Falling for her best friend's brother was NOT a part of her summer plans...
Karma Fitzgerald never saw Nathan Jenkins as anything other than the womanizing big brother of her best friend, Lanie. That all changed during a summer trip to the beach, wh...
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"Karma, are you sure you packed the snacks and the good drinks?"
I glanced at Lanie over the hood of Harper's car. "Yes, L. Your Twizzlers, Doritos—"
"What kind of Doritos?"
"Cool Ranch," I clarified before continuing with the list of unhealthy treats. "Along with your beef jerky, Skittles, and pickles."
Lanie had a skeptical expression on her face. "And the drinks?"
"Right. The good drinks. I got Red Bull, Fiji Water, and Diet Coke. All of it is on ice in the giant cooler you made me buy."
"I didn't make you buy it."
I scoffed at that. "You put it in my shopping cart and told me that if I didn't get it then I wasn't coming on the trip."
Lanie rolled her eyes. "Fine, whatever. So, we're good to go." Her head turned to our other best friend. "Harp? Did you get the other essentials?"
Harper reached into her bag and pulled out a handful of items. "Yes. I have the CD's, the directions I printed from MapQuest, and the Sudoku books. Oh, and I got the cash we all pitched in for gas and food."
Excitement ran through my entire body. We'd been counting down the days for this road trip to Windsor, New York for our annual camping trip. We've been going since middle school. The only thing different this year was the fact that we were old enough to go without Lanie's mom. Of course, the other thing that was different was the fact that I had a boyfriend. It took a lot of convincing from Mrs. Jenkins to get my mom to let me go. Promises were made that it was a girls only trip.
And it was.
The only thing that sucked about this weekend trip was that it happened to fall on Nathan's birthday. It didn't matter to me that I missed his birthday over the past few years. This year it did. When I talked to him about it, he assured me over and over again that it was okay for me to go. He said he was going to stay home and would probably do something with Nick. He promised that he and I could do something special when I got back. Even though I believed him when he said he didn't mind me going, I still didn't feel right being away from him on his birthday. Especially after everything we went through on New Year's. But he made me swear that I would go and have a good time, so I was.
"That means we're good to go!" I looked from Harper to Lanie before putting my purse on the floor by the passenger seat. "I can't believe we're finally doing this."
We all got in the car, with Harper behind the wheel and Lanie in the back seat.
"I know," Harper replied with a smile. "I was so worried our parents wouldn't let us go by ourselves."
Lanie snickered from the backseat. "It's all Karma and Nate's fault. If they weren't a couple, Mrs. Fitzgerald wouldn't have been so worried about it."
