"So, its our last night before you go back to Maine" Fulton commented to me as we sat watching the last of the embers dying out on the fire. Coach Bombay had been rather lenient on our bedtime tonight as the only Ducks let awake were Fulton, Portman, Connie and I.
I nodded not really sure what I was meant to say to that. Fulton returned his gaze back to the dying fire.
Connie and Portman were discussing the monetary amount they'd accept to do things like jump off a bridge, eat various disgusting things and the dares they'd do.
"I got one!" Connie sat up excitedly. Portman's eyes grew wide in anticipation.
"Go on" he encouraged.
"How much would you take to dive into a tank of sharks covered in fish guts" Connie finished.
I wrinkled my nose, where the hell does she come up with this stuff.
Portman licked his lips and leaned forward.
"Three million" he named his price.
"Why three?" Connie questioned.
Portman shrugged "Sounded like a good number"
Connie laughed.
This conversation went on for a while. I eventually tuned out leaning my head on Fulton's shoulder.
"You okay Cat?" he asked as he rubbed my shoulders.
"Yeah just relaxing" I answered with a small smile. The truth was I was thinking about Eden Hall and how I could convince my mother to allow me to go.
"Good" Fulton whispered laying a kiss on my cheek.
It really felt good just sitting there with him, even if Connie and Portman's conversations were getting weirder by the minute. They were now comparing bruises, scars and cuts and telling the stories behind each of them. I think Connie's found herself a new best friend.
I saw Portman let out an enormous yawn and its true what they say yawning is contagious. I found myself getting really tired but I didn't want to leave my spot next to Fulton. Who knew when I would see him again and I was determined to make the most of it.
I snuggled further into Fulton turning so that I was now facing him with my head on his chest and my arms tightly wrapped around his waist. I felt him respond by rubbing his hands up and down my back, never once going below my waist.
It's nice to know you're respected.
The last thing I remembered hearing was the slow crackling of the firewood that had now been reduced to black chips as I felt myself losing the battle to stay awake.
I opened my eyes to find myself in the tent I shared with Connie.
Why was Connie on me? I ask myself when I realised I had a weight on my arm.
Damn she weighs a tonne.
I glanced down at the mass of dark hair noticing that it was really dark. I just put it down to Connie's hair being all smoky from the fire as I watched her sleeping next to me.
Something didn't really look right. Upon further inspection I saw that it wasn't Connie sleeping next to me at all, I was stunned to find Fulton there. He shifted slightly in his sleep moving his arm to cover me as he shuffled his weight to rest against my back. I could hear him murmur slightly before he settled into the steady pattern of his light snoring.
Normally people snoring is rather annoying but I actually found that Fulton's snoring had some kind of calming effect on me, like it was letting me know that everything would be okay.
Oh boy maybe I've been listening to Connie and Portman's ramblings for way too long and my mind is turning crazy now.
I chose to go with it, pushing any crazy thoughts out of my head, especially thoughts about what Coach Bombay would have to say if he walked in right now, and allowed myself to drift off to sleep again.
I wish we could lay there forever but unfortunately we were rudely woken by Connie and Portman poking us.
"Dude wake up! Bombay's coming" Portman hissed sitting down.
"Make yourself comfortable" Connie commented sarcastically.
Portman shot her a grin "Don't mind if I do" he replied pulling her into the tent and zipping it shut behind her.
"What are you doing?" Connie asked. The tent was definitely way too small for four people, especially when two of the four are enormous teenage boys.
"Looks less suss if we're all in here" Portman replied calmly. I kinda got the feeling he'd been in this situation before. It wouldn't surprise me, that was one of the areas he differed from Fulton, Fulton got shy around girls he liked and Portman was full of confidence.
I admit I really prefer the first choice and not because Fulton was my, well I guess you'd say he was my boyfriend, but for how long?
"Well Bombay better hurry up, I'm all squished in here" Connie complained shoving Portman.
Portman responded by grabbing Connie and physically placing her on the ground next to him. He was obviously aware that if he'd tried to place her in his lap he'd be limping out of the tent as opposed to walking.
I sat up rubbing my eyes. I could hear Bombay giving instructions to someone outside, probably Charlie.
Fulton sat up next to me. It provided much needed room.
"So how come you were in here anyway?" I decided to ask before Bombay broke up the little party.
"You wouldn't let me go, you have a grip like a vice. Even in your sleep" Fulton laughed.
Connie and Portman joined in until Connie remembered that she had to share a tent with Portman.
"Fulton remind me NEVER to share an enclosed space with him again. He snores louder than a freight train and his feet stink!" she complained.
Portman grinned "Babe we're in an enclosed space now" he pointed out.
Uh-oh, he's used the 'babe' word again.
"Her name's Connie not 'babe'" Fulton laughed in a perfect imitation of Banksie that had us all in stitches, even Connie was laughing.
"What's going on in here?" Bombay unzipped the tent to find the four of us laughing our asses off.
He tried to subtly sniff the air as if we'd been smoking cones and getting high and that was the reason for the laughter. He seemed satisfied that we weren't on drugs when he calmly informed us that we needed to unhitch the tents and pack our stuff up within the next hour.
Great! An hour is all we get to be together as a team before we're separated into different minivans and taken to the airport.
Wait what am I saying? There are only three people that I really want to see and they're sitting right in front of me. I'm sure we're all going to be in the same van but after the airport we're gonna be separated for a long time.
Connie kicked Portman and Fulton out of our tent so that we could get dressed. The boys reluctantly left the tent and it was obvious the rest of the team were outside because we could hear the catcalls and whistles from Averman and Goldberg.
"GRRRR! That is so immature" Connie exploded.
"Yeah I know but that's what you get" I replied absently as I pulled out the remainder of my clean clothes from my pack.
We got changed in silence each of us hastily throwing our dirty clothes into our packs and rolling up the sleeping bags.
"Well lets get this tent down, I must admit I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight" Connie said.
I agreed "Yeah, even an airplane seat seems better than this"
All flights to Maine had been booked out and the only flight I could get left Minnesota at 11.00 pm. It didn't bother me, I could sleep most of the way and I got to spend a few extra hours with Fulton.
We emerged from our tent after throwing our packs and sleeping bags out onto the dirt. We weren't really caring at this stage.
I was surprised to find that our tent and the Bashes tents were the only ones left and that everyone else's stuff had been packed into the vans already.
"Wow nice of someone to let us know we were leaving so early" Connie whispered to me.
I had to agree, it was a little rude of them but at least we didn't get caught sleeping with a boy in our tent. They seemed to dislike us enough already.
Twenty minutes had passed and finally our stuff was packed away in the last van. We had to share it with Ken, Jan and Tibbles. I didn't really mind though, Jan knew when to keep quiet but we could always throw Tibbles out of the window if he got too bad and Kenny was pretty cool. He wasn't the little Bash Brother for nothing.
Bombay called the team to gather around using that damn whistle again. When will he get over it?
He gave us some speech as to how we've done our Country proud and that he hopes to see us all in Minnesota attending Eden Hall as a 'family' was the word he used.
Pft, didn't feel like much of a family at the moment. Every one was off in their own little groups, having their own little quarrels. The togetherness they'd forced upon us during the break at the championship game with the whole "Ducks Fly Together" speech had long disappeared.
I guess Ducks only Fly Together when the world was watching.