Page 57 of The Boy I Once Loved

Chapter Eleven

I arrive back home to find the guys already parked on my drive in Connor’s car waiting for me. Dylan rolls the back window down and frowning, he points at his watch.

“I know, I know, I lost track of time,” I apologise hurriedly as I climb off my bike. “I’ll be two minutes. I just need to grab my bags.”

I rush into the house and pick up my rucksack that I left ready by the door. Mums at work so I just quickly lock the door and I rush to the other side of the car and climb in.

“Okay, let’s get this show on the road,” Connor says grinning and he beeps his horn playfully as we swing back out onto the road.

“Lost track of time, huh?” Dylan asks, studying me intently.

I nod. “Yeah, we got chatting and I just didn’t realise so much time had passed.”

He nods, still frowning. “You seeing him again?”

“No, yes..., maybe.” I shrug my shoulders. I didn’t know the answer to that question.

Dylan scoffs and turns his attention out of the window. Okay, someone is in a mood. Aria breaks the silence thankfully.

“I packed us a right feast. I thought we could share ghost stories around the fire and play some games.” She leans down and digs in her bag and she pulls out a small pink box. “I brought Mr and Mrs for us to play.”

“You do know me, and Ella are just friends right, Aria?” Dylan asks her, his tone sharp.

She frowns at him before smiling back at me. “You two know each other better than any couple so we can still play it.” She turns back to face forward and she turns the radio volume up.

We stop off at Caleb’s house and the others follow us in Caleb’s truck. We arrive at the campsite an hour later and find our pitch. Luckily, the guys brought pop-up tents, so it takes next to no time to get them up and sorted. We unload the rest of the car and you would honestly think we were here for a week with the amount of stuff Aria has brought. We are lucky because it has been a relatively nice day and whilst it’s not warm it is dry. I don’t own a sleeping bag, but mum remembered that Liam had one, and she got it out of a box in his room.

Once we have all unpacked, we head out on one of the trails for a walk. Around us is nothing but green hills and quiet. I have to admit it feels nice to get away from it all.

“Remember these?” Dylan asks me, pulling me from my thoughts. In his palm, he holds a sticky bomb.

“Sure do.” When we were younger, we used to have competitions to see who could chase who down and stick the most sticky bombs on them.

He grins at me with mischief in his eyes and I know straight away what he is thinking, and laughing I take off in a run.

“You can run Ella bear, but you know I’ll catch you,” he taunts from behind me, and I can hear he is catching me up, so I speed up and whip around the back of a large oak tree.

"Where are you hiding, Ella?" He shouts playfully. Smiling to myself, I try to stay as still as possible. I concentrate on listening for any slight sound.

“Gotcha!” Dylan pounces round from my left and I squeal like a typical girl and I sprint off away from him. I feel the pelt of a sticky bomb on my back. Fucker! Just you wait, Dylan James. We play like this for another five minutes until we’re both exhausted and covered in sticky bombs.

“I won,” Dyl grins at me as we stroll back towards where we left the others.

“By two bombs. I’ll whoop your arse next time boy,” I promise, grinning back at him.

"Boy, huh? I don't see no boy around here. I'm all man, Ella bear," He smirks, lifting his t-shirt and exposing his abs.

I roll my eyes. “Jesus, could you love yourself anymore?” Internally though, my girly bits clench at the sight of that stomach. Why did he have to be so damn beautiful? It makes staying away from him so much harder.

“Ah,” Aria says, grinning as we come into sight. “We wondered if you two were bothering to come back and help set up.”

Freya stands there, arms folded, glaring at me coldly.

Dylan wraps an arm around my shoulder. "Sorry Aria. I had to remind Ella that she can't beat me at anything anymore."

I arch a brow at him. “We’ll see.” I come to Aria’s side. “What do you need me to do?”

Aria asks me to grab some of the boxes from the car.

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