Story of a Girl

I wake up to the sound of Matt screaming at the fire. It probably outsmarted him again. When I open my eyes, the first thing I see is my left hand. It raises up and down at every breath Zack takes. I stare at the beautiful ring that's around my finger and remember last night. A burst of happiness over comes over me as I realize that I'm going to be Mrs. Zachary James Baker in a couple months. Oh my god! I wonder if the others know. Probably not, I mean, we got back really late last night. I look up at Zack to see if my movement has woken him. Nope, he's still sleeping. I un peal his arm from around me and return it to his side. He stirs a bit before settling. I stand up and look down at myself. My clothes are still stuck to my body from falling into the pond. Zack just took me in his arms and I fell asleep, I didn't bother changing. Now I feel gross, so maybe I'll change. I just change into something simple. Sweat pants and sweat shirt. After I almost trip over Zack, I unzip the tent and step out. Matt's squatted at the fire pit poking at it with a stick.

"Good morning." He says throwing the stick into the fire and standing up, rubbing dirt off his hands.

"Morning." I yawn.

"Why are you up so early?" Matt asks putting a grill over the flames.

"You woke me up yelling at fire." I say.

"Sorry. So where's Zacky?" He asks sitting next to me.

"Sleeping still. You know him." I say.

"Yeah." Matt chuckles.
"So I see he proposed last night." He says glancing at my left hand.

"How do you know about that?" I ask.

"A couple weeks ago, he asked me if he could marry you." Matt says.

"He did?" I ask.

"He did." Matt says

"You said yes right?" I ask.

"Nikki, no matter what I said, I knew he was going to do it." Matt says.

"So you said no..." I say.

"Of course not." Matt says.

"Just making sure, you had me worried there." I say.

Matt playfully rolls his eyes and stands up again. Even if Matt disagreed with me marrying Zack, I'd still do it. What he thought never stopped me before. After struggling with the zipper on her and Matt's tent, Val steps out.

"You really need to fix that." Val says walking to the fire circle.
"What's going on?" She asks glancing at Matt and then me.

"I have exciting news." I say standing up and walking towards her.
"I'm getting married!" I squeal.

"No way!" Val says.

"WAY!" I say.

"Oh my god!" Val says.

After about a minute of jumping up and down and squealing, we hug. If this keeps up, we're all going to be related in some way. I turn my head at my brother and notice Zack in the background. I escape Val's death grip and run in his direction. I attack him with a hug and keep my arms around him.

"Well good morning." Zacky says.

"Good morning." I say nuzzling my face to his chest.

"Well your unusually happy for 7:00AM." He says checking his watch.

"Give me a reason I shouldn't be." I say.

"It's 7:00AM." He says.

I roll my eyes and then give him a squeeze. I'm so happy that I'm going to marry this man. You could even say that I'm overly happy.

"Come on...how about we get some food." Zacky says.

"Sounds good." I say releasing my arms from around him.

He takes my hand and leads me to the fire circle. Then he sits me down and grabs me breakfast. I thank him and start eating. Slowly Brian, Jimmy, and Johnny make there way out from their tents and join us. I get up to head to the outhouse, when I literately run into Brian.

"Sorry." Brian says taking a step back.

"Brian!" I shout throwing my hands up in the air.

"Nikki?" Brian ask in a confused tone, doing the same.

"I'm getting married!" I say.

"What?" Brian asks.

"You heard me." I say.

"Way to get the whole woods to know." Matt says swinging his fist.

"Sorry." I say turning around.
"I gotta pee." I say running to the outhouse.

As I open the door to the outhouse, I hold my breath which starts to mellow me out. What was with that "What?" and what was with the face he gave me. It's like he didn't see it coming...or doesn't want it to happen. Why would that be? He's one of my best friends. After I finish my business, I return back to the camp site. I return to sitting next to Zack on the log. He puts his arm around me and moves over until his side's touching me. Then I look up and kiss him.

"Happy?" Zacky asks looking down at me.

"VERY happy." I say.

"Good." He smiles.

After breakfast, Val and I take the canoe down to a close by river. She thought we needed to celebrate my engagement. After five hours of going down the river, we successfully tipped the canoe TWICE. And did I mention that I accidentally hit Val in the head with my paddle? On the way back up, we have to carry the canoe back...yeah...where's Matt when you need him? That took us twice as long, and by the time we're back at the camp site, it's dark.

"There you are, I was beginning to worry." Matt says putting his arm around Val's waist and taking her away. With me holding up the front of the canoe, the back half goes down, hitting my head in the process.

"Geez, thanks for the help." I mumble dragging the canoe to Matt's car.

"Want some help?" Brian asks picking up the back end.

"Thanks." I say.

"No prob." Brian says.

Somehow, we manage to get the canoe up on the roof of Matt's car. Brian told me he'd take care of tying it down so I could change out of my dripping wet clothes. I walk to the tent and change into my PJ's. I've been in wet clothes all day, dry is nice. I peek my head out of the tent. Zack sees me and pats the spot next to him. I step out of the tent and sit myself down.

"Will there be a day on this trip where you DON'T fall into water?" Zacky laughs taking my wet hair and laying it over my shoulder.

"Shut up." I say.

"Better grow gills my dear." He says.

I shoot him an evil glance and knock him backwards off the log. He lets out a short laugh as if he deserved it and replaces himself back on the log.

"No more aquatic jokes, I promise." Zacky says.

"Good." I say.

Life continues on. From the five hours of canoing, and the six plus hours of walking, I'm tired. I think Val is too...though she doesn't show it. I yawn and rest my head on Zack's shoulder.

"Tired?" He asks.

"Yeah. Listen, I'm gonna go to bed." I say picking my head up.

"Alright. I'll be there in a little bit. Night pooh bear." Zacky says.

"Good night." I say standing up.

On my way back to the tent, the guys make fun of Zack's little pet name for me. I actually like it. With that thought, I enter our tent. I slip into the sleeping bag and close my eyes. To my dismay, I don't fall asleep right away. I'm tired as hell and I can't sleep. GAH! I listen in on the conversation at the fire pit. Random shit...the usual. Gradually everyone returns to their tents to sleep. Guess I'm not the only tired one. What puzzles me though is why Zack hasn't done the same. I sit up and wait for the sound of his foot steps. They never come. I crawl to the zippered flaps of the tent and stick my head out. Zack's sitting where he was before, except he has his guitar with him.

Must be your skin that I'm sinking in
Must be for real cos now i can feel
And i didn't mind
It's not my kind
Not my time to wonder why
Every thing's gone white
And every thing's gray
Now you're here now you're away
I don't want this
Remember that
I'll never forget where you're at
Don't let the days go by
Glycerine, Glycerine

My favorite song, Glycerine by Bush. He knows it's my favorite...could he be playing for me? I open the flaps more and sit cross legged in front of them as I listen the the whole song. He truly makes the song his own. It's beautiful. At the last "Glycerine" in the song and the last chord strummed, I open the tent all the way and step out. As I walk to the fire circle, I lightly clap.

"You like?" He asks leaning his guitar against the log.

"I loved it. That wasn't for me was it?" I ask.

"Of course it was. It is your favorite song." Zacky says.

"It was beautiful. As amazing as the original." I say.

"I'm glad you liked it. I spent forever making it perfect just so it could be your lullaby one night. I see it kept you up though." He says.

"Nah...I couldn't sleep anyways." I say.

"If I came back with you, would it help?" He asks standing up and picking up his guitar by the neck.

"You know...it just might." I say.