Sticking to the Plan

Chapter 12

Sarah was able to convince Kaley to get the sun on her face, sneaking out of the back entrance near her room. They stayed off the beaten path, mostly walking down quiet, residential roadways that flanked the town. Sarah couldn't drag much out of Kaley, though she tried. She did manage to get Kaley to talk about the picnic date. She could see the way that Kaley's eyes lit up that the girl was smitten.

"You know. Maggie wasn't gonna post anything. But..." Sarah began, rubbing her hand over the back of her neck.

"But? But what? Why....why was she not going to? But she did anyway?" Kaley was struggling to make ends meet in her brain.

"But....well. Mila wouldn't let up." Sarah's vague explanation was met with a look of even further confusion on Kaley's face, "Mila came back from hanging out with Matt...real tipsy...ok, drunk as a skunk. She was ...well.. A little upset. I guess Matt wasn't feeling like drinking and she was making a fool of herself from what I could guess. She got back to the room, drunk and pissed off. Started ragging on me about Noah. Well...you know me, I'm good at ignoring them. But then...well then she went after Maggie." Sarah chewed her lip now. The news had barely sunk in with her yet.

"Maggie? Mila did? She went after her own sister? How?" Kaley couldn't ask enough questions, she wanted to shake Sarah to get her to stop dragging her feet.

"Yeah...Maggie kept yelling at Mila to shut up. But then...Mila said that...all of this...everything was to meet Bear. For Maggie to meet Bear..." Sarah still looked confused by the admission.

"Wait, wait, wait....Maggie? She WANTED to meet Bear? But...but she..." Kaley started, trying to wrap her head around it as well.

"I know. I know! I guess she was just...self conscious about it. That's why she was so upset the first night....apparently she was trying to seduce him big time and...he turned her down. Not so much no as a 'not right now'. She was embarrassed and ran out. I guess she'd been naked on the bed or something. Kinda made a fool of herself. At least that's what Mila kept saying. As mad as Maggie looked, I'd say it was the truth." Sarah shrugged as they walked, turning down an abandoned log road that wound into the forest.

"Wow...I just...wow, " Kaley started. She had to admit Maggie was really good about covering her tracks, at least up until now. It still angered Kaley a little that Maggie was willing to put all of them through this just to meet a guy, and a guy she claimed to despise at that, "Well...that just...that is just a complete mind fuck."

Sarah nodded in agreement, but looked at Kaley expectantly.

"What?" Kaley felt Sarah's prying stare.

"Fess up. What happened?" Sarah could feel that Kaley was hiding something. When Kaley only shook her head in refusal, Sarah worried even more, "Kaley..."

Kaley's crossed arms folded tightly around her torso were a physical manifestation of how much she wanted to hide away. She felt the letter crinkle under her grip; she'd almost forgotten she was holding it. Her thumb started to peel back the stuck flap of the envelope when Sarah's phone suddenly dinged repeatedly, startling them both.

"The service out here, is just..BANANAS!" Sarah exclaimed, yanking the device from her pocket, "They're from Maggie...Bam's there." Sarah continued to thumb through the messages, " I guess she's been trying to get ahold of both of us."

Kaley held up her phone in her hand, raising it above her head as if that would help her signal. It did, messages pouring in. She had 34 missed messages from Bam, 13 from Maggie, 20 missed phone calls, and 8 voicemails. She was fairly sure her phone's preview screen had never been this full. She just stared at it though, too frightened to see what he said.