Chapter 24
~JOSH~
"So you invite me to go camping with you and Erica at Yosemite but yet... you make me drive all the way there? Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" I say from the driver's seat as Anna and I drive past Foster City. Yosemite is over a three-hour drive and to be honest I really kinda hate driving long distances now, especially after our last road trip. We're not even halfway there yet and I'm already complaining.
"Oh come on, Josh, you know how much I hate driving..." Bitch, you ain't the only one! "... I just figured after that six-hour drive to LA back in July you'd be cool with driving just three hours to Yosemite," she replies. For some reason at just the mention of our LA trip, I feel my heart begin to crumble as I recall that night at the hotel. Every time I think about that missed opportunity I just want to cringe and slap myself in the face for making such a dumb mistake. Who would've thought that one decision could set such a shitty chain of events into motion?
We arrive at the camping site just a bit before sunset but yet it seems we've beat Erica to the park as according to Anna, she's still on her way.
While Anna and I wait for her to arrive we decide to get a head-start on setting up camp. We start off by assembling one big tent that's surprisingly big enough for two people but yet Anna insists on sleeping in her own tent. I guess I can't really blame her though. I mean, it's not like we're together anymore.
Once we've finished setting things up, Erica still hasn't arrived, even after it's gotten dark so me and Anna just wait for her by lying on a blanket on the ground and just staring up into the starry night sky.
"Do you miss Zack?" Anna asks me to break the silence.
I turn my head to look at her then back at the sky. Obviously, I do miss him but I know that I can't just forgive him for what he did. He's probably not even sorry. Instead of verbally responding I just slightly nod my head yes.
"Do you think you'll ever forgive him?"
"Honestly... I don't think so."
"Even if he were sorry?"
"It's not like he is, so what does it matter?"
"I'm sure he is," she says as if she could suddenly read his mind. How the hell would she know if he were sorry or not?
"Well, he's had plenty of time to stop by my house or send me an apology text wherever the hell he is, but I haven't heard from him since he left me bleeding on the kitchen floor..." I say sternly.
"Maybe he's just too afraid that you won't forgive him."
I shrug, "Why should I?"
"Because he's your best friend who I know you still care about."
"I don't care about him! He betrayed me... so why should I even give a shit about him anymore?!" I snap, slightly raising my voice at her.
"Because not having him in your life anymore is tearing you apart inside and out."
I return my line of sight back to the stars and just calmly say, "I don't need him. I can always just make a new best friend..."
"Won't be the same though."
"I don't care. Hopefully, if I do get a new best friend in college or wherever, he won't try to kiss me and screw our whole friendship over just because of his own fucking insecurities!"
"Oh for fuck's sake, man. Get over it! You can't live the rest of your life hating Zack just because he betrayed you. You need to let it go! I know I might sound like a bitch right now, but I can't keep listening to you still pining over your fallout with Zack. You say you don't care about him anymore but yet here you are still throwing shade and still hating his guts. If you really didn't care then you'd be over all of that petty bullshit by now, but you're not!"
I don't say anything to her as I feel a single tear roll down the side of my left cheek.
"I mean, you don't see me still hating you for how you fucked me over. I wouldn't be lying next to you right now if I did. I'm over it and I forgive you. And you should do the same with Zack. You don't have to be friends again if you really don't want to but you have to find it in yourself to forgive him and let it go."
"You're right," I eventually say through a wobbly voice.
"I know what Zack did was wrong and it really hurt you, I get that... and I'm sorry."
"It just really hurt... He was the last person I ever thought would do that to me..."
In my mind, I can see this sort of clip show of all the good times Zack and I had over the past twelve years. From sleepovers to parties to just the two of us hanging out like real bros. Fuck, it just breaks my heart to come to that realization that those days are over and I'll never get them back. I can't believe that I'll never hear his voice again or see him walk through my front door again. It all just sucks.
"People just..." I begin with a voice crack. "... They just suck."
Our conversation comes to a stop there when Erica's car pulls up at the campsite. She quickly hops out of the car and begins ranting about the traffic on the way here.
While I was just expecting her to be joining us, I see someone else getting out of the car and my mind begins to ponder who the hell it could be. Zack is obviously the first to come to mind and my heart rate suddenly quickens. I head over towards the car to see who is Erica's mysterious guest but to my surprise it's someone I didn't expect at all, especially considering I haven't seen him since the beach party back at the beginning of the summer.
"Dakota? What are you doing here?" I'm of course wondering because I had no idea Dakota and Erica were friends or even knew of each other's existences.
"Erica invited me. How are you doin', man?" He asks me, patting me on the shoulder.
"Good uh... I didn't know you guys were friends," I say with a hint of suspicion.
"Well, not really..."
"Then why'd you—" I'm literally about to ask him why he came, considering me and him aren't exactly that close and he doesn't really know either Anna nor Erica as far as I know. I know he's Zack's friend but—
My train of thought crashes into a wall when I see a third person exit Erica's vehicle from the back seat. And it all explains why Dakota's here.
"Hey Josh," Zack says insecurely as he and I stand face to face for the first time since our fight that left the both of us in bad shape.
I don't say anything back to him and just glare in his direction. My face turns red and my fists start to clench as my back stiffens. "What's he doing here?" I demand to know from anyone who isn't Zack.
"We thought that it was about time you guys should talk," Erica answers from behind me as I don't take my eyes off of Zack as if I were a wild dog about to attack him.
"I've nothing to say to him," I say sternly.
"You guys need to get over whatever fallout you two had before and just admit the truth to each other," Erica says and I think I've finally put the pieces together to realize that this was a setup. Or in other words, an intervention.
"What truth?! What the hell is this?! Some kinda fucking intervention?!"
"That's exactly what it is," Anna replies, and I jerk myself around at the sound of her voice.
"You were in on this? That's why you were asking me all of those questions about Zack trying to force me to forgive him? What the hell does any of this even have to do with you? Why are you suddenly taking his side?!"
"I'm not taking his side. We did this all for you—"
"I don't care! I have nothing to say to that asshole! Fuck this, I'm going home!" I say, storming off from the group and heading back to my car. Before I get in, I look back at Anna, "Well, are you coming or not?!"
"I'm not going anywhere... and neither are you," she says, revealing that she has my car keys.
"Give them to me," I command aggressively.
"No. You can have them back tomorrow but tonight we are all going to camp out here together whether you like it or not."
YOU ARE READING
Summer Milestone
Teen Fiction[boyxboy] Eighteen-year-old Josh Crimson has been best friends with Zack Clifton ever since childhood but when Zack is forced to move away the summer before their senior year of high school, Josh feels as if he has lost something in his life. A year...
