Surrendering
Chapter
16: Lucky Drinks
(Un) Important babbling-notes from Cimmy: This is an add-on that really doesn’t have anything to do with the Ducks. It’s just about the Swedes. This takes place during their first week after the arrival to Canada. I’ve ended my story about Cecilia (you can cheer later) and these following two chapters are kind of an interlude before the next story. These chapters are kind of irrelevant to anyone who doesn’t care about Fred and Cecilia. It’s about Fred and Cecilia’s first real meeting as friends.
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Flashback to August 21st
“Promise not to tell my Mom.”
Cecilia rolled her eyes. What a hero, huh? And this was the guy she was deeply in love with?
“You’re such a hero, Fred.” Marcus said exactly what she’d been thinking a couple of seconds ago.
They had been spending the evening at Sarah’s house. Luckily, both Sarah and her parents were away, so they had no problem with explaining the amount of alcohol they’d been drinking, since they had no one to explain it for.
Cecilia hadn’t been drinking at all. She was just watching the other three in action, or what you’d like to call it. Her biggest surprise was Fred’s ability to drink so much so fast.
Why was she here? Just because she had a crush on him? It
couldn’t be it, though. Otherwise, she could’ve just stayed home and gone
through his stuff one more time.
They were trying to settle themselves into their new lives. Where drinking came into the picture, was out of her knowledge. She was just trying to bond with them.
First, they’d decided to be at Sarah’s place for the night, but then Marcus told them they should go into town instead.
Not Tamarack, the name of the town where they were going to live for the next couple of months. Tamarack was just a small town, a few thousand people lived there, and everyone knew everyone.
That’s why it wouldn’t be so very smart to give themselves a bad reputation, the first thing they did.
So, now, after they’d finished their bottles of alcohols (and they were many), they were going to take a taxi to a bigger town, a couple of miles away from Tamarack, and meet up with some of the others in their new team.
Cecilia wasn’t too sure she wanted to tag along. From experience, she knew what alcohol could do to someone, and she wasn’t very happy about the thought that she’d be the one to take care of the others, after they’d gotten too much to drink.
“Where was it we were going to meet the others?” Erik asked.
“In town, somewhere. Maybe we should call a cab?” Marcus said and turned to face Fred. “You think they’ll let him into the car too?”
“Hey, I’m not that drunk!” Fred explained, and reached for yet another beer.
“You’re gonna throw up, if you don’t stop it,” Marcus told him.
“No, I won’t. Okay, I’m beginning to feel a bit nauseated, but I hope it’s gonna pass.”
While waiting for the cab to arrive, everyone split up and Cecilia found herself sitting on the stairs, waiting for something to happen.
She couldn’t believe that Mr. Cuthbertson had let them be on his yard, partying. Didn’t he know anything about teenagers?
Cecilia was glad that Fred’s only symptom with the alcohol
was that he got nicer, not violent. She
looked at Fred, who was talking to Marcus on the lawn.
“I’m in love with a future alcoholic. Great!” she mumbled to
herself.
“Cecilia, a word?” It sounded more like a demand then a
question. But most things coming from Marcus did.
“What’s up?”
“Fred’s not going. Can you stay here with him?”
“Thank you, God, for this day. I’ve never been more grateful
then I am today. There are so many people I’d like to thank. First of all, my
teacher in the fourth grade. Thanks for putting me next to Fred. Second of
all...”
“Cecilia? Did you hear what I said?” Marcus asked,
interrupting Cecilia’s important thoughts. She hadn’t even realized that she
hadn’t been speaking out loud. “I know that you rather come with us, but
please? I don’t wanna stay with him, and you live with him and all that. It’s
easier for you to get by Travis and his parents. Please?”
“I’ll stay with him,” she said, with her most modest voice.
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This was perfect! She could finally tell him how she felt, and
hopefully he wouldn’t remember a thing about it the next day.
If she could only tell him before he begun to throw up,
everything would be great!
“You’re really nice, staying here with me. I know you’d
rather go with the others.”
“It’s okay,” she said, even though she was more then okay.
She felt all jumpy, and couldn’t stand still. “You’re welcome, Fred. Rick.
Fredrik.”
Why’d she say that? She’d been fantasizing about this
conversation so many times; she knew it by heart. The only thing about it was
how the hell was she going to be able to get the words out of her mouth?
Without screwing everything up, that was.
“You’re the nicest girl I know, Alicia.”
Cecilia stared at him for a second.
“My name’s Cecilia.”
“Right. You’re actually really clever. Know a lot of stuff.
You want?” He gave her the beer-bottle, but she shrugged.
“I don’t drink,” she said, giving back the bottle to him.
Fred nodded and looked at her.
“Anyone ever told you, that you have really... brown eyes?”
Fred asked. Cecilia gasped. She was expecting another question. Fred reached
out and touched her cheek.
“You do,” he established.
“My God, my dream is coming true! I love this guy!” she
whispered quietly, too quiet for him to hear.
Yet again, he disappointed her. His attention suddenly
changed to the Cuthbertsons’ dog.
“Hey, look, a dog! You think he likes beer?”
“Probably not. I think water is a bit more healthy for
dogs.”
“You got a dog, right?” Fred’s question couldn’t have been more
out of the blue for her. It was so unexpected that he actually knew that.
“Ye... ye... yes?”
“What’s he called?”
“Uhm, he died,” she said, regretting it the moment she said
it. Why did she tell him that?
“Sorry. Look, let’s do something!”
“What?” she asked, a little shaken by his last question. The
thought of her dog just kept bringing back sad memories, so she tried to shake
it off.
“Let’s go down to the lake.”
“Great idea, dumbass. Maybe you’ll drown too!” she said to
herself, and with a strange look on her face, she began to object to his
proposition. “Can’t we do anything else?”
“Nah, c’mon!” He grabbed her hand and dragged her with him.
The warmth from his hand made her melt inside. She could’ve followed him
anywhere by that point, without objecting at all.
They walked through the woods, and tried to push their way
through the bushes and trees.
“Is this really the easiest way to get to the lake?” she
asked.
“No, not really. Why do you ask?”
Cecilia shrugged. Stupid question, stupid answer.
They got up to the lake. It was rather chilly up there. The
sun had begun to set, which made it a bit darker then before.
“Look, Fred, I’d like to say something,” she began as soon
as they’d sat down on the grass next to the water.
She thought her heart was about to leave her body, that’s
how much it was beating.
“Sure, hit me,” he said and threw out a little pebble into
the water.
“I think... I like you,” she said, holding her breath for
his answer. She couldn’t believe she’d actually told him.
“Yeah, I like you too.”
“No!” she almost yelled. “I mean that I... I have huge crush
on you. I’m in love with you. Get it?”
“You mean, like you wanna be my girlfriend?” he asked,
sounding a little puzzled over the whole thing.
“Like that, maybe, yeah,” she answered nervously. She was
beginning to regret the whole thing.
“I’ve never had a girlfriend before, have you?”
“No, and if I did, I’d probably be a lesbian,” she said with
a laugh, but once again, she regretted herself for talking.
“And you’re not, I guess,” he said, smiling at her.
“No, if that were the case, I wouldn’t be in love with you,
would I?”
Why’d she said ‘in love’? It was just a small crush!
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Author’s Note: I’ll write what happened between them in the next
chapter. Sorry for dragging it out like this...
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