Lucie sat for several minutes without saying a word. Jake just watched her, knowing she wanted to say something and waiting patiently for her to find the words. For once, Lucie's thoughts weren't racing. She was slowly letting her thoughts process in her brain, trying to figure out what to say exactly.
Finally, she opened her mouth and made a small squeaking sound, indicating she was about to speak. Her mouth closed, but opened again and she said what she had wanted to say for a while.
"I forgive you, Jake." The words almost hurt to come out, but after they were out, a weight felt like it had been taken off Lucie's shoulders.
Jake's face lit up. He smiled broadly and took Lucie's hand in his. "Does this mean…does this mean you will be my girlfriend again?"
Lucie thought for a moment, letting her eyes wander around the room. When they landed back on Jake, she answered, "I don't know yet."
He nodded understandingly and replied, "That's okay. Take all the time you need. I'm just so happy you forgave me. What I did was awful and it takes a good person to forgive it."
Watching Jake look at her with hope in his eyes made Lucie immediately start questioning if she did the right thing. It felt good to forgive Jake and just let it go, but she was not at all sure if she wanted to be with him again. Could he really have changed so much? Would he really never cheat on her again?
She stood up and smiled oddly at Jake before walking out of the room. She headed for the front door, knowing she needed to be away from him and maybe even talk to Squid. Talking to Squid always made her feel better. She walked briskly toward the dry lakebed, half watching for her aunt, even though she had a feeling she wouldn't mind if Lucie went out there now. As the diggers started coming into view, she heard the sound of one of the groups of boys singing. Straining her eyes, she saw that it was D-tent. She smirked to herself.
"Dig it, uh uh oh, dig it. Dig it uh uh oh, yeah," was the melancholy sounding chant they were singing in unison. A low voice sang over the chant, "With broken hands and a weathered soul, emancipated from all you know. You've got to go, dig those holes." The soloist was Zig Zag. Lucie stopped, wanting to listen without them noticing her. She had never heard them singing before. It was an almost eerie sight: seven orange suited boys, slowly shoveling dirt and singing in sad, low voices. The chant continued, "Dig it uh uh oh, dig it," and after a few minutes, Lucie started singing along, quietly. It was a mesmerizing scene. A sudden gust of wind played with Lucie's hair, tossing it roughly in her face. It caught Magnet's eye and he pointed at her.
"Yo, Hot Lips is here."
Everyone else looked up.
"What are you doing out here?" X-Ray asked. "Mom told us you had the day off."
Lucie walked closer. "I do. I just wanted to come out here for a few minutes."
Squid jumped out of his hole and tossed his shovel onto the ground. He smiled at Lucie as he walked toward her. She let herself sink into his arms when he hugged her, not wanting to think about everything her aunt had said. She rested her forehead against his chin and took a deep breath.
"You okay?" Squid asked.
"I'm fine."
She allowed herself a few more moments to be in his arms, then pulled away slowly. Her eyes went past Squid to the other guys and she addressed them all as a group.
"That was an interesting song y'all were singing. What is it?"
Zig Zag shrugged. "Just something we made up one day while we were out here digging."
"Well, it sounded great," she told them.
Zig Zag blushed a little, since he had been the soloist, and they smiled and went back to their holes. Squid started to walk back to his, but Lucie pulled him back to her and kissed him gently on the lips.
He smiled. "What was that for?"
"Just making sure," she told him grinning.
"Making sure of what?"
"It's nothing. I guess I better get back inside."
He nodded and watched her walk away.
As Lucie approached the cabin, she saw Jake sitting on the swing on the porch.
"Where'd you go?" He asked, a hint of concern in his voice. He stood up and met Lucie at the bottom of the steps.
"I just had to go see the guys for a few minutes. Since we've all become friends, I don't like going the whole day without seeing them."
Jake shrugged. "Oh. I thought you were mad at something I had said, or something. You just got up and left."
"Jake, this is all going to take me a while to process, so if I start getting up and leaving a lot, don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
He reached out to touch her arm. "I know it's a complicated mess. But I think we'll get through it…together."
With those words, he stepped forward quickly and kissed her firmly. He wrapped his arms around her waist before she knew what was happening, and pulled her close to him. She felt herself start to get engulfed in his kiss. No. She couldn't let this happen. She couldn't let him do it to here again. With their lips together, it seemed everything became clear suddenly. She pushed his chest and tried to pull her head away from his, but he fought her rejection.
"Jake," she mumbled, trying to pry his arms off her waist.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, man?" A voice called out, and suddenly Jake's pulled away from hers.
Squid pushed Jake away and then slugged him across the jaw, sending Jake tumbling into the dirt.
"Not again," Lucie groaned and covered her eyes. She heard several grunts and the sound of the two boys hitting each other.
"Stop it!" She called out, not wanting either of them to get hurt. "Guys, just stop!"
When the grunting continued, she uncovered her eyes, to see Jake and Squid rolling around in the dirt, trying desperately to knock the other out. Once Squid had pinned Jake to the ground and had his collar in his fist, he started talking.
"Can't you just take no for an answer? Lucie does not want you back and you need to just accept that and move on. You had no right to kiss her, and I better not ever, ever see you do it again."
Jake squirmed and tried to push Squid off of him.
"I'm serious, man," Squid added, "Don't mess with her any more. She's been through enough!" With one last little shove, Squid stood up and let Jake stand up.
"Lucie, tell this psycho you forgave me and that we're okay now."
Squid spun around to look at Lucie.
She averted her eyes to Jake and then back to Squid. "I did forgive him, Alan."
Squid's mouth fell open a bit.
"But," Lucie said loudly. "I did NOT tell him he could kiss me. You were out of line, Jake."
Squid looked relieved. Jake huffed and straightened out his shirt. "I'm sorry, Luc. It won't happen again."
He turned and disappeared back into the cabin.
There was an awkward silence between Lucie and Squid for a moment, but then Lucie spoke up.
"Thank you for stopping him. But I hate that it has to be a physical fight every time."
"I know," Squid told her, nodding and putting an arm around her shoulder. He kissed her forehead. "I just can't help myself. When I see someone mistreating you, it sets me off. I can't stand it."
After eating a silent dinner with her aunt and Jake, Lucie went to D-tent. Squid had invited her to come in there and hang out with them for the evening, knowing it would be awkward back at the cabin.
With everyone sprawled out all over the tent, they laughed and cut up together for a while. Lucie was lying on Squid's cot with her legs across his lap. She suddenly sat up.
"Hey, ya'll sing that song for me again. The one you were singing outside."
They all grinned at each other.
"All right," X-Ray agreed. "Start us off, Squid."
Squid nodded and started, "Dig it uh uh oh, dig it." Everyone joined in. "Dig it uh uh oh, yeah. Dig it uh uh oh, dig it. Dig it uh uh oh, yeah."
Zig Zag did his solo again and as the other guys were continuing the dig it chant, Squid explained something to Lucie.
"X has the one part he does. It's a rap. Do it X. The rap you made up."
The others paused as X-Ray rapped, "There is no lake, there is no shade, there is no place to hide so just sit and wait to fry."
Lucie clapped when he was done. "That was awesome. You came up with that?"
He smiled sheepishly and nodded.
"Wait, wait, wait," Squid said, holding up his hands. "Check this out. Man, it's S-Q-U-I-D. You wanna try me, end up with an I.V. Trust me, you poor, you can't pay the fee. Try diggin' one hole, then see me, BOY."
"Oooh! All right, Squid man!" Armpit called and all the other boys whooped and cheered.
"Oh, I got one, too." Armpit insisted and Squid started making a rapping sound to back him up. "A-R-M-P-I to the T. What is that you smellin'? Dawg, that's me. I don't take showers, and I don't brush my teeth. That's all I do is dig holes, eat and sleep."
All the guys started laughing and Lucie nearly rolled off the bed she was laughing so hard.
"That was awesome, Pit!" Magnet laughed.
At the same time, they all started back in with the chorus. "Dig it uh uh oh, dig it." Lucie joined in, too.
A smooth, sweet sounding voice started singing over the loud chorus, making everyone stop and listen.
"Wake up in the morning before the sun, keep diggin' that hole till the day is done," Zero sang.
It was quiet for a split second as everyone realized it was Zero, and then the loudest eruption of cheers yet filled the room.
As everyone was talking about Zero's verse, Caveman raised his hand, as if he were in a classroom, to get everyone's attention.
"Hey, I think I've got one, too."
"Caveman? You got one?" X-ray asked, a little skepticism on his face.
"Well, go ahead. Let's hear it." Zig Zag told him.
Caveman smiled and started rapping. "Two suits, two tokens at hand. I got no respect cause I'm the new man. Got my shovel, shoe's full of sand. Check out the tag the name's Caveman."
Everyone clapped.
"Good one, Caveman." Squid told him over the whoops of the other guys.
Lucie sat there laughing at how much fun they were all having making up songs.
"Na na na na nana nana. Na na na na nana nana. Na na na na nana nana. Na na na na," Magnet's high voice sang out in a catchy tune.
"Ah, man, that's cool. We gotta add that in there somewhere." X-Ray told them.
Lucie cleared her throat. "Can I try?"
All they guys looked at each other with their eyebrows raised.
"You really think you can?" Magnet asked.
"Well, I can't rap, but I can sing."
"Yea, give it a try, baby." Squid told her, smiling.
She had been working on something in her head and opened her mouth to see what it would sound like out loud.
"Your hands may blister, your muscles stay sore. You wanna break? Knock on the warden's door, uh huhhh. Uh huhhh."
They all started clapping and cheering for her as much as they had for the rest of the guys. She smiled widely and laughed as X-Ray started talking about how they could put all those individual things together and make a real song.
Lucie was sad to have to leave the tent, but she knew they all had to dig tomorrow, including her, so she said goodnight and went back to the cabin.
The song, obviously, was "Dig It" by Shia LaBeouf, Jake M. Smith, Khleo Thomas, Byron Cotton, Max Kasch, Brendon Jefferson, and Miguel Castro.
Sorry it is taking a while between chapters and I'm sorry these latest chapters haven't been as good. I just don't have that much time to write anymore. I am determined to finish this, though, and I know exactly where I'm going with it. The whole song part really had nothing to do with the plotline, really, but I thought it would be fun to write and read and, hey, I gotta let the characters have a little fun every now and then!