Simply, I still love you. [Sequel to It's Simple. I Use You. You Use Me. ]

Chapter 4

The next morning

Lucille's POV

I walk to the kitchen after I wake up. There, stood Axel with a cup of coffee.

"Morning," I say.

He turns around and smiles.

"Morning beautiful!"

I hug him and look around the apartment.

"They went back to their hotel in the early morning to pack their things," Axel says without me asking.

"Hm?"

"Cecilia and Ethan. They needed to head home. I think they said Ethan has training tomorrow?"

I just nod. I think about last night when Ethan asked me the reason I left. I was disbelief when he asked me. I don't know if he pretended not to remember, or he really didn't. It didn't matter anymore. He is with Cecilia now. I just hope we could move on. I needed to move on.

"Where'd you go last night?"

"Huh?" I ask, baffled by his question.

"You got up. I woke up for a second and you weren't there..."

"Oh... I went to get water."

"It was quite a long time..."

"I took my time..."

"That was all?" he continued.

I just nod.

He doesn't look fully convinced, but says, "okay."

"What do you want to do today?"

He changed the topic.

I tilt my head to think.

"Mmmm..."

"Oh by the way, Cecilia and Ethan invited us to a camp retreat, want to go?"

I stop my thinking and blink at the unexpected invitation.

"Retreat?"

"Yeah...it'll be us and a few others. We don't start school for a few more weeks."

"I have my internship..."

"I know, but it'll be on the weekend. Just for three days."
Axel walks closer over to me and holds the sides of my arms.
"Please..." he says with puppy eyes.
I smile.
"Fine! You and your puppy eyes!" I say.
"Woohoo! Thank you!" he shouts before he kisses me on the cheek. He walks away, but I get a nervous feeling. Let's hope this goes well...
Day of the Camping Retreat
"Excited?" Axel asks as he kisses my head and puts our luggages in the back of the car.
Internally, I'm nervous. I'm going to be spending the weekend with my boyfriend, my ex, my ex's girlfriend, and a bunch of strangers. I'm just hopping I don't do anything stupid or embarrassing, but I didn't want to tell Axel any of this.
'Mhmm, it'll be fun," I lie. He smiles back and we get going.
At the campground, there were a lot of people setting up.
I look at the beautiful scenery in front of me. Tall, pine trees lay all across the land with the sun glazing across. The sound of birds chirping echo into a harmonious, relaxing tune. I intake a breath of the fresh air. It felt good to be with nature for a bit. I didn't realize it, but I needed this. I needed to be away from my busy world and crazy memories, which only seems to be haunting me.
'Hey c'mon! Let's help them set up," Ax breaks me out of my thoughts as he intertwines his hand with mine. I nod. Just as we are about to walk away, we hear Cecilia shout to us.
"Hey!"
We turn around to meet with Cecilia and Ethan. I avoid my eyes from Ethan and smile at Cecilia.
'Hey guys!" Axel and I say at the same time. I hug Cecilia as Axel greets Ethan.
'Ready for the best weekend of your lives?" Cecilia says.
"Of course!" I laugh along.
"C'mon, let's go!" Axel says as he wraps one arm around my waist. We walk over to the rest of the people. I slightly turn to the side and I could see Ethan's intense gaze on me. I quickly turn away and lean into Axel's side.
After we finish helping set up tents and tables, Axel and I head to sit by the glistening lake. I lean my head on his shoulder.
"I'm happy you came," he whispers into my ear. I smile and face him.
"I'm happy I did too."
He reaches his hand into his pocket and takes out a necklace. I stare blankly at him. He just smiles and tells me to turn around.
"What is that for?" I ask.
"For our 6 month anniversary. I wanted to give it to you sooner, but I also wanted to give it at a beautiful place like this, so turn around for me."
I grin and does as he says.
He wraps the necklace around my neck and clicks the chains together. I hold the pendant between my fingers. It was a light blue gem with a copper wire wrapped around it.
I slowly turn around to face him again, but he stops me. He instead wraps his hands around my waist and moves his head into the crook of my shoulder.
"Thank you for sitting next to me in class that day, so that I could meet you."
I giggle.
"It's beautiful. Thank you," I say with the pendant still between my fingers.
"I would give you something more beautiful, but I already have it in my arms."
His words make me smile even more. Suddenly, there's a cough. Both of us turn around to see Ethan.
"Um, hey, they're gathering everyone around the campfire. They asked me to gather everyone," Ethan says. I could hear the awkwardness in his voice. I break apart from Axel's hold and stand up.
"Okay, we're coming," Axel answers. Ethan nods and walks away. I stare at him as he walks away.
"You okay?" Axel asks.
"Yeah, yeah...," I reply with a sigh.  "I'm better than okay."
"I'm glad."
I nod and we leave the lake side. We meet with everyone else at the campfire. The sun has already set and now the stars are starting to come into view.  Hotdogs and hamburgers were being grilled on the fire. Everyone was laughing and chatting happily with each other. I walk over to Cecilia and three other girls to help with the kebabs. Everyone introduced themselves. They all seemed like nice people.