“Even without me in Denver?” I asked, feigning a pout.
“You’re missed daily,” Lila said.
“It’s all we ever talk about.”
“I knew my absence would hit you hard,” I said, pretending to be distraught. “Don’t worry, maybe I’ll find time to head back to the city for a week or two before my next gig starts. You have room, right?”
Harrison’s smile fell. “It’s a small house,” he mumbled, to which I laughed.
Lila giggled. “We always have room for you, Ollie.”
My chest swelled. Home wasn’t a place; it was a feeling. I felt it right now sitting with my best friend and his person. And fuck me if I also didn’t feel it anytime I was with Frankie.
Eagerness electrified my body as every mile swept by and I was closer to being in the same vicinity as her again.
TWENTY-FIVE
Frankie
“What doI do with this pole?” I held up the long stick that kept collapsing and let out a frustrated huff. “It won’t stay straight.”
“It will if you use it right,” Mattie insisted.
She and Giles had already assembled their tent with ease, while I was left struggling to get mine to cooperate.
The campsite was made for groups so it was large. It was grassy and overlooked the mountains; some in the distance still had snow on the peaks. There were grills and firepits. It was still early in the season so only one other group of a few girls was here. We’d said friendly hellos when we’d first pulled in.
Mattie, Giles, and I had beaten Oliver’s car, although they probably weren’t too far behind us.
“I’m doing everything in my power to make it bend like you said and I swear it’s broken,” I insisted.
Giles let out a clipped breath. “I’ve used that tent a thousand times. I can promise you, it’s user error.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t appreciate your insinuation. I’m very capable of figuring things out.”
“Just not this?” Mattie challenged.
“It’s broken,” I insisted, waving it around.
Giles sighed and stood up from his crouched position where he was nailing a stake into the ground to secure their tent. He brushed off his pants and sauntered toward me. He took the offending pole in question from my hands and made a quick snapping motion. The pole’s pieces came together so that it was in one long, uninterrupted line.
“Give me the tent.” He held out his hand. “You thread it through the top.”
“I almost had it,” I said, fighting back a laugh. I knew I was bad at this, but I was also just as stubborn as I was indoorsy. Admitting I couldn’t do something was hard for me, even if it was so obviously true.
“Let Giles make your tent and you can help me with the sleeping pads.” Mattie waved me over, and I left her husband to finish assembling my tent.
I hated the idea of sleeping on the ground like this. Honestly, I was kind of kicking myself for insisting I’d sleep on my own. All I really wanted was to be next to Oliver. Especially with the threat of a bear or some wild animal ripping me to shreds out here.
“What’s up with that?” Mattie whispered once I was by their tent.
“It really wasn’t working?—”
“Not that,” she hissed. “The fact that you’re setting up your own tent. Why aren’t you sharing with Oliver? Are you two fighting? You’ve been sleeping at our house a lot this week?—”
“We aren’t fighting,” I interrupted.
Guilt trickled in. Iwaspushing him away and it was obvious to everyone around me. Including him. I had seen it in the look he gave me when I left his apartment this morning.Not wanting him to tell his friends about me was the lamest excuse in the book. The worst part of it was that none of it was making me feel any better. Every night I spent away from him left me feeling achingly empty, and this weekend was about to be no different.
