Too Perfect
We
had been walking for about half an hour when Brian finally set me down after we
had reached the distance he considered safe from the lodge. He was such a
goof, but I loved every minute of it. We walked hand in hand, not saying
much, just enjoying each others company. Anita and A.J. were a bit farther
ahead.
“I
love you,” Brian said softly and suddenly.
I
stopped a little surprised. I mean he had told me countless times before,
but there was something about the way he said it this time.
“What?”
I asked.
“I
love you,” he repeated looking into my eyes.
His
normally bright blue eyes seemed dulled by fear and sadness. He took my
hands in his.
“Elyssa,
I just want you to know how much a care about you. You mean so much to
me. I love you so much, never ever forget that,” he gently stroked my
cheek and gingerly pulled a piece of stray hair away from my eyes. “I know it
sounds corny but you are one of the best things that has ever happened to me.”
His eyes seemed to glaze over.
“Bri,
what’s wrong?” I asked a little bit concerned.
“I
don’t know. I just have this feeling that something really terrible is
going to happen and I just wanted to make sure you knew how deeply I feel for
you.”
“Don’t
worry,” I assured him as I pulled him into a tight hug. “I know and I
love you too.” I said gently into his ear. “I’m sure nothing is going to
happen.”
“I
hope you’re right.” he said giving me a faint smile.
“Yo
guys, hurry up,” A.J. called from ahead.
So
Brian and I continued our trek to the General Store. We eventually got
there and picked up what we needed. So we started to head back towards the
lodge. Brian and I were fairly quiet. His talk of bad things
happening had instilled a sense of foreboding into me. After awhile I
relaxed, I mean what could possibly happen? Besides the fact that the
clouds looked as though they were about to rain on us at any minute.
“Oh
God, I’ll never forget the time your pants fell down at the MTV awards during
the middle of your acceptance speech,” Anita said to A.J. giggling.
A.J.
grimaced. We were reminiscing about embarrassing moments.
“In
front of millions of viewers worldwide and thousands of musical
superstars. I don’t think I’ll be forgetting it any time soon
either. I can’t believe people like Janet, Mariah Carey and Celine Dion
saw my underwear. I can still see *NSYNC rolling on the floor laughing
and pointing.”
“They
got to see your wonderful Backstreet Boxers. Complete with pictures and
signatures!” I said.
“Yeah,
the next day they were on MTV accusing us of making some twisted publicity
stunt. I don’t know how they thought that we thought we would gain
something out of that. All I gained was ridicule, media and otherwise,
for weeks.”
“I
don’t think there is one Backstreet fan site that doesn’t have a picture of
that,” I was about to remind A.J. of the time his pants fell down on the PPV
concert.
That
guy just couldn’t seem to keep his pants up, but Brian interrupted me.
“Do
you guys hear that?” he asked.
We
stopped and listened.
“I
don’t hear nothing,” A.J. said.
Anita
nodded in agreement. I was about to tell Brian he was being paranoid when
I did hear something. Something that sounded like yelling, an argument
perhaps.
“I
do,” I nodded.
It
wouldn’t have been strange except for the fact that there were no cabins for
quite a distance. It was a very odd place for someone to pick a fight,
unless of course you didn’t want to be heard. At that thought my whole
body froze up. Could Brian be right, did trouble lay ahead?
"No,"
I assured myself. "I’m just overreacting."
Everyone
else simply shrugged and we continued on. We had been crossing a clearing
in the woods and were approaching the forested area once again. The
voices became louder. I tightened my grip on Brian’s hand. I hoped
to God that Brian’s feeling had been wrong.
***
