Flashback: I know you can't believe I would just leave it wrong

I woke up before anyone else, which was a good thing, as Jason and I were stretched out together on the dock. We were wrapped together in the blanket, my head resting on his chest, our bodies pressed together. There was no gently untangling myself from Jason, I was entirely wrapped up in him, and had to wake him up to release so. He woke groggily and sheepishly, heading back to his own tent with me silently. I slipped into my tent, not ready to get back into bed, but knowing I should. I laid next to Jacob for a few minutes, and then sat up and stretched like I was just waking. I still didn’t think anyone was awake to see my little show, so I was surprised that when I stood, I heard a little hoarse voice whisper “help me.”
I turned quickly, trying to locate the voice, silently freaking out. Had someone snuck into the tents at night and done something horrible to my friends? Images of some masked murderer sneaking in and slitting their throats entered my mind. (It goes without saying that I have a very overactive imagination.) I didn’t look at Jacob when I came in, could I have missed blood? Would I had noticed if I was laying next to a dead body? My eyes darted around, panic building in my chest, until they finally rested on Drew, his eyes fixed on me.
“Oh, it’s just you.” I said.
“SHHHHHH!” He hissed urgently. He pointed his free hand to his chest, which Jarren was snuggled up against, his other arm pinned under her.
I stifled a giggle, thinking of coyote ugly, and how in the movie they stated that coyote ugly was when you woke up sober after a night of drinking to find someone laying on your arm that was so ugly you’d rather chew off your arm than wake them up. Jarren wasn’t ugly, more like annoying. A better example probably would have been those fish in Super Mario 3 who were sleeping. You had to snake past them, because if you woke them up, they’d follow you and pester you.
“Help me!” He whispered again, bringing me out of my thoughts.
“What do you want me to do Drew? Just pull it out. Hey, is that what Jarren said last night?”
“Not funny.” He pouted. He took a deep breath and held it, pulling his arm out and rolling Jarren slightly so she was off of him. I watched, holding my own breath to see what would happen. Jarren snorted slightly, then snuggled into her pillow and stayed asleep. Drew shot out of bed like a bat outta hell.
I followed him outside of the tent, waiting for him by the edge of the trees so he could go pee. When he came out, he looked as if he knew he was in trouble. His head hung slightly, he avoided my eyes.
“Drewbie.” I said sternly. “What did you do?”
“I don’t really remember.” He said, he tilted his head to the side, reaching up to rub his neck. That’s when I saw it. I couldn’t help but gasp.
“What?” Drew asked, looking puzzled and dropping his arm.
“Oh Drewbie.” I said, laughing. “You’re hers now. She’s marked you.” I said, reaching out to outline the huge, dark hickie on his neck.
He clamped his hand down over it. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Do you have a mirror?” He didn’t wait to answer, instead rushing over to the car and looking into the rearview. “Oh fuck.”
“So, let’s use our deduction skills. You don’t remember ANYTHING from last night?”
Drew shook his head, and then went back to the mirror, turning his head so he could see the hickie at different angles.
“Well. You went off alone with her at some point. Or at least I assume you were with her, because you both left at the same time. You didn’t have that on your neck when you went to bed, so it must have happened at some point during the night.”
“You didn’t hear anything, did you?”
I thought about lying, saying nope, I sure didn’t. I was a heavy sleeper and at home it’s likely I wouldn’t have heard anything. But Drew knew that camping, I had a hard time sleeping. I was usually the last to fall asleep, waking multiple times in the middle of the night, and the first to rise in the morning.
“I, uh. Didn’t sleep in the tent last night.” I said, looking down at the ground.
He paused for a second, and I could see his mind whirring, trying to figure out what that meant.
“Well, where did you sleep? Or would the better question be, who did you sleep with?”
I sighed, and looked away. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I went for a walk to the dock. Jason was there…”
“Oh Ella.” He sighed, interrupting me.
“It wasn’t a big deal! We talked, a lot, and we must have fallen asleep.”
He eyed me skeptically. “Did you do anything?”
“Am I the one with the huge trailer trash hickie on my neck?” I shot back.
“Ella.”
“No, we just talked. He held my hand. That’s the furthest he went.”
He sighed deeply again. “Did you tell him?”
I was busying chewing on my nail and looking off in the direction of the tents, which Jacob had emerged from. His hair was mussed, and as he stretched, his shirt rode up to reveal tan abs. He scratched absently at his stomach, then looked over and me and smiled, walking towards us.
“Ella?” Drew probed.
“No, Drew. I can’t.”
Drew had time to sigh once again, and shake his head, before Jacob was upon us and we had to stop talking about it.

Everyone woke slowly, with Jarren to be the last one up, immediately seeking out Drew. However, he quickly shook her off when the boys decided to go find firewood in order to start to cook breakfast.
I was sitting at the table under the canopy, working on planning out my first week back to work, when Jarren sat next to me. I ignored her, but she sighed loudly, and so I looked up at her.
“Can you believe it?” Jarren said when I met her eye.
“Can I believe what?” I asked, setting down my pen and sitting back in my chair.
“Me and Drew. I for one thought it was never going to happen.”
“What about you and Drew?” I treaded carefully.
“We’re dating!” She exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
“When’d that happen?” I asked, honestly shocked.
“Last night. I mean, I asked him to go on a walk with me, and I was surprised when he did, and he was leaning into me, and so I looked up at him and told him he could kiss me if he wanted, because that’s how he was acting. So he did, and we made out for awhile, but I decided we should go back. Wouldn’t want people to start talking.” She said.
“OK, but why does that mean you’re dating now?”
“I’m not done! We got back into the tent, and hands started to wander and one thing led to another…” She trailed off, smiling slyly at me.
“Oh sick Jarren there were people in the tent!” I exclaimed, glad that I hadn’t been one of those people.
“Oh, don’t act like you’ve never done that!” She said. I wasn’t acting, I really hadn’t.
“OK, so once again, I still don’t see how this means you two are together.” I was starting to get annoyed. I felt oddly jealous that Jarren and Drew had slept together, and suddenly my own lack of sleep the night before was catching up to me, and I felt tired and grumpy.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You know, Ella, if I didn’t know you better, I would say you were jealous.”
I waved her off. “Good thing you do know me. It’s Drew for God’s sake. Yeah he’s cute, but he’s… Drew.”
“Yeah.” She paused, looking me over. “I know. Anyway, I asked him if sleeping together meant we were together. And he said yes.”
I had been in the middle of grabbing my pen, to write down an idea that had just popped into my head, when Jarren said this. I stopped and looked up at her.
“He said you were together?”
“Yeah.”
“Jarren… Look. You already think I’m jealous, and that’s whatever. But I do have to say this. Drew was really, really drunk last night…”
“Are you saying he didn’t mean to ask me?” Her eyes were narrowed again, and she crossed her arms over her chest.
“I mean… Maybe.” I sighed. “I don’t mean it as an insult, Jarren. I never understood why you chased Drew around the way that you did. You’re better than that. And, if Drew meant what he said, I’m happy for you, I glad you got what you wanted. But, I just don’t want you to be hurt if it turns out Drew doesn’t remember what happened last night.”
She sat there, pouting for a moment. “Well. Did he say anything to you?”
Uh-uh, I wasn’t getting dragged into this, this was Drew’s mess.
“No, we’ve barely talked this morning.” I lied. “Look, after breakfast just ask him to go for a walk, and ask if he remembers last night at all. If he says no, I’d just let it go.”
“Let it go.” She repeated absently after me. She nodded, eyeing the patch of woods Drew and the guys disappeared into.

The guys came back shortly after, Drew throwing himself into breakfast, trying to appear busy. Jarren, however, seemed lost in her own thoughts, and didn’t even bother to try to sit next to Drew at breakfast. I watched her as she picked at her food, silent through breakfast. I felt a little bad for her, and shot Drew a dirty look. When I saw him get up to clear his plate, I followed him.
“She’s going to ask you to take a walk with her, and you better agree.” I snapped at him quietly, throwing my plate into the garbage. I walked away, not waiting for his answer.
Jarren did ask him to take a walk, and I watched them walk away together, feeling bad for both Drew and Jarren. I knew Jarren probably had real feelings for Drew, and that Drew would feel badly for hurting her. I shrugged and turned back to the group, where Jacob was waiting for me.