Watch Your Temper

Chapter Fourteen: All You Need Is Love

        We stood together, just surveying the wreck.

"Well," I said after a moment, stepping forward. "I guess we need to get out of here."

I wadded into the water, retrieving a wooden plank that used to be part of our canoe. The remnants of it were smashed against the rocks, the debris floating in the cold water. I placed a hand on my hip, shielding my eyes from the sun to look at the sky. Tucking a strand of soaking hair behind my ear, I sighed and turned back to the two sopping-wet Arbing siblings.

"Easier said than done, Temper. You do realize we're stranded in some remote field in the middle of nowhere, right? We can't exactly just teleport back to the cottage," Beth muttered grumpily.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll figure something out. For now, we can, uh..." I trailed off. What the hell was I supposed to do?

She rolled her eyes and walked away, in the direction of the nearby forest.

"Hey! What are you doing? Wait for us!" I called after her, pulling George along.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Temper, if you're ever going to live in the countryside, you're going to need to learn that driving isn't the only form of substantial transportation. What I'm doing now is called walking. You should try it sometime," she snapped, speeding up.

I almost yanked her hair back for that, but we were already in a crisis and she didn't need to make it worse. For once in my life, I was going to be the mature one.

After a minute of tense silence, Beth spoke up again.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Temper. I'm just so surprised by our parent's engagement, and George almost drowned in front of me a few minutes ago. I'm really tired and stressed out. I shouldn't be taking it out on you, though. It's not your fault," she whispered, and I suddenly noticed the deep purple bags under her unusually dull green eyes.

"It's alright, Beth. I'm in a bit of a shock myself," I admitted, pulling her in for a sideways hug. "I can already see you as my step-sister. You'll be such a pain!" I teased.

Beth giggled but looked a little sad. "You know... you and George are so cute together! Sure, you haven't known each other for very long, but you seem to have your own unspoken language. I mean, you always share these knowing looks and it's so obvious he adores you! I hope you feel the same way about him. But if our parents do.. er, marry... then you can't really date."

George blushed furiously, clearly embarrassed by his sister's comments.

"Well, aren't you observant," I taunted her with a smirk. She blushed now. I swear, some weird tendency to blush at the slightest remarks must run in their family.

"Ahem, I don't mean to interrupt your oh-so-important conversation, but shouldn't we get going?" George exclaimed sarcastically, a stern look on his face. I nodded and watched as Beth ran ahead of us, off into the thick, tree-infested area.

"Beth! Don't go too far," George advised her, wrapping his arms around my waist and gently leading me along. Shouldn't I be the one leading him? I mean, he had almost died and all. 

Oh, God. Two months ago, I would have never imagined myself there, safely in his grip. I wasn't the type of girl to turn mushy-gushy. I was turning into a sap.

As I was mulling over these thoughts, I started to hum a song.

"Oh! The Beatles, right?" Beth chirped, slowing down to join us.

"Yeah... 'All You Need Is Love.' My dad used to sing it to me all the time when I was young," I breathed. 

Thank God I had those fond memories of my father, because I sure as hell didn't like him now.