The Road to Nowhere

Chapter 19: Compound

"I just don't want to hurt him. I know he likes me and I like you. I just can't do that to him." I sigh.

He seems to be annoyed. "Why are you letting him ruin your fun? If you like me then just let things happen. We don't have to be together, we can just have fun."

"I don't know Layke."

"Look, we're here alone. Cameron knows we're in here alone and he's letting it happen. He doesn't care Summer." He tries to persuade me.

My mind begins to fall for it. I guess he's right. If Cameron really wanted us to be together then he wouldn't leave us alone.

I sigh and look into Layke's blue eyes. "You're right."

His face lights up. He uses one of the hands that was holding him up to push my hair behind my ear. After he does that, he leans his hand against my cheek. He pulls in closer to me and his lips touch mine. My whole body relaxes but my stomach jumps up into my throat. His lips are soft and warm. The thought of it makes me smile. He slowly pulls away and studies my face.

"Ha— uh," I say awkwardly trying to hold back my blush.

Layke laughs and gets off the top of me. I sit up still hardly breathing.

"Was it that bad?" He chuckles.

I clear my head and take a deep breath. "No, it was just my first kiss."

"Really?"

I nod, embarrassed.

"Well, good thing it was with me!" He winks.

"Let's go find the others." I say awkwardly and avoid eye contact. I rush over to open the door of the van.

A big gust of cold air surrounds my body as I step onto the grass. The moon lights up everything. I can see pretty far into the woods. The stars are extremely bright. Since all the street lamps aren't on anymore, I can see thousands of them. They look like freckles on a face. They're all different sizes and scatter throughout the black emptiness. A faint smell of pine lingers in the air. It reminds me so much of Christmas time. The woods are pretty much silent. Apart from Robbie and Scooter talking by the front of the van.

Layke and I walk up to them. They're all sitting around a very small campfire. The light brights up everyone's face. I can tell that Brianna and Phoebe's kidnaping is getting to them. Everyone looks extremely depressed. Linda is laying her head on Robbie's shoulder while watching the fire. Scooter's drawing in the dirt with a stick. The atmosphere is heavy. I couldn't tell until now.

"Well, I didn't know you guys were leprechauns. Why such a small fire?" Layke asks to try to cheer everyone up a little.

Scooter doesn't look up from his doodling, "There are no lights out here at all. They could probably see a fire from that fence. We don't want them to see us coming." His face is expressionless and his voice is deep like he hasn't spoken in a while.

After making sure Linda's head is off his shoulders, Robbie stands up and walks over to the fire. He stomps on it hard, leaving it a pile of ashes. "Finally you guys are awake. Let's get going."

I look over to Cameron. He's sitting on an overturned log that's next to the fire. I can see his face through the soft glow of the embers. It looks like he's watching them fade and disappear. It seems like he's thinking hard about something.