My Wish for You (19 page)

“Yeah Bry. I’m
sure. Go on. I’ll be there soon. Don’t worry.”

He and Sarah
turned away from me and continued to hike. Sean, who had been quiet up until
then, stopped and looked at me.

“Do you want me
to stay with you so you won’t be lonely?”

I thought about
it for a short second, and then completely shut the idea out of my head,
despite the feeling that him asking gave me. I didn’t want to be a burden on
him or any of them for that matter.

“No, I’ll be
okay,” I reassured him.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Positive.”

“Okay.” He
turned and started to walk up the mountain. Once he got to the edge of it, he
looked back at me and smiled. I faltered slightly before giving him a small smile
back.

After he left I
found a rock to sit on and pouted for a while. I didn’t even want to go on a
hike to begin with; I wanted to go swimming. But noooo, everyone wanted to go
hiking. Stupid hiking.

Eventually, I
got up and started to go find them, but once I got to the other side of the
ridge of the mountain, I found that I didn’t know which direction they were
headed. Mitch and Cassie told Brian and Sean how to get there. So, I was
completely clueless and really regretting not having Sean stay with me. I went
left and wandered around for hours and hours, whereas, if I had gone right, I
would have eventually run into the lake and been able to find my way home.

By the time it
started to get dark, I was freaking out. I was hungry, and the air felt thick,
like a storm was going to roll in. I tried to wander around for a short while
after the sun went down, but it was too dark in the woods and I couldn’t see
anything around me. As I had feared, a rainstorm rolled through, and it poured
for most of the night.

There was no
sleep for me. At one point, during the rain, a few frogs were passing by and
one jumped on me like it was attacking me, ruining my mindset that it was dark
and if I couldn’t see anything, nothing would get me. It was the longest night
of my life.

The next day
wasn’t much better. While it had stopped raining, it was unbelievably hot. I
wandered around until it got too hot, and then took refuge underneath a tree.
There were no hikers, no rangers…nothing. I was hungry, thirsty, exhausted, scared,
and alone.

Once it started
cooling down, I started to walk again. I walked until I came across an old
picnic area. Since it was close to dark and I felt it was the closest thing I
would find for shelter, I curled up on the table and hoped that someone would
find me.

At some point in
the night, I must have fallen asleep, because the next morning, I was being
awakened by a ranger, carrying me back home where my mom was waiting for me,
worried sick. She brought me inside where I showered, ate, and then slept for a
whole day.

It was the
turning point of my friendship with Sarah. She felt horrible about what
happened, as did Brian and Sean, and they all got in huge trouble. It was the
only time that our pact was not in effect, and the only time it didn’t even get
brought up.

After those two
days in the woods, I had a fear of the dark, and frogs, and the woods at night.
As I got older, I grew out of my fear of the dark. Frogs were now a major
inconvenience and I wanted nothing to do with them. But the woods, especially
at night, were something I could never get over.

It was nothing
like that now though. Sean was right about the glow sticks. I could always see
at least one in front of me and one behind me. Sensing the anticipation that
Sean was feeling, I remained silent, and he didn’t push conversation. We walked
and walked until I noticed that there were a few blue glow sticks amongst the
green.

“Why are those
different?” I asked pointing them out.

“To signal the
end,” he said simply.

And with that,
he stopped walking and got behind me, covering my eyes.

“What are you
doing?”

“We can’t ruin
your surprise now, can we?” He chuckled at my apprehension.

“Yes. Yes we
can,” I said seriously.

“We cannot. I’m
sorry.”

“You are not,” I
disagreed.

“You’re right,” he
whispered, leaning down and kissing my cheek.

We walked about
ten steps and he stopped us.

“Ready?” he
eagerly murmured into my ear.

“As I’ll ever
be,” I muttered sarcastically, smiling in spite of myself.

Slowly, he
pulled his hands from my eyes, and my jaw dropped in amazement as I took it all
in.

It was
beautiful. More than beautiful…it was exquisite. It was a small campfire picnic
area, one that probably hadn’t been used in years. Before I had quit coming to
the cabin, they used to have Boy and Girl Scout camps in some of the bigger
cabins. Depending on what time of the year we came, we would see various
troops, all varying in age. They stopped using the site when they found a
better place, and since then, it had just sat there, unused. It looked so
forgotten, yet so magical.

In the grass
area, there was a large picnic blanket. Surrounding it were a bunch of small
tea light candles in glasses. A small fire was going, and sitting on a log next
to it were two gifts.

“Would you like
to open your gifts first or eat first?” he asked, putting his hand on the small
of my back.

“Let’s eat
first,” I said quickly, and he chuckled at me.

He led me to the
blanket and we sat down across from each other. He pulled the picnic basket
over to him, opened it, and started pulling out dinner.

“Okay, so I
wanted something much better, much more…romantic…than ham sandwiches, but a; I
can’t cook, and b; I didn’t have anything to keep it warm.”

I laughed
lightly.

“Well, a; we don’t
need hot food, and b; ham sandwiches are my favorite.”

“I know,” he
smiled.

He handed me a
sandwich and pulled out another container, this one filled with strawberries…my
favorite fruit. I picked one out and popped it into my mouth.

“So, did you do
all this on your own?” I asked, breaking off a piece of my sandwich.

“Sadly, I didn’t.
I had some help. As I said, me and food don’t mix. So, my mom helped with some
of that. Brian made sure you weren’t in danger of figuring out what I was up
to, and the girls were to keep you distracted. But everything else was me.” He
gave me a cheesy smile.

I looked around
again, and thought about all the effort he must have put into this one night. I
shifted my gaze back to him.

“Thank you.” I
smiled back.

We managed to
keep the conversation light through dinner. I got a little worried when I told
him about Alisha’s outburst about Tasha, but all he did was laugh and carry on
with the rest of the conversation. When we were done eating our sandwiches and
fruit, Sean led me over to the fire, where we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores.
And when I felt like I couldn’t eat any more, Sean looked down at his watch,
got up, and walked over to the picnic basket, where he pulled out a cupcake and
a candle. He lit the candle and sat back down in front of me, holding out the cupcake.

“It is
officially your birthday.”

“Oh goodness!”

He gave me a
look and I quit joking around.

“Happy Birthday,
Samantha. Make a wish.”

Looking deeply
into his eyes, I already knew what I was going to wish for; the same thing I
always wished for whenever I saw a shooting star or a birthday candle. I
glanced up at the night sky above us before looking down at him, smiling, and
making my wish. My wish for him.

I blew out the
candle and we shared the cupcake, because I was so beyond being full. Once we
were all out of food to share, I knew the inevitable had arrived.

“Are you ready
for your gifts?”

“I guess so,” I
conceded, and he handed me the first box, which was a small one. I held the box
up to my shirt, matching the pink plaids. “Did you match my shirt on purpose?

He laughed at
me. “No. Come on. Just open it.”

I tore off the
wrapping paper slowly, revealing a powder blue, rather expensive box. I shot
him a look to tell him that I already knew it was too much. Gently, I opened
the box.

I have to say,
my feelings for the bracelet were somewhat mixed. While on one hand, it was a
beautiful silver charm bracelet, on the other hand, the only charm on it was a
frog. I frowned up at him in confusion. Upon seeing my face, he started
laughing hysterically. Puzzled, I stared at him.

“Oh man. Sammy.
I’m sorry. I had to. You should have seen your face. The frog isn’t really a
part of the gift. Just a gag.”

“Jerk,” I
grumbled lightly. “I thought you were serious.”

“No,” he laughed
again. “I’ll take it off for you.”

“No, no. No, you
won’t. I want everyone to see how mean you are,” I teased, smiling up at him. I
had him put the bracelet on my wrist, and I shook it into place.

“Really though.
This is the charm I got for it.” He handed me a small box, about the size of a
ring box, which was in his pocket. I took it from him gingerly and opened it to
find a simple shooting star lying within it.

“Is there a
story behind this, or do you just know I have a thing for stars?” I asked,
taking it out of the box and handing it to him to put it on my wrist.

“You remember
that night we went to the movies?” he inquired, attaching the shooting star to
my bracelet.

“Of course. How
could I forget?”

“Well, that
night when we saw that shooting star, you were my wish. Always; it was my wish
for you.”

My eyes got
teary and I looked up at him, smiling. He leaned forward and wiped the tear
that had slipped down my cheek, smiling back at me. He gazed into my eyes as he
leaned forward and kissed me softly. I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around
his neck, before he pulled back and brought the other gift over, excitement
bright in his eyes.

“Ready?”

“For what?”

“Something
epically amazing.”

“Like?”

“Like you have
to walk with me down to the dock to find out.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Sean dragged me
over to the dock. Once we got to the edge, I slipped off my sandals and we sat
down, letting our feet hang over the edge. The water was like a chilling bath
made of marble as my feet sunk into it. The full moon, glowing in a strange
way, glistened off the dark mirror, making everything illuminated. A ring
circled the moon, and I remembered the old wives’ tales my grandpa would tell
me about great fishing days if the moon had a circle around it the night
before. I listened to the crickets, and the sounds of the night reminded me of
our long camping trips from my childhood.

“Aren’t you
going to open it?” Sean, eager to see me open it, nudged the box toward me. He
was like a little kid on Christmas. I smiled at him and picked it up. It was
heavy. I wondered what on earth could possibly give us reason to come out to
the lake.

I pulled the
ribbon, tied in a sloppy bow, and it came undone easily. The wrapping paper
came off easily as well. The simple brown box was taped at the top. I yanked
the corner of the tape where it wasn’t sticking to the box. It put up more of
an effort to stay on, but in the end, I got it off as well. I opened the box
and looked inside. It was an arrangement of small fireworks with long fuses
mounted to a piece of what appeared to be Styrofoam.

I slid it out of
the box and looked at him. “Thank you?” I said, confused.

“Well, that’s
not really the gift.” He took the arrangement from me and sat it on the water. It
stayed afloat as he pulled out a stick lighter. I watched as he lit the fuse
and softly pushed them away from the dock.

As I waited for
the fireworks to go off, I felt a rush of different emotions come over me. I
was happy, touched, and somewhat overwhelmed, but most of all, I felt loved
like I never had. No one had ever done anything like this for me before.

Then, as quickly
as he had lit them, they started to go off. Brilliant reds and blues erupted
with a loud crackling in the silent night. Greens and purples overflowed
gracefully. It was more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. A big grin
spread across my face and I tossed myself into Sean’s arms and gave him a big
hug.

“Oh, my God. I
think that is the best gift anyone has ever given me!”

“Really?”

“Most
definitely. Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”
He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me slightly. “I’m glad.”

“Hey! Who’s
making all that racket?!”

An older man was
walking with a cane at an extremely fast pace towards Sean and me. I giggled
and grabbed my shoes. I pulled Sean up and we ran for it, laughing, still
holding hands. He led the way back up to the picnic area. The ground was cool
on our wet feet as we ran through the tall grass. We finally got back to the
picnic area, where our leftovers from the midnight picnic were still sitting.
The candles were mostly burnt out and the fire was getting low, but it still
held the magic as it had when I first stepped into the area.

We came to a
walk and eventually stopped. I looked at Sean and he tugged my hand, bringing
me into his arms. I stretched my arms up to his shoulders as he bent his head
down. Our faces inched closer to each other, like there was a gravitational
pull.

“Sammy?” he
whispered, putting his forehead on mine.

“Yeah, Sean?” I
replied, closing my eyes.

“Sammy. I’m so
sorry about leaving you the other night. I wasn’t thinking about your feelings,
and I wasn’t listening to what I wanted to do. And I’m sorry that I hurt you. I
promise that is the last time I will ever pick Tasha over you.”

I opened my eyes
and gazed into his, putting my hands on his cheeks. Then, with an undeniable
passion, our lips collided together softly. He hands slid down around my waist
and pulled me closer.