Beginnings and Endings [complete]

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Remember how I said the lake was my favourite part of camp? Yeah, well...I take it back. This is my new favourite moment, the campfire.

As my uncle prodded at the mass of sticks on the field with a burning stick, Dominic - Dom, as I called him now, with him officially my boyfriend - sat next to me on someone's else mat, and watched as the flames roared, flicking sparks into the air.

Oblivious to Philomena and Lee's glares of fury, I gazed at the star-like sparks which floated off into the air and disappeared. From the corner of my eye, I could see Dominic watching me intently. His voice made me jump, and I took my eyes off the closest thing I've seen to magic to look at him. "Romantic, isn't it?" he said quietly, watching the flames flicker before his eyes.

"Extremely," I said, laughing, and didn't miss his smile before I turned back to look at the smoky circles in the air that complimented the increasing number of sparks. The flames licked at the wood, and at whatever marshmallows that campers poked onto whatever they could find. Leaning back on my hands, I watched in amusement as my cousin decided to push a small marshmallow on a short stick, and nearly burn himself in the process.

Slender fingers curled along mine, a thumb gently brushing across my hand. I smiled to myself, making sure Dom saw it, and closed my fingers around his. It didn't surprise me anymore, and I loved it.

For the rest of that night, we were together, like a real couple, a real relationship I'd been craving for so long. It was too early to tell how long we would last, but it didn't matter to me, because he was here, now, with me.

"Oh, oh, oh..." one of the boys called out as Dom and I walked towards the table outside the girls' dorms hand in hand.

"Shut up," I shouted back, grinning. "Jealous."

"Hey!" Cane protested. "What about me?"

"Back off," Dom shot back, protective.

The boys howled, making me grin. "Cool it, Dom..." I said softly, gently applying pressure on his hand and leaning into his arm. He seemed to relax, and he was better when we sat down to join them.

By the end of that conversation, my hand was slightly sweaty from Dom's hand, after clinging to mine for so long. I really didn't mind, because the notion was just cute. Mel and Daniella seemed to cool off from their previous outburst at me, and as they bid me good night, Daniella pushed my head forward roughly with a grin and Mel said into my ear, "Good catch, Ri. Good catch." Before I could turn around to ask what she meant, she'd winked and disappeared off into the room.

I didn't last much longer. "I'm gonna hit the bed, guys..." I began, but Dom pulled me back down.

"So early?" he asked, disappointed.

Flicking out my arm and pulling back my hoodie sleeve, I eyed my watch, eyes widening when I realized the time. "It's four in the morning," I stated, raising an eyebrow even higher.

Dom blinked at me, drew out his phone to confirm, then chuckled. "Alright, then, good night," he said sweetly, fixing his dark eyes on me.

I blushed, and was about to add an 'I love you' to top it all off, but stopped myself just in time. It was far too early for that, and I wasn't sure whether he felt the same. Or whether I really did love him. Returning his smile, I said softly, "Good night," and retreated into the girls' dorms.

Daniella was sprawled out on the top bunk with her leg hanging off the railing and filling the room with a soft snoring. I flinched when I entered, and rolled my eyes it her direction. Mel, I noticed, was still awake, and I took the opportunity to apologize.

"Hey, Mel," I whispered, prodding her in the arm as she turned her back towards me to find a more comfortable position. "Mel."

She turned suddenly, smacking me in the face as her hand contacted with my head. "Ow!" I swore quietly. "Woman!"

"Sorry!" she exclaimed, a little too loudly, and I shushed her into silence. "Sorry," she tried again.

I shook my head. "Can I talk to you for a bit?" I asked. It took a lot of balls to talk to Mel, especially when we've had so many fights, and when she used to have a huge crush on Dom.

She blinked in confusion, but she slowly nodded uncertainly.

Taking a deep breath, I let it all out in a single sentence in a single breath in a rush. "I'm sorry for spending so much time with Dom and not you, even though you asked me to whack you if you do it, I'm really sorry, especially if you still like him and..."

Before I could end my super long sentence, her head cracked back. A choking sound emitted from somewhere, and I freaked at the sheer eeriness of the situation. It didn't help that Mel had her head tossed back like that, but it took me a while to realize she was laughing.

As I stared in confusion and shock, she stopped that wheezing sound that was her silent laughter and looked at me with a wide grin. "Forget it," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "I knew it would happen. How could it not when I was helping?"

My eyes widened until they looked like black saucers. "What?" I managed to choke out.

Mel wheezed again, giggling. "Yeah. He came to me asking about you a few weeks back, and it took me a while to realize why he stopped talking to Peter. He was so jealous," she added slyly, giggling at how cute the whole situation was. "So I offered to help, and he practically jumped at the opportunity."

"The way you helped me with Nash," I realized suddenly. "Only, that one didn't work out," I pointed out.

Maybe I shouldn't have said that, I thought immediately, wincing as her palm hit my shoulder flat. I rolled it  back and glared at her, but she ignored me.

"This one will," she said, as if she didn't know how hard she just hit me. "Even though the plan was to get together with you after the holidays with our Monitors' Board practices, which I'll have to talk to him about..."

"Mel," I hissed. She looked at me, surprised. "Tell me next time, okay? I wasn't sure I was ready for another relationship..."

"You would've gotten together with him anyway!" she interrupted rather loudly as if to prove her point, and I had to shush her frantically again. "He was your type, both of you were looking for a steady relationship. And I know you," she added quickly before I could retort.

"You know me, but you don't know him - you don't know if he'll be loyal," I replied, bordering on desperation.

"Ri, trust me," she said, yawning and throwing the blanket over the bottom half of her body. She fluffed her pillow as I waited for her to continue. Laying her head on the pillow, I got ready to shake her awake just in case she fell asleep before I could find out what I could trust her with.

I didn't have to, though, because as I put my hands on her arm, she flicked them off and said sleepily, "Trust me, Ri - Dom will be the one to love you forever."

And she fell asleep before I could shake her unceremoniously to ask what she meant.

Before I fell asleep that night, I tossed and turned, wondering what she meant. Before I fell asleep, the words had burned themselves into my mind, and I comfortably realized what she'd been trying to say.

Dom will be the one to love you forever.

Sorry for the long wait! And hello, Thanks to Music is still awaiting readers! :P I'll update that one soon though :) Thanks!