Chapter 20 — Poor Tree
"Okay, it's your turn now, Mert! Who will you choose? Please don't say Melisa though." Zerrin complained.
"Why can't I choose Melisa?" Mert looked confused.
"Because you'll probably just give her something easy and then we would have no fun at all."
Mert frowned as if that had been his plan all along. He then looked around at all of us, and his gaze settled on me, challenging. What did that mean?
"I want to ask Sarah, truth or dare?"
"Sarah?" Eric looked surprised. Everyone looked surprised.
Heck, I was surprised. What did he want to know? Or what did he want me to do?
"Truth," I replied a little hesitatingly and got more anxious as Mert smiled.
"That tattoo on your foot, what does it mean?" He asked me.
I knew Mert was observant and quiet, but I didn't know he had figured out this much, because surely he'd seen both of our tattoos, mine and Emre's. I wondered what was going around in his head.
"What tattoo?" Pelin asked "It's a star, right?" Eric was unsure "A shooting star," Ashton put in. He was grinning. Evidently he thought the situation funny.
"Good question," It wasn't actually as bad as I'd thought, but it was still a very personal question, "It's a shooting star. I actually got it when I turned 18 and was feeling very alone and depressed. You see, I had no one then; my parents had died, and I had no siblings. I was alone in the world. I used to wish on shooting stars in the sky because my parents had once told me when I was little that shooting stars carried destiny. On my birthday that night, I saw a shooting star, and so the next day, I decided to get it tattooed on me. I call it my life's star, my shooting star, my destiny. It reminds me of my parents. It also reminds me to believe in fate. I believe that fate rules all. You never know what will happen to you next," I finished.
Everyone was looking at me, and I cleared my throat self-consciously.
"That's beautiful, Sarah," Melisa smiled at me.
Mert nodded in agreement, apparently satisfied with the answer. I was out of the woods.
"Emre?" Zerrin called out, "Don't you have a star on your foot too?"
I heard Ashton curse under his breath. Trust Zerrin to be so obsessed with Emre that she'd seen his tattoo too.
I wanted to hide my face in my arms. It was all coming out.
Emre flipped his foot, suddenly hiding his tattoo as everyone tried to make it out in the dull light of the fire.
"Yes, Zerrin, I do have a star on my too," he spoke as if talking to a toddler, "Only I don't like explaining my decisions to anyone."
His answer was cutting, and Zerrin's face blanched. "Oh, of course. I wasn't assuming anything."
Thankfully no one was brave enough to risk offending Emre enough to ask him about his tattoo, but I saw Eric's eyes going over to Emre's feet again and again.
I sighed in relief. Mert had no idea what he'd caused.
Emre looked over at me. His eyes were glinting.
He was annoyed, and I knew why: he hated this secrecy. If the situation were left up to him, he wouldn't have hidden anything, but then, in his mind, we were already a couple.
And in my mind, we were not.
Thankfully Melisa changed the topic, "It's my turn, I guess."
"Yea, who's your pick?" Zayn asked, pointing at Melisa "You, Truth or Dare Zayn?"
"Dare, always dare, baby!" Zayn raised his brows suggestively.
"Okay," Melisa shrugged and threw a hand behind her towards the forest, "Get ready then. You have to climb one of those trees out there."
"No problem!" Zayn stood up and started stretching, "I will climb the hell out of that tree!"
"Poor tree…what have you done, Melisa?" I laughed and Zayn sent me a wink.
"Oh c'mon, he's wanted to do a dare since the game started," Melisa laughingly teased.
"Do you even know how to climb?" Ashton looked skeptically at Zayn.
"It can't be all that hard," Zayn said and ran up to the nearest tree to us.
"It's not," I said. I'd done my fair share of climbing trees over the years, so I knew.
Zayn was circling around the tree, looking at it from every angle, trying to find out how to climb it. He put a foot on the base, hugged the tree, and started to shimmy up it.
I let out a laugh at his funny attempt, even as I knew he would fail. It felt like he was doing all the wrong things, basically just Zayn showing us how not to climb a tree.
At this point, everyone was laughing at Zayn and his antics.
"Let's go help him out? Show him how it's done? What do you say?" Ashton nudged me and got up.
I tilted my head to one side, considering. "Sure, if you're game, I'm game."
I got up and dusted off myself. This was going to be fun.
When we got there, Zayn was stuck to the big trunk, hanging off it.
I put my hand on his shoulder, and he screamed and fell down on his butt.
"Relax, bro, let Sarah show you how it's done," Ashton smirked down at Zayn.
"Okay, go Sarah. I'll spot you," Ashton said and crouched down in position.
I rubbed my hands on my pants and got ready. Then it was just easy. I jumped up on Ashton's shoulders and then planted my foot on a sturdy gnarl, placing one hand around the tree as if hugging it. Then grabbing onto a low hanging branch, I shifted my body upwards, trying to find as many footholds on the trunk as possible. I reached the fork then, and I was up.
Wow, I thought. I'd forgotten what it felt like to climb a tree and get up to the top finally.
It was an amazing feeling and one I'd forgotten. I would've liked it to be night ideally because who knew what could be hiding in a tree, birds, snakes, other small animals.
I allowed myself one more moment and then shouted down, "Ash, I'm coming down!"
I looked down to see not Ashton but Emre looking up at me.
"Jump, I'll catch you!" Emre shouted back.
"No way," I replied. This is not happening, I thought.
Then I hung onto a branch with one hand and, with my other arm around the tree, came back down the way I'd gone up. It was certainly less satisfying this way, but at least I wasn't jumping down into Emre's arms.
I got down and faced Emre, "I'm not falling into your arms again. You'll just let me down again."
I then turned away and went back. It felt good having the last word for once.