Close to the Heart

As the sun slowly started to fade away, and the sky turned into an orange-red color, Shane and I continued to lie in our same positions. It had been a good five hours since our picnic started, and we hadn’t moved once from our current position. Ever so often I would trace my fingers along his arm or his abdomen, just to make him smile. Well, if we’re being honest, I enjoyed just being next to him and finally being able to be so relaxed around him.

“Can I ask you a question?” Shane asked, breaking the silence.

“Go for it.”

“You like food, right?” he asked.

“You know it,” I replied. “Why?”

“Want to make a bet?” he asked.

“What’s the bet?” I asked curiously.

“I bet you can’t eat a dozen donuts,” he said. I made a face at the though of eating twelve donuts. That was way too much sugar, even for me.

“What’s the time limit?” I asked.

“One sitting,” Shane said. “But, here are the rules. If you can’t eat them all in one sitting, you lose.”

“And what happens when I lose?” I asked. I sat up and stared down at Shane.

“If you lose, you have to agree to be my girlfriend,” he said.

“That’s bollocks,” I said. “I told you the rules for that; you have to sweep me off my feet.”

“So you forfeit?” he asked. “That means you get to be my dame.”

“No way,” I said. “I’ll eat all the donuts and you will bow down to me for being able to consume that much sugar. So what do I get when I win?” Shane laughed as he too sat up.

“If you can eat twelve donuts in one sitting, I’ll be impressed,” he said. “I wouldn’t ever bug you about going out with me, how does that sound?”

“No,” I said quickly. “If I win you have to apologize to Mitchie and be her friend again.”

“No,” Shane said making a face and acting childish. “You better not finish all of those donuts; I have nothing to say to her.”

“She didn’t even do anything to you,” I replied. “She was just trying to fit in. Come on, you know what it’s like trying to fit in at a new place; being the new kid.”

“Nope,” Shane said. I rolled my eyes.

“So when does this bet start?” I asked.

“How about tomorrow morning,” Shane suggested. “That way your stomach will be completely empty.”

“Deal,” I said sticking my hand out. Shane half smiled as he shook my hand. “What donuts will I be consuming?”

“Regular glazed ones,” Shane said. “I’ll handpick them myself.”

“From where?” I asked. “Your a-”

“Bakery,” Shane said cutting me off. “I’ll just have Nate bring them or something. He has nothing better to do.”

“Tell them to come by,” I said. “I want to see Jason and Nate again.”

“Why do you want them to come?” Shane asked. “You want them to see you crash and burn in your attempt to eat a dozen donuts?”

“You’re going to eat your words tomorrow,” I replied. “If I can eat half a cake, I can surely eat a bunch of donuts.”

“Are you talking about Nate’s thirteenth birthday where you ate half of the cake, and threw up all night?” Shane asked. I scowled at Shane while he laughed.

“I had a smaller stomach back then,” I replied. “Plus I’ve been practicing. Last Thanksgiving I ate almost half the turkey.”

“Whoa, half?” Shane asked. I nodded my head.

“I was sick for three days though,” I said. I cracked a smile, while Shane laughed. “Oh well, if I get sick you can take care of me, deal?”

“Sure,” Shane said. “I doubt your dad will. He’ll think you’re stupid for agreeing to this.”

“He’ll laugh at me,” I replied, “That’s for sure. Hey can I borrow your phone for a second?”

“What for?” Shane asked skeptical of my actions.

“Please?” I asked, sticking out my bottom lip. Shane sighed as he reached into his jeans pocket to pull out his phone. I stared at it and opened it up. I went to write a new text message and quickly searched his contacts and found Nate’s number. I tried to hide a smile that was so desperately trying to crawl on my face. I choose Nate’s number and quickly started to text him.

“What are you doing?” Shane asked.

“Typing in my number,” I lied. I finished the text and shut the phone; purposely not deleting the evidence. Shane grabbed his phone and looked at it.

“No you didn’t,” he said. He was probably scrolling through his contacts while I continued to smile. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” I said. I heard Shane’s phone make a faint ding sound. I looked at him as his facial features changed from confused, to even more confused.

“What did you tell Nate?” he asked. “Never mind, I’ll see for myself if you didn’t delete it.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “What did Nate say?”

“He wanted to know where the sudden feelings came from,” Shane said. I laughed out loud while Shane stared at me. “Bella, what’s wrong with you?” I continued laughing while Shane shut his phone.

“What?” I asked, trying to refrain from my uncontrollable laughter.

“You send Nate a text saying ‘Hey big boy, want to come to my cabin tonight?’” Shane said. “Who does that?” I laughed again while Shane sat there unsure of what to do.

“Sorry,” I said biting the sides of my cheeks to stop laughing. “I had to do that. I wanted to give Nate a little confusion in his life. Maybe he’s having a discussion with Jason about this.”

“More like with a therapist,” Shane said.

“Nate goes to a shrink?” I asked. Shane laughed.

“No, I’m kidding,” he said.

“Oh,” I replied. “I didn’t know you had a sense of humor.”

“Yeah, well I do,” Shane said.

“You’re usually very blasé,” I said. “You know, dull, boring, lame.”

“I am not any of those things,” Shane said. “I can be a fun person.”

“I guess you’re right,” I said. “You are a tad bit cooler to hang around than Nate. I mean we’re the same age and he has no sense of humor. He’s basically one of the most boring people I know.”

“Come on,” Shane said standing up and picking up the picnic basket. “Let’s go back to the cabin or something. It’s getting a little chilly out.”

“No it’s not,” I said as I continued to sit on the ground. Shane started tugging at the plaid blanket that I was sitting on. “It’s pretty out tonight.”

“It’s getting late,” he said.

“It’s not even eight,” I said. “You call this late?” Shane tugged the blanket once again and managed to remove it from under me. “Jerk.” I stood up and brushed my bottom.

“At least it’s not white,” he said smugly. “Come on, I have another idea of what we can do for the rest of the night.” Our hands became intertwined as we started walking back towards the camp. I had completely forgotten we were still on the camp grounds. This little secluded area felt like it was a thousand miles away and that we were the only two people there.

“You have more plans?” I asked. “Such as?”

“Patience,” Shane said. “Watch that log.” I looked down at the ground just in time. I stepped over the log that was lying on the floor. My face would have turned fifty different shades of red and pink if I tripped over that in front of Shane. I felt I had to act different around him on certain occasions. Currently, I wanted to be less like a buffoon and more like a person with more class, though my inner child was always around.

“Race you back to the cabin,” I said.

“Come on Bella,” Shane said squeezing my hand. “Enjoy this walk with me. You know there are a lot of girls that wouldn’t mind being in your position right now.” I rolled my eyes.

“Uh huh,” I said. “You’re just mad you’re going to lose.”

“I probably will,” Shane said. “Unless you want to run while holding this basket.”

“Forget it,” I said. I walked closer to Shane and wrapped my arm around his and leaned my head against his shoulder.

“You do know people are going to see us,” he said. I scoffed to myself and continued to lean my head against Shane.

“I don’t care anymore,” I said. “People are going to start talking anyways since we are both always gone.”

“True,” Shane said. As we both continued to walk back towards the cabins, we managed to avoid everyone. Nobody seemed to be outside, which was a relief. As much as I liked Shane and wanted everyone to know that, a part of me wanted to keep it a secret. As greedy as it sounds, I liked keeping Shane to myself.

“Make yourself at home,” Shane said placing the basket on the floor besides his bed, and tossing the blanket on his bed.

“This is my home,” I said as I walked over towards the couch and sat. “Well, kind of.”

“You did leave though,” Shane said sitting next to me. “Cold?”

“Not really,” I replied. “Is this your plan, to sit here all night?”

“I didn’t really have a plan,” Shane said standing up. “Got a lighter?”

“Do I look like the kind of person that carries around a lighter?” I asked. “Go dig through my dad’s drawers.”

“No way,” Shane said. “He’d yell at me.”

“What a pansy,” I muttered as I stood up. I walked over to a chest of drawers and opened it. I started rummaging through the drawer, making it even messier. After checking three drawers, I finally found some matches hidden under a bunch of papers. “Here.” I tossed Shane the matches, as he placed a log into the fireplace. “Do you know what your doing?”

“Of course,” Shane said striking the match, but failing to strike fire. “Well, the fireplace I have at home is electric, so I’ll admit it’s been a while.” I rolled my eyes as I took the matches from Shane’s hand.

“You are a useless pop star,” I said lighting the match and tossing it into the fireplace. “Look at that, and I didn’t even break a nail.” I went back to the couch and sat on it.

“I’m not useless,” Shane said walking over and sitting to my right. “Who honestly uses matches anymore?”

“People,” I replied.

“Yeah, old people,” Shane said. “Like your dear dad.” I laughed out loud as I moved closer towards Shane and placed my head on his shoulder.

“Remember Ronald?” I asked.

“Your twentieth boyfriend?”

“No, sixth,” I replied. “Anyways, he’s your age and he used matches, not lighters.”

“You dated six guys?” Shane asked.

“No, I dated,” I stopped talking and starting counting in my head. “Seventeen guys, but half of them didn’t last over a week, so I don’t really count them as being boyfriends.” Shane scoffed as he put his arm around my shoulders.

“And you say I date girls like crazy?” Shane asked. “I only had seven girlfriends, and here you are with your seventeen.”

“Hey that’s my lucky number,” I said.

“Yeah but eighteen’s the charm,” Shane said.

“We’ll see,” I said as I stared at the fire.

“I still think you’re going to lose tomorrow,” Shane said. “Why don’t we spare you a week’s worth of an upset stomach and you just agree to let me be number eighteen?”

“Tough chance,” I replied. “You just want that to happen.”

“I won’t lie,” Shane said, “Of course I do, but I’m trying to spare you some dignity before you spend the whole day in the bathroom with your head in the toilet.”

“That won’t happen. I have a bigger appetite than you can imagine.”

“Hello my lovelies,” came the voice of my dad.

“Hi dad,” I said while I continued looking at the fire. He walked over and sat on one of the chairs to our right. “What are you up to?”

“Nothing much,” he replied. He looked back and forth between Shane and I. “What are you two up to?”

“Nothing,” Shane and I said in unison.

“Actually,” I said, “Dad I have a question for you. Do you think I can eat a dozen donuts in one sitting?” My dad let out a hearty chuckle and Shane laughed. “Dad, be serious.”

“You be serious Isabella,” he replied. “Are you kidding me or yourself? You remember what happened last Thanksgiving?” I rolled my eyes. “Or how about at one of your friend’s birthday parties.”

“You mean Nate’s?” Shane asked.

“Oh yeah,” my dad said, “Same thing happened a few years ago at another friend’s house. She ate cake and loads of barbeque and I couldn’t get her out of the loo for a good three hours.”

“Dad,” I complained. “Go away.” My dad continued to smile at me, instead of his uncomfortable stares he was giving Shane and me.

“Are you planning on eating a dozen donuts?” he asked.

“No,” I replied. “It was a hypothetical question. Now goodbye.”

“Okay,” my dad said standing up. “I can see I’m not wanted. I’ll see you later, if you’re planning on staying in here once again.” He started walking towards the door when he stopped. “Oh, nice fire by the way. First date?”

“Dad!” I heard him chuckle as he open the door and left Shane and I alone once again.

“I thought you said he didn’t like the fact of you possibly dating me,” Shane said.

“He doesn’t,” I replied. “Well, he didn’t before. Maybe he noticed you changed.”

“You think I changed?” Shane asked.

“Yeah,” I replied as I reached for his other hand and starting running my thumb up and down on his palm. “You aren’t much of a jerk anymore, compared to when you first came here.”

“Sorry about that,” Shane said. “I just didn’t know how to act around you. I hadn’t seen you in so long and the first thing that came out of my mouth was more of an insult than something warm.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said as I turned my head to face Shane. I ran my fingers up and down his soft face. Not only did Shane look angelic in the moonlight, but he looked it in the dark with the fire cracking nearby. I leaned in and kissed him on his cheek. “I forgive you…for the time being.”