Natalie and Mark; A Camp Experience The Final Chapter (Patreon)

 Sometimes you’ve just got to take that chance…      

Take Your Chances on Me [the ending -exclusive to Patrons!]

The next morning Natalie awoke to the sounds of movement in the bedroom area of the cabin. Immediately she felt her stomach turn over uneasily. Today she was going home.

Brianna still wasn’t in the cot beside Natalie. This didn’t improve Natalie’s feeling of dread about the upcoming day.

“Hi Natalie,” Ava greeted, coming into the kitchen area where Natalie had just sat up in her sleeping bag.

“Hi Ava.”

“Did you just wake up?”

“No,” Natalie lied. She wasn’t sure why she did.

“Shall we go to breakfast then ladies?” Carol suggested as she and Ashley came out of the bedroom.

“I’ll be right there,” Natalie told them. “I’ll just get changed.”

Natalie dressed in a rush –eager only to find out where Brianna was. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing Mark again. She didn’t know what to say to him.

As Natalie made her way towards the steps she saw Jamie and Mark at the sheep pen. Jamie waved. Mark stared. Natalie waved back trying not to look at Mark directly.

She got in and removed her shoes shortly before she heard footsteps on the stairs, signalling the boys were coming into the house. She made her way into the kitchen, trying not to think about anything at all. This whole thing was just so frustrating.

Again Mrs. Talbot had prepared a wonderful breakfast. French toast, waffles and various toppings along with juice and milk sat invitingly on the table.

Natalie saw Brianna was already dressed and helping set the table. She met her eye and Brianna smiled at her. Natalie returned it and as Natalie offered to help set up (but was denied by Rosemarie) Brianna leaned in and murmured, “I’ll tell you later…”

She assumed Brianna meant where she’d been last night when she wasn’t in bed. Natalie gave a small nod, feeling slightly curious but not quite anxious. Brianna hadn’t sounded excited or upset so Natalie figured the news wasn’t much on the scale of good or bad news. It was more on a factual basis –nothing too significant.

By this time the two boys had come in. Natalie watched as Brianna sat by Jamie looking relatively happy. At least Brianna was coping with the fact that they’d be leaving these wonderful guys late this afternoon. Natalie had already been sitting and she tried not to pay attention to where Mark would seat himself.

He sat straight across from her and gave her a small smile. “How was your sleep?” he asked softly, his blue eyes burning into hers and melting her heart.

“Good,” she replied bluntly. “I, uh, got cold halfway through the night,” she continued after a moment. She glanced quickly and nervously up at him to gage his reaction.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” he assuaged.

Their conversation was interrupted by the saying of grace and passing of food. As Natalie grabbed a slice of French toast she decided that perhaps she should try and at least stop acting so nervous and upset.

“And how was your sleep?” she questioned, trying to look and sound casual about it.

“For the first time in awhile I realized how lonely an empty room can be,” Mark answered lightly, looking at Jamie and then longingly back at Natalie.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Jamie answered nervously.

Natalie couldn’t tell if Jamie’s reply was a tone of embarrassment or nervousness. She looked to Brianna, who looked as though she was trying not to smile. Had Bri and Jamie both been out of their beds for a long time last night then?

“Yes poor Jamie and Brianna got soaked last night in the rain,” Rosemarie declared, “Though I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t just come inside and stay dry,” she mused.

“That would be my fault ma’am I asked her to stay out in the rain with me and watch the sky, um and we were out by the horses for a bit checking up on Riley. I guess it wasn’t the smartest thing to do but… well we survived.”

“I’m sorry that I fell asleep at the fireplace but it was just so warm there and my hair was drying still and I guess I just dozed off without meaning to,” Brianna tried to justify as objectively as possible, “And Jamie was too much of a gentleman to wake me up so he just kept me company while I slept I guess right?”

Jamie nodded with a shy smile.

Mrs. Talbot looked at them with a wise smile. “Well that was nice of you Jamie I suppose. It was just a bit of a startle to find you out here this morning is all. But that’s alright. Does anyone need any syrup?”

“No thank you,” Ashley shook her head. Everyone else concurred.

Natalie looked over at Brianna who was blushing and gave Natalie a nervous and apologetic smile.

Natalie tried not to feel jealous that Brianna had been able to stay with Jamie unlike her and Mark last night. Then again she had a feeling Brianna had been thoroughly embarrassed to have been found by Rosemarie that morning. She knew Bri would have been stumbling for an explanation that would seem like the whole situation was harmless. Natalie knew that would have been hard to do right on the spot. It seemed like the two of them had one now but Natalie could only imagine the awkwardness of the first moments after being found like that together.

Immediately Natalie forgave Mark’s actions that night. It was harder to explain away Mark being in the cabin on her cot with her than it was to dismiss falling asleep in front of a fireplace in the main house. It was also harder considering the larger age difference between her and Mark.

“It’s okay Mark,” Natalie told him, hoping he’d understand what she meant and that no one else would inquire about it.

He looked up at her and gave a small smile. “Thanks Natalie,” he murmured so quietly that she had to read his lips to understand. She gave a small nod and took another bite of toast.

By the time breakfast was done, Natalie had made up her mind. She had to end things with Mark. Anything else was just too hard. And she was too afraid to face anything else. At least if things were ended before she left, she didn’t have to carry the guilt and nervousness of ending it once she was home and they weren’t face to face. She owed Mark enough respect to tell him now to his face that things couldn’t go any further from here.

The only part she felt terrible about was using last night as an excuse –especially after she’d said she’d understood why he’d left.

“Can we talk in private?” she asked quietly as they helped scrape plates for Mrs. Talbot. He nodded, looking solemn. He could probably tell this wasn’t good.

“I’ll be right back,” Mark announced, “I promised Natalie she could get a few more pictures with the baby lamb since the one yesterday didn’t really turn out.”

Everyone nodded understandingly and the two left to the barn. Natalie led the way to the very back and stood in front of the pen with the lamb and his mother. She didn’t face Mark yet.

“Alright we’re alone,” Mark murmured, coming to stand beside her.

“Mark, I…” the words choked up in her throat. She tried again, “The thing is, you and I… It’s not going to work out between us so we should… we should just end it now.”

“And why do you say that?” he asked quietly.

“Well for one both of us are too afraid to be caught together. Last night proves that. And if we can’t admit it to ourselves then why should we think that other people will be okay with our relationship. And besides, I’m going home this afternoon. We live so far away from each other it just couldn’t work out on that alone. So we should just do ourselves a favour and end things now before things get complicated and messy by us being so far apart and our only options being calling or texting or messaging. We deserve better.”

“Right.” He nodded, looking sad. “We barely know each other so yeah it’s probably best to just cut things off now after two days. You’re right.”

“Right,” she whispered, upset that this was actually happening. She at the same time was grateful that he was agreeing so easily but also upset that he didn’t want to fight for the obvious connection they’d made even after only two days and three nights. But this had to be done now; like this. They both knew that.

“Thank you Mark,” she mumbled, trying not to let her emotions show. She moved in to hug him one last time. He returned the hug and came out of it with a small smile.

“It’s been great to meet you,” he declared softly, “I’m glad you all came out this weekend.”

“I am too. Thank you so much for everything.”

“My pleasure.”

Natalie immediately ran back to the cabin, leaving Mark to do whatever he wished. She was happy to see Brianna there starting some of her packing.

“Hey you okay?” Brianna whispered.

“Uh I’ll tell you more later.”

“Well I suppose I still owe you an explanation about last night especially now that it was brought up at breakfast.”

“I get it I just want details,” Natalie murmured with a friendly smile to show that she wasn’t upset with Brianna.

“Well yeah we were out for a walk and then,” Brianna paused to make sure the other three in the bedroom were still preoccupied and then continued, “it started to rain and…” Brianna paused again. 

“Why don’t we just go outside and talk about it then you can tell me about you too,” she suggested, “I don’t have much packing left anyway.”

“Same.” Natalie nodded and the two informed Carol they were going to go for a walk by the horses quickly since they were almost done packing anyway. Carol agreed and they headed outside.

“Let’s see… well it started to rain when we were sitting around the campfire and I immediately said we should go inside but he begged me to stay out and I just couldn’t help it.”

“He really likes seeing you wet doesn’t he?” Natalie jested.

“Oh shut up!” Brianna laughed. “He wanted to look at the stars but of course there were so many clouds it was tough to see any and we ended up just walking around together for a bit and came over here by the horses. Finally I was just too cold so I dragged him inside and… We changed into dry clothes and sat by the fireplace to warm up while my clothes dried in the dryer.”

“Wait you took off your wet clothes? What did you change into?”

Brianna grinned sheepishly. “Uh well since I didn’t want to go back out right away to get something from our cabin he borrowed me a sweatshirt and sweatpants… I… I felt so awkward I should’ve just gone back to our cabin but… I just kinda went with it—he offered and I said okay.”

“Hey don’t be sorry that’s adorable!” Natalie smiled. “Did he wear the same?”

“Well yeah I guess so. Then we pulled up a blanket and sat there chatting for a bit and then we just stared at the fire for a bit and I fell asleep I guess.”

“And Mrs. Talbot found you two like that this morning?”

“Yeah pretty much. I was kind of embarrassed. But we weren’t in each other’s arms or anything I was laying against the arm of the couch and he was lying against the back of it I guess he fell asleep sitting up or something. So we just told the truth that we got drenched outside and were just warming up and drying off by the fire and fell asleep by accident. But anyway I just quickly changed back into my dried clothes before she or anyone saw me in Jamie’s and ran back to our cabin to change again into some new ones for today. I’m sorry if you were wondering where I was the whole night…”

“No it’s okay I thought you went to the bathroom but this morning I got curious.”

“Yeah sorry I figured since I was up I’d help Mrs. Talbot with breakfast.”

“It was pretty good!” Natalie grinned.

“Thanks I agree.”

The two stood in comfortable silence for a few moments as they petted the noses of the horses that had now come to the fence. Riley was looking a lot better than he seemed to be last night. Natalie was incredibly relieved.

“So how about your night?”

“Oh. Well we went over by the horses and then saw Riley had been hurt and Mark saw I was upset so he took me inside the house for some hot chocolate and we sat in there for awhile. When we came out you two were nowhere in sight and there wasn’t a fire so we just went into our cabin. I had to drag Mark in but I assured him Carol wouldn’t know if we were quiet so he came in. And we just lay there together on my cot and fell asleep together. Except when I woke up at around two, he was gone and as much as I try to convince myself that he did the right thing it still hurt to find him gone, you know? He should’ve told me he was going. That’s what I was trying to hint at this morning with saying I got cold last night.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Brianna nodded. “Yeah he probably should’ve said something but I’m sure he didn’t do it to hurt your feelings, right?”

“I know but…” Natalie looked troubled and upset.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“I broke up with him. Or –I guess I ended things is what I mean. And I told him if we are afraid to be seen together then it’s not worth it. And I feel terrible now but he agreed with me and I think I feel worse about that. He just let me go; he didn’t even fight.”

“Oh God Natalie I’m so sorry!” Brianna exclaimed, pulling her into a hug. Natalie let a tear fall.

“I just didn’t know what else to do; we’re leaving today and really how’s it going to work out between us after this? I was scared Brianna –I still am because I like him so much. I might even love him and that scares me.”

“It’s okay to be scared; I am too,” Brianna assured. “We’ve all had such a great connection and we’ve practically just met. I don’t know what to do either.”

The two stood in silence for a moment.

“Maybe if things don’t work out between Jamie and I it was still a good thing we met because it helped me come to my senses about Kyle…”

“I completely forgot about him,” Natalie admitted.

“Me too and maybe that’s the point.”

“Wow,” Natalie murmured, nodding in agreement.

“Well what do you think was the point of me meeting Mark?” she continued after a moment, “To break my heart of having to call things off with him?”

“No, maybe…well maybe it was to bring you out of your shell more –I mean you’ve done some pretty interesting things I would’ve never thought you’d do –like c’mon you went horseback riding and you and Mark chat with each other so easily. You don’t do that with anyone you don’t know!”

“Yeah,” Natalie chuckled with Brianna, “I guess that’s probably it then… I still wish I didn’t feel so bad about it; meeting and then leaving I mean.”

“I wish I could say something about it to comfort you but I really don’t know what to say; this is all so foreign and complicated.”

“I know.”

“I guess we should head back now. We should all make those candle presentations just so we don’t forget to after lunch.”

“You’re right; let’s do that.”

The two went back to the cabin and their thoughts were well accepted by the other three. So all five of them headed to the main house where they called everyone together for the presentation. Natalie and Brianna told Ashley and Ava to give their candles to Jamie and Mark that way Bri and Nat wouldn’t feel awkward giving their own two to their soon to be left behind lovers.

When everything went off without a hitch, they felt both relieved and saddened even more. One less thing to do before they left.

Ashley and Ava asked if everyone wanted to join in another version of Scene-It. Brianna was about to agree just as Natalie had but she caught a glance from Jamie that said “I’m going outside –come with me.” So she politely declined, using the excuse that she wanted a few more pictures of the horses and the farm and that it was unnecessary for anyone to join her and take photos of her in them since she wanted to remember the places and not herself standing in them necessarily.

Jamie had slipped outside without a word. When Brianna finally got out, she found him at the bottom of the porch steps and simultaneously she saw Mark driving away in the truck heading down the road towards town. She wanted to wonder about what he was doing but Jamie’s bright eyes distracted her attention. He had a gentle smile on his face.

Meanwhile back in the house Natalie had seen Mark leave. She tried to focus all her attention into playing a fun game with Ava and Ashley. By the time they all reached the ending stretch of the board, Natalie had completely forgotten all about her worries. This included the moment Brianna had rejoined all of them to watch the game being played.

But when they began to put the board and pieces away, Natalie got a good look at Brianna and realized her friend looked as though she had been crying. Natalie wondered if it was Bri or Jamie who had done the task of saying goodbye. It just didn’t seem fair that it had to happen at all.

“You okay?” Natalie whispered, “Should we go back outside?”

“I’m good,” Brianna nodded, “I’ll tell you later –but I didn’t mean to cry out there. I feel kinda stupid actually.”

Natalie nodded and the group decided to return to their cabin to finish packing the rest of their things. 

Mark came by then and knocked on the door, asking if there was anything he could help with since Jamie had the sheep pen covered before lunch. Carol told him they were just doing their suitcases at the moment; perhaps after lunch they could use his help with putting beds back in order, carrying out luggage and such. He nodded and Natalie caught his eye. Both struggled not to turn away from each other.

Mark turned his attention to the floor after a moment and then to Carol, promising to re-extend his invitation later.

After he left, both Brianna and Natalie watched him walk back towards the main house. He didn’t even turn back to look once. The two girls looked at each other mournfully.

“Well we’re done why don’t we go help with lunch then?” Brianna suggested.

“We are too good idea girls,” Carol encouraged.

They all again made their way back to the main house where they noticed Jamie and Mark both in the sheep pen.

Lunch was ready quickly and Mrs. Talbot called the farmhands and her husband inside. Mr. Talbot had been out with the horses and tending to Riley –who, he was happy to announce, was recovering well from his injury only the night before.

At the lunch table, Mark and Natalie began casting one another sad glances. Natalie felt confused. Perhaps Mark wasn’t okay with their arrangement. Or perhaps she was projecting her feelings into his glances which she perceived to be sad when they actually weren’t. She made herself stop –she hated overanalyzing things.

Little did she know Mark was legitimately upset. He wanted to say something to her, but couldn’t think of how to bring it up –and especially over lunch with everyone else around.

Natalie noticed that Brianna and Jamie were doing the opposite of her and Mark. Both were avoiding looking at each other at all.

Natalie tried to listen to the conversation between Ava and Mrs. Talbot to keep her own mind off of her upsetting thoughts.

Before she knew it, lunch was over and they were helping wash and dry dishes. The guys went back outside in the meantime.

“I was upset earlier,” Brianna began suddenly to Natalie, keeping her voice down to such a level that Natalie had at first thought she’d imagined Brianna had said something, “because he said… he told me he loved me and I just couldn’t believe it. And I started crying before that because… he was going on about how much he’ll miss me. Natalie, I… I’ve never had anyone tell me they’ll miss me –not like that. And I believe him. And it breaks my heart because I know I’ll miss him too; so, so much!”

“Shit this sucks,” Natalie whispered back, “It’s just not fair. Why can’t things work out for us? I know we had such an incredible time already –more than we asked for but… they shouldn’t end like this,” she concluded sadly.

Brianna only nodded, not wanting to further the conversation since Carol, Mrs. Talbot and the other two girls were bound to catch on to the side conversation anytime now. If they did, things would only complicate further and things would only get worse.

The five of them went back to the cabin once dishes had been completed and upon seeing them, the two boys came over from where they stood at the fence of the horses’ to assist with the final packing.

Natalie tried to avoid interacting with Mark directly but she just couldn’t help but feel an unvoiced tension between them that was screaming at her to talk to him. But she had nothing else that she wanted to say that wouldn’t take back everything she had summoned the courage to tell Mark earlier to get him to want to end things between the two of them. She felt hopeless. She hoped this would all go away once she returned home and didn’t have him standing right in front of her anymore.

Mark helped eagerly with folding the cots, carrying luggage to the van and even sweeping out the kitchen area for them.

Time was running out Natalie knew. She resolved not to say anything to Mark. She just couldn’t undo everything now. To make herself stay quiet, she wandered off across the road to say goodbye to Duke and Riley whom she’d also grown quite fond of these last few days.

After a few moments, she heard the crunch of gravel behind her. Thinking it was Brianna, she spoke, “You’re going to laugh but I actually really like these horses; I’m going to miss them.”

“Not like I’ll miss you; miss us together,” a familiar voice answered. 

Natalie turned reluctantly to face Mark with a pit in her stomach. “I thought you said we were right in ending things,” she replied.

“I lied. I mean, I see truth in what you told me but I don’t believe it in my heart that it’s enough to keep us apart.”

She frowned. “What are you saying then?” she murmured, knowing where he might be going with this –and she felt she might give into him after everything after all.

“I don’t want it to be over,” he declared.

Natalie swallowed. This was too much. Giving herself a moment to compose, she looked over to the waiting van. “If you wanted me, kiss me now,” she told him. And if he did, she would throw every excuse away, ever inhibition, every fear. If he would just kiss her here, now, with the van not far away and with everyone watching, she could fight too to keep him. But she wasn’t going to do it alone.

Mark stared back at her silently. His blue eyes seemed to be begging her for another way. He searched her face, looking helpless.

After a few more moments of this, Natalie knew she had her answer. Feeling tears about to well up, she walked away from him with the determination not to look back.

As she gave one last quick hug to Mrs. Talbot and called farewells to Mr. Talbot and Jamie, who stood on and near the porch steps, she ignored her aching heart. And as she stepped into the left side of the van to take her seat beside Brianna, Mark’s voice rang out and pierced her heart,

“Natalie!” He had walked halfway to the van, stopping on the road, looking eager.

“What?” she called, trying to keep her voice steady.

“Come close,” he told her, taking a few more steps in the direction of the van.

She glanced around quickly at everyone who was already in the van and at the Talbots who stood on the step to see them off and at Jamie who was staring at Mark with an anxious look. Then without analysing was she was about to do, Natalie got out of the van.

As she connected into his blue eyes again, everything suddenly went blank; whatever happened now good or bad she would always remember that she had got out of the van.

Mark pulled her close. “I love you!” he exclaimed clearly and pulled their lips together for their first public kiss.

As he pulled away, Natalie felt tears of joy come to her eyes. “God, I love you too!” she professed and he kissed her again.

She pulled away first this time, “People are watching,” she murmured, not believing he was actually doing this.

“I know; I don’t care.” And as they pulled in for one last long uninterrupted kiss, Natalie could swear he muttered, “Let them watch.”

Well that's it!

I really hope you enjoyed the story of Natalie and the lovely Mark! Please let me know in the comments your reactions I'd love to know them!

As a huge thank you all for coming this far, I'm releasing the 'other side' of the story; the story of Brianna and Jamie exclusively free for all patrons! You'll obviously notice some overlap but I hope you'll enjoy hearing what happened when Mark and Natalie weren't with the two! Keep your eyes peeled I'll be releasing this story to you soon!

Thank you all so much for being my loyal and faithful patrons your support is truly invaluable and so very much appreciated! I get to do what I love and share it with all of you; I feel so lucky! 

Talk to you all soon! -Britt xoxo