The Lifeguard Hates You (Completed)

August Chapter 29

I hiked all the way back to our camp ground and at no point did Rory catch up with us.

I had no doubt that Rory was doing this to make me feel guilty.

If she thought I was going to freak out and send out a search party for her, then she was out of her mind. What I was going to do was something worse, something to punish her.

I went straight to Bryce, who had just come back from white water rafting. He was standing around the camp, damp, in nothing but a pair of wet royal blue board shorts. He was completely shirtless, his hair was slicked back, only because it was wet, and he was wearing a pair of aviators like he was coolest dude at this camp ground.

And maybe he was.

At the very least he was the most handsome.

Still, I walk right over to him, like I'm not intimidated by his washboard abs and height and smile.

"Bryce, could I ask for a favour?"

He scans the area around me, no doubt wondering why I'm talking to him when Rory's not with me. Well, wait for it.

"Rory's gone and gotten herself lost on the hike, any chance you can go and get her?"

Bryce's cocky smile faded right off of his face.

"I'm sorry... you... Rory... lost?!" he thunders and I try not to smile.

Firstly, because it was always entertaining to see Bryce at a loss for words.

Secondly, because my plan was working. Send the man with a crush after Rory, he goes to rescue her, she has to deal with him lecturing her, probably flirting with her when she's not interested. Which meant by the time she got back here, she'd be grumpy and frazzled.

And while he went and found her, I'd call Jay. I'd tell him that Rory was lost, freak him out, and have him come up here. When he got here he'd find Rory being rescued by Bryce and bam, cue the massive argument that Rory would be stuck in the middle of.

It was a little convoluted but I had the whole hike to think it up, cause I figured she'd be petty enough to pretend to be lost, or to lollygag on purpose so that I'd think she was lost.

Well, this would teach her.

Teach her for leaving me behind.

Because that's what she was doing.

She was going to go back to her old life and leave me behind. I'd never see her again. She'd make something of herself, just like her parents expected of her and I'd still be here, in cottage country. A lifeguard forever because I wasn't smart enough for school, and wouldn't be suited for anything else.

"Well damn, Candy, when did you last see her?" Bryce asks me, already heading for his tent, no doubt to get something more substantial on.

He couldn't hike in board shorts and flip flops. He'd need runners of some sort.

"She was on the path, she's fine," I say even though I don't know if that's true.

Rory's clumsy. She could have fallen off the path, she could have fallen down the whole hill. I'm assuming she's fine, but the whole falling off a path was a possibility I had forgotten about until now.

"Candy," he growls. "You just said she's lost, which implies she's either off the trail or on one that you're not aware of..."

"Well I mean..."

"Candy did you leave her behind?"

I had.

In this sense, I had left her behind... physically, before she could leave me. Metaphorically I mean.

Man this is confusing.

"Look, you wanna find her or not, or should I call Jay?" I ask and he scowls at me and disappears in his tent to change.

As soon as he's gone my phone rings and it's Jay.

I had completely forgot he has a Rory-sense. He could always tell when she was in trouble. Which meant she probably had fallen off path. He was no doubt calling me to ask where she was and I'd have to admit that I lost her/left her behind. It was a little early to be calling him up there, but I figure if I tell him that he doesn't have to worry because Bryce is going to go off to get her, he'd be up there in ten minutes flat.

I answer the phone with a smug smile. "Speak of the Devil I was just talking about you..."

From inside the tent I hear Bryce shout: "Don't tell him anything, I'll find her, okay?"

I shake my head and focus in on Jay who sounds... panicked. "You need to come back, now. To the hospital."

My smile fades off of my face. "What happened to Shawn?"

"Nothing."

Then what the fuck, Jay? I want to shout but I don't. "You're not driving yourself to the hospital again are you?" I ask him in a dry voice because he's done that twice now. Once with a broken finger, the other while he was feverish. That second time he crashed his car.

"No, it's not me Candy, it's Rory..."

"Rory," I echo. "Rory's up here with me..."

"No she's not!" Jay shouts and that frown returns to my face. "She's here. I have her and she's out cold and a mountain lion used her as a chew toy..."

"Mountain lion..."

"And we're driving her to the hospital and I'm freaking out," he shouted at her. "How the hell did she run back to Earth and Body, Candy? No one noticed a goddamn mountain lion chasing her?"

Oh.

My.

God.

"I... I mean... we got separate on the hike and... I mean... is she okay?"

"NO! Cause I don't know what's blood and what's fake and... god damn it Candy!" he shouts again. "Look, we're here. I've got to go."

"Wait... send Shawn to come get me!" I cry but he's already hung up the phone.

At this point Bryce is out of his tent. He's in jeans, fancy hiking boots and a cammo polo... like that's going to help him find Rory. Being camouflaged.

"What's up with you?"

"Rory's with Jay..." "—What? She hiked all the way back to Earth and Body? How long were you people gone?!" "...she's in the hospital."

Now that gets his attention.

"Wait... what?"

"I unno, something about a mountain lion and fake blood."

"A mountain lion?!"

Yeah, Bryce is not helping right now, I've lost him.

I turn around and leave him, rushing to the camp ground's general store. "I need Coog's number."

"Coog doesn't deliver alcohol up here, trust me, someone tries every summer and he still says no..."

"No! I need to call him right now! It's an emergency!"

Man, Coog was going to be PISSED