Everything happens for a reason

Everything happens for a reason 10

Chapter 10: La la land isn't always a good place

Rose's point of view.

Ellie linked her arm with mine and we began to walk up the path. I had the biggest smile on my face; I was so happy it felt like I would burst.

I had my head in the clouds and I could see Ellie felt the same way by the look on her face. I turned to look at her.

"He has such and amazing smile El. I swear, if you took that one smile and turn it into electricity, it could power a whole city for a thousand years and more!" I sighed in wonder.

She smiled at me and I turned to face the path again walking on. I wasn't paying attention, thoughts of Ty flooding my head. I tripped up on a stick falling flat on my face. I groaned. I should be paying more attention I thought to myself. Ty and Josh came up behind me.

"Hey Rose." Called Josh.

"Hey gorgeous." Ty said as he came up behind me wrapping me up in a warm hug. I giggled turning around in his arms and kissing him.

He wrapped me tighter in his arms as I slid my arms around his neck twining my finger in his hair.

He tasted so good; like the chocolate bar he had after lunch.

I heard a cough and broke away looking up to see Josh looking extremely embarrassed and guilty.

"What?" I demanded. He interrupted me and I wasn't happy.

"Um, Uh, Sorry, It's just, um..." He stuttered.

"Oh, spit it out, I've got better things to be doing with my time." I glared at him as Ty chuckled. Josh blushed deeper.

"Oh, sorry." He mumbled turning and walking up the path.

"What was that about?" I asked turning back to Ty.

"No idea." He said as his eyes followed Josh as he walked away.

"Hmm, oh well." I said brightly.

Ty grinned down at me. "So where were we?"

I smiled an innocent smile. "Why, I have no idea what you mean."

He grinned. "How about I show you?" I didn't get a chance to speak, his lips crashed into mine. Even if I had wanted to speak I couldn't, it was like my brain had melted to mush and all I could think about was the feel of his lips on mine.

"Oh, hey look." Shani was pointing at something I couldn't see because it was behind a tree.

I walked a little further and saw a perfect little clearing, a hole to one side with little tree stumps all around. It was like it was made for us.

There were four perfect spots to stick our tents and a few low hanging branches to put washing on.

"Isn't this the exact place Ellie picked out on Google?" Asked Kay coming up behind me.

"Yeah, I think it is. Wow, she's good at picking spots isn't she." Nate called. I smiled; she sure was good at making sure we knew where we were going.

She seemed to like knowing things like where we were planning on staying before we got there.

It meant she could think of things like where the best place to put our tents up. She liked to make sure everyone was happy.

Ty grabbed my tent and strode off to put it up. I followed after him to help.

Night was slowly creeping in as the guys were trying to get a fire going.

They had piled sticks into a pit; no particular order, just chucked in and now they're smashing the flint together like you clap your hands together.

It was going nowhere. We needed Ellie. Where was she? I glanced around and saw Josh standing beside his tent looking extremely confused.

"Hey Josh." I called.

"Hmm, oh, hey Rose." He murmured distantly.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried.

"Oh, um, I don't know how to do this. I don't usually put it up." He said looking embarrassed.

"Oh, who usually puts up your tent?" I asked.

"Well, Ty usually does, but I don't know if he's going to be sharing a tent with me anymore or not." His cheeks flamed even redder.

"Oh. Well, I'm not sure. Do you want me to go ask?" I questioned.

"Oh, no, it's ok. Um, have you seen Ellie? She always seems to be able to do something I can't." He said in an amazed voice.

"Oh, well I don't know, I'll go find her if you like? Were really struggling with the fire too. We really need to find where she's run off. Do you know anywhere she might have gone?" I asked glancing at the guys still attempting to light the fire.

"Well, the only place that isn't here in the clearing she would have gone is the river." He said.

"Ok, I'll go check it out." I replied heading off towards the river.

I could hear the water rushing past as I stood on the bank looking up and down the river. She wasn't here.

This isn't good; I was starting to get very worried. Where could she have gone? When was the last time I saw her?

"Oh, no!" I said softly under my breath. I hadn't seen her since we started walking again after lunch, she could be anywhere.

What if she walked off the path and I didn't notice.

Even worse, what if she told me where she was going and I didn't hear because I was off in dreamland thinking about Ty?

"Oh, no!" I repeated. I spun around and jogged back to camp, bursting through the trees at the end of the path, everyone turning to look at me.

Ty came running. "What's wrong?" He asked wrapping me in a hug, he sounded so worried.

My face must have looked scared, very scared because every one was now surrounding me waiting for me to speak.

"Ellie." Was all I could manage to get out.

"What about Ellie?" Josh said.

"Ellie. Gone" I tried again, the words getting stuck in my throat.

"Gone?" He said slowly as if speaking to a small child. I nodded; I don't think I could have spoken even if I had wanted to. It was my entire fault; if I had been paying more attention then this wouldn't have happened. I felt so bad. Ty hugged me tighter, pulling me closer, hiding me away so I didn't have to talk.

"I'll talk to her." He said, leading me away to our tent. There was no response from any of the guys. I'm guessing some of them nodded but I couldn't see so I couldn't' be sure. Even though I couldn't see them, Josh's sad face when he heard me say gone kept popping up in my mind.

It wouldn't go away. Haunting me.

When we got to the tent Ty sat down and pulled me onto his lap, rocking back and forth, just cradling me, not saying anything.

I was grateful to him for that. I don't think I'm ready to talk; all I can think of is walking along with Ellie in a daydream, Josh's crestfallen face, and sleep.

I needed to sleep it off; by morning I would know what I would need to say. Tomorrow. I thought. Tomorrow I will tell everyone.

I drifted off after a while of Ty holding me and rocking back and forth. He was humming something I didn't recognize, but it sounded like a lullaby.