Ch 3 Sorry it took so long! I think this may be the last chapter but I don't know…let me know what you think! Also, this is the longer chapter of the three.
Cindy finished eating her food. She wanted to hurry and help Jimmy set up the tents. She was surprised that he had asked her to help in the first place. "This may be the start I have been looking for!" She thought to herself.
Jimmy was still shocked that he has asked Cindy for her help. "I have to tell her. There is no way around it now; we're going to be alone setting up the tents." Jimmy thought to himself for a moment. "I have to come up with a way to start the conversation…"
Jimmy was interrupted in thought when Cindy said, "I am ready if you are Jimmy."
Jimmy looked up at the blond and it was like seeing her in a new light. She was eager to help, and just all around beautiful. She had her hair in a side braid, it suited her. Although she was wearing tennis shoes and sweat pants with a light hooded jacket, she was still more beautiful than he could have ever imagined her to be. She had grown into such a beautiful, teenaged girl.
"Jimmy, are you ok?" Cindy asked.
"Oh, sorry, Cin. I was thinking of the best way to set up the tents. But, what do you think?" Jimmy was embarrassed and flustered. He had not expected her to catch him in his thinking of her.
"That was weird. Jimmy just asked my opinion on something! I think this is going better than I thought it would!" Cindy was overjoyed with Jimmy's asking her to input her opinion on things. "I haven't been camping very much," She admitted, "but what if we put the tents in a circle, so that we can all talk before we sleep?"
Jimmy thought this over. Not wanting to hurt Cindy's feelings and not sure himself at the tents in a circle, he called to Goddard. "Goddard, asses the good and bad of this idea."
Goddard barked and his screen flashed showing the tents in a circle. His screen blinked with possibilities such as rain, and wind. Showing that a circle was stable for those conditions.
"Looks like we're putting the tents in a circle. Good call, Cin." Jimmy dismissed Goddard and went over to the hoover car to gather supplies. Cindy followed light on foot.
"Jimmy, will you be able to fix the hover car? Because we can't miss the test in science Monday, it counts for more than half of our grade." Cindy asked him, concerned that this trip would keep her out of school, again.
"Yup not a problem." Jimmy replied with confidence. "And if you need help in science, you know, I am a genius…"
Cindy was steamed. She rolled her eyes and balled her fists. She then punched Jimmy's arm.
"Ow! What was that for?" Jimmy was pained. He didn't know what he had done or said to deserve this.
"For your information, Nerd-tron, I don't need help in science; I just can't miss the test. I was concerned for everyone else here. Set up the stupid tents yourself. In whatever way you deem." Cindy stormed off looking for Libby.
"Of all the egotistic, self-centered, smarty-pants people I have ever met, he is the worst! Just the absolute worst!" Cindy was talking to herself on her way to find Libby. "Why cant he see that he hurts me when he does things like that? Its not like he is that much smarter than me." Cindy stopped and sat down next to a tree making sure that there was no poison ivy around. She then began to cry.
Libby looked over at Jimmy who was carrying supplies to the campsite from the hoover car. "I'll be right back, Sheen. Keep playing with Ultra Lord. Oh, and you can talk for me with my Ultra Lord." Handing Sheen her Ultra Lord, she went over to Jimmy.
"Where's Cindy?" she inquired.
"I don't know. I thought she went to go find you. We had a fight, she punched my arm hard and ran away." Jimmy confessed.
Libby crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "What did you say to her?"
"Why does the blame fall on me, Libby?" Jimmy wanted to know.
"Because, you may be a genius but you don't see what is going on around you very well." Libby replied.
Libby turned and left. She didn't go to Sheen, and bypassed Karla and Carl who were talking to each other in hushed tones and very close together. Instead, she took off into the woods desperate to find her best friend.
Luckily, she had not gone far. "Cindy, what are you doing here?" Libby asked, already knowing the answer.
Cindy wiped away a few stray tears and hugged Libby. "Jimmy made me mad. So I hit him. Then I just started running."
"I am surprised we didn't see you running away. Tell me what happened." Libby was always Cindy's support.
"I asked if he could fix the hover car, reminding him about our big test in science, and he said that he was a genius and that he could help if I needed help. As if I would need his help. Libby, why do I let him bother me like this?" Cindy began to sob again.
"Girl, you need to control your temper. Hitting is not the best or smartest idea. Especially to genius boys who have no idea that what they said hurt you. You just have to tell that boy how you feel. It's not okay to keep it locked up inside of you like this. It has been three years since you told me that you liked him as more than the agreed upon in friend the contract that you both signed. Please just get it over with so we can all stop suffering already. We all know you two are going to end up an old married smart couple who will have a million Nobel prizes in science and kick-butt kids who will want nothing to do with you after they are two years old because they are smart enough to take care of themselves." Libby threw in that last part to make Cindy laugh, and it worked.
"Do you think he will forgive me, Libbs?" Cindy asked.
Libby smiled and let go of her best friend. "Ask him yourself." Was all that she said before walking away and back to Sheen.
Cindy got up and started walking towards camp herself. When she arrived, she saw two tents already assembled and Jimmy working on a third. He had instructions out and stakes in hand with rope and leaves from small breezes stuck in his hair. Cindy thought that it made him look adorable and vulnerable at the same time. She laughed seeing his exasperated and exhausted look.
"How about I help you after all, Jimmy." Cindy spoke up.
Looking up, Jimmy gazed at Cindy. She had a tear stained face but was smiling.
"Cindy, I am sorry. Whatever I said, I shouldn't have." Jimmy stood up and towered Cindy by a good five inches.
Cindy shook her head. "No, it is okay, Jimmy. I am the one who is sorry. I shouldn't have gone off like that."
"What do you say, partner? Let's put it behind us." Jimmy held out a hand for her to shake.
"I say let's set up some tents!" Cindy exclaimed taking Jimmy's hand and shaking it.
The two had a lot of fun while setting up the remaining tents. Cindy would laugh at Jimmy's obvious attempted display of manly-ness. And Jimmy smiled every time she laughed. The tents were done faster with both of them working together.
"Cindy, could you help me fix the hover car?" Jimmy's head was down, not knowing what her response would be.
"I would like that." Cindy replied.
"Really? I mean, you don't have to, I just thought that we made such a good team with the tents and all…" Jimmy realized that he was babbling.
"Jimmy, stop babbling and let's get fixing!" Cindy grabbed his hand and dragged him to the hover car. "What do we need to do?"
Jimmy was learning so much about this teenage girl during this trip. He was beginning to enjoy her eagerness in learning and helping. He never wanted to make her mad again. He loved seeing the smile on her face and hearing the joy in her laugh.
"Wait, love? Is that right? I mean, we have been friends for so long, can love really be the right word here?" Jimmy thought.
"Well I need to examine the button that Sheen so eagerly pressed. I think that it stuck and caused us to fall rapidly." Jimmy explained.
Cindy nodded and followed Jimmy into the hover car.
Cindy was seated in the passenger's seat watching Jimmy work. She loved the way he moved around so gracefully and at ease. She loved how smart he was. She loved…
"Love? What that can't be right Cynthia Vortex. You really just appreciate him. Okay, love. Now can I tell him that?" Cindy was the first to speak.
"I think this was a good idea, Jimmy. Taking us all camping, that is. We all needed a distraction and to get away from Retroville. Thank you." Cindy was at a loss for words after saying thanks to Jimmy. She wanted to tell him how she felt but she didn't want to overdo it.
"Cindy, could you come under the dash here and help me? I need someone to hold the light so that I can re wire the button to not stick." Jimmy didn't mean to sound so distant and uncaring to what Cindy had just said, he just didn't know how to respond, so he asked her for a logical thing, help. It is after all, why she was in the hover car with him.
"Right here?" Cindy asked acutely aware of how close they were to each other.
"There is fine. Try to hold it in that spot. I was listening to you earlier, by the way. I just didn't know how to respond. I didn't want to say the wrong thing. I also, didn't know if you would want to hear what I had to say. I really don't want to make you mad again, Cin." Jimmy was glad that she couldn't see his face in the dark, he was blushing from admitting everything out loud.
"Almost everything." He thought.
"Oh. Well, uh, thanks for trying." Cindy was glad that even in their close proximity, that he could not see her blushing face. Holding the flashlight for Jimmy while he worked felt so great to her. She hoped that he would continue to need her help. She didn't want to share Jimmy with any other girl.
"I just need to tell him." Cindy urged herself to say something.
"Jimmy, I think you are a great guy. You're smart, and funny when you want to be. I am glad that you asked me to help you. I like it." Cindy felt that this may have been too much but she wanted to get a start .
"Way to blow it, stupid! Maybe a few sentences at a time will be best for now?" Cindy was really at a loss. She had never felt like this around Jimmy before. She didn't want to ruin the friendship, but she felt that Libby was correct. She didn't want to keep it bottled up forever.
"I think I had better tell Cindy what I feel. She just said I was smart and funny and a great guy. Well, here goes nothing." Jimmy let go of the wires he was fidgeting with and turned slightly to see Cindy better.
"Cin, I wanted to tell you, well, that is, I am not very good at this. I think you are pretty good too. I mean, well for one thing you're smart. I think you are beautiful too. I wouldn't have asked anyone else to be helping me." Jimmy felt like that was a terrible explanation of his feelings. But for now he said something.
The two teens looked at each other for a long moment. It became difficult for them to breath in such a close space. Just then, Sheen came in.
"Jim, I'm hungry. Can we eat some food? Also, my Ultra Lord is broken, can you fix him?"
Jimmy and Cindy laughed and came out from under the dash.
"I'll take a look at him while we're making dinner, Sheen." Jimmy took the Ultra Lord figurine from Sheen and helped Cindy up from the floor. "Want to help me make dinner, Cin?"
Cindy, blushing from realizing that he was still holding her hand, could only nod, "Yes." She was having troubles finding her voice after the last few minutes with Jimmy. "He sure has changed the last few years."
Cindy helped Jimmy make the dinner. Jimmy started getting the fire back up to optimal heat for hamburgers and hot dogs, while Cindy pressed the meat into hamburger sized patties.
Every so often, Jimmy would steal a glance Cindy's direction and watch her.
When Jimmy wasn't looking, Cindy would watch him with the fire.
Goddard barked, allowing Jimmy to know that the fire was ready. He went over to where Cindy was and asked her for the hamburger patties.
Cindy handed him the plate. Their hands touched for the briefest of moments. Both inhaled a breath of shock at how wonderfully sensational the other hand felt. Quickly turning away from each other, they both set back to their tasks.
While the hamburgers and hot dogs were cooking over the fire, Jimmy was looking at Sheen's Ultra Lord figurine. The arm had come out of the socket. He popped it back into place and handed it back to one of his best friends.
Jimmy looked over at Karla and Carl. They were holding hands and whispering to each other. Karla was holding a llama doll that Jimmy recognized as Carl's. Rather than open his big mouth and ruin the moment, he decided to let the two continue to be peaceful on their own. His gaze drifted to Cindy, who was carrying the buns and condiments towards them. He jumped up to help her.
"Here, let me help you." He grabbed a bag of hot dog and hamburger buns from Cindy's arms lightening the load she carried significantly.
Jimmy noticed the bag of marshmellows and the roasting sticks underneath the ketchup and mustard.
"What are you staring at, Jimmy?" Cindy asked.
Blushing, Jimmy continued to walk forward. "Nothing. You guys really are going to roast and eat marshmellows, aren't you?"
"Of course we are, silly! You can't go camping without doing so. Like S'mores, and just the marshmellows themselves.
It was getting colder out and darker too. The gang moved their logs closer to the fire. Libby began to sing songs for the group. Sheen did a puppet show about Ultra Lord and aliens. During the night's festivities, Jimmy slipped an arm around Cindy and pulled her close to keep her warm.
"He smells like the campfire. When did he become so strong?" Cindy began to wonder about how much she really knew about James Isaac Neutron.
Cindy wriggled out of Jimmy's embrace and brought out the roasting sticks along with the bag of marshmellows.
"I had better continue to work on the hover car." Jimmy declared as he rose and headed towards the car.
Despite many protests from his friends he kept going. Not even stopping to see the hurt look on Cindy's face.
While working on the button that Sheen had gotten stuck earlier that morning, Jimmy mumbled to himself. "Stupid marshmellows. I don't see why they are so important to camping. I mean, it's just a big puff ball of sugar that expands in the heat of the fire, which would make it gooey to eat. What a mess."
Cindy looked around at the others. She had just stuffed two marshmellows in her mouth. But that was not why they were staring she gathered.
Swallowing, she proclaimed, "Okay, I will go bring him back."
Getting up from the warm campfire, Cindy walked over to the hover car. She had no idea how to bring Jimmy back to the campfire with the rest of the gang, but she would try.
Knocking as she entered she announced her presence. "Jimmy? Why won't you come back to the campfire? We're all missing you. Libby was going to sing some more."
Jimmy came out from under the dash and sat next to Cindy in the middle seats. He grabbed a blanket from back behind the seat and wrapped it around her shoulders. "You should get back. You are going to freeze in here."
"I won't leave until you stop being such a stubborn mule and come back with me!" Cindy yelled.
"I have to fix the hover car, Cin. It's not that I don't want to be around you guys, I just feel like I should make sure we are all safe and not stranded. I am responsible for you guys." Jimmy looked at Cindy. He brushed a stray strand of hair from her face.
"Jimmy, will you please come back with me? It was warmer when you were holding me." Cindy sounded so vulnerable.
Jimmy couldn't hold himself back. He wanted to be closer to Cindy at that moment. He leaned in and planted his lips onto hers in a sweet, passionate kiss.
The more they kissed, the more they realized just what they had been missing these last few years. Each other.
Jimmy pulled away and licked his lips. They were sticky from the marshmellows Cindy had eaten moments before coming to get him.
"Maybe I will have some marshmellows after all." He stated.
Jimmy put his tools down and took Cindy's hand.
They returned to the campfire with their friends.