The Other Fish in the Sea (19 page)

“I just didn’t sleep very well and I feel a little sick. I think it might be the smell from all the exhaust and stuff,” Kate answered and wrinkled her nose. Personally, I was wondering if she was hung over, however, the smell
can
be overwhelming at times. But like Jillian though, I kind of like it.

“Can I have your bacon then?” I asked with more excitement than I really meant to. I’m sorry she doesn’t feel well, but I can
not
let good bacon go to waste!

“Oh yeah, help yourself. I can’t eat anything right now anyway and I think I’m gonna try for a nap,” she answered and handed me her plate before getting up, giving Jeff a big hug and then going back in the tent to lie down again.

Tristan watched her go and when she was inside, he looked at Jeff. “Is she okay, man? She’s been weird this whole trip.”

Jeff shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, she’s just tired. She’ll feel better after she gets a nap. In fact I’m kinda tired too, I think I’m gonna lay down with her.”

After being jolted awake and having Jillian pump us with adrenaline this morning, a nap sounded so good that after we ate, Tristan and I took one too. Just a nap though, I
swear
.

9.

Petty Theft & Something Twisted

Tristan and I napped in the tent with Jeff and Kate and we couldn’t have been asleep for much more than an hour when the four of us were being woken up by Jillian—
again
.

“You have to wakeup,” she said, clapping her hands and nudging my shoulder with the metal-covered toe of her booted foot.

“For the love of
Christ
, Jillian, what the fuck is it now?” Tristan grumbled. He really dislikes being woken up from naps. It makes him cranky.

“I smell an ambush,” she told us with Pete nodding in agreement behind her.

“What the hell are you talking about, and why did you try to steal Pete’s truck?” Jeff yawned, rubbing his eyes and looking at the two of them.

“She wanted to get to the Beach Store before Julia and Bridget left it,” Pete answered.

“I don’t know how much time I bought before they get back, bu—”

“Wait, how much time you bought?
What
is going on?” I asked, becoming concerned. My sister typically doesn’t involve anyone in her activities and even more rarely, admits and explains what she’s been up to.

“I told you, I don’t trust them and I knew we needed to get back here before they did to let you know something’s afoot and talk about it so, I disconnected the battery and coil wire on Parker’s truck,” she replied, as if that should have been obvious or self explanatory. Now I’m really concerned, though. That was a lot of admitting and explaining.

“That doesn’t explain why—” Kate began to say before Jillian cut her off.

“Bridget bought licorice.”
 

I literally gagged.
 

“Aw, Baby…” Tristan sighed, sounding anguished over my reaction.

Looking at Tristan and me, Jeff’s expression echoed Tristan’s upset. Then turning back to my sister he asked, “What the hell do you think she’s gonna do with it?”

“That right there…I think her intentions are to hurt Camie,” Jillian told us while watching me having cold sweats.

“Why?”
 

“Because she’s a jealous, vindictive bitch,” Tristan said with cold steel in his voice but with an expression of guilt on his face that just simply melted me.

“It’s true. I was watching her last night and she’s completely envious of you, Camie,” Kate told me.

“It goes deeper than that. She put the pieces together and realized Camie took Tristan back after his indiscretion last month which makes her mad because you see, Bridget cheated on her boyfriend twice and he wouldn’t take her back after the second time. In her mind, hurting Camie would be getting something like revenge on him too,” Jillian outlined. She really does know everything.

“How do you know that?” Jeff asked, almost sounding dumbfounded. I don’t know why this surprises him though. He knows what she’s capable of. Hell, she just stole a truck for God’s sake. Well, sort of, but I think it should count.

Jill sighed and rolled her eyes like she was saying, “Oh fine.” “I overheard Parker and Curtis talking about it. She’s the reason they’ve steered clear of us this whole time…Curtis was her boyfriend. She lied about never being the iceberg too. He caught her being both that and the boat at the same time with some other guy.” I mean she knows
everything
!

“I
knew
she was lying about that!” Tristan exclaimed in triumph.

“Sounds like both of their techniques could use some work,” Jeff added with humor.

“Well, proper positioning and attention to detail
is
key in regard to doing both at the same time,” Tristan said in a rather scholarly manner. I couldn’t help giggling even though I have no idea what the proper positioning is or what details should be paid attention to.

“Pete, you should be taking notes,” Jeff said and then started chuckling at Pete when he mimed writing on his hand and then looked at Tristan expectantly for him to continue.

“You guys have issues, but you know, after thinking about the questions she asked last night, I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to provoke a fight between these two just so she can take a crack at Tristan,” Kate speculated, giggling at the guys too.
 

“Yeah, let her try that one…” Pete remarked with a small chuckle.

Jeff smirked and nodding he said, “No shit. If she starts a fight between ‘em it’ll totally fuckin’ backfire on her. It’d be like fuckin’ Clash of the Titans and then they’d have to be pried apart with a goddamned crowbar.”

Tristan would probably thank her for it again.

“No matter how much fun
that
would be, I’m not gonna use our twisted form of foreplay to teach a lesson to that fuckin’ bitch.” He’s actually laughing now and I can’t help laughing either. We really are a bit perverse at times. Thus why we recognized the need for a butterfly net last night.

“Well, that’s up to you two, but riddle me this, Superman… What’s Camie gonna do when her kryptonite is brought into the tent? She almost yakked just hearing the word.” I’m not sure why Jilly’s been calling Tristan Superman today, but I kinda like it. Oh and yeah, I’m totally hearing “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down in my head now, although I like that song so I don’t mind.

“Now that I know it’s coming, I’m sure I’ll be okay…” I really think I will be.

“Uh-huh. Let’s see…” Jill said and out of nowhere, she blindsided me by throwing a package of licorice in my lap.

“
Oh shit
…I think I’m gonna be sick,” I choked out, covering my mouth and feeling my gorge rise at the unexpected visual reminder of when the guy I’m honestly in love with made-out with skanky licorice girl that one night in October. Honestly, I think I threw up a little in my mouth.

Kate grabbed a small bucket and stuck it in front of me but thankfully, I didn’t need it. I mean come on, how embarrassing would it be to actually upchuck in front of the guy you’re honestly in love with without knowing if he feels the same way? Not to mention I don’t think anyone needs to see what I’m sure would be a seriously grotesque vision of what I had for breakfast.

 
“Where did you get
that
?” Pete asked Jillian in surprise. They’ve been together since seven this morning and she didn’t have it on our ride, so I’d say the surprise is justified this time.

“I shoplifted it from the Beach Store,” she succinctly replied, like “Duh.”

“Hey Pete, that makes you an accessory to the crime!” Jeff said and started laughing at Pete who was looking at Jillian in a way that could have said, “First my truck and now snack food…what am I gonna do with you?”
 

Poor “Lonely (not gay) Pete,” my advice would be to forget her and run screaming instead.

“Yeah, yeah…the point is, Camie’s not quite over that whole thing and Bridget knows it. So unless we do a pat-down at the door, she’ll sneak it in tonight and Camie’s gonna be in trouble.”

“This fuckin’ bites. Regardless of how it happens, Bridget wins because there’ll be an uncomfortable scene at best, and a puke show at worst,” Jeff concluded, shaking his head at a loss.

“When she gets back to camp I could always tie her to the fuckin’ chassis of Pete’s truck and go off-roading,” Tristan suggested with a sadistic gleam in his eyes.

“Ooh, I like where your head’s at, but those aren’t the only options you know…I stole the licorice for a reason,” Jilly then turned her attention away from Tristan and back to me to say, “Camie, I love you, you’re my sister and everything, but you need to get a thicker skin and get over this. Now.”

She’s right. I just don’t know how.

“Exactly how is she supposed to do that, though? It’s not like she can just say I’m over it and have that be true, you know?” Thank you, Kate, for taking the words out of my mouth.

I squirmed a little when this time, it was
my
soul that Jillian peered into. That’s a
really
uncomfortable sensation by the way. “You’ve forgiven Superman completely, and it’s not distrust of him or even the licorice itself. It’s the images. The memory licorice elicits that makes you sick…so, replace the memory.”
 

Jeez…how in the hell did she get all that from one look? My sister scares even me sometimes.

“I can do that. I’ll need some time, though. Can you guys run interference?” Tristan asked, hauling me to my feet and grabbing the licorice I’d been avoiding looking at like it was freaking Medusa.

“You got it,” Jeff and Pete agreed in unison. I stifled a giggle when Jeff saluted Tristan like he was a General or something.

“Are you gonna tell me what your idea is?” I asked with some nervousness as he pulled me along behind him out of the tent and into the bus. I trust him but I
really
don’t wanna gag or puke in any way in front of him again.

He quickly locked all the doors, closed all the windows and curtains, turned his iPod on and then, with suddenly such dark blue eyes I almost gasped, he reached for me and said, “Replacing the memory with something twisted.”

Have I ever mentioned what
fantabulous
ideas he comes up with? If not, then just know that this one has got to rank in the top five! By the end of three hours (we had ourselves a good ol’ time), I
love
licorice again! Yippee! Tristan’s idea entailed “distracting” me from negative thoughts while I tried to eat the damned stuff and then for every piece I got down, he rewarded me with those “OMG Bellybutton Kisses” that yes, he totally picked up on how much I love. Actually, we were both really irritated when we ran out of licorice…

Now, my dad always wraps up the final day of our camping trips with Metallica’s “Wherever I May Roam,” so we’ll hear that tomorrow around noon when we all have to be back at camp to pack up, which means that at ten o’clock Saturday night, “Enter Sandman” was heard for the last time. It’s been our habit to sit by the fire until around eleven or so, however by the time James Hetfield’s voice combined with Lars Ulrich’s drums to make one wicked sounding “BOO,” we’d all congregated in the tent and had already chosen Truth, Dare, or Drink as our game for the night. It was Bridget’s suggestion and we decided to go along with it, knowing that I’m immune to kryptonite now and even
if
she tries to instigate a fight between Tristan and me, it wouldn’t do her any good.

So, if you’ve ever played truth or dare before you know how inherently nerve wracking it can be, right? You’re either asked to admit something you would rather be kept secret or asked to do something you would really rather not do. Well, most of the time anyway. However, this particular game was actually quite a hoot, especially because we had an out by drinking if we didn’t want to say or do what’s asked of us.

“Truth,” Jeff chose when MaryAnn presented him with the options. I know! I’m just as surprised…I would’ve thought he’d totally go for the dare out of the gate, but to each his own I guess.

“What is one thing you don’t like about your best friend?”

“Well, I would drink because I can’t say there’s anything about Trist I especially dislike, but Pete really should be apprised of this…he’s a control freak in
and
out of the sack,” Jeff answered with a wink to Pete.

“I am
not
a control freak,” Tristan argued.

I’m gonna have to side with Jeff on this one, though. Tristan really is kind of a control freak.

“Oh yes you are. It even bugs the shit outta you to be on the bottom! But it’s not just sex…you’ll fuckin’ resort to guerilla warfare if a girl or
anyone
for that matter doesn’t give you the respect of keeping their goddamned mouth shut about what you do with them…” Ahh, now
that’s
interesting. And by the way, Tristan is amused. He’s chuckling quietly at everything Jeff is saying, which I gather
is
the truth. “Camie, did you ever ask Trist why it actually took him having to give his
permission
for people to start talking about you guys (No, no I didn’t.) and why everything being said after he did was pretty much the truth? Seriously, anyone else and the rumors would’ve made the fuckin’ nightly news! I’m tellin’ ya…
guerilla
fuckin’
warfare
! It’s brutal.”
 

Ah. I think I got it. Jeff is giving a warning to everyone sitting here on Tristan’s behalf that what happens in the desert stays in the desert and they better keep it that way. Very well played, Jeff.

“I just
really
like my privacy, that’s all.”

“Nothing wrong with that, Superman,” Jillian said and they toasted each other.

“Oh and Pete…he’s right. I really don’t care to be on the bottom,” Tristan said with a laugh and then because he has his head in my lap, he pulled me down to whisper, “Baby, you can ignore that…it’s a vicious lie.” Then he kissed me.
 

 
“Truth.” Jeff had asked Derek.

“Why do you call Camie Shark Bait?” Oh here we go…

“Samantha,” Derek answered concisely, with a single, yet more than explanatory word, causing Tristan to groan and roll his eyes.