Chapter 6

Tayler is put into a sitution where she must choose to try again or avoid the past.

My eyes grew heavy as we sat around the camp fire, Justin and all his friends. I could hear them all laughing and talking about people they knew and places they wanna go. Yet everything was quiet.

I watched the fire crackle, embers floating into the sky and the flames licking at the cool and thin air. Across the fire, shadows painted his face, his eyes shined like glassy emeralds, his toothy smile picture perfect.

I wish I had the ability to draw something so beautiful. I would never be able to duplicate such a masterpiece though.

"He's amazing huh?" A voice said softly shattering the dream state I was in.

I look over, it was Chelsea leaning over her chair staring at me. "Yeah..." I wasn't sure what she'd say...

"Don't be embarrassed! I understand exactly." She winked at me and then leaned forward toward the group. " Hey who wants to play a little sleepover game?" Everyone stopped and looked at her, the guys barely interested, but curious and the girls half devious looking half excited. I was the one nervous...

We gathered into one of the tents and sat in a circle all of us glancing around anxiously.

"Ok tayler, this is how it works." Isabella swipes Donny's hat off his head and puts it in the middle of the circle and passes around paper and pens. "You write the names of a pair on a piece of paper, fold it once and put it into the hat. I'll shake them up and pick a piece and which ever pair I pick has to go into the other tent for seven minutes."

"You know, seven minutes in heaven." Jaque said winking at me.

We all wrote on our peices of paper, I scribbled the names donny and michelle, and put them into the hat. Isabella shook them up and tossed them suspensfully like a sacred salad of destiny and then dramatically chose one, unfolding it and looking up.

"So who is it gonna be first?" Asked Max excitedly.

"Jaque and Justin." Everyone looked around a little surprised, but almost routine like the two stood and left the tent. We all stared and listened as they zipped themselves up in the next tent.

"Who do you think put those names together?" Asked Michelle wondering.

"Who do you think?" Chelsea replied, "Jaque has been wanting to hook up with him since we got here." I swallowed nervously. I thought she seemed a little annoyed with me...

"Well, now's her chance I guess...." Said Isabella.

We sat bored and waiting for six minutes and were too far away to hear anything that might be going on. And then, just as the seven minutes was about to be up, Jaque appears back in the tent cross legged and simple as if nothing had happened, but she seemed different. Justin returned right behind her, his expression blank and relaxed.

"Alrighty then, who's next." This time Isabella sticks her hand into the hat quickly, pulls out the names and reads them before anyone can say a word. "Tayler and Justin." She smirks.

"Damn Justin's getting all the actions, no fun." Donny huffs.

"Run along." Chelsea says.

I follow Justin into the tent, where it's dark and the air is icy and stiff. He sits and turns to me. I avoid his eyes and sit brushing the hair from my face nervously. My heart was pounding and my lungs filled my chest and stomach making each breathe a heavy task.

"So..." he said looking at me still.

"So... your second round." I said lifting my brows at him.

"Not really." He shrugged. I lifted my head to look at him.

"How so?" I ask.

"I didn't kiss her." This actually surprised me, I mean what else would they have done for seven minutes? " We just talked... I mean she wanted to, but I don't know, it just didn't feel cool." He looked me in the eyes.

" Oh I see. It's all good, if your not..." He moved in closer to me, his breathe warm on my cheek, I couldn't move, let alone speak... let alone breathe.

"It's ok, just breathe." He whispered, his hand wrapping around my waist and pulling me towards him instantly making me inhale a deep gasp of air. His second hand crawled up my back and I found mine wrapped around his neck and just being this close made my heart thrash into my ribcage fighting to be set free.

His lips moved closer, and just as they grazed the tips of my own, I pulled away.

"I can't do this!" I fell back, my hands over my face trying to catch my breath.

"I'm sorry...It's just..."

"No no, I just can't do that kind of thing, I mean I just met you and you have no idea how much I want to kiss you, but I just can't." He was silent. "I'd just be getting myself into trouble if I did anything with you and I can't handle that right now.

"I understand Tayler." I looked up at him, disappointed, "and I don't want to cause you any trouble." He moved closer and my hands covered my face again, unable to look at him. He pulled me up and embraced me.

He was warm and our bodies molded together like clay. He held me like that for five minutes and when he let go, smiling, the tent shook around us... something was outside.