-- 10 --
Brock wiped a teardrop off from the corner of his eye, he still continued to laugh. That was hilarious.
"Would you quit laughing, that ain't funny! You mo-ron!" Reba didn't see the amusement from the situation. First she tossed a box, which she thought was a deck of cards at him, but it turned out to be a box of condoms. She literally pounced on him trying to get it back. When she got it, Lori-Ann happened to walk in and see it in her hand. It almost looked like Reba was trying to take advantage of Brock, pinning him down, holding a box of condoms. Reba lost her speech. She didn't know how to start explaining to Lori-Ann that it wasn't how it looked. But she just couldn't find the right words to do so. Lori-Ann probably thought Reba needed them. That's why she got them out of her bag, so she gave her some and rushed out before Reba even had a chance to let out a word. Brock was dying from laughter.
"I'm sorry, but it is funny, wait until I tell Mike, he would kill himself laughing too." Brock tried to stop, but occasionally a few chuckles escaped.
"It's up there with all my embarrassing moments." Reba grumbled, "Looks like it stopped raining, should we get out of the tent?" It had stopped raining a while now, but they were enjoying each other's company so much they didn't notice.
"I'll go get my school bag." Brock went to his tent. He didn't enter, but stood in front and asked Mike to hand it to him. He came back with his bag and a deck of cards he borrowed from Mike. "Now 'this' is a deck of cards." and he started to laugh again.
"Yeah yeah." she had been embarrassed so much she couldn't even turn red anymore.
"Well, since Lori-Ann took her bag and mine is here, does that mean I get to stay here tonight?"
"What other option do I have?" Reba mumbled, "You stay at your side, I'll stay at mine, with our bags between us and keep away."
"Aww man!" cried Brock teasingly, but Reba took it a little too serious.
"Brock maybe I should tell you something. I'm..." she swallowed hard
"Reba, I think the whole school knows"
"They do? I'm silly, aren't I?"
"Nha you're not. I'm sure you'll make your husband feel that he's the happiest, luckiest man on earth." Reba smiled sheepishly at his statement "And I swear I won't even lay a finger on you. Now can I stay here tonight? 'Cause it'd be hard to get comfortable on the muddy ground, you know" he made Reba laugh.
"Alright I'll trust you, are we going to have anything to eat? It's almost dinner time." and as soon as her sentence ended, they heard heavy raindrops begin again. "I guess that's a no" Shortly after her comment, the organizer of the camp walked by with hot dogs and sandwiches. It looked like they weren't gonna have a bonfire tonight. After dinner, Reba continued to help Brock with his studies by flashlight and they went to sleep, separated by their gear. They got up in the morning, before anyone else and went jogging. They remembered to remember the route this time. When they came back the group was gathering on the field.
"What's today's activity?" Brock asked Mike's girlfriend, who was also in charge of activities for the trip.
"We're having contests for couples"
"Huh?" Reba looked a little confused
"You two pair up and other couples in the group would pair up for a few competitions. Whoever wins, will receive a prize."
"But we're not a couple" denied Reba "We're friends"
"Yeah, sure, if you two were couple, you'd be sleeping together by now. Wait, where did you sleep last night? Mike's girlfriend quipped "Here" she handed them a rope.
"What's this for?" asked Brock
"Go practice, the first race will be a three legged race." said the organizer, Reba sighed "there's a prize"
"Alright fine, c'mon Brock. Let's win that sucker!" Brock tied one end of the rope at his ankle, and the other one at hers.
"Alright. Ready?" and they started by walking slowly, getting used to each other's rhythm. But when they started to run, Brock took long strides since his legs were long than hers. Reba stumbled. They managed to come in third place. If Reba thought that was hard, that was just the beginning. Mike's girlfriend told them about the next challenge. First they would be standing on a page of a newspaper for two minutes. Then they folded the paper in half forcing them to stand closer together. After two minutes they folded it again, the surface was so small that they had to hug each other in order to keep balance, two minutes later they folded it again. Now the paper was so small, there was barely room for four feet. They started to sway. Brock hugged Reba tight, trying to stay in place or they would lose the game. While holding on tight, they looked in each other's eyes.
"Kiss her!" someone shouted.
"Kiss him!" their friends wanted to see them kiss. They hardly had any physical contact, except eye contact that seemed to happen quite often and they didn't even realize it. Brock grinned looking in to Reba's eyes. She swallowed hard seeing his eyes sparkle, her heart beat fast and he could feel it.
"Time's up" announced Mike's girlfriend followed by 'boo...'
"Alright, who just booed my girlfriend?" Mike kiddingly stepped up. Although she said time's up, they still held on tight.
"Good Lord, you two take forever to kiss, her let me help." said one of a guys walking up to them and put one hand behind Brock's head and one hand behind Reba's. He brought them together until their lips attached. Reba's eyes wide opened, not expecting someone to be so bold. Mike kicked his butt. He never believed in doing anything against a woman's will. Mike was a gentleman. Sometimes the way he leered at Reba's legs or some woman's cleavage, may have made people doubt, but he never laid his finger on any woman that said no. That was why Reba could walk in and out the east wing freely without having to worry about any man being a pervert, since Mike was her friend and people still believed she was 'Brock's girl', that gave Reba plenty of security.
"Thank you Mike!" said Reba, she wanted a kiss that sparked, not just lip pressing, and that needed a moment to create. Mike's girlfriend made them fold the paper on last time. And this time the surface was so small, Brock could only put one foot on it. So he scooped up Reba in his arms. "You should have carried me behind your back, it would be easier."
"Nha, I can manage. You ain't heavy." Brock chuckled. "Listen, about that kiss-"
"I wouldn't even call that a kiss" Reba cut him off, "would you?"
"I guess you're right..." and once again a moment of eye contact.
"Hello?!" Mike's girlfriend trying to get their attention "I said time's up like 5 minutes ago" she teased. Reba quickly hopped out of his arms. "Okay one last game" she hung an apple on a tree with string long enough to reach their faces. "Both of you have to eat the apple without using your hands" as soon as Reba heard the rules her jaw drop. There was a big chance they might accidentally kiss! "Ready? Go!" Other couples started to catch the apple with their teeth, and ended up kissing. That's a mean game! Reba thought. She took in a deep breath and tried to catch the apple avoiding Brock's lips. There were a few times their lips accidentally brushed, every time it did, Reba's heart skipped a beat. By the time they finished the apple and left just the core, they almost kissed way too many times. Brock wished he could just pretend to miss the apple and go straight to her lips, but every time he did that, Reba almost took a step back. She probably really didn't think of him more than friend.
"Congratulations, you two won!" announced one of the girls "you two are the only one who finished the apple and didn't stop to kiss every five seconds." she giggled "here's your prize" Reba took the prize from her hand and removed he gift wrapping. She shook her head while turning red.
"I should have known! Get your mind out of the gutter, you pranksters!" Reba hollered at her friends, they all laughed. In her hand was about 5 boxes of condoms wrapped together. Brock laugh reminiscing about yesterday's incident. "Thanks for being so generous" she quipped. But Reba didn't get to keep her prize, because a few couples weren't 'well prepared', so they were so happy to see them, and asked her if they could have some. Reba gave them all away quickly. Not long before every one was 'gone'.
"Well, you couldn't blame them, we're going back tomorrow and they don't have this much freedom in the dorms" said Brock with a chuckle. "I had fun this weekend I'm glad I decided to come."
"Me too, I had fun, but I wish we had more things to do than... that" Brock laughed at her comment.
"You know, I didn't even think we'd have as much activities as we did. Didn't you notice everybody came here with their partner? When Mike told me you were coming along, I wondered if you knew what to expect."
"Apparently not, I could have been bored to death. Lori-Ann should have told me." she sighed, "Anyway, the Sun hasn't even set yet, how about we work on your chemistry?" Brock's heart nearly pounced out of his chest, but Reba quickly clarified. "I'm talking about the subject of your exam"
"How about we just relax and let's play cards?"
"I swear I'd never play poker with you again." announced Reba turning red
"I wasn't thinking of that, how about gin, you know how to play gin?" Reba nodded, Brock ran to the tent and brought out the cards and played at the picnic table. "When we go back, and if I have some time before finals, how about we go see a show?"
"I'd like that" Reba wondered if he was asking her out on a date or just as a friend going to see movie together. However, Brock didn't have time. As soon as he came back, he had his exams, and a bunch of projects to finish before finals. And Reba also getting ready for her finals, they never went out together until the end of the year.
"Y'all going back to Oklahoma?" asked Brock watching Mike pack his stuff. He just learned that all three of his friends would go back home during summer.
"Yep, I'll see you in August. If you miss me, just write me a letter." he tapped his nose handing Brock the address. Brock immediately knew that wasn't Mike's address. "Or send me flowers, Gladiolus are my favorite." Brock smiled. "I still can't believe you never asked her out." Mike shook his head.
"I wish I had time!"
"Whatever. I'm leaving, I'll see you next semester." Mike closed his last box.
"Mike give me your address too before you leave, I might pay you a visit"
"Me? Really?" Mike smirked
"I need a reason to go there and a place to stay, I can't just show up at her house. Her dad owns several guns." Brock chuckled. Brock saw all of them leave. Reba turned around to give him a smile to remember before disappearing in her car. Little did she realize, Brock showed up with Mike and Lori-Ann on her doorstep less than three weeks later.