thought, frustrated about the entire situation. No doubt she would go back to the girls and say I was trying to make a move on her boyfriend. Jealousy is such a poison that I probably didn’t have a chance of befriending them now.

I turned to retrieve my cover up and find the bathroom. My mom followed me, so I decided to prove my point. “See, I told you Mom! Didn’t get a good vibe. He clearly is a scumbag flirting with me when he has a girlfriend,” I said disgustedly.

“You were right. I definitely don’t want you going out with him now,” she stated.

“Thank you Captain Obvious,” I mumbled as I left my mom’s side and went into the building to grab our things. I then headed towards the bathroom in the back to have a recovery moment.

Once I got myself together and put my cover up back on, I exited the restroom to head back out to the car. Travis was waiting outside the door, and it dawned on me that there was only one bathroom. “Sorry, it’s all yours” I said apologetically, realizing that I’d taken longer than necessary and probably held him up.

“No worries. Did you have a good time out there?” he asked and his friendly demeanor returned.

“Yeah, yeah, it was fun,” I answered then turned to walk towards the car.

I didn’t stick around to continue the conversation, because I was afraid that his girlfriend would appear and I would be accused of trying to steal two guys away. However, I did turn my head back and noticed that Travis was still standing there with a puzzled grin on his face. So I responded with a smile.

“See you later Paige!” he called out from behind. I gave him a little wave and then headed straight back to the car.

On the way back to the campground, I couldn’t help but replay the looks that I’d received from the girls and then the exchange I had had with Travis. He was just being friendly which made me feel bad for giving him the brush off. I’m sure he was merely trying to have a conversation and I had to go run away like a skittish cat. Ugh! I’d have a really hard time making friends this summer if I kept this behavior up. I need to see what I can do tonight at the barbeque; maybe if I lay low they would realize that I’m not trying to tromp all over their territory. Yeah, that is probably best: wait for introductions and no matter what, don’t flirt with any of the boys. Probably don’t even make eye contact with them.

Chapter 4

After we got back to the campsite I decided to walk down and explore the trail that I had seen Travis take earlier in the day. My parents were going to take their showers first, so I had plenty of time to kill. When I got to the start of the path, it was marked with a sign that said “Lake” with a bright red arrow on it. There were no signs indicating its length or whether it looped around. I figured worse case scenario I would walk down as far as I felt I had time for and then return.

As I started my trek, I noticed that the path was mainly down hill. It was heavily wooded with lush green trees on both sides, and I saw some beautiful flowers growing throughout as well. Every once in a while a squirrel would run past in the trees or I would hear a bird sing, but other than that, I didn’t see any other wildlife. The trail seemed like it would be good for a jog because it was clear of stumps and shrubs, but I would have to remember that the return trip would be all up hill. After about twenty minutes, I began to see a clearing in the trees and what looked to be the end of the path. I picked up the pace to see what was at the bottom and when I got there I found a beautiful lake.

The lake was large and magnificent, and the water was blue and crystal clear. There was a tiny beach area, so I walked down to the edge and slipped my feet in the water. It was definitely cold, but would feel incredible on a day like today. It was so peaceful and quiet that I decided it would make the perfect place for me to come to get away and maybe work on my dance without having an audience. I only hoped that it wasn’t frequented that much by the other campers. I sat down on the beach and stayed for a while. I was admiring the view and the boats sailing around and thought about how much fun that would be! It was getting late though, and I knew I needed to head back to get ready for the barbeque. So, I picked myself up and hiked back up the path to our campsite.

Showering in the camper was one of the hardest feats I had attempted in a long time. Not only was I barely able to fit in the stall, but the sprayer was almost too short to reach my entire body. Washing my hair and shaving must have taken me at least thirty minutes and then I still had to wash and rinse the rest of my body. “I’m seriously going to consider using the main shower facilities up at the front from now on. This is ridiculous,” I huffed, frustrated by the entire thing. Toweling off after was even more challenging, and I knew that there was no way I was drying my hair or putting on my make-up in the cramped space. I would have to use the kitchen table for that.