Chapter 12: Chapter 12
A thousand stars filled the sky directly above her head and despite the uncomfortableness of Brittany’s windshield digging into the back of her skull, Beth was happy to be out in the solace of the woods next to Muddy Creek. Out here, the crickets were singing a sad song, the night birds were chirping in response, and bullfrogs creaked and called to one another from the water's edge.
The scene on the square had been too much for Beth, and her friends had decided this was a better location to spend their Saturday night, despite the fact that Lexy had practically needed to be peeled off of the window as she drooled over Michael’s truck parked two cars over. Even without him in it, she was a mess just thinking about him. Their location was across town, near to where the creek broke off from the bigger Spring Creek, and out here in the woods, it was easy to lose oneself in nature and forget about everything else. Almost.
“It’s not… the end of the world,” Brittany offered, sitting next to Beth. Andi and Lexy were sitting on the bumper, which had to have been made of corrugated steel the car was so old. “So he was with Carly. Big deal….”
“Big deal?” Beth shot up, peering at her friend in the darkness. “He wasn’t just with her, they were holding hands, Brit. I think he’s literally with her.” The thought of the two of them dating made her sick to her stomach. How could Sammy possibly be with Carly when he was supposed to be falling madly in love with her?
“Why don’t you ask him at batting practice?” Andi asked. “Don’t they have that on Sundays?”
“Yeah, great idea. ‘Hey Sammy, saw you fawning all over Carly last night. She your girlfriend now?’ Perfect.” Beth fought the bile rising in the back of her throat, but she felt like the McDonald’s they’d picked up earlier was about to be spewed all over the shoreline. Better that than in the seat of her friend's car. At least out here there wouldn't be many witnesses.
“Well, you’ve had a couple of weeks to prepare yourself for this,” Lexy reminded her, keeping it real. “It’s been at least that long since what’s her face showed up and inserted herself into the situation. You should’ve known….”
“Real helpful, Lex, thanks.” Beth slid off the side of the car and melted into the ground next to the passenger side front tire. The ground here was soft, patches of grass mingled into wet earth, probably the only ground in Southwest Missouri that wasn’t completely brittle and brown right before the Fourth of July holiday. But the creek being so close by must’ve kept the flora hydrated, and the sound of the babbling water not ten feet away would’ve been soothing, like the stars, if it wasn’t for the knife in her heart. Nothing seemed soothing at the moment. Especially her friends who were just trying way to hard and not helping at all.
“I’m just saying,” Lexy continued, but Andi shushed her, and for once, Lexy heeded her friends advice and stopped talking.
“So… go out with someone else,” Brittany suggested. “Make him jealous. If he really did have feelings for you before he realized Carly was an option, and we think he did, then… maybe he’ll come to his senses.”
“Ugh. That is the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard in my life.” Beth realized her words were harsh, but at this point, she couldn’t care. “How do I get some other guy to date me when I couldn’t get Sammy to? There’s, like, no one who would go out with me. Ever.”
“What about Ryan?”
Andi’s question lingered in the stillness of the night between them, only the cry of a distant bird replying until Beth got over her shock at the suggestion. “No.”
“Why not?” Andi swiveled around and took a few steps closer to Beth, her arms crossed. “He’s been locked up in his house for… ever. He’ll be free in a few days. He’ll do it. He’ll pretend to be your boyfriend to make Sammy jealous.”
The reasons why she would never ask Ryan to do something like that were multiple and complex. “No,” Beth said again, with more force this time, hoping the message would get through this time.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Lexy offered. “Ryan is pretty cute. Sammy probably will be jealous if he sees you with Ryan.”
“And Ryan’s nice enough he’ll do it, I bet,” Brittany, who knew Ryan the least of any of them, Beth wagered, interjected.
“I’m sorry, you guys, but I’m not asking Ryan to do something like that. Besides, it doesn’t matter. I just need to get over Sammy. He’s clearly not the person I thought he was if he wants to go out with a hussy like Carly.”
“You know, I think that’s your problem, Beth.” Lexy stepped over so that she was only a few feet away from her now as well, and slowly, she crouched down, her glasses reflecting the waning moonlight. “You’re a goody-two-shoes, Bethy, and everyone knows it. Maybe if we started a rumor that you slept with someone….”
“Alexandra!” Andi shouted into the darkness. “You can’t be serious! Her mom would kill her.”
“It wouldn’t be true!” Lexy countered.
“It doesn’t matter. This is a small town. If you burp at the five and dime, your parents know it before you can ride your damn bicycle back home. You can’t honestly think that’s a good idea.”
“Stop—just stop,” Beth interjected, finally pulling herself up off of the ground and dusting her shorts off. “I’m not going to use my friends or spread lies about myself to try and get what I want. I just… need to realize that I’m never going to have a boyfriend, not someone like Sammy, anyway.” Thoughts of her conversation with Ryan, the one where she’d thrown out other options, like Terry and Stanley, came to mind. Maybe those were the guys she should be chasing after. “Let’s just go home.”