Just Friends. (A falling in love with my best friend story)

Chapter 30: Picnic

   Carter's POV:

Boy was Genna pissed. I could literally feel the hate vibes coming off of her, all stabbing at me like knives. Sure, she had every right to be angry at me, but I had my reasons. So, I really was worried about her. She's a sweet, kind girl with a tough edge and a big heart who's been through a tough past but is still alive. What's not to like? Although the self-pity is starting to get annoying.

So I thought I'd ask Parker to see if I could help look for her and find her. Parker was almost against the thought but I could tell he wanted her back. So I went over and talked with his parents and her dad to see if I could help in anyway. They were all for the idea. Sure, I feel a little bad tricking Genna like that, but she will thank me when she realizes how stupid she was being.

        "What are we doing here?" She asked, as I stopped the car. I didn't answer as I got out and ran over to her side to open the door for her, but she had already gotten out. I reached into the backseat and pulled out a cooler. She looked around at the bleachers, the dusty field and the home plates.

        "I thought we'd have lunch." I said. She looked at me in disbelief, then saw the cooler in my arms. She definitely wasn't expecting this.

        "A picnic." She stated.

I nodded and started to walk up to the bleachers, and started climbing. I heard her climbing up behind me, and I could hear her shortness of breath. I turned around and grabbed her hand, helping her up. She'd never admit it, but she was pretty weak right now.

I started unpacking the huge lunch that Parker's mom and my grandma packed, and I started to explain.

        "I thought a picnic would be a pretty good idea because obviously you need some good food in you, and second it's a quiet place where we wont have interruptions because everyone else is at the newer park down the street, and third, it's cliche enough to be fun." I said. I heard her snort.

        "Okayyy." She said.

        "Now quit being such a grumpy bitch and eat." I say before I can stop myself. I wince, waiting for her terrifying reaction of either hurt, anger, sadness, or all three, but she just starts laughing. 

        "Wow okay then!" She says, still laughing. I smile tentatively.        

        "I totally didn't mean to say that." I said. I was definitely thinking it, but I never intended to voice my thoughts. But she just smiled at me, and not a fake one either.

        "My mom always said that to me when I was picky around fourteen and used to her swearing. She never meant it because she was always smiling somehow." She said. I smiled, glad to ignite a happy memory.

        "My parents took me here when Chels was in preschool. They'd play ball with me and let me run around and sometimes would take both of us to watch the games." I said, looking around the field.

I shook off the forlorn feeling and handed her the smaller cooler inside, which held her weird vegetarian preferences. I saw her smile at the meal and I knew that she guessed where this came from.

        "She misses you." I say. This apparently didn't help because she ignored the comment. We ate in silence and I brought out the huge 2 Liter of Dr. Pepper. Then I realized I forgot glasses or cups. There was no second bottle either.

Genna noticed it too because she giggled.

        "We can just pass the bottle back and forth." She says. I nod, and I hand the bottle to her. I hope she takes it as a sign of politeness when really, I just can't open these damn things.

She tries to open it, and apparently she has the same problem I do. She tries to use her teeth, her hands, she even bangs it on the edge of the cooler. I try again and we stand up, not thirsty any more but just wanting to get the damn thing open. I even try to shake it to see if it'll release some of the pressure inside.

Finally we open it, but it pretty much explodes on us. Fizzy pop foam sprays everywhere, including pop itself. It gets all over my shirt and pants, and Genna's too. She yelps and jumps back, but it got her.

I start laughing because she looks pretty ridiculous wearing a white tank top that now has a huge pop-colored stain on it, with a hot pink bra showing out from underneath. Somehow, her pants don't get wet from the pop at all and they manage to stay dry. Mine probably got the worst. Her hair is easily soaked as well.

She looks at me and starts laughing too, because I must look ridiculous.

        "Ugh, I'm a mess." She says, looking down at her top and squeezing out her hair.

        "I might have an extra shirt in the back of my truck if you want it." I say. She nods and I walk to the back of my truck, her trailing behind. I grab the shirt and fling it at her.

        "It might be a bit big on you but at least it's dry." I say. She nods and I walk back to our picnic sight, which is pretty much ruined because we dropped the pop bottle and it got all over what was left of our food. I start to clean the mess up and pack it away. When I'm done, Genna taps my shoulder and I spin around. She looks pretty adorable in what is actually my dad's old shirt. It's plaid and it looks like a really huge jacket on her. For her sake, I'm glad it's pretty thick and not see-through like some shirts are.

        "You look like you're wearing a plaid dress." I comment, twirling her. She smiles and points to the bucket of melted water from the ice that was in the cooler. I was just about to dump it out.

        "Can I use that to rinse my hair?" She asks. I nod and bend down to help her. I start scooping handfuls and dumping them on her head. She gasps and shivers as some go down her neck and back. She rinses my hair too and she reminds me of Meg from Hercules whe starts wringing her hair out.

        "Take a picture it lasts longer." She says when she notices that I've been staring at her.

Without a word I take out my phone and go to the camera, then snap a picture of her. She looks surprised and starts to smile.

        "Not what I meant." She said.

Before I can stop myself I run a hand through her stringy wet hair and look into her brownish-grayish eyes.

        "Please come back." I say in a quiet voice. She stares back at me and nods, looking down.

        "Thankyou by the way, for everything. All you've done just to get me back." She says quietly. There's no added insult to herself as to why that even happened and I feel confident now that I did the right thing.

        "Pleasure is all mine." I say before swooping my head down and kissing her.