Ty awoke the next morning with an awful taste in her mouth. She tried to sit up, but found herself pinned down. Blinking rapidly, she tried to figure out why she couldn’t move.
And then she saw them. All of them. The Boys were sprawled out all over the tent, arms and legs going every which way. And she was in the center of it all.
How the hell had that happened?
And then she remembered.
They’d started playing charades, as well as you can sitting down in a cramped tent. Then they had supper. Cold corn and beef jerky. Brian had wanted the beans, but Ty had firmly explained that she was not spending time in a little tent with a bunch of bean eaters.
The rain had not let up by midnight, but she didn’t want to force them outside. So they had all chosen a tiny spot to try and sleep in. But who could sleep in such closed quarters?
They’d played a round of truth or dare, mostly telling truths. Ty had learned a lot about each of them, while she had tried desperately to keep her private life private. Only Kevin knew of her biggest secret. When they’d finally fallen asleep, Ty was still awake, staring at the ceiling of the tent. She was going over the pros and cons of starting a relationship with a Backstreet Boy. She dozed off soon after.
Now, she blearily looked around, wondering how to disentangle herself from them. Kevin stirred in his sleep and she froze. It was then she saw his arm around her waist, holding her in a hug. His grip tightened, pulling her closer.
AJ moved next. His head rested on her chest and a grin was playing at the corner of his mouth. He’d known exactly what he was doing when he’d chosen his pillow for the night.
Nick was curled up at her feet, his arms wrapped around her ankles. Howie was curled up in a tight little ball, snoring, and Brian was on the other side of her, sleeping peacefully...with a fine trail of drool running down his chin.
She lay there for a few minutes. She wished one of them would wake up and start a chain reaction. Soon she realized she needed to empty her bladder. She slowly counted to ten, thinking she could hold it, just for a little longer.
She chewed on her lip and sweat broke out on her forehead. Finally, she knew she had to go or else she would pee all over the place.
She took a deep breath and screamed as loudly as she could, “BEAR!” All five of them shot straight up and started freaking out. Arms flailed against the sides of the tent, bodies stumbled over one another. And then the tent collapsed on top of them. Ty managed to crawl out, laughing. She ran for the woods, calling out, “Sorry, guys, but when you gotta go, you gotta go!”
When she came back, Brian was holding his head.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Kevin decked me.”
“What?!” she exclaimed, looking around. The others were hurridly packing up their things.
“He thought I was a bear!” Brian whined.
“And he punched you?”
“Yeah.”
Ty bit back a smile. “Brave man.”
“With flippin’ huge fist,” Brian muttered.
“Well, at least we know Kevin would protect us,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, I suppose. Of course, he just may kill us too.”
“Better him than a bear.”
Brian glared at her. “Once again, that was another rotten thing to do.”
“I’m sorry. I had to go.”
“You could have just said something, quietly, to get us up.”
Ty snorted. “Yeah, right.” She started to move towards the guys who were packing up the tents. “Just so ya know, Bri, you drool a river when you sleep.”
Brian blushed a crimson red and Ty laughed merrily as she left him to help the others.
