Page 118 of Nerdplay
“It doesn’t matter. This place isn’t for sale.”
“What’s his plan then? Make a nuisance of himself until you cave?”
“Charlie is far from a nuisance.” My response is more heated than I intend, which doesn’t escape Patrick’s notice. He quirks an eyebrow without comment.
“Who’s up for LARPing?” Adam interjects.
“It isn’t on the schedule until four,” Bradley objects.
Adam throws an arm along his shoulders and steers him away from the picnic area. “Be a rebel, Brad.”
“Does anybody have spare blue and red tights?” Bradley asks. “Mine have a run in them.”
“I have a pair of black fishnets,” Angela volunteers.
Bradley clutches his heart. “Spider-Man would never.”
“Darling, have you seen Tom Holland’s lip sync battle? I beg to differ.”
I forgo LARPing in favor of a visit to my preferred thinking spot. Charlie isn’t the only one who needs to recalibrate. I change into my swimsuit and let Gloria know where I’m headed in case anyone needs me. Once in a blue moon, someone gets carried away during LARPing and needs to be … well, carried away.
The clifftop is adjacent to the forest and somewhat secluded from the campsite. It was my father who first showed it to me and encouraged me to jump. His penchant for taking unnecessary risks wasn’t all bad.
It’s a beautiful day. I gaze at the crystalline lake below. It feels good to be standing here again, despite the familiar tremor that ripples through me when confronted with my own mortality. A hero isn’t someone without fear, I remind myself. A hero is someone who’s scared but jumps anyway.
The sound of rustling leaves jolts me from my inner monologue. My mouth drops open when Charlie steps through the brush.
“Gloria said I could find you here.” He glances around. “I didn’t know this spot existed.”
“Glad to see you’re still here.”
“I wouldn’t ghost you, Cricket. I needed a minute to breathe, that’s all.”
“I got that.”
“Saw you talking to Patrick earlier,” he says. “You two seem to be getting along. Is a reconciliation in the offing?”
“I’m working on forgiveness.”
“Is that all you’re working on?”
The lump in my throat cracks wide open and unleashes a torrent of emotions. When I envision myself in a moonlit kayak gliding across the lake, it isn’t Patrick with his legs wrapped around me.
It’s Charlie.
“Does it matter? You decided that you and I can’t be a thing.”
“It doesn’t mean I want to see you back with someone who treated you like the gum under his shoe. Why would you ever consider that to be an option worthy of you?”
“I’m not worthy of you, but he’s not worthy of me? Is that how it works?”
He gapes at me like I solved a Rubik’s Cube in under a minute. “No, Courtney. That is not at all how it works. Your worthiness was never in question.”
“Then what was?”
“Mine.”
My hands close into fists and I feel my nails digging into my skin. When did my life get so unbelievably complicated? I miss when the only problem I had to solve at camp was how to clean the axes after Stefan dipped them in glitter. Now I have another man who seemed to have potential playing tug-of-war with my heartstrings.
