Hello All
I'm still finishing up some of my longer stories, I'm struggling with endings, so I thought I would post this.
Just a short taster chapter, we'll see if you want to read more…
Please review! Oh and check out some of my favourite stories, there's some great writers out there :)
CHAPTER 1
I had thought it was a good idea. It sure had seemed like a good idea when I had seen the brochure. I have spent the last six weeks getting excited about this break and now all of a sudden, I don't feel excited anymore.
The brochure for the 'Country Challenge' sounded ideal. I had been working really hard and I was dying for a break but none of my friends could afford to go away and I never had liked beach holidays so when I had seen this advert for a singles break away with a difference, it seemed perfect. Lots of fresh air, amazing views, a few challenges along the way with a great opportunity to meet people and enjoy the company of strangers. Sometimes I just needed that, to get lost in a crowd.
The holiday consisted of a lot of walking along with camping and team building exercises which all sounded amazing and I had collected all of the necessary gear needed for the trip, storing it up with a gleeful smile every time I looked into my store cupboard.
The mini-bus ride over to the meeting point of the start of our trek was exciting. The land was green and hilly surrounding us and I had never been to the Lake District before so I was excited to test the terrain.
I found tears in my eyes as I came off the bus to meet the group leader, Dom. I was actually going to make a go of something, all on my own, and something I couldn't mess up like I had with my job. But I didn't want to think about that right now.
There seemed to be a lot of people on board, but there was about 20 of us in total and I had been chatting to some of the ladies on the bus, most of whom were a little older than my young age of twenty one. I had also got stuck with Luke, Dom's sidekick who was also advancing in years at a hefty rate but the owner of a keen eye it would seem; if his glances toward my chest were anything to go by.
Everyone had thought it odd that I wanted to go out trekking in the wilderness and sleeping rough at my age when most of my friends were bathing in the sun in Santorini, but sitting on a beach was not my idea of fun. As hard as it was for everyone to believe.
I guess with my long chestnut hair and big brown eyes, they figured that I was only good for girly things, but I was made of stronger stuff. They just didn't know it yet.
As we made our way over to the rest of the group, who appear to have arrived separately, I glimpsed sight of a head of brown hair that looked awfully familiar. I smiled to myself as I thought no it couldn't possibly be him, I must be going crazy.
As I came closer though, gripping my rucksack straps with fear, it became increasingly obvious that my initial thought was not one of pure fabrication.
It was indeed who I thought it was, I would recognize those eyelashes anywhere. My breath hitched in my throat as I watched him fiddling with his waterproof jacket, unaware of my presence as yet.
I closed my eyes as the feeling of dread filled my entire body. What the heck was he doing here? He lived 5,000 miles away in LA for crying out loud.
I reminded myself that I did too, but swashed that from my mind. We lived in the same city and didn't bump into each other for two years and yet here he was, ruining my trip before I'd even started it! There was no way I could avoid him out here and how in the hell was I going to play team building exercises when all I wanted to do was push him in the river?
I opened my eyes and I found his eyes on me. Their deep, blue depths were staring right into my own eyes as I twitched my mouth and took a breath through my nose silently, wondering what he was thinking and if it mirrored my own thoughts.
"Good morning everybody and welcome to 'Country Challenge!'" Dom called, breaking our gazes as we both faced him to listen. "I have all of your tents here, it's two people to a tent and I will read out the names in just one moment. You need to take it in turns to carry the kit you need for the trip and we have some safety instructions to run through so please be patient with me while we get you oragnised" Dom said and continued to talk about what to do in an emergency and other details that I hoped to god I was absorbing by osmosis because all my mind was screaming was he's here! He's fucking here and there's nowhere to hide!
"Jennie…" Dom said my name and I raised my eyes to signal I had heard him. Considering I hadn't heard much else of what he said it was probably good that he had said my name. "You're sharing with Zac ." He said
My face dropped. Weren't we sharing with same-sex partners?
"Do I have to share with him?" I asked tersely, feeling Zac's eyes on me the whole time.
"Hey, what's wrong with me?" He asked with a puzzled little look, kind of like he thought I was joking and I realized very swiftly that he didn't recognize me.
Then what the fuck had he been staring at when I came over to the group? Did I look that bad without make up?
"You're…you." I said unhelpfully and he looked even more confused
"You don't even know me." He said gently as he squinted his eyes and I was distracted by his dark lashes against the blue of his eyes.
"I don't want to." I said cruelly
He stared at me in disbelief, along with a few others who had heard my comment.
"Have we met before? Is there any particular reason you feel this way? Just so I know," he added, a little peeved.
I curled my lip as my brow raised. "I can't believe you don't remember." I shook my head as I placed my hands on my curvy hips.
His cheekbones were still sharp, his jaw line even more so and he still had those thick, bushy brows that disappeared into his shaggy brown fringe with his expressionistic face-pulling.
His eyes still shone their sea-sky-blue from under those dark, curly lashes and his hair was now a little too long but still soft-looking and touchable.
"I guess now that you're a big-shot actor, you forgot all about us normal people." I barbed. "Dom, why am I paired with a guy?" I asked gently as I moved from Zac's earshot
"I'm sorry, Jennie, but there's an odd number each side and you're the youngest so we kind of thought you wouldn't mind sharing. Do you want to share with Luke and I'll go in with Zac?" He offered
I looked to Luke. Luke who had eyed me up like a sex-starved teenager on the bus. Luke who had bored me silly for a good fifteen minutes on the ride over. Luke who licked his lips when I even showed a sign of flashing some boob even thought I had them safely wrapped up in a jumper.
I sighed. Jesus. At least I was safe with Zac, I mused.
"No, it's okay. Thank you, though." I smiled with appreciation as I grabbed my rucksack and the tent bag and headed off toward the hill, where other designated couples were heading.
I didn't have much choice but to share with him. The thought left a nasty taste in my mouth but I just had to suck it up.
I was going to be sharing a tent with Zac Efron. The boy who broke my best friend's heart.
