My Country Paradise

Chapter 13: Unexpected

The next morning arrived quickly. I spent the rest of the night talking quietly to Andrew about life, about everything. He was so thoughtful and an amazing listener. When dawn began to break, he walked me home and I slipped inside. Luckily, the house was still asleep and I managed to slip into my room unnoticed.

Something tickled my face and I rolled over, swatting at it. Loud giggles sounded above me and I opened my eyes to glare at Joy.

"What are you doing?" I said slowly, a hint of anger in my voice.

"You need to come tell us all that happened and why you weren't home last night," Joy snickered.

"To everyone?"

"Everyone." I hated the satisfied look that crossed her face.

"Fine," I muttered. Joy seemed genuinly suprised about my decision. "It's not like it was anything bad."

Joy shrugged and left the room. I slid out of bed, took a shower, and prepared my self to tell my eager-for-gossip family what had happened yesterday. When I walked into the living room, all were present except for Uncle Rob. They looked up at me expectantly. Jake cocked his head at me and smiled. It took all my strength to refrain from slapping it off of his face.

"So...what were you doing yesterday?" Aunt Darcy said, smiling. I took a deep breath and sat down beside Alyssa. She gave me a funny look and I returned it instantly.

"Yesterday...you know I hadn't seen Andrew in twelve days and-"

"Wow, you've been counting," Jake mocked.

I continued, pretending not to hear him, "he surprised me by finding me when I was taking a walk in the woods."

"Aw, how romantic," Joy chimed sarcastically, dragging out the last word.

"Anyways...so we were just talking, you know catching up," I murmured. "And...and we're dating...I haven't had a chance to tell you." My voice cracked and I tried my best not to blush.

Aunt Darcy's excited squeal suprised me. "Your mother and I had this planned all along!"

"You had...what planned?"

"Kind of like an arranged wedding for you and Andrew."

"But we aren't getting married, Aunt Darcy. We're dating," confusion crept into my voice.

"Your mother said we needed to find someone for you and I've been telling her all about Andrew this past month. So then she came here and met him-"

"Mom met Andrew and didn't tell me?" Andrew didn't tell me, was all I could really think. Was he in on this the entire time? He agreed and so he felt it was his responsibility to ask me out? This was all a lie.

"Well, we knew it wouldn't really work if we forced you into it."

"But Aunt Darcy..." Emotion held me captive and I turned and fled out the front door. I heard the protests of Joy and Alyssa, but I ignored them. All I could focus on was Andrew. He lied to me...he knew this was going to happen all along. I could feel my heart tearing in two and I closed my eyes against the pain. What if he really didn't love me? What if this was all an act, just because my parents wanted him too.

I spotted the green gator out of the corner of my eye. I climbed in and drove as fast as I could...as far away from this home as I could get. For an unknown reason, I found myself driving back to that same spot in the woods I had spent time with Andrew at. I didn't want this to be a lie...

But it was.

I stopped the gator and walked to where Andrew and I had last talked. I knelt down on my knees and stared at the dry earth in dismay. Multiple feeling shot through me like daggers. Anger, disappointment, heart-break. What was I going to do now? Andrew had promised to return this morning, and I wanted him too, but part of me didn't. I knew was only a certain amount of time before he would find me.