Salvaged (37 page)

"Oh, Attie, are you all right?" Tess cried.

"I'm fine. I look worse than I feel."

Tess shook her head. "I'm not buying it."

"Where did we put the first aid kit, Tess?" Chase asked.

"I think it's on the floorboard of the car."

Matt ran toward the car. "I'll get it."

"Actually, Matt, will you lie the seats down in the back?" Chase
asked. "We'll be able to see better if we clean her up in there."

Although I didn't wanna let go of her, I placed Attie into the
car. She'd been on my back since we left the rock, so I hadn't seen
her face in over an hour. Upon seeing her, I started crying again. Her
feet were badly cut up, and her face was starting to swell.

Chase grabbed my arm. "Okay, why don't you girls get her
cleaned up? I need to talk to Riley."

The girls filed into the car as I followed Chase out by the river.

"Thanks for everything, Chase."We sat down on the edge of the
water. "I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here.
I don't think I would have been able to find her on my own. Actually,
I know I wouldn't."

"Sure."

As we sat watching the water, I could hear the girls'voices coming from the car but wasn't able to understand what they were saying. Matt and Curt were arguing over a game of dominos.

"You think I'm a total jerk, don't you?" I asked over the sound
of the river.

"Nah, dude. Trust me, you aren't the only guy who ever messed
up and treated a girl like that. We've all done it, but I'll still hit you
if you do it again."

"It won't happen again," I assured him.

"I know," he said, nodding his head. "But here's my question.
Why do you let the guys say those things about her? My friends
would never talk about Tess like that. I wouldn't allow it."

I was stunned.

"You're setting yourself up for frustration if you let them harass
you like that all the time. Either they don't know you as well as they
think they do, or you've changed and they haven't realized it. Either way,
you've got to put a stop to it. If you let them talk about her like that,
they're gonna think she's just another girl you're fooling around with."

"That's not the case."

"I know that, but I don't think they do. Is that the kind of girl
you want them to think she is? You want them thinking about
Attie what they think about Tiffany or some of the other girls
around the school?"

The thought of it made my skin crawl. "No."

"Well, you're letting them."

"I hadn't ever thought about it."

"Look, doing the right thing is hard enough as it is. Hanging
around people who constantly try to bring you down or encourage
you to do things you know you shouldn't doesn't seem very beneficial
to me."

"They've been my friends for a long time, Chase. I can't cut
them off because they don't see things the way I do."

"Okay, so don't cut them off, but you can at least ask them to
respect your choices. If they can't do that, then what kind of friends
are they? Iron sharpens iron, and those guys are wearing you down,
so I'd venture to guess they aren't iron."

I nodded. "I see that now."

We sat as I processed all that Chase said. I couldn't blame my friends for the way I behaved, but the constant taunting didn't help
my resolve. I needed to make sure they realized that Attie was different. She was important to me. If they couldn't change the way they
talked about her, I would be forced to choose, and they would lose.

He stood and threw a rock into the river. "Should we go check
on Attie?"

"Yep."

"No more crying, okay?" Chase teased.

"I'm not making any promises. The girl brings it out in me."

Anne and Tess were cleaning Attie's cuts with disinfectant, and
Tammy followed behind them blowing on the wounds to try to keep
them from stinging.

"I'm about to hyperventilate,"Tammy said, breathless. "I need to
clean, and somebody else needs to blow."

Anne raised her hand. "I'll blow."

"This whole thing blows if you ask me," Tess mumbled.

"I couldn't agree more," I interrupted. "Wonder what kind of
jerk could have caused all this."

"A big one," Tammy answered.

"Tammy," Anne scolded.

"Well, he asked."

"She's right, Anne; I did ask."

Anne handed me some disinfectant. "We haven't started on her
feet yet. Why don't you?"

Chase brought me some bottled water and then stood with the
lantern so that I could see while I washed her feet. No matter how
gentle I was, it caused Attie pain. Her feet were badly torn up, and
some of the spots were puncture wounds rather than cuts.

"Attie," Chase said, "when we get you home, you probly need to
get a tetanus shot."

"Oh no," she moaned. "I hate shots."

"Make Riley go and hold your hand," Tammy suggested. "I can
go too and kick him in the shin if that'll make you feel better."

"You already slapped me, Tammy; how much more damage are
you wanting to do?"

"As much as you deserve."

"You slapped him?" Attie sounded shocked. "Awesome."

"It felt good," Tammy admitted.

"Speak for yourself," I mumbled.

"No more beating up on Riley. I think he's beating himself up
enough as it is," Anne said in her protective manner.

I smiled up at her. "Thank you, Anne."

"Sure."

"Blow, Anne, blow!" Attie scrunched her face in pain. "You're
not blowing!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Anne cried and then started frantically blowing
on Attie's skin.

Attie sat up. "Riley, don't do the disinfectant yet. I can only handle a little at a time. I'm a wimp, remember?"

"I think we're about done with this part," Tess informed her.

"Thank God." Attie sighed and then laid back and closed her
eyes. "I want to take a break for a minute."

The car went silent, and I focused on Attie's crimson toenails as
we waited for her to tell us she was ready for round two.

"All right," she said. "Let's do it."

Tammy and Tess held her hands, and Anne stroked her forehead, but as soon as the disinfectant touched one of her wounds,
Attie's foot jerked.

"No more kicking me in the face, Charlie."

"You kicked him in the face?" Tammy asked.

"Oh yeah. She about knocked me unconscious."

Attie told the story as I cleaned each wound. I then went on to
apply disinfectant and made sure to blow on each one for several
seconds in order to lessen the pain. Finally wrapping her feet in
gauze, everyone clapped as I announced that I was finished.

"No more running through forests, Attie," Tammy scolded.
"And no more being a butthead, Riley."

"Yes, ma'am," we said simultaneously.

"Okay, let's allow her to get some rest," Anne suggested. "Are
you guys going to sleep in here?" she asked, looking at me.

"Attie can sleep here. I'll sleep in the tent."

"I'll sleep in here with you, Attie," Anne offered. "I'll get our
stuff out of the tent. Come on, Tammy."

"You could have stayed with me, Riley. I trust you. Besides, you
aren't going to want to make out with a girl who looks the way I do
right now."

"I would if the girl was you. It's just you, Charlie. I'll take you in
any way, shape, or form."

"We'll see about that; the summer isn't over yet."

"Would you please stop saying that?"

"Riley-"

"No, don't even go there. Nothing's changed; my feelings for you
haven't and won't change."

Anne and Tammy returned with sleeping bags and pillows.

"Hey, Anne, can you help Attie get everything set up while I
talk to Riley a minute?" Tammy asked.

"It depends," Anne answered. "You aren't going to beat him up,
are you?"

"I won't lay a hand on him, I promise."

"Then yes, you two go ahead."

I climbed out of the car, and we made our way to the front
bumper.

"Look," Tammy whispered, "you know I'm angry about what
took place."

"Yeah, and I'm even more angry with myself"

"I believe that. I just wanna shed a little light on the situation."

"Please do. I need all the help I can get."

"Ya aren't fooling anyone."

"What?"

"This whole idea that you aren't gonna be `romantically
involved' until the end of summer is completely ludicrous, and it
isn't working."

"Amen."

"I respect your choices, Riley, I do. I appreciate them. You don't
wanna put yourself in a situation where you feel like you can't control yourself and you might do something that you would regret. So
you avoid all physical contact, and she avoids telling you how she
really feels."

"Yes."

"Well, how's that workin' for ya?"

"Not very well."

"Not at all. You freakin' woulda ripped her clothes off today if
she'd a let ya."

"True. Are you trying to help?"

"Think of it this way," she said, ignoring me. "A two-liter of Dr
Pepper."

"A two-liter of Dr Pepper?"

"Work with me here, Riley. If it's been shaken and you open it
all at once, what happens?"

"It explodes."

"Exactly. So how do you keep it from exploding?"

I pictured it in my head. For some reason, more than any other
soda, Dr Pepper always exploded when you opened it. "Open it a
little at a time and let the bubbles out."

"Yes. Okay now, follow me here; you and Attie are bottles of Dr
Pepper. All the time you spend together and the way you feel about
each other is shaking your bottle."

I started laughing at the analogy but caught her glaring at me.
"Sorry. Go on."

"You weren't opening the bottle and letting any bubbles out,
so the pressure kept building to the point that you exploded. You'd
never touched her like that before, so when your pressure point was
at its max and you touched her, you literally exploded."

"I see what you're saying."

"Trust me; I'm not suggestin' that you guys mug all over each
other all the time. You need to respect some boundaries-lots of
boundaries. But dear Lord, there isn't anything wrong with showing each other a little bit of affection. Let some of the air out of the bottle so ya aren't so dang explosive. You can be intimate and
physical without being sexual. Focus on ways of doing that instead
of trying to avoid each other altogether."

"As weird as it sounds, that makes a lot of sense. I was being
respectful of her and my parents. I wanna be there when she needs
me at night without her worrying that I'm gonna try to make a move
on her."

"That's sorta my point, Riley. I can't imagine many things more
intimate than holding someone you care about while they're hurting.
You aren't gonna be thinking of making out with her in those times.
It's an intimate moment, but it isn't sexual in nature, and you've
grown closer through that type of intimacy than you ever could by
having sex."

"True."

"You two need to sit down and think of ways to be together
without `being together.' You know what I mean?"

"Yes."

"Seriously, Riley, all this `we're not an item'stuff is driving everyone bonkers. I don't even think your parents are buying it at this
point. They would have to be blind not to see the sparks."

"We're that bad?"

"Yes."

"You know, you're pretty good at this advice thing, Tammy."

"You aren't the only person who's been in counseling. We've all
got issues."

"Well, that's a relief. Thanks."

"Sure. But know this, you act inappropriately and I will kick
your butt."

"I'm sure you will. You and Chase both."

Anne came around the corner. "She's fighting falling asleep
until you get there, Riley. She wanted to talk to you before she fell
asleep."

"I'm going right now." I gave Tammy a kiss on the cheek.
"You're the best, but I'll never look at a bottle of Dr Pepper the
same again.

"You guys talked about Dr Pepper?" I heard Anne ask as I ran
past her.

I climbed into the back of the car and lay down next to Attie.
"I'm here. I'll stay until you fall asleep."

She started mumbling. "No, I want to talk to you. I want to
make sure you're all right. I don't want you upset with me for
overreacting."

"I'm all right. I'm not upset with you; how could I be?"

"But-"

"Go to sleep, Charlie, we can talk about this tomorrow."

Her eyes shut and then quickly opened again. "Do you really
think you'll still want to go out with me?"

"More than ever."