Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(70)

Chapter Twenty-One

The L.A. region was standing at their first obstacle. Krista didn’t stand so much as try to sleep upright. The aspirin was kicking in, so the pounding head she woke up to was slowly diminishing. Janice didn’t say a word about the night before, and when Krista tried to apologize, she waved it away, muttering about love problems with young people.

When Krista met everyone, after breakfast had ended, Sean had a blueberry muffin, a chocolate donut, and some coffee for her. She wolfed it all down. And while it did help, it didn’t cure by any means.

Sean hadn’t said a word about the night before, either, but he didn’t look like he got much sleep, and had a hard time meeting Krista’s eyes. Despite what Janice said, she remembered every word. Every single word he said, and all the extremely stupid words strung together into stupid sentences she said throughout the night.

For example, why did she get the urge to try and saw Perry’s mustache off with Mark’s Swiss Army knife? Why was that necessary?

And why did she give Georgie a Charley Horse? And why had he laughed when she apologized for the bruise? How was it funny that she was a complete fool?

She knew why the rocket crotch in the tiny dress, who tried to seduce Sean, gave her evil looks—Krista didn’t feel bad about that one. But everything else…

Back in the present, they were standing together in a clump waiting to start the first do-hickey on the ropes course, which apparently consisted of a bunch of different puzzles each region had to physically solve. Points were awarded for correctly completing each. The one in front of them, currently, included two planks running between trees, about ten feet or so apart. A rope hung down from a branch directly in the middle of the planks.

They were supposed to swing from one plank to the other using the rope. Sounded easy, but you couldn’t step off the plank and the rope was too far to grab easily. The men were all trying to figure out how to get the rope. So far, a long stick was the top contender.

Of course, there were no long sticks within reach. They were geniuses, these guys. And Krista was too hung over to cope with stupidity.

“You guys, look,” she said while holding her aching brain. “Someone pick me up and use me as a long stick.”

All eyes on Krista.

She sighed and leaned against Donald to take the ease off of standing. He started moving around immediately.

“Donald, stay still. I’m hung-over. Listen, this is a physical activity, right? Okay, well, someone pick me up, probably Sean because he is really strong, and I’ll reach out for the rope.”

Sean met a panicked Donald’s eyes. “Relax, she gets like this when she is hung-over. If you are uncomfortable, tell her to get off.”

“I dare you,” Georgie muttered with a suppressed laugh.

“I would need to be anchored to something,” Sean said, getting back on track and looking around.

“I vote Bob,” Krista said.

“Why me?” Bob asked, outraged.

She turned her whole body and looked at him. He was behind Dean and shrunk slightly from her stare.

“Because you weigh the most, obviously.”

“That’s no reason—“

“Bob, do you want everyone to say how much they weigh?” she cut him off. “Here, I’ll go first. I weigh one-twenty. Next?”

“I’ll hold Sean,” Georgie volunteered.

“Great, let’s try that,” Sean said.

“She’s right, though,” Donald said quietly. “Sean has the height and muscle mass to hold her. But we need someone to hold Sean. Sean’s not huge but he is solid. Muscle is heavy. Add Krista’s one-twenty to that and we have what, over three-hundred pounds? It’ll take a couple of us to anchor it.”

“Bob, why don’t you hold Sean and I’ll hold you?” Georgie compromised.

“If not, then Georgie, you hold me and Bob or Donald, you hold him,” Sean tried.

Krista wanted to tell them to quit trying to spare Bob’s feelings, the miserable S.O.B., but she didn’t want Sean to give her a talking to. He was great at making her feel small when she acted like a bratty twenty-something year old, which she had been doing all morning.

But honestly, no cream and sugar? How was she supposed to feel better about tricking Donald into punching himself in the face last night without cream and sugar? And who hadn’t learned that trick when they were freaking ten-years-old?

Finally, Bob gave in and went over how he would work with Sean. Georgie then chimed in on how he would best work with their combined weight. Donald chipped in. Krista didn’t need to—they were wasting time. Too many men working on a problem—it always took forever.

She waited patiently until they needed her. When they were ready, they all looked over.

“Geek Girl, you’re up,” Sean said lightly. He knew she was right, but he still didn’t approve of her attitude. She didn’t care.

“I need to go vertical, right?” she asked Sean.

“As close as you can,” he replied looking at the rope.

“Okay, I’ll wrap my legs around your middle and you need to hold my h*ps or stomach so I can reach out. Then they need to lean you in so we can reach.”

“How long can you stay vertical?” Sean asked.

“No idea. Probably not all that long. Let’s give it a go and see. Don’t drop me.” She warned with a finger in his face. He winked. She scowled.