Cabin Tales

Chapter 21

Marley: Age 15

His lips were on mine before I could stop him. I needed to get away, but nobody was around and his hold on me was so tight. Everyone had gone to dinner as I was finishing up in the bathroom. 

When I walked outside, I saw Tucker leaving his cabin. He was a friend of Daniel's, so I figured I'd catch up with him. I didn't know much about him other than that he was tall and had a strong Southern accent. So you could probably imagine my surprise when I approached him and he suddenly grabbed me without notice, locking lips.

"What is wrong with you?" I said, pushing him away. He stumbled slightly before wiping his lips with the back of his hand as if I was the one who came on to him.

The kiss was so unexpected that I genuinely thought I'd be sick. Whatever appetite I had for dinner was completely gone, and the worst part was that I saw a figure walking up to the cafeteria out of the corner of my eye. I'm not sure what they saw, but if they saw us and reported what happened, both Tucker and I could be in trouble for not being in the dining hall.

"I don't know," he said, looking as shocked as I felt. "I thought maybe you wanted to."

That had to have been one of the stupidest excuses I'd ever heard. Very rarely had I ever spoken to Tucker and all of a sudden he thinks I want to kiss him? Was this guy on something, or was he just delusional?

"Where did you even get that from? That I wanted to kiss you? I don't even know you that well!"

"It's the way you look at me sometimes. Haven't you felt it?"

Okay, he was crazy. Actually insane. Feel it? Feel what? Harassed? I felt that.

We were so going to be late for dinner. There was no time for me to argue with him right now. I would release my anger when I'd tell the girls in my cabin. Then I'd deal with that jerkwad Tucker later.

I left Tucker outside, knowing he wouldn't have the balls to actually follow me inside right away. Anna waved me over, having saved a seat for me. I grabbed a sloppy joe from the middle of our table – knowing I wouldn't have the stomach to eat it – and went to the salad bar to make myself a side salad. From there, I saw Tucker walking to his table where he sat by Daniel. My stomach sunk when Tucker looked up at me, horrified, while Daniel was laughing at something. I felt so dirty as if that kiss somehow made me a cheat.

As I brought my plate back to my table, Anna spun around in her seat, whipping me with her ponytail.

"What's going on with you?" she asked.

"What?"

She pointed to my hands that were holding the plate. I didn't notice how bad they were shaking, but now that I thought about it, my entire body was trembling. I ignored it and tried to focus on my food, but my appetite wasn't there.

"Guys," I said, grabbing the table's attention. I wasn't about to let what happened plague my mind, I had to tell them immediately. "Tucker kissed me."

A few gasps escaped from my friends' mouths. This was no doubt the juiciest gossip that they'd heard in weeks because I was obviously with Daniel even if we weren't actually a couple yet. Tucker kissing me definitely beat Emme's confession to making out with some random CIT named Chris. But the news of Tucker kissing me was going to spread around camp fast.

Anna punched me in the thigh. "Why didn't you tell me he kissed you?"

"It just happened, like, ten minutes ago."

The girls at my table were going crazy over this. Jessica Josephs asked me if I kissed him back, which obviously I didn't. Her twin Molly Josephs wanted to know if he was any good. Emme begged me to share as much detail as possible. Unfortunately for them, I didn't take notes and my mind was still spinning. It took me everything not to spew my guts out as I relayed the information to the girls.