Two//Nothing to Lose but Everything to Gain

Jared and I pulled into Jordan's camp by the lake. I started grabbing the bags of decorations and heading into the camp.

"Can I trust you with this cake?" I yelled out to Jared.

"I swear I won't drop it."

"That's what you said at Marc's birthday. Remember how that turned out?"

"Yep, I had to go buy another cake before anyone else found out."

"You did not, Mum made you clean it. And you whined the entire time." I said turning around making sure he didn't drop the cake again.

"Hey you know that cake was such a pain to clean up."

"Oh yes it was. Let's get this inside."

Jared and I carried the cake into the kitchen. I made some room in the fridge so that the cake would fit in. Jordan had spent most of the summer here nursing his hurt foot from the playoffs. Needless to say, camp needed a good clean up. Jared and I started cleaning up, about an hour later the place looked spotless. I began hanging up some decorations we had bought. I was so excited for the party, but upset that summer was coming to an end. The boys would be back playing hockey for the year while I was here in Thunder Bay. I hated to see them go, but I knew they were doing what they loved. Jared and I were about done and the place was looking pretty good. Jordan wasn't big on surprise parties, but he was always down for a party.

"ZOEYYYYYY!"

I knew it had to be Marc and Eric, only those two could say my name that loud and obnoxiously.

"Hey guys!" I said giving them both a big hug.

"The place looks great! I wish I got a party like this." Eric said.

"Oh Eric, it's not my fault your birthday is during the season."

"Well at least its not in the middle of winter in NYC." Marc said.

"Has the little shit helped you today?" Eric said.

"Jared! Where are you?" we all screamed out.

"What you guys?" Jared said poking his head out of the bathroom.

"Eww J, shut the door. So how was golfing, you two?"

"Eh, it was alright. I don't know how Jordan won." Marc said.

"That's because he probably cheated!" Jared said yelling out from the bathroom.

"That is very true." Eric said.

"Sounds like it. So when were you two going to tell me about Tom coming?"

"Well, that was going to be your surprise." Marc said.

"Don't be mad, please." Eric said.

"It's alright guys. I haven't seen him in awhile."

"It'll all work out, I talked to him about it." Marc said.

"Oh geeze, should I be afraid, Eric?"

"Nah, Tom really misses you. He's always talking about when you two were together." Eric said.

"I'll take your word for it. Thanks, Eric" I said giving him a hug.

"And you, don't you ever try to pull a stunt like this again. I'm the one who does the surprises in this family." I said giving Marc a hug.

"I'm going to get changed. I'd imagine your Mom and Dad will be here pretty soon."

"Oh you know how Mom is." Jared said

"That's why we love her!" I said walking into one of the bedrooms to get changed.

I looked like this:

I walked out to find Aunt Linda and Uncle Henry talking to the boys.

"Hey Zo! I can't believe you and Jared actually cleaned this dump up!" Aunt Linda said giving me a big hug.

"Oh yeah. We had to make it look good."

"It's looking amazing! That dress looks great on you, too."

"Aww thanks!"

"Could you help me set up the food?'

"Yeah sure!"

For about the next twenty minutes Aunt Linda and I got the food ready since people would be arriving pretty soon. I told her how Tom was coming and she was thrilled. Tom was like another child of hers since he had practically lived at her house while growing up. It's not like we had a bad breakup, it all started over a stupid argument between him and Marc. I'm not sure why I even got involved with the argument between the two. I had taken Marc's side and it just caused some problems between Tom and I. We decided to take a break and hadn't talked much after that. I always loved talking to Aunt Linda about stuff like that. She always had the best advice. We just finished setting the food out and we could hear cars pulling down the driveway. Olivia and I had told everyone to pull down to Eric's camp (the farthest away) so Jordan couldn't see them when him and Olivia arrived. The camp was getting packed and everyone was talking amongst themselves. I grabbed a plate of food to eat and sat on the couch. I felt someone come up from behind and kiss me on my cheek.

"Zoey, can we talk please."

I looked up to see Tom and instantly nodded my head yes. Looking up into those deep blue eyes, I melted inside.