I cleared my throat.‘I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me waking them up in this circumstance.’
Mandy glanced behind her, to Amy and Gen’s tent.She hummed.‘Their tent is small for three people.’
Shit!It was a small tent, one that was low to the ground, too.Panic began to set in.Problem solving began to kick in.
‘My tent can’t be that bad,’ I laughed, making my way over to my tent.I unzipped it to find three inches of water.‘No, no, no.This can’t be happening.’
I stood up, needing to pace.‘This can’t be happening.’
‘It’s okay.I’ve thought of a solution while you were gone.’ Mandy turned to Ren, ‘Ren, I don’t suppose you would mind sharing with Lydia?Your tent is bone-dry and you’re old friends, right?So it won’t be a problem for one night.’
My heart lurched.Share a tent with Ren – after he’d said all of those things.I could almost feel his thumb tracing across my lips.My eyes shot to him.He had an artfully schooled expression.
‘Of course,’ he said, his voice low.
‘No.’
Ren shot me a warning look.Be reasonable, it said.
‘We’ll manage,’ Ren said to Mandy, who nodded and headed back to her tent.He turned to me, guiding me by the elbow towards his tent.I resisted.
‘No, no chance,’ I said.‘This is a serious inconvenience.I’ll sleep in my car!’
Ren didn’t stop, didn’t hesitate.He just kept moving, chivvying me along by my elbow as we approached his blue tent.It was further away from the other tents, and on slightly higher ground.
‘Lydia,’ he said in my ear.‘It’s one night.We can dry your tent out, and it will be as good as new tomorrow.You can share with me.’ He lowered his voice.‘No funny business.We don’t—’ he squeezed his eyes shut.‘We can just forget what I said.’
‘Forget,’ I repeated.
‘If it helps,’ he said, strained.‘One night.I can keep my hands to myself.’ He smiled softly.‘Just like old times.’
My pulse jumped.
‘Fine.But we’re doing the pillow wall.’
‘Lydia.’ Ren’s voice was low, and knowing, ‘You and I both know those pillow walls never worked.You’d wake up wrapped around me in the morning anyway.’
Pink stained my cheeks.
‘That’s what I’m afraid of,’ I muttered to myself.
Chapter Seventeen
Lydia’s Diary, 15 Years Old
Dear Diary,
I think maybe I like girls as well as boys… maybe.Probably.
Last week I caught myself staring at Bella in PE when she was tying her hair up.She has that really soft brown hair that does that swoosh thing.It made my stomach flip, same way it does with Ren sometimes.So I told Ren, just to see what he’d say.We were lying on his bedroom floor, listening to one of his stupid indie bands.He was sketching something and I just said it.
Something like ‘I think I like girls as well as boys’.
He didn’t even look up.
He just said ‘Yeah?’
He asked if there was someone I liked, so I told him about Bella.And he just nodded and said, ‘She’s pretty.’ Then he went back to his sketch.It was so anticlimactic that I almost laughed.They make a big deal about it onGlee.
