Make Believe

Thirty Two.

I walked up to the car and approached Mark and Lia . "So you're going, then?"

They turned around. Lia smiled and closed the gap between us, giving me the girliest hug I've had perhaps in my entire life. "Yeah. We're going on a road trip, just me and Mark."

Smiling, I wiggled my eyebrows. "Ooh. Exciting."

"Shut up!" She giggled. "I really like him. I think we're going to be such a cute couple."

"Me too." Reaching out, I hugged her again.

"You never hug me on your own accord!" Lia said into my shoulder. "That's so sweet of you."

Slightly embarrassed, I nodded at her and watched as Mark appeared from the back of the car. "We're all packed. Ready to go. We'll have to find a caravan of some sort, though. " Mark rubbed his hands together.

Finn walked out from behind the car and looked at me. I turned round and looked at Ross. Ross and Finn looked at each other. We all nodded. Finn took a deep breath. "Why buy a caravan when there's a perfectly good one just over there?"

"Huh?" Lia frowned.

"Well," I started. "How about we temporarily swap our caravan for your car? It means we would have to unpack and stuff, but..."

"Where would you sleep?" Mark asked. "Three people can't fit in a car."

"We can go home." Finn shrugged. "We've been on a road trip long enough."

"Yeah." I sighed. "I hate to admit it but I'm kind of homesick."

Mark and Lia shared a glance for a second, and then they both turned round to face Ross. Ross smiled and nodded at them. Finn pulled the keys out of his pocket and walked over to Mark, slipping them into his hands. I could tell that Finn was still slightly frightened of Mark, but something in Mark's face changed. He extended his arm. Finn hesitated, but eventually took Mark's hand and they shook hands.

"Thank you." Mark said. "You're a decent guy."

"Thanks." Finn shrugged, going red.

Mark laughed a genuine laugh and patted Finn on the back. "It'll take a lot of forgiveness, won't it? I'm sure you've got it in you. Somewhere."

Lia smiled and me and I winked at her. Never thought I'd see the day that Mark and Finn shook hands. Would it last? Something told me it would, but I wouldn't like to bet my life on it. As we all starting swapping our stuff around and packing up the car, I looked around the campsite. No matter how short the road trip was, we had learned so much.

Ross had gotten older and wiser, and seemed more chilled out than he had ever been before. He seemed happier, too. Finn had been more cheerful, and we had been getting on so much better. A lot had happened between Finn and I.  A lot.

And now we were going home. It was sad that the trip was over, but I couldn't wait to go home and collapse back into my own bed. I wonder how dusty the house was?

It was funny how everything seemed like it was concluding and that everything was fine. Mark and Lia left in the caravan, and just as we were packing up to go ourselves something stopped us.

There was a scream in the forest. Out of nowhere, someone sprinted out of the forest and collapsed in the middle of the clearing. A girl with long, ginger hair and a face full of freckles lay on the floor, panting. She picked herself up and looked at us, her eyes wide. "You... You've got to help me!"

I ran up to her and helped her onto her feet. "What happened? What's your name?"

"Someone's chasing me!" The girl grabbed desperately at my jacket. "You don't understand! Hide me!"

Footsteps thundered into the camp, a tall figure lunging towards the girl. Before he got close I punched him straight in the face, the ground shaking as he fell to the ground. My foot reached out and I kicked him in the stomach, hearing him groan in pain.

The girl ran towards Ross and hid behind him. Ross puffed his chest out to protect her. Cautiously, I looked down at the bleeding man at my feet. As soon as he looked up, I couldn't breathe. It wasn't... It couldn't be... No!

"You?" He whined. "Fuck, man!"

I put my head in my hands. "George? What the fuck are you doing here?"