The Lodge in the Forest

Dana had known Marty for a long time now. Through the quiet period in grade school where the boy kept himself to himself and barely spoke, through high school where he slowly began to come out of his shell, his personality not always accepted, but his confidence that someone would befriend him was endearing - sweet even. He didn't let peer pressure get the better of him and did his own thing, at his own pace. That was before college and smoking pot got in the way. Dana never really talked to him past a few quick greetings in the hallway but she was concerned about his glassy stare and lazy drawn out syllables and failure to care when he got to class 20 mins in and proceeded to fall asleep on the desk. Marty may have been a lot of things, but a stoner wasn't one of them.

Something must have happened. She wasn't sure what - she didn't know a lot about his family, she knew he had at least one younger sister - Sally - and an older brother maybe? She couldn't remember his name though. So it was that at the start of summer vacation, Jules' boyfriend Kurt proposed a trip to his cousin's cabin somewhere in the north east, just inland in the state of Washington and they were all invited. Jules had been going on for ages about Kurt's football friend who was miraculously smart, athletic and cute and she thought him and Dana would be the perfect match. Dana reluctantly agreed to come along, figuring it was something different to do and if it was that bad she could get some studying done for the fall.
Jules appeared at her apartment mid-morning thurs with a go-to attitude and brand new blonde hair.

"Don't you love it?!" She gushed, sashaying her way round Dana's bedroom. The red-head admitted it was quite a shock.

"You're going to love Holden. He's so cute! And smart too." Dana smiled and nodded awkwardly, wishing there was less pressure to hook up with this one boy. And then Kurt blundered in, in his normal larger than life style.

"Dana." He nodded politely, his hands wrapped around a football as he moved towards Jules restlessly. They had been dating off and on for the whole of freshman year. Dana presumed things were 'on' at the moment and it was affirmed when Kurt transferred the ball to one hand and wrapped both arms possessively around Jules' waist. She hoped she wasn't in the room next to them. They berated her about her studies for a minute, then Dana finished packing and they headed down to the camper and Holden, who smiled and introduced himself. She smiled back - Jules was right, he was cute - and moved to put get things in the van.

It was then that Marty arrived, smoking a huge bong while driving and Dana felt her heart sink. What had he turned into? She barely looked at him - his eyes were cloudy and unseeing anyway - and climbed into the vehicle without uttering a word.

She sat in the back, listening to them banter outside, the morning light filtering in through the window and warming her skin. It was nice to be going somewhere, to be doing something different. She was looking forward to just relaxing and not worrying about school and grades and society bothering her about the whole teacher-student scandal. This way she could think about it in peace and decide what she wanted out of future relationships. Not that it had been a relationship. But it had sure felt like one at the time. Until he'd opened up about his actual relationship with his real-life wife and she had realised what a fool she had been to presume he was available and that if he wasn't, that he would have been man enough to tell her before he'd taken her virginity. Alas.

The red-haired girl sighed and allowed herself to wallow, perhaps for the first time - and only for a few seconds - in the sadness of it, the unfairness of it all, the anger at her pathetic naivety. She was a walking fucking cliche.

Next time she would know better. Next time. At this point she felt a presence at her right shoulder about the same time the camper shuddered into life. Marty had decided to take the seat beside her. His eyes were on her but she didn't meet his gaze. She couldn't bare seeing him so doped up, it made her want to cry.

"Let's blow this joint!" Kurt hollered from the other side.
"Amen to that, brother." Murmured Marty. He was so close she could feel the heat from his body and the light tickle of his plaid shirt when they turned a corner. The others wooped and cheered and Holden turned up the radio and careened down the road.

Dana closed her eyes, inhaling and exhaling slowly, willing herself to relax. She could do this. She didn't have to get upset about Marty. What did she know anyway? Maybe being stoned all the time was the best way to live. He was probably really happy. She pried an eye open and glanced sideways at the boy. He had shut his eyes and tilted his head back. He'd probably passed out. He looked worn and tired. The bags underneath his eyes were an unhealthy shade of violet and he had clearly not shaved in a few days. His dirty blonde hair was a bit longer but pretty much the same as she remembered it being in school. They had been friends once, but that was a long time ago now.

"How're you doin' Dana?" Dana was startled into a blush. Marty clearly wasn't asleep. He peeled his eyes open and pulled one side of his mouth up in a weary-looking smile. She nodded several times to many.
"Good, good thanks. How are you? It's - it's been a while since we...spoke." The red-headed girl looked away as she finished the sentence, struggling with her old friend's hazy bloodshot gaze.
"True that." His eyes swung a pathway to Kurt and Jules engaged in a passionate kiss over the back of the former's chair. Dana felt compelled to repeat herself, tucking her hair self-consciously behind her ear.

"How are you doing?"

"Yeah, yeah pretty good." His blue-green eyes found hers again. He narrowed them.

"You look g...ood. Um, I mean...you look pretty...uh...healthy..." He went pink and stared determinedly at the floor.

"Um..."

"What are you two mumbling about? Has Dana told you about Holden? Don't you think he's cute?!" Dana was positive her face was the same shade as her hair.

"Jules...please don't."

"Okay, I'm sorry, I just wanted to know if you thought he was cute or not." She flounced back around to Kurt who was busy singing loud and off key to the radio. Holden was laughing at him, hopefully unaware of the conversation.

"I think you hurt her feelings." Marty said mildly.
Dana did smile at this.

"I think she'll survive." They shared a smirk and Dana felt herself relax a little bit.

"Oh I dunno, if she doesn't make it through Kurt may have to give her mouth to mouth. In fact - there you are -." He waved a hand at the couple who were again passionately making out. "It was touch and go for a while." He smiled somewhat desperately at Dana, realising it was a bad joke but ploughing through it anyway. She giggled, because it was kind of funny.

"Kurt is always there to save the day." She agreed. Marty nodded.
"You know, it seems weird but I never saw them hooking up. Well - maybe at parties and shit. But not...permanently."

Dana watched her friends exchanging saliva thoughtfully.

"I dunno. Kurt was always crushing on Jules. I told him she was a med student and wasn't gonna settle for one man anytime soon but he ignored me."

"And made an honest woman of her."

Dana chuckled.

"It took long enough. I swear she made out with half the guys on campus. No wonder she had a bad reputation."

"She was my first crush."

"Really? When was that?"

"10th grade biology. I was awful. We ended up on the same project and all I could think about was how cute and energetic she was. I couldn't believe she was popular AND smart. It seemed too good to be true."

"What happened?"

"She kissed me over a dissected sheep's heart. It was pure poetry."

Dana's brow creased and a perplexed smile tugged at her lips. Interesting. Dana had mentioned it a few times because she thought it was funny, but hearing it from Marty's point of view was sweet.

"Hmmm...how romantic."

"I thought so. The cold White lights of the lab illuminating our happy, innocent faces, the dead, bloody animal organ lying there on the table between us..." She giggled.

"That's horrible!"
"Hey! I was young and naive. Besides, don't knock it 'til you've tried it." He winked and Dana made a face, biting back her laughter.

"Oh god! Marty!" She hit him playfully, "That's disgusting."

"What stories are you telling poor Dana? You know she's too fragile to handle our little escapades." Jules butted in teasingly.

"Hey! I can handle it. I'm not made of glass."

"Mentally, Dana, mentally." Marty tapped his temple. She rolled her eyes.

"We were discussing your escapades, Jules."

"Nothing good I hope."

"How many people d'you reckon you've like...kissed?" Piped up Marty.

The blonde girl's eyebrows shot up and she stared off into the distance for a moment, chewing her fingernail. Then she refocussed on them and actually laughed awkwardly.

"I dunno...I think I'd have to make a list." The two others silently judged her and she flushed, flipping her hair back and glaring at them.

"I've kissed a lot of people ok! Marty should know, he was one of them."

"You haven't kissed me." Shot back Dana, them immediately regretted it. Marty burst out laughing.

"Are you offering?" Asked Jules seductively.

"N-No!"

"Have you ever kissed a girl before?" Mortified, Dana shut her mouth and refused to answer. Kurt turned around, curious.

"What's going on back there?"

"Dana wants to know why we haven't made out-."

"Will you-."

"She's too chicken to do it, that's why."

"Look, you're not being fair. She's my friend. It would be REALLY weird."

"Told you. She's too chicken."

"And she's a girl."

"So if she was a guy, you would do it then?"

Dana closed her eyes and prayed for release.

"You guys are awful. I'm going to the bathroom." Ignoring the catcalls and shouts of 'chicken!' the redhead made a swift exit. Sat on the toilet with the lid down for 5 mins then flushed it and made to leave.