My Boyfriend's Girlfriend

ten

*

Twenty minutes later, I was sitting at one of my favorite places, Barton Lake. My family had been coming to the lake since the dawn of time, it was where we spent all of our summers. During the warmer months, people could set up campers and stay for a week or so at a time. A lot of tourists didn't know about it, since most of them were focused on going to Packwood, or the most common destination of Forks. In October, though, the lake was pristine. I loved coming up here with Stacy during the off-season, it was our favorite place to gossip about celebrities and boys. We hadn't been up here in a long while, and I was glad I had a reason to come today.

It was colder on the water, I'd had to eventually give in to putting my jacket on over my sweater. I anxiously re-folded the jacket in my lap while I waited for Tessa to show up. I was sitting in the grass, as the benches were in the storage building for the off-season, and I was getting antsy sitting there by myself. I'd thought about last night since I left the venue, how she had been so cool about me sleeping with Danny, and I don't know why it bothered me so much. I almost wanted her to tell me it was a bad idea, to not sleep with him, to do anything but sleep with him.

I saw Tessa's car pull into the drive, and she pulled up in the parking spot next to me. There was only one other car here, someone who must've been fishing out on a kayak or riding on the bike trail. I watched as she opened her door and stepped out of the car, beaming brightly when she saw me.

"Howdy, partner." Tessa called out, and ducked back into her car, re-emerging with two coffee cups in her hands. "I brought refreshments!" She shut her car door with her foot, and quickly walked over to where I was sitting on the grass. I grabbed both cups from her outstretched hands, taking note of the lipstick ring on one of the lids.

"Thanks." I took a sip from the unclaimed cup, letting the drink warm me up. Dirty chai with soy.

"It's my favorite drink. Just enough caffeine with a little extra pizzazz." She grabbed her cup from me and took a sip.

"I can't believe you just said 'pizzazz' and talked like a cowboy all within sixty seconds." I teased.

"Having a well-rounded vocabulary makes for a more entertaining life." She said, shrugging her shoulders. I watched her as she took another slow sip from her cup, and her eyes scanned the water in front of us. "I had no idea Barton Lake could be so pretty." She said.

"You've been here before?" I asked.

"Of course. Over the summer, with...Danny." She said the last part a little quieter. Of course he'd probably invited her to the campground when no one else was around. "Anyway, was he weird this morning?" She asked, setting her cup down. She pulled her knees to her chest and folded her arms across them, watching me.

"Super weird. He kept trying to see if I went because I knew you." A breeze picked up, and I pulled my arms tighter to my sides to keep warm. "We almost fought this morning, too. We never fight." I admitted. And it was true. In the time we'd been together, we had never once had an argument. Not even over the tiniest of things.

"What did he say?" Tessa pried, I could see the interest in her eyes.

"Well, I'm a really bad liar. So I got pretty defensive when he started asking questions, and eventually told him I wasn't his child and that he didn't have to know everything." I told her, and she nodded, understanding. "Anyway, he got mad and grabbed my arm, trying to keep me from leaving. He didn't hurt me or anything, but it was just...intense."

"Sounds weird. Danny and I fought all the time." She rolled her eyes, thinking about him I'm sure. "I'm shocked he didn't try to get more answers out of you."