After I showered, in another room. i'd called Summer up on my phone for some clothes, and of course she'd given me the tiniest denim shorts but a cute oversized shirt that was more me, thick black and white vertical lines over it and so i'd worn it even if I looked like a zebra's twin.

I pull the long sleeves up my arms now as I sat at the backseat behind Summer who was in the passenger seat and Chance who was driving, Matt and Jake in their own car and Karsen with them.

But he kept texting me, random emoji's before saying oops like that was believable. He made this mistake over thirty times in an hour drive. So no, not believable at all.

Still three hours left and I felt like groaning as I fell aside in the car, laying my head on the seat. I haven't been in a car ride this long since the accident, but i've grown out of that fear of being behind the wheel or even something as little as just being in a car.

Its just that it made me kinda queasy being in a car for so long, and I feel like that was maybe my bodies response to the trauma.

"You tired?" Summer asks as she turns around to look at me, seatbelt not on, and I want to tell her to put it on but im scared if I open my mouth i'll gag, or worse, throw up.

Maybe I'm just car sick.

I nod and she hums, "Sleep."

I nod again, closing my eyes just for another text to come through and I look to it, seeing a row of sad faces. I unlock the phone, rolling to my side and texting him back.

: Im trying to sleep douche.

His reply comes instantly.

: My apologies, but you're awake now, so let's talk.

: Automated messages.

: They work too well with what I'm saying.

I roll my eyes. He was such an idiot.

: What can I say? I know you like the back of my hand.

Can't say the same.

: Shut up.

: I miss you.

Uhhh...

: Do you now?

: Yep.

It's just been an hour.

: Worst hour of my entire life.

I smile, suddenly not as queasy since he'd distracted me quite well with his stupidity.

: I'll talk to you later if you really want to sleep.

I bite my lower, smiling lightly.

: Thanks. I miss you too.

I literally power my phone off after that, not wanting to see his gasping emoji's that I'd actually admitted something, or how he'd say, wow, she actually has feelings! In response to the, I miss you too, text.

I roll my eyes at the thought and closed my eyes shut, laying there and counting sheep's which soon turned into darkness and then finally, sleep.

When we got there to the lake house I was awake again, just having woke up a few minutes before and I was laying my head on my knees, staring out the window when my eyes met the lake and I stared at it, moving to sit upright.

It was huge, and beautiful. So serene looking as the sun hit it at the perfect angle. So calm, peaceful as well as clean. Maybe I actually really needed this.

The car comes to a halt and I look to a nice looking double story wooden lake house and my lips part a little. This wasn't a measly lake house. It was as beautiful as the lake was.

The door opens beside me and Summer opens it, holding a hand out to me and I take it as I get down and walk out beside her, but Karsen's far quicker and suddenly he's next to me, pulling me to his side and away from Summer and I look to her with a small apologetic smile, but she only smirks back with a wiggle of her brows which makes my brows furrow.

I look to him and he shows me the text i'd sent. "Im gonna show you this text everyday."

"You're pathetic." I joke with a small smile and he smiles back, that dimpled grin that makes my stomach flip and head ache in confusion.

I look away, his hand sliding into mine and I don't let go when he holds it and as we walk together inside I wonder, how do people know if they really actually like someone?

If its not just infatuation? How do people tell if the feelings are real or if its just a small time thing? How do I know if I like him?

I've never felt the way I began to feel with Karsen before, but is that enough to tell? Is that not just my mind clinging to him because he's here? What if I don't like him, what if I just like the idea of him? The idea of someone who shows up for me, who's always there for me?

How do I know if its him I want or if its just my bodies reaction to not really being sexually attracted to someone until him? What if this is just it? Just some short feeling that sparked and will leave as soon as we start something more?

Or what if this actually gets somewhere, and suddenly he doesn't want me anymore when it gets too tough?

What if he leaves me?

I look at him and I take my hand out of his, crossing my arms over my chest as I walk to the couch where Jake and Summer are seated already, looking at something on her phone and I move to sit beside Jake, the two looking to me and showing me the phone screen too and I blink at the text.

Its from Cherry.

And its about Karsen's whereabouts.

Again.

I eye it. "Is she like obsessed with him or something?" I ask as I lean back on the couch and they both shrug at the same time, "Probably, hope you don't mind I told Jake about what happened in the girls bathroom."

I cock my head to the side a little, confused as to why Summer would think i'd be pissed off if she told him that, "It's okay?" I say it more like a question than a statement and she smiles, leaning closer over Jake's lap.

"So, do you wanna go camping outside tonight?"

I blink, "Pardon?"

"Camping! We decided to camp outside tonight, and if its shitty we'll sleep back upstairs in here tomorrow."

Well, the worst part about camping was probably second by not being able to sleep on a comfortable mattress, the first thing for me personally was not showering. But we had a shower back here, so we could do that here, and I guess I could go one night outside, especially when it was as beautiful as that.

"No animals here?"

Jake shakes his head, "None, its private land and they maintain it."

I hum with a nod, "I guess it'd be cool then."

She grins a toothy grin at me, "We only have three tents though so..."

"So you'll sleep with me?" I ask her and she raises a brow, "Or you can sleep with Karsen." She suggest before she wiggles her brows my way and I blink. Looking back to Karsen who was laying his head on his arms as he looked up and spoke to both Matt and Chance.

Sleeping in a bed with Karsen was fine.

But in a tent?

"I'll think about it." I tell her and she hums, "You do that."

"Wanna go swimming?" Chance says suddenly and we all look over at him, "Yeah, its really fucking hot here." Jake replies as he stands up and pulls both Summer and I's hands too, getting us up.

"No costu-"

"I have two! One unused."

Did she pack her entire cupboard?

I look to Summee and nod, "Is it a one piece?"

When she nods I relax a little more, knowing the marks would then be covered.

But when I get upstairs and see that its off the shoulders, and kind of sexy, I blink. I mean, I can do sexy, but could I do sexy right now when Karsen was there and I was so damn confused?

Im not sure.

"It'll look so good on you, your tits are literally amazing." She pokes one boob through the shirt and I raise a brow, shaking my head as she goes to change in her yellow colored two piece bikini. "Come down when you're done changing babe." She sings as she closed the door behind her.

I stared at the black one piece in hand and swallowed, slowly pulling off my shorts and then my shirt, unhooking my bra at the back, taking my panties off and then standing there, naked, staring at the piece of fabric once again.

I sigh, taking it and putting it on from my legs upwards, pulling it up and when I have to tug harder to get my boobs in too I curse, knowing it'd be pressing against the material.

But its a good thing, since it keeps the pieces on the side of my arm to keep the swimsuit on and up without sliding off, and I know they'd definitely not get an eyeful of my tits, which is great news.

I sigh, fixing my hair into a bun with a little elastic before I tie it and let a few stray hairs loose, I scratch at it and blow out a breath before I get out the room, crossing my arms over my chest and walking downstairs just to see Summer waiting for me with a water bottle in hand.

She looks to me when she see's me from the corner of her eye and smiles widely, so wide that I almost smile back but instead Im too nervous to smile.

Fucking hell, im never this nervous, ever. I breathe out softly and she grabs my hand, rubbing it reassuringly between her hands, "You look amazing."

"You do too." I tell her as she takes my hand and we walk over to the glass sliding door, "Are you okay?" She asks me softly and I look to her, a little confused as to why she was asking me that, "Of course I am, why're you asking?"

"You stayed at Karsen's place."

"For the project." I lie smoothly, but in all honesty, we had just been working on the project for most of the time when I was there yesterday.

"You looked like you'd been crying in the morning." She replies, opening the sliding door and I walk with her down the paved walk walk, stepping on each circular stone that was intricately designed and I shrug.

"Allergies, Im not used to his house."

She looks unconvinced but I think she can tell I don't want to speak about it any longer so she doesn't question any further.

When we got down over the small hill that leads to the the lake and we find all the guys in the water, we see them, and they seemed to have just discovered that if you lay on your back, you float.

I snort, shaking my head at that as we walk down the hill before plopping down on the grass, sitting cross legged as she does too after setting the picnic blanket down.

"Its still so warm out." I tell her and she hums, laying back and takes a gulp of her water, when she'd done she pops the bottle out her mouth, "Wanna go swim?"

"Not really." I lay back on the blanket too.

"You?"

"Nope." She says, popping the p and I nod.

I just wanted to relax.

Which was short lived.

"Hi Addy."

I knew who that had come from, and so I opened my eyes, looking up to Karsen who was looking down at me, and he was upside down, of course. Just like Chance was to Summer right now.

What's going on with them?

"Hmm?"

"Can you swim?" Both guy's asked us in unison, their voices merging and I blink.

"Yes?" Summer and I reply, both kinda warily.

But we shouldn't have said that because in seconds they'd yanked us up at our hands, throwing us over their shoulders and we gasped.

"Karsen!"

"Chance!"

And then suddenly within seconds we were thrown and submerged into the lake water and all I felt was rage as I broke through the water. Cold, very cold rage, because the water was literally the temperature of ice for some reason.

When I resurfaced I gasped, my usually curly hair flat down my back and I glared at Karsen who looked mighty proud of himself, "I really, really fucking hate you." I seethed, wiping my face with both hands as I walked back up but he walked closer to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my cheek softly as he walked us back in the water and my arms became noodles.

He leans down, kissing my ear and my eyes widen at the action. "You're so pretty when you're wet Adrienne." He murmurs softly into my ear, only for us to hear, and I feel myself blush without meaning to because he had to have noticed the double meaning behind that sentence.

He wipes over my eye lids, wiping away the water that clung to my eyelashes and he smiles as he walks us further back in the water, "I like this." He says in reference to the sleeves as he flicks it and I hum.

"Why?" I question as he moves my hands to his shoulders, picking me up at my thighs and I wrap my legs around his waist, my ankles hooking around his back and my eyes almost widen as I look down to my legs wrapped around him.

"Im sure it makes it so damn easy to slide this right off of you." He says, tipping my chin back to meet his gaze, "Right Addy?"

Im a blushing mess and I know it.

"Don't flirt too much Krist, I might start to think you have an actual crush on me."

He smirks, leaning down and nudging his nose with my own, "Maybe that's what I want you to think."

I smile, moving away, hiding my face in the crook of his neck instead, "Gonna let me go now?" I ask, even if some part of me likes being so close to him, and when he kisses my shoulder and says, "No."

I don't even care.

===

After swimming we'd went to the tents the guys had set up, which was actually reasonable in size, except that they were very far apart and Summer kept wiggling her brows at me.

And I knew what that meant. Horny fuckers.

Now we were sitting around wrapped in our towels as we sit around the camp fire, roasting marshmallows, Karsen beside me but for some reason he's been awfully quiet.

"You okay there Krist?" I ask him and he looks to me, away from the fire, smiling before he nods, "Yeah, just thinking."

I raise a brow and he smiles weakly, "I kinda wanted to smoke."

I frown, leaning closer and wrapping my arms around him in a hug because I know he needs it, feeling the ridges of his abs on my finger and I almost blush as if I hadn't seen how toned he was already.

"Im proud of you for not smoking." I murmur, and I mean it. He kisses the top of my head before he hugs me back, "I know, and its probably the only thing stopping me from smoking right now."

I roll my eyes at that but I'm smiling as I move back.

"No one has ever cared about me the way you do." So i'll care about you. I tell him as I take my marshmallow and he looks to me, staring at me, "I hate that."

I eye him, putting a little space between us, "What?"

"That you weren't cared for before."

I stare at him.

He stares at me.

We just stare at one another.

And theres something lingering there between us but we shouldn't find out.

Right?

"You're so beautiful, you know that?"

Beautiful. Not pretty. This time he'd said beautiful.

I blush and look away, back to my marshmallow as I bring it to my hand and pull it off the skewer, biting into the mushy goodness, "Don't butter me up Kirst."

He snorts, laying his head on my shoulder and I let him as I show him the other skewer and he takes a marshmallow.

"Adrienne."

I hum, playing with the skewer and then I feel a kiss on my cheek that almost makes me smile, "I'll always care about you, I promise."

It sounds so simple but it isn't, caring takes a lot out of a person, you put yourself out there when you care. And he did, he put himself out there, for me.

I lean my head on his shoulder, kissing it softly but not speaking, because I don't know what to say, not knowing how to respond to something so raw and emotional.

So thank you, is all I think.