Even Broken Bells Will Ring

Chapter 11-And Even Broken

Early the next morning, I threw on Danny's tshirt and walked into the kitchen to grab a snack. I could see Jake sprawled out on the couch with a bottle of Jack and his guitar. I shook my head before turning back to the fridge. Of course he spent the night getting shit faced and playing guitar. I don't understand what it is about me that disgusts him, but I didn't need him anyway.

I made a bowl of cereal and snuck back into Danny's room as quietly as I could. After carefully climbing into my spot in bed, I glanced over at him with a smile. He was still sleeping peacefully, and he looked absolutely ethereal as the sun filtered through the curtains highlighting his features.

"Are you staring at me?" He asked sleepily before stretching and yawning. I giggled and shook my head no. He raised one eyebrow at me before crawling over and laying his head in my lap. I lifted my bowl so his hair didn't land in the milk and used my other hand to run my fingers through his dark curls. He trailed his finger along my bare thigh and smiled.

"Jake was passed out on the couch," I don't know why I felt the need to tell Danny, but it just came out. We only had a few days left at the cabin, and I wanted to spend as much of that time with Danny as I could.

"I thought he might be," he replied as he feathered kisses from my knee up my thigh. I grinned when I realized what his goal was. I sat my empty bowl down on the nightstand and brushed the hair out of his face. He twisted and crawled up my body lifting his shirt off my body as he left a line of kisses from my hip to my collarbone. "Rae, you're so sexy," he purred before biting his lip as he looked down at me. We were interrupted by a loud knock that caused us both to glare at the closed bedroom door.

"Are you two coming out or not? We're all pretty much packed and ready to go.." Josh called from the hallway. I groaned as Danny crawled out of bed and pulled me to my feet after mouthing "I'm sorry" and shrugging.

We got dressed, and I asked why we needed to pack. "We usually go camping for the last night of staying at the cabin.. if you follow the trail, there's a lake back there," he explained. It sounded fun, but I was not looking forward to seeing Jake at all.

"I'm down," I said with a smile as I tied up my boots. I had decided on a pair of high waisted jean shorts, and one of Danny's shirts that I tied to keep it from looking like a dress on me. I glanced over to see that he had went with a black tank top and a pair of gray shorts.

"Awesome! It's just one night, and I promise to keep you warm," he replied with a wink. I giggled as I was putting my hair into 2 French braids. "Do you think you could braid mine, too?" He asked shyly as he ran his fingers through his hair.

I grinned and scooted back on the bed instructing him to sit on the floor in front of me. He beamed and did as I asked pulling his knees to his chest as he waited. I carefully braided his mane back into one French braid, and made sure I kept it pulled tight. Once I was finished, he stood up and looked in the mirror smiling. "You're so cute," I whispered as I stood behind him with with my arms around his middle.

He turned around to face me and wrapped his long arms around me pulling me close before kissing my forehead. "Come on, Rae," he replied as he grabbed our bags and took my hand leading me out to the group.

"Finally!" Josh exclaimed before downing a shot of fireball. "Let's go! We're losing daylight," he groaned. Mia and Sam were standing close and chatting intimately, but laughed loudly at Josh's remarks. I made eye contact with Jake for a moment, but quickly looked away when my face felt hot. I looked back just long enough to see his smirk. Danny squeezed my hand lightly and leaned in as he kissed my cheek.

The six of us walked out the back door down to a trail. The hike was fairly easy, but the path was pretty long. After an hour or so, we finally came around a bend into the clearing with the lake. There was a spot near the coast that had an obvious burn pit made of stacked rocks that were blackened with soot.