We were awoken by Bobby and Lainie, "Well well well! Dinger lives up to his name!" Bobby said holding back fits of laughter. Lainie was giggling. I covered myself with the blanket we had lain out on the floor. Dinger hopped up quickly pulling his pants up, "Bobby? Lainie. Haha hey hey Whattaya doing here!?" He said obviously embarrassed. Bobby put his hand on Dingers shoulder, "Well you see my dear friend, we came to see I you guys were ready to continue our journey... But you see now I'm not so sure. Serendipity are you able to walk after your night with Dinger?" He started to laugh hysterically. "Shut the hell up Keller." I said picking up a hand full of dirt and throwing it in his direction. "Guess you won the bet you got it in before the end of summer!" Bobby laughed. "What?" I said quietly. "Serendipity he didn't mean it." Dinger said coming to grab my shoulder. I stood up and backed away from him, "And to think. I liked you." I said quietly turning in the other direction and walking away. "SERENDIPITY WAIT!" Dinger yelled, "See! See what you fuckin' did Bobby? You go too damn far!" He said. Part of me was hoping Dinger wouldn't come after me. I would be easier that way. But I knew that wasn't how it was gonna go. I hadn't known Dinger long, but I knew that he wasn't one to just sit back and watch people hurt. "Serendipity come back here! Serendipity please!" I turned around with tears in my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest. "What Dinger? What the hell do you want?" "I want you to hear me out." He said quietly. "I don't wanna hear you out." I said. He came towards me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I pushed him away and tried to walk away. "SERENDIPITY GODDAMNIT I LOVE YOU!" I stopped. I didn't turn around. I didn't say anything. I just stopped. I felt Dinger come up behind me. He rested his chin on my shoulder. "Dinger stop... Dinger..." He kissed my neck gently, "Dinger please stop I don't want to talk to you!" I said. "You don't have to talk. Just listen. You're melting into me. I know you don't want to leave." He whispered. I did I melted into him more with every word he said. "You're much more than some stupid bet. Bobby's the one who wanted to bet. Don't tell him this... But being completely honest... I wasn't ready to sleep with you at all when I made that bet. I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure at all until you asked me if I trusted you... I do. Now I need to know... Serendipity... Do you trust me?" I turned around and look at him. His eyes were large and pleading. I wrapped my arms around his neck and gently kissed his lips. "With my whole life." I whispered. "Then don't take what Bobby said to heart." He whispered back kissing me again. I pulled away from him. "Dammit Dinger!" I said wiping my tears away. "What? What's wrong? Tell me. Please tell me." "Dinger I don't know what love is. I don't know how to. I don't know how to deal with my feelings for you. They scare me... I've watched my parents tear eachother down for years... They don't love eachother. I don't know what it is I don't know what to do." He pulled me close, "Hey, I don't know what it is either. But I know the moment I met you I... Couldn't breath." After talking for hours we finally returned hand in hand to Bobby and Lainie. Dinger pulled Bobby aside to talk to him. I sat down next to Lainie. "Hey Lain? What's Dingers story? He never talks about his family... I mean he mentioned his mom once, but other than that..." She looked over her shoulder to make sure he and Bobby couldn't hear us. She had a sad look in her eye.
"Ok... But you can't tell Dinger I told you." I nodded. I was concerned. "His dad took off when he was little. Hasn't seen him since. I don't even know if he remembers him. His moms a junkie." I bit my lip, "Shit, he did mention how his mom ran over his leg in her car or something. That's the only thing he told me about her." Lainie nodded, "Yea, his mom gets so strung out and has these seizures. I think that's why he never likes to be home." I put my hand over my mouth, "Shit." I whispered. "I mean all of our parents kinda treat us like shit. My mom picks a fight with me every chance she gets, Bobby's parents don't talk to him, but I think Dingers got it worst off. His moms always too doped up to even acknowledge his existence. I think it hurts him and I think that's why he's always so loud." I never would have guessed any of their home lives were shit. They seemed like just regular teenagers, but what I discovered was that they were their own family. They had created this family all of their own because they weren't getting what they needed from their blood family. I didn't really understand at the time, but they were exactly what I needed. Bobby and Lainie kept to themselves quite often. I was undecided on how I felt about Bobby. I wanted to like him because he was Dinger's best friend and Lainie's boyfriend... And it wasn't that I didn't like him, but some of the perverse things he said irked me. He was a nice guy. Just some of the things that came out of his mouth bothered me. It was crazy to me to think that Dinger was probably that way too when I wasn't around. The whole concept of my whirl wind romance with Dinger kind of tripped me out. He was a complete stranger a little over a month ago and now I couldn't picture my life without him. The entire idea of love was foreign to me. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined at 17 I would be running away... With a boy who I barely knew. But goddamn I was crazy about him. Something about his voice, and the way he walked, and the way his red hair made those blue eyes pop. Dinger was a real looker... He really was something special.
