Camping Love

Chapter 2-P3

Marley let out a quiet squeak as he left the bus beside hers after about thirty seconds and approached the one she was in. She hid again, curling up in a ball as storming feet rattled the floors.

"Marley!" he shouted, "I know you're here!"

Marley covered her mouth against a laugh watching his feet walk right past her seat and down the isles.

"Are we two years old?! Marley!"

She squirmed on the floor, hoping, praying that he'd walk right past her again. Unfortunately, his feet came to a stop right at her isle. She didn't look up.

"I will throw you over my shoulder."

Marley briefly wondered how he managed to get a kid to puke on another kid. But she knew he would throw her over his shoulder if he went through the trouble of concocting this whole plan in the first place. Aiden had snatched her bag from the seat while she scrambled up and kept her head down, half humorous, half embarrassed and anxious.

He stepped aside so she could walk out first, the bus hushed as she walked down the stairs. She made her way slowly back to her bus to see the driver had huddled everyone in a circle.

"-throw up anything at all like a pink slushie? Who the hell said throw up?"

There were chuckles and Marley couldn't help it, she let out a giggle that she quickly covered with her hand. So that's how he did it.

Gabby appeared at her side, wholeheartedly laughing and trying to hide it from shyness. Aiden was looking at Marley, but she didn't give him the satisfaction of looking back.

"If we are interrupted like this again, say goodbye to your next rest stop! We'll park by the woods, and you can eat berries and drink sap from a damn tree! Back on the bus!"

Laughter ensued further as the bus driver left and everyone filtered in behind him. Aiden was practically seething beside her.

"Aiden's not a big fan of things not going his way, Marley. I suggest you just listen to him next time."

Leo's words were attempting to be helpful, but this new Marley paid no mind. Aiden Matthews had lit up a spark in her, and she knew it wasn't extinguishing anytime soon.

Why would he do this? Why would he force her back on his bus, next to him, if he wasn't even going to pay attention to her?

Marley asked herself these questions as she glanced up at him after about an hour of being back on the road. A new brunette girl was sitting right in front of him that wasn't there before, leaning forward in her seat and giggling between every word. She was wearing a v-neck that Marley knew she'd see intimately inside of if she looked up.

Aiden was leaned back in his seat but seemed to be engaged. Marley wouldn't know, because she was blasting her music and staying acutely focused on her and Gabby's game of Words with Friends. She felt more and more annoyed by the second that she couldn't move to Antartica to get away from him. Stupid, confusing Aiden Matthews.

When Marley's phone rang, loudly, she felt heads snap to hers. Her heart sank when she saw the familiar number of their towns local police. Dammit, Dad.

She ripped out her headphones and answered quickly.

"Hello?" she asked quietly, leaning away from Aiden in hopes that he wouldn't hear anything.

"Sorry to call, Marley. But he's back again."

Marley huffed in annoyance, "What is it this time?!"

"DUI."

"DUI?!" she shrieked a bit too loudly, before forcing herself to calm down, "DUI? I took all the keys so he couldn't drive!"

But her father had a way of doing whatever he wanted anyway.

"Well, it is your black ford. Hotwired."

"He is too stupid to hotwire anything," Marley growled in annoyance, tugging on her hair, "I did everything I could to prevent something like this."

Locked the medications. Put away all her money. Bought groceries and made food for him so he wouldn't have to search. Locked up all the garden supplies, sharp objects, and cleaning supplies in the shed.

Detective Bryan sighed into the line; he was the one who spoke to her all the time. She's stayed in his guest room one too many nights for them not to be close.

"I know you did, honey. He was...very angry about that."

Marley flinched.

"I gave him a black eye. That fucker will rot in hell for the s**t he said about you."

For the first time, Marley was glad he was locked up and would be locked up when she got back.

"It's fine, it's nothing he hasn't said before," she replied shakily, her eyes burning, "Has he been processed yet?" she was this close to losing it.

It's been a handful of hours! He couldn't keep it together for a handful of hours?!

"Look, honey. Stay on that trip and don't worry about this. I've got it all handled here. He won't be going anywhere for a long time. I don't know why you worry about him anyway."

Marley's fists clenched and unclenched, "I left him detailed instructions about the bills. I won't be back in time to keep the lights on and the water running. The mail. The neighbour kid needs to be paid for mowing the lawn, and I think he might've swiped the money from the mailbox-"

"I can do all of that, Marley. Relax," he soothed, but it wasn't working, not at all.

"The car? It's totalled, right?" It's the only car they had, and she had no hope of being able to afford repairs.

Marley would have to make the hour trek to work, which wouldn't be possible with the small window of time she had after school. Her body shook, racking with silent sobs of anguish.

"Well...yes. But we'll work it out."

"No," she blubbered quietly, everything around her fading away, "we won't. I need that car. He ruined it. He keeps on ruining it."

"Marley. It's okay. You stay with me when you get bac-"

"I'm coming home," she demanded finally, knowing that she couldn't ever be selfish like this again, "I'll deal with it there."

"No, you know this is your best chance at getting the f**k out of here. Marley. Don't. I will handle this, please."

Detective Bryan knew that this trip was where Marley could prove herself and get a scholarship to Brown, or even any school in general. She could also get a full ride, and her principal told her that was more than likely if she went on this trip. She took a deep breath in, and then out.

But there was never a choice. It would never be her.

"You know I can't do that. You know that doesn't matter," Marley croaked, her forehead pressed up against the window, and her eyes squeezed shut, "Not as long as he's alive."

"I knew you'd say that," Bryan sighed, "which is why I called Gabby first. She's going to make sure you stay on that damn bus and that your father doesn't ruin your future like he's ruined your past."

Marley's lips pressed together, "Bryan," she pressed, "don't make this harder. You know what my choice is always going to be."

"And that choice is wrong. So dead wrong."

And then he hung up. Marley let out a strangled breath as she gripped the phone in her hands and stared at the black screen.

"-let me sit here for a minute. You can take my seat."

"Fine. But what's wrong?"

Marley's head shot up at the sound of Aiden's voice. He was staring at Gabby, who was looking at Marley's distressed face with pity and fear. She cut her eyes back at Aiden with a tense jaw.

"This is something you don't touch, Aiden Matthews. Ever. Now move out of the damn seat and mind your own business."

Marley was insanely glad that Gabby could move beyond her shyness in situations like these, where Marley depended on her to.

She watched Aiden grab his belongings and turn back to look at her, but she shot her head down to her clasped hands before they could lock eyes. As soon as Gabby replaced him, Marley was curled up in her best friend's arms and blocking the world away.

"He's always going to do this to me Gabby. For the rest of my life," Marley felt the first tears begin to fall as her voice came out muffled into her best friends neon blue hoodie.

"One day he won't be in your life anymore," Gabby spoke with a wavering voice, feeling saddened for her best friend.

Marley gripped her shirt.

"He'll always be in my life. Alive or dead," she breathed before she was silently sobbing and hating herself for losing it.

There is nothing beautiful about the way things break apart or when a plate shatters as it is knocked off a table, when a gunshot splinters a wooden doorway. Marley knows what both of those things look like.

She is familiar with crashing, burning, falling and flailing arms as she does. There is nothing beautiful about it, even though poets try to make the ugly look pretty. They try to paint bright colours over the bitter red, that tastes like iron when everything gets stuck below the scars somewhere. It was all Marley could taste before she fell asleep.

The memories that she'll never be able to run from. The bleeding of a fatal wound deep inside of her where it's always dark and always, always hurting.

"There's no such thing as forgetting. Everything remembers...everything." -JH

Marley had fallen asleep in Gabby's lap, her legs curled beneath her and her blanket tucked under her chin. Gabby stroked her hair and said relaxing things every time Marley's body tensed up. Without Gabby, Marley didn't know what she would do.

She couldn't deal with it alone.

When she woke up for real, the afternoon sun was beating down on her face, and the voices on the bus were close to silent. Gabby's breathing was deep, so Marley assumed she had fallen asleep. Marley slowly slid off her lap and stretched as inconspicuously as possible, reaching for her water to soothe her dry mouth.

When she came across her phone, it was lit up with a message from Detective Bryan.

Detective Bryan: Don't worry

That's all it said. But it was enough for Marley now to relax fully. She couldn't let her father take this away from her. She'd deal with whatever was going on when she got home. For now, her future came first. With that in mind, Marley drank her water and rubbed her eyes, looking out the window. All she saw was corn fields and wasteland.

"Next rest stop, five minutes! Pack up and be ready to go!"

Marley felt terrible for waking Gabby up but shoved her anyway. The blonde jolted. "Rest stop, hurry up," Marley declared quickly, knowing Gabby would want to get in one of the lines early.

While Gabby scrambled to pack her bag (she tended to make a mess of herself on car rides), Marley zipped hers up and folded it neatly on her lap, her wallet in her hand.

"Hey, is this yours?"

Marley's head shot up to see a cute sandy blonde haired guy with a nose ring, waggling a book in one of his pale hands. Marley's eyes fell on a battered copy of Wuthering Heights before she sighed in relief and joy.

"Yes! Thank you," she rushed out, snatching the book from his hands and holding the sentimental item to her chest.

"I don't see why anyone would like that book so much."

"Don't get her started," Gabby warned in the background, but it fell on deaf ears.

"How could you possibly not like one of the greatest love stories in history?" Marley gaped in extreme offence.

There wasn't much she could talk about without her social anxiety snuffing her out, but if someone came at Wuthering Heights...

The blonde scoffed, "Heathcliff was fascinated by the way she was unattainable. Catherine married the first guy who came along after him because of his social status! She was screwing both of them at one point!"

Marley hadn't realized her voice had become loud, "Do you know what she said to Nelly about why she would marry Edgar and not Heathcliff?"

The blonde raised his eyebrows, "That it would 'degrade her to marry Heathcliff', my point exactly."

Marley shook her head over and over, "In their time, marriage was a social contract, not a reunion between lovers. She thought it wouldn't make a difference between her and Heathcliff."

He scoffed, "Catherine is a martyr who loves the attention she gets from them. Heathcliff is crazy, and he mistreats Isabella because she's only a tool for his revenge against Edgar! How can you possibly root for these characters?"

Marley softened, "That's the point. Their flaws and humanity constantly make readers question life and love. Catherine loves Heathcliff. Despite all odds. Despite both their flaws. They fell in love, and she loved him for the rest of her life."

That was why Marley loved Wuthering Heights so much. Bronte created characters who were all imperfect in their own ways, but the love? The love is inevitable. Before the blonde could rebuttal, his girlfriend spoke up. "That was so beautiful," a dark-haired girl with blue eyes, that had been sitting beside the blonde guy, gushed. "Are you thinking of studying English Lit in college?"

Marley felt herself mentally collapse under the stares and scrutiny of the two people in front of her, suddenly finding the frayed ends of her sleeves interesting.

"She-um..." Gabby was trying to help Marley but wasn't any better at social interaction herself.

Which resulted in an awkward silence that seemed to stretch on forever. Until...

"Off the bus everybody! Now."

Marley relaxed her shoulders and never felt more relieved to hear the raspy voice of their bus driver. The people started to shuffle from their seats and grab what they wanted to take with them. The blonde guy and his friend had turned away, and Marley was grateful.

Marley, even though she swore Gabby's nails would leave a permanent indent in the flesh of her arm, didn't complain at being dragged into a half sprint to a frozen yogurt line at their new rest stop. They were about ten people behind, and that was what brought out their breathless chuckles of relief. After scrutinizing the menu though and deciding what she wanted, Marley turned to look around at the building.

They were heading for San Mateo, Oakland, and were, according to Marley's Google Map check, about three hours away. She couldn't see much about the city they were in, as the rest stop was on the side of a busy highway. There were a few dozen buildings in the far distance, shadowing each other over the looming sunlight. It was about 65 degrees outside, which wasn't very warm for California. But still, the weather one would expect for late October.

Marley was still in her superwoman pants, but never cared much about how she looked. With the pyjamas being worn by her peers, it's not like she stuck out in any way.

When Marley looked away from the large bay windows, she was scanning over the tables in the large cafeteria as some of her classmates found their seats, as well as other families taking a break from a long drive. The tables were the same as the last stop, a light wood colour with metal grey seats and stretching to sit at least 15 people on each side.

"Can you quiz me?"

Marley broke out of her haze to stare into the hopeful, pale green eyes of her best friend. Gabby was holding flashcards in her fingers, twisting them anxiously. Marley snatched the terms they were supposed to study ahead of time, and she already knew them all by heart.

Gabby is as smart as Marley, but her nervousness and fear of failure tend to get the better of her.

They shuffled forward in the line as Marley's eyes quickly scanned over Gabby's neat handwriting.

"Capsid."

"A protein sheath that surrounds the nuclei core in a virus?"

Marley nodded without even having to flip the card over and check the answer.

"Bacteriophage."

"What on earth is that?!"

Marley shot her friend an unamused look, "You wrote it."

Gabby snatched the card in Marley's hands, "I did no-oh."

Marley grinned at Gabby's furrowed brows, but instantly felt a little guilty, "It's a virus that infects bacteria. Think of 'espionage.' That's how I remember it."

Gabby rolled her eyes, "Of course it is," she grumbled as they reached the counter and a cashier waiting to take their order.