Stuck In The Middle With You

It was just a joke.

"How long is this trail?!" Adam groaned.

I rolled my eyes. "Is that all you can do? Complain?"

"Like you're one to talk. You complain everytime I get close to telling you something and don't."

Tyler slapped him in the back of the head. "Chill with the attitude punk."

"I don't have an attitude."

Bently laughed. "Yeah you do."

"Maybe you all have the attitude and I'm the normal one."

There's nothing normal about that boy, but he's too cute to not love. He's gotten a little annoying the past couple of hours, with all the whining he's done, but I can't bring myself to tell him to shut up. I guess he's just tired.

"You know Adam, if you don't stop your whining, some wild animal might jump out and attack you." Tyler said.

"Yeah right. No animal is around this close to where people are."

Bently turned, walking backwards, so he could face him. "That's not true punk. This is their territory. They can do whatever they want."

"Yeah, I even heard on TV once that bears are usually in about a hundred yards away from you at all times. They can see you, but you can't see them." Tyler said, nudging me a little. I looked at him, and he motioned for me to fall behind. I understood.

Bently smiled at me and continued talking to Adam. "So I suggest you don't go near any of these trees. You don't want to get to close to a bear cub."

"What happens if I do?" Adam asked.

Tyler looked at him. "Well, the mother bear doesn't really like that. So she'll probably..."

"Getcha!" I yelled, grabbing him from behind.

Adam jumped about three feet in the air and screamed so loud, if there really was a bear around, it got scared off. I couldn't help but laugh. Tyler gave me a high-five and Bently gave me a big hug, which I gladly returned.

"You guys suck!" Adam yelled, still breathing hard.

I smiled. "Aaawww come on Adam. It was just a joke."

"A mean one. I'm out."

He ran ahead out of sight ahead of us. I looked at the other two. "What do we do?"

"We follow him." Bently said.

We started walking in the direction that Adam had gone. Tyler high-fived me again. "You did that well."

"He's mad at me."

"It's Adam. He'll get over it."

I knew he would get over it. I just really didn't want to wait for him to stop being mad. Adam's kind of been my support on this trip.

Just then we heard a scream and something sliding down the side.

All of us stopped dead. "What was that?" I asked.

"Oh God." Bently whispered

All three of us started running. "Adam!" I yelled.

"Down there." Tyler said, pointing down below us. I looked down to where he was pointing and saw Adam laying there. Oh God, please let him be ok.

I followed Bently and Tyler down the rocky hill side. He was a lot further down than I thought. This was a bad fall.

"Adam!" Bently yelled, running over to him. "Adam, wake up."

Tyler ran to his other side. "Come on punk. Wake up, say something."

I stood there helplessly. Oh geez, this is my fault. I never should have scared him earlier. Not here, this is like a death trap for someone like Adam. He's like a chipmunk...on an acid trip.

"Adam, can you hear me?" Bently asked, when Adam started to slowly open his eyes.

He groaned a little. "I-I go-"

"What?" Tyler asked.

Adam too a ragged breath. "I got...I got you back!" He laughed, sitting up.

Bently closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. Tyler did the same, while slapping Adam in the head again. I would have been relieved, but I was too busy trying to get my heart back to it's normal pace.

"You guys should have seen your faces. Priceless." Adam laughed.

I glared at him. "You do realize you almost gave me a heart attack?"

"You scared me too Eb."

"Yeah, with a harmless little joke. This wasn't a joke Adam. I thought you were dead!"

"She's right punk. You took it a little too far this time." Tyler said to him.

"Well I'm sorry for scaring you to death, but now you know not to do that to me." He said.

I shook my head at him. "I swear Adam, I thought you were seriously hurt. Ugh, I was so worried. You know what, if I wasn't so freaked right now, I might push the rest of the way down."

He took a step back. "Ok, I'm sorry."

Tyler chuckled and stood up next to his little brother. "You're such a wimp punk. It's not like she can hurt..." I shot him a glare, which made stop what he was saying. "You know what? Don't get on her bad side anymore." He said.

I looked at Adam. "He knows more about my bad side than anyone else in the world. You don't want to be there."

"Ok." Bently said, standing up. "Are we all stable enough to finish the hike?"

We all nodded, and climbed up to the real trail. Adam and Tyler walked ahead. They were talking and I wanted to get closer to them, to hear what they were saying. I didn't want to leave Bently behind though. He was slowing a little, probably because he was still somewhat sore from the fight yesterday. So I stayed back with him.

"So, what did Tyler tell you about me earlier?" Bently asked.

I looked at him. I can't tell him that. It would probably start another fight. "Nothing." I lied.

"Ebony, you've been acting weirder ever since then. He told you something. What was it?"

"It was nothing. Really."

He stopped me. "Was it something that could make me look really bad?"

I opened my mouth, about to say no, but I have a feeling he knows the real answer. So I looked down at me feet. "Yes." I mumbled.

He pulled my face up gently. "Do you believe it?"

I looked at his beautiful face. His blue eyes piercing mine. I didn't want to believe what Tyler told me, but I kept seeing his face in my head. It looked so hurt, and the truthfulness in his voice was something that couldn't be faked.

"I don't know." I whispered

He nodded his head. "And that's ok. Honestly, I'm probably not the guy you think I am. I've done my share of bad things."

"To Tyler?" I asked.

He grabbed my hand and started walking again. "Yeah. I've been pretty hard on him."

"Do you regret it?"

"Some of it. I probably should regret all of it, but I don't."

I took a deep breath. "Have you...taken something from him? Something that means a lot to him?"

His grip tightened around my hand. "Is that what he told I did?"

"Maybe."

He looked at me. "Well just so you know, it means a lot to me too. I didn't take it in spite of him. If that's what he thinks, he has it all wrong. I care about yo- uh it, too."

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A/N: Uh oh! Did Bently just give something away? This could be bad...or good, depending on how you look at it. Uuum, I'm really tired right now, so I'm going to keep this little rant as short as possible. What did you think about Adam's little stunt? He's evil, but you gotta love him! Haha. Ok, I really have no questions, so...I'll try to upload another chapter Monday. Vote and comment guys! :)