Author's Note: I think this one is a little shorter than the past few chapters have been, but it's nearly three thousand words. Oh and is it just me or has Wattpad been like, screwing up the chapter read count numbers? Because I think they have and it's so annoying. Okay, rant over. Carry on. I hope you all like this chapter, let me know in a comment? ♥

Chapter 23 - When Am I Ever Thinking?

Bradley and I stay there in that awkward position - my legs wrapped around his waist and his hands molded to my butt, holding me up against the wall, neither of us saying anything. I blink a few times in surprise, trying to fully grasp his question. I don’t think he actually meant to ask me that. He couldn’t have. Maybe it just slipped out? Yeah, that’s definitely what happened. Bradley doesn’t like me. He’s never even gave any indication that he does. Well, aside from all the kissing. But then again, there was Reese who actually doesn’t like me, just my body, I guess, but we did still kiss. A lot.

“D-did you hear me?” He asks nervously.

I nod, tightening my arms around his neck, “Yeah, I, um, I heard you.”

He raises his eyebrows, “So…? Will you?”

I can’t date Bradley! I just cannot be his girlfriend. I mean, not just because he’s my friend, but because of a whole plethora of reasons. Number one: He’s Bradley Edwards; he’s wanted by almost every girl at our school. Number two: He’s seen me in next to nothing, and it’d be weird dating someone who knows what you look like underneath everything. Number three: The other guys would tease us to no end about it. Number four: He’s too good of a person; I just don’t deserve him. Number five: There’s still my commitment issue to take into account.

Take Walker and Alison for example. They’d been together for two years prior to their breakup. Alison broke up with him just because of a thought, and the next thing I know, he’s at my house, crying all hours of the day and night, drowning his sorrows in grilled cheese sandwiches. I don’t want that to happen to me. Granted, I don’t like grilled cheese that much, so I would probably be like a normal teenage girl and eat Ben and Jerry’s ice cream while lying in my bed, watching Nicholas Sparks movies and stuff like that.

Breathing a deep sigh, I say, “Bradley, I really c-“

“Sydney,” He interjects, gently dropping me back to the floor. “Before you say no, j-just listen, okay?”

“I really don’t think this a good idea, Bradley.” I admit.

“Sydney, I know that you’re afraid. Okay? I know that. I know that you don’t wanna get hurt. I know that that’s the real reason you don’t date. You’re scared that if you give yourself to someone that they’re gonna hurt you, break your heart, or something, right?” He pauses, and I nod sheepishly. “You know me, Syd. I’m not like that. I swear I won’t break your heart. Not on purpose, at least. I’ll be the best boyfriend ever, I promise. I’ll, I’ll, I dunno; carry your books for you. I’ll walk you to class. I’ll take you on super cheesy dates to the movies and dinner. I’ll make a big, unnecessary ordeal of our anniversary and I’ll even watch those chick flick movies you love.” He proclaims. “Just gimme a chance. I don’t wanna be your idiot best friend anymore. I mean, I do, but I wanna be your idiot boyfriend too.” Well, gosh, when he puts it all like that, dating him doesn’t sound bad at all. It actually sounds really, really nice.

“Even Twilight?” I ask after a few minutes of internal debate.

“Huh?” Bradley wonders with a confused look on his face.

“You said you’ll watch chick flick movies with me. Even Twilight?”

He laughs but nods, “Yes, even Twilight. If watching some three thousand year old vampire and a teenager fall in love is what you wanna watch, then yes.” He adds jokingly. He may act like it, but I know he doesn’t think Twilight is half bad, because he’s watched it with me before. Well, a little over half of it. He made it all the way up to the part where Alice, Jasper and Bella were in Arizona and Bella left to go to the Ballet Studio. “Hell, I’ll even watch that one really cheesy one. What’s it called? The one all the girl’s like?”

“Oh, gee, Bradley, you’ve really got it narrowed down.” I say sarcastically.

“That one about the guy and the girl? And it’s really old. It has that Ryan Gosling guy in there, I think.”         

“The Notebook?”

"Yeah, that one. I’ll even watch that one with you, if you wanna watch it.”

“I won’t make you watch The Notebook. I don’t even like it that much.” I assure him.

"Then why’d you make me go through all of that you dinky?”

“Because,” I say, smiling. “You’re cute when you fumble with words.”

“Oh, so I’m cute now?” He asks.

I nod, “Yes, but only when you fumble.”

“Thanks, that makes me feel really good about myself, Sydney.”

“Oh whatever,” I scoff. “The girls are school make it perfectly clear how sexy they think you are.”

"But I don’t care what they think. I care what you think.” He replies. “And you’re doing it.”

“Doing what?”

"You’re avoiding the question.”

I roll my eyes, laughing, “No, I’m not.”

“No? So, then, what do you say?”  He asks seriously.

I grin before saying, “I don’t recall the question. I think you’re gonna have to ask me again.” I tease.

He groans, “You like seeing me in pain, don’t you?”

“Why would I wanna see you in pain?” I ask, and snap my fingers. “Now come on, get to the asking.”

“Okay then, Miss Bossy. For the second time today, I’m asking you Sydney; will you be my girlfriend?”

I seriously consider saying no, but then decide that’s too mean. Bradley’s adorable, and even though he pisses me off at times, he makes me happy. He also confuses me though, at times. It’s like; sometimes I wanna push him off of a cliff, but then run to the bottom and catch him. Though, literally speaking, I obviously can’t catch him, because he weighs a lot more than I do.

"You’re not gonna hurt me?”

“Not intentionally, you know that.” Bradley assures me, raising his hand and stroking my cheek.

“Yes.” I say almost as quietly as Bradley did when he first asked me.

“Are you being serious right now? Because if not, I’m gonna hate you for the rest of your life.” He warns.

I laugh before nodding solemnly, “Bradley, I’m being totally serious. I will be your girlfriend, yes.”

Bradley’s bright blue eyes light up and he smiles, before leaning down and putting his lips over mine. Quickly picking up where we left off before he asked me that question the first time, I find myself back wrapped around Bradley’s waist, backed against the wall with my hands in his hair and his roaming my thighs. Kissing him was already amazing, but now that I’m actually his…g word it’s even better. If that’s even possible, which I seriously doubt as Bradley’s tongue finds its way into my mouth and I tighten my hold on his neck, pulling him as close to me as I can.

-------

“Sydney!” A voice whisper shouts, waking me from my peaceful slumber.

"What?” I whine, pulling my cover up over my head.

“Wake up,”  The voice says again and I place it as Bradley’s. You know, my boyfriend.

“No, go away.” I mutter underneath the cover.

“I will not go away. Wake up.” Bradley replies, and I feel him sit down next to me on the bed.

“It’s like five in the morning, go back to sleep.”

"It’s actually 2:30. And I can’t sleep.”

“Why can’t you sleep?” I ask, keeping my eyes firmly shut so that when he leaves I can go back to sleep.

“I dunno, I just can’t.” Is his genius reply. “Come on, let’s do something.”

“Let’s.” I agree. “Let’s sleep.”

He scoffs, “No, I meant something fun.” He reiterates, getting off of the bed. “Let’s go outside.”

“Why?”

"Because there’s something I wanna do that we haven’t done since we were like, eleven.”

“Okay, okay.” I say, sitting up in my bed, accepting the fact he’s not letting me get anymore sleep.

“Dress warmly, I’ll be right back.” He says, walking to his room, going through the bathroom.

I get out of my bed, pulling on a pair of sweatpants over my shorts and a pair of Uggs along with my Northface. Tiredly, I pull my hair into a ponytail so that it’s not everywhere and put my phone down in my pocket. He returns seconds later in a pair of jeans, a grey pullover promoting ‘Michigan State University’. I think you have to be pretty smart to get in there too, so none of us will most likely be getting in there. I mean, none of us are stupid, we’re all just extremely lazy. I got a 19 on my ACT last year though apparently. My counselor at school says that’s good and that I’ll ‘probably get into a good college’. It’d be nice to, but I really just wanna stay with my boys.

“This better be good if you’re waking me up in the middle of night from my peaceful sleep.” I warn him.

“It is,” He assures me, grabbing my hand and lacing his fingers through mine, leaving my room.

“Where exactly are we going at 2 in the morning?” I ask, as we walk through the quiet cabin.

“Outside.” Bradley says simply, pulling the door open.

“What? No! It’s cold out there.”        

“Don’t be a baby.” He retorts, rolling his eyes dramatically.

“I’m not going out there.” I say firmly, crossing my arms.

“Maybe not willingly, you aren’t.” Bradley corrects with a mischievous grin.

Suddenly, I feel myself being picked up from the ground, and thrown gently across Bradley’s shoulder. Bradley walks out of the door, into the negative degree weather, causing me to yelp and pound his back with my fists.

"Put me down! I don’t wanna be out here!”

"It’s not even that cold,” He says, laughing.

"Yes, it is!” I whine. “Where are we even going?”

“You’ll see.” Bradley replies in a sing-song voice.

“I hate you.” I murmur, letting my arms rest.

"Is that why you agreed to my girlfriend?” He jokes.

“Actually,” I retort in a teasing tone. “I only agreed for your body.”

With a glint of amusement, Bradley says, “So I’m a prostitute now?”

"Yes, exactly.”

"You’re ridiculous.”

“Well,” I defend. “You’re the one who likes me, so who’s really the ridiculous one? I don’t think it’s me.”

“Touché.” My boyfriend laughs, still carrying me.

My boyfriend. Bradley is my boyfriend. I am Bradley’s girlfriend. Bradley and Sydney are in a relationship. Sydney and Bradley like each other. I am Bradley’s girlfriend. Bradley is my boyfriend. It just sounds really good to me.

“Where are we going?”

“I just told you you’ll see.” He reminds me.

“At least put me down so that I can walk.”     

"Nope, you’ll probably try to run back into the cabin.”

I  scoff, “No I won’t.”

“We’re here anyway.” Bradley tells me, setting me back down on my feet.

I look around, seeing that we’re dead in the middle of the forest a few feet away from the cabin. Raising an eyebrow at Bradley, I put my hands on my hips and look up at him. “And we’re in the middle of a forest why?”

Bradley doesn’t immediately answer my question. Instead he plops down on a log that’s sitting on the ground near the center and pats the heavy wood next to him, motioning for me to do the same, which I do.

“Do you remember the last time we all went to Camp?”

"Summer Camp?” I ask, and he nods, confirming. “I do remember, I think that was the best summer ever.”

Bradley nods in agreement, “It was amazing, wasn’t it?”

“It was. If we weren’t too old, we could totally go back this summer.”

“We’ll be in Italy this summer, remember?”

“Oh, right,” I say, feeling like an idiot for forgetting just that quick. “What about it? Camp, I mean.”

"Oh yeah, well that last night when we were there, do you remember what we did?”

"Why do you make me remember things instead of just telling me?” I wonder.

“Because I just do.” He replies in a cheeky tone.

Rolling my eyes playfully at him, I think back five years ago, which was the last time all six of us went to Summer Camp together. I believe that was the summer after Drew had joined our circle of friends, making us a sextet or whatever a group of six people are called. By that time, we were already good friends with Drew since it was the end of the school year, and our parents let us all go to a sleep-away camp called Camp Rutherford up in Maine.

“Okay, the last night. So that was in like August, right?” When Bradley nods, I start thinking again. I mean, I don’t have long term memory loss or anything, but I’m no Cam Jansen. “The last thing I remember is eating the terrible lunch. Which was…lobster? Every single night.” I retort.

He chuckles, standing up and going to the firewood a few feet away from us. “I don’t have any lobster on me.”

Bradley pulls a lighter from his pocket - where he got one from and why he has it, I have no idea. He squats down and lights the firewood before reaching into a bag sitting beside the fire. He could totally start a wildfire like that.  Bradley unzips the bag and reaches in, handing me a long stainless stick. It takes me a minute to catch on - call me slow or whatever, but it does.

“Oh, we roasted marshmallows!” I recall. “Walker like, scalded his tongue.” I remember.

Bradley laughs at the memory, “He sure did. And we’re not only roasting marshmallows, we’re making smores.”

I squeal in delight, “Are we really? Oh my God, it’s been forever since I’ve had smores.”

“That’s not true, I bought you some smores Pop-Tarts from Wal-Mart just last week.”

“Well yeah, but this is the legit thing.”

“This is true,” He nods, sitting back down with me and taking a bag of jumbo marshmallows from the bag.

"So, do you just walk around with backpacks full of smore making materials or what?” I wonder.

“I might have gone to Wal-Mart after you fell asleep.” Bradley tells me as he takes a package of graham crackers from the bag and pops it open.

He breaks one on the perforated line and hands it to me before doing the same to his own crackers. Next he breaks of a piece of chocolate, handing it to me. I put it on top of the cracker and pick up my stick as he pushes a marshmallow on it.

“It’s two in the morning and we’re out here roasting marshmallows.” I state as I put my stick near the fire.

“Well, I couldn’t sleep and if it were daytime, the guys would be here and I wanted to be alone with you.”

“You’re such a cheese ball.” I giggle, scooting closer to him on the log.

“You love it.” Bradley retorts. “Don’t lie to yourself.”

“Hey, I never said I didn’t like it.” I remind him. “I’m just telling you that you, sir, are a cheese ball.” Bradley holds his roasting stick in his opposite hand, wrapping the other arm around my waist and pulling me close to him. I turn the stick in my hand a few times, letting my marshmallow get just the slightest color of brown before pulling it back and setting in on top of the graham cracker and chocolate. “So, are we gonna tell them?”

“Hmm?” Bradley asks, looking down at me like he was just deep in thought or something.

“What were you thinking about?” I wonder.

“Nothing,” He quickly assures me.

"Liar.”

“I wasn’t thinking, when am I ever thinking?” He adds with a laugh. “Now what’d you say?”

I laugh at his quirkiness before saying, “I said, are we gonna tell them?”

“Tell the guys that we’re dating?” I nod, and Bradley says, “I dunno. Do you want to?”

“I think we should. But,” I stop short suddenly cutting off.

“But what?”

“Let’s wait a few days.”

He wrinkles his forehead in confusion, “Why?”

“Because I just wanna make sure it’s gonna work out, you know before we let people know.” I admit.

“Does this mean that I have to do stuff like this just to kiss you?” Bradley pouts, jutting his lower lip out.

“No, cheese ball,” I tease. “You can kiss me, in fact, you better kiss me, just not in front of them.”

“I dunno why you’re so worried about it. They don’t care, you know. And this is gonna work.”

“You sound dangerously confident.” I retort wearing a grin.

“I am because I’m serious. I’m serious about this and you and us.” He promises. “I really like you, Sydney.” He kisses the side of my head, tightening his grip on my waist and pulling me closer to him. Of course, that makes me smile from ear to ear like an idiot, and I busy myself by stuffing the smore in my mouth. 

Oh boy, I hope this doesn’t end disastrously because I can seriously see myself falling for Bradley in the near future. Hard.