After a surprisingly unburned dinner of hotdogs and hamburgers it was mine and Fulton's turn for our punishment.
Connie hadn't spoken to me throughout the entire dinner only pausing her flirting with Dwayne to glare in either my direction or Guy's. Guy didn't seem to care anymore, he was too busy with Charlie and Jesse.
"She'll come around" I heard Fulton whisper in my ear as he held up a sponge and a dish rag.
"Wash or dry?" he asked.
I took the sponge and opted for washing. My mother always said that men could never clean dishes properly. Not that I ever listened to anything she had to say.
Fulton graciously loaded up the dirty dishes next to the wide, shallow tub that was our sink and spread a towel out on the other side ready for me to put the washed dishes on. I never knew he was so domesticated.
Hmmmm he might be a keeper.
"You know all you need is a frilly pink apron and you'd be the perfect little housemaid" I joked needing an outlet to smile. Connie and her dirty looks are starting to wear me down.
"Yeah I look sexy in anything!" Fulton struck a ridiculous pose and almost tripped himself over.
I laughed hard for the first time in what seemed like forever but in reality was only a few hours. This trip definitely had its ups, being that I finally got to kiss the sexiest Bash Brother, but it also had its downs, ie the Ducks being mad at us and Connie blowing her stack over something so stupid. Oh well I guess I'd better get used to it if I'm going to do everything in my power to go to Eden Hall instead of Bangor Grammar.
"See I can be funny too!" Fulton tried to cover up his lack of co-ordination on the grass with a joke.
"Yes you can sweetie" I reply laughing again. He really was so sweet to try and cheer me up like this.
I decided to finally get started by pouring some water from a bottle into the tub and putting a little bit of dishwashing liquid in. Coach Bombay had warned us about using too much detergent and killing the grass and/or the wildlife in the pond. Funny, he said the same thing about using patterned and coloured toilet paper too. Where did he come up with this stuff?
Fulton apparently had nothing better to do than poke me as I was trying to wash a frypan. I seriously contemplated whacking him over the head with it but he was too cute for that. If it was Portman however, I'd have no problem.
I managed to get the frypan and the rest of the dishes done without further incident. As I was tipping the water out of the tub, I decided on a little payback for the poking and poured the rest of the water from the bottle over Fulton's head when he'd dried and packed the last dish.
"ARGH!" he screamed not expecting it. At least I'd been a little lenient by not pouring the dirty dishwater over him. That would have been too gross and then I'd have to smell it when he tried to get even.
I started running in the first direction my legs would take me. I ignored the cries of "hey" and "outta the way" when I ran straight through a game of touch football the others were playing.
"Julie Gaffney I'm gonna get you so bad!" I could hear Fulton yelling behind me following by laughter of the other Ducks. It must have looked funny for the others seeing a dripping wet Bash Brother chasing their backup goalie across their game.
I kept running but eventually the image of him chasing me that I'd conjured up in my mind proved too much as I started laughing hysterically and losing my footing. Tripping over myself I caused the rest of the Ducks to laugh even harder and Fulton had now caught up with me.
"You're dead Gaffney" he laughed squishing himself on top of me so that the water from his clothes was dripping on me.
"Geez Fult you weigh a tonne" I joked trying to move him. He wouldn't budge instead he brought his head down to mine and gave me a kiss.
I could feel myself blushing when I heard the cries of "Gross!" and "Get a room" from the others.
"You're just jealous I get to kiss the Cat" Fulton retorted looking incredibly proud of himself.
"Well Guy gets to kiss Connie" Averman pointed out. As per usual, I don't think he knew what the point of that statement was.
"Not anymore he doesn't" Connie blurted out angrily.
I shot my head up to see what the reaction to that was but I accidentally bumped head with Fulton instead.
"Ouch!" we both cried at the same time rubbing our foreheads.
I sat up to see the rest of the Ducks looking at us for a split second before returning to Connie who had her hands on her hips looking like she was ready to rip Guy's throat out.
"Oh this should be good" Fulton whispered as he kissed my forehead to make it better as he put it.
"We're over for good Guy Germaine!" Connie screamed at such a volume that several birds nesting in the trees decided to scamper, flying off in search of a quieter destination.
Lucky things.
"And you think I care Connie Moreau? You're off with Cowboy the first chance you get because he's the only one who gives a damn!" Guy yelled back at an even greater volume level than Connie.
I gasped in shock. That was way harsh and I've never heard Guy yell like that before. It was frightening in a way that you now know never to get him angry with you.
Fulton subconsciously wrapped his arms around me even tighter. Even though he was still wet he felt safe and warm.
Before Connie could reply Coach Bombay wisely called us back to camp to light the fire before the sun went down completely.
"I think I need to change" Fulton grinned at me.
"Me too" I replied half hoping Connie would be in the tent by the time I got back there so I could tell her that what Guy said wasn't true, we all gave a damn about her.
Connie pushed past Dwayne who was trying to comfort her and ran ahead of everyone back to camp. I could tell that blow had crushed her, especially with it coming from Guy who had been her friend since they were in diapers and her boyfriend since pee-wees.
We arrived at camp to find only Bombay, Miss Mackay, Jan and Tibbles there. Connie was nowhere in sight. I reluctantly let go of Fulton's hand as we reached my tent.
"I'll see you later" he wriggled his eyebrows at me trying to get me to smile.
I managed a small one and nodded. He seemed happy with that as he walked off towards his own tent.
"Connie?" I asked softly as I unzipped the tent.
"Go away" Connie replied.
I shook my head "I can't I need to change, I'm all wet"
"Fine" she replied huffily. I tried to ignore her attitude knowing she was really mad at herself and Guy and not everyone else but to be honest it was bloody hard.
I entered the tent and zipped it shut behind me deciding that silence might just be the better option as I carefully climbed over to my laid out sleeping bag to access my clean clothes.
I could hear Connie sniffling as I pulled a sweater over my head. I couldn't stand it any longer.
"Its not true you know" I say gently.
Connie looked up "What's not true?" she was so deep in her thoughts that she had forgotten that everyone had heard what Guy said.
"We all give a damn, even Guy does. He didn't meant it" I reply trying to sound like I wasn't taking sides.
"Thanks Jules" Connie finally cracked a smile.
Success! The only other female on the team was talking to me again.