Chapter 13
I stand outside of my car looking into the forest. Green leaves fall onto the ground ;it has been very hot summer. I'm excited to go camping though I need this. I'm even more excited that Jaz decided to be joining us. I lean against the hood of the car. It has been so long since we’ve gone anywhere. All of us together. It’ll be strange. I glance down the road. They are waiting for me to come pick them up from Mark’s house. I am the biggest advocate for camping. Ryan and Mark are alright about it, but I love it. I am the one who suggested it all those years ago. Christ, it seems like yesterday. And when Mark walked about a vacation at the coffee shop, I figured we could all give it a go.
This could well be the very last time that we get to do something like this with Jasmina. My heart sinks a little thinking about it all. Soon, she’s going to hopefully have a husband and a few kids. I doubt they will want us all going on their family vacation. The idea of not being able to spend as much time with her makes my stomach a little sick too. I bite my lip. Why couldn’t I have been born a few years later? Then Jasmina and I could be together. I shake my head and glance down at my watch. That is a weird thought. It’s almost time to go. I look over my trunk and inspect the camping equipment. All of it was still in good use. I made sure, when I originally bought it to buy the stuff that would last - extra durable army grade. I wanted to show Jasmina that if you did something right the first time then you wouldn’t have to do it again.
I wonder if that lesson even stuck with her or if she even realized that I was trying to teach her something? That is an important lesson. You can even apply it to relationships. I wonder who her first was. Has she even had sex? I mean I’m sure she has. All the boys were always chasing after her. I remember when she was in high school how they would show up at Mark’s door asking if she was around to go out. She would always refuse, insisting on spending time with Ryan and I. Why would she do that? I’m sure in college though, she was bound to have met someone. Part of me hopes it's not true though and she still is a virgin. I feel my thoughts twisting to think about her sexually, wanting her. Aching to know what it would be like to take her and be her first. Stupid ideas, I repeat over and over again. Very stupid ideas.
I slam the trunk, hitting one of the tents. It pops a little when it moves, but otherwise it's fine. I know it's just one weekend, but I have everything completely stocked up with anything you would find yourself needing. We like to rough it and stay away from those cheesy campgrounds with sites on top of one another. That has never been my style. Nope. We go out into the thick wilderness and survive. I turn the car on and make my way to Mark’s house, camping gear all smooshed in so that I can barely see through the rear view window.
At Mark’s house, I roll down my window and punch the number into the intercom. The gate swings slowly open ,and I pull through. The gardens don’t look at good as they normally do, probably because of all the summer heat we have been dealing with. I wonder if it will rain anytime soon.
At the front of the house, Ryan, Jasmina, and Mark stand in the doorway, waiting for me. They have their small duffle bags all stacked up next to them. They would never survive in the woods without me. Ryan has on a light t shirt, shorts and sandals. I shake my head at the idea of wearing sandals. I hope he knows that we have some serious hiking to do. Mark at least has sneakers on, as well as heavier jeans. It’s Jasmina, who in her tight khaki shorts and light gray t shirt which clings around her breasts, has hiking boots on. I smile. She remembers. She always does.
“Well, look who's here,” Ryan says, leaning forward and sticking his head in the window. “Are you ready to go camping?”
“Always am, man,” I say back, parking my car and getting out.
I go in for a bro hug with Mark.
“You ready to go camping, old man,” I ask him.
He shakes his head.
“Oh, I don’t know.”
We smile, casually. I can see Jasmina is slightly uncomfortable with her father being so close to us all. I walk over and give her a big bear hug. She squeals.
“I want no drama between the two of you, okay?” I shout, while I clutch her small body into mine, swinging her back and forth with her legs barely touching the ground.
“Yes! Yes! Put me down,” she laughs, kicking her legs. I do right away and look back at Mark and Jasmina.
“I’m serious though. Don’t ruin my trip with family issues,” I say it more toward Mark. He’s supposed to be the adult in this situation. Not Jasmina. Yet, somehow I always found myself having issues with him and not her.
“Come on, Christian. Let’s not get into that,” Ryan says, opening the car door. He is always there to diffuse a situation. Whether that is good or bad I don’t know. I look over at him.
“I’m serious. Whoever starts some shit, I am kicking out of the camp.”
I look over at Jasmina and Mark and make solid eye contact with both. Jasmina is smiling and nodding, but Mark’s jaw is tight. God, he can be such a child. I give it a moment, but neither say anything.
“Alright then. Now that that’s been dealt with, and I assume both have agreed to the terms I have put forth -”
“Jesus, you sound too much like a lawyer,” Ryan says while sitting in the back seat of my car.
“Let’s go.” I finish.
We all climb into the car. Before I start I look up through the rear view mirror.
“Everyone go to the bathroom before we leave? I’m not stopping.” I look mainly at Jasmina who is notorious for having a small bladder and needing to pee five hundred times.
“Yes, I went!” she says rolling her eyes. I shoot her a wink.
“Jaz, you get one bathroom stop,” Ryan says, narrowing his eyes.
“Jesus, you guys. I can’t help that I like to stay hydrated.”
We laugh, but I hear Mark groan under his breath. I shoot him a warning glare. He gets the memo and shakes his head stubbornly. I pull out of the driveway, and the gate shuts with a clink and lock behind us.
The drive isn’t too bad. It's just a few hours north of the city. The buildings become less and less and the trees start to thicken. Until all at once we are completely surrounded by woods and forest, lining up against the streets. No lights or buildings - just us and the fresh air.
“Are we going to our normal spot?” Jasmina asks. I catch her bright blue eyes shimmering in in the afternoon summer sun in the rear view mirror staring into mine. My stomach flutters like a high schooler. Jesus.
“You know it,” I say back to her, grinning ear to ear. I hear both Mark and Ryan groan, which sounds like music to my ears.
“Christian, I thought I said to go somewhere a bit more relaxing,” Ryan whines under his breath.
“This is relaxing,” I defend myself.
“Maybe for you,” Mark mutters.
“Come on boys. What did you expect?” I ask, glancing at both of them. The sheer look of disappointment is plastered on both of their faces.
“I don’t know something normal?” Ryan sighs.
“This is normal,” I hear Jasmina chuckle, Or eyes lock into one another one more time.
“That’s my girl!” I say! Reaching my hand toward the volume control on the radio and slowly turning it up. Mark rolls his eyes and closes them, trying to go to sleep.
Ryan just starts laughing and shaking his head.
“What?” I ask.
“I swear to god, if I fucking break something in my body I am suing your ass.”
“Go ahead and try. I have a great lawyer,” I retort.
“That’s true, you do,” Ryan sighs. “He’s pretty handsome too. Well, I have heard people say that before.”
“Okay, shut the fuck up,” I say turning the music up even louder. Ryan and Jasmina laugh at me.
“You can’t receive a compliment without making yourself a jackass, can you?” I ask Ryan. He sighs.
“Nope. It’s what I do best.”
We listen to the music the rest of the trip. I can tell they are tired from the heavy work week. But I am too excited about the trip to feel tired.
We arrive at the small, dirt parking lot right off the street. I pull the car over and turn it off. Mark, who remained sleeping the rest of the way, opens his eyes and sits up.
“We here?” he asks, groggily.
“Yup. We have arrived at Christian’s definition of a good vacation,” Ryan adds, as he steps out of the car.
“It was your fucking idea!” I say to Ryan. “You literally asked if we could camping!”
“I love it here,” Jasmina blurts in, as she stands next to me. We stretch our legs and walk around for a moment.
“I have to add it to you, Jasmina, You didn’t need to stop to use the restroom once.”
“I know right?! But I do need to go now.”
I nod and open up the trunk, reaching into my supply bag and getting out a roll of toilet paper.
“Here you are madam,” I say, handing her the wad of paper.
Ryan and Mark shake their heads.
“Thank you, good sir.” She reaches for the roll and heads out into the woods behind a tree.
“So how far of a hike is it?” Ryan asks, staring at me.
“Just about ten minutes up the trail.”
He looks down at his flip flops.
“Perfect.”
“Come on, mate, you got this.”
I slap his back with a thud and Ryan laughs.
“I know, I do. I’m just worried about Mark over here. When was the last time this man hit the gym?”
We both look over at Mark, who is ignoring us, but is answering several emails on his phone. His eyes glance at us for a second but then dart back to the glowing screen.
“You two would never last a day at my job.”
“You get service out here?” I ask.
He nods and turns his back away from us.
“And we lost him,” Ryan mutters.
Jasmina comes back up to the truck.
“You good, sweet heart?” I ask.
She nods.
“Let’s do this.”
We start to unload the trunk of the car. Everyone carries their own bags, but we divvy up the rest of the equipment, between ourselves. I take the most, since I am the most ready for the hike. Ryan carries the tents, and then Mark just has to handle the cooler. Jasmina easily manages with just her own bag, swinging it over her shoulders and heading up the trail first.
“I love it here,” she says, admiring the tall trees. Light splatters through the leaves like little drops falling onto the ground. The air is cooler than the hot steam of the city. And the path is covered in the shade from the thick canopy of leaves. Birds sing and call to one another above our heads, and the trickle of a stream can be heard not too far from where we are walking.
“So, how bad are ticks this year?” Mark asks, looking around him.
“Um, about how they usually are,” Ryan says, looking back at his friend.
“I bought spray.” I reach into the back of my bag tied around my hip and throw bug spray at Mark. He almost catches it, but it slips between his fingers and lands on the path.
“Thanks,” he mutters, bending over and picking it up.
“Come on, Mark. What happened to the starting quarterback of Milford High?” Ryan asks, turning to face his friend.
“Quarterbacks don’t catch; they throw, you idiot.” The bug spray can flies out of his hands and hits Ryan square in the head.
“Fuck off,” Ryan laughs, catching it and tossing back at me.
“What?” Mark asks innocently.
I look back at Jasmina. She doesn’t seem too happy by the whole encounter. I hope this isn't too awkward with her dad being here. I tell myself I should go and talk to her about it. See how everything is going. I need to make more of an effort.
We walk forward. Luckily the trail has been mowed down from traffic, over the course of the last couple years. I am worried about how well Ryan would do in those flip flops. I look over my shoulder and see him. He is doing fine. Ryan liked to joke around a lot, but he is pretty sturdy. A lot sturdier than Mark, who I see slapping his arms over and over again trying effortlessly to eliminate the mosquitoes that weren't actually around. I shake my head. May be this will turn into some horrible disaster. I should have remembered why we stopped going camping in the first place. Unless, Mark was completely hammered, he was never happy on all of our past trips.
“You doing alright, Mark?” I ask.
“Fine,” he grumbles, almost tripping over a branch. Ryan spits out laughter, but Jasmina just sets her jaw and watches as her father regains his composure.
Finally, I see the clearing in the trees. It is a small plot of green grass sitting on a hill overlooking the woods.
“We’re here,” I sigh, dropping the supplies onto the ground and taking a sip of water out of my bottle. We all take a moment to regain our breath.
“Thank god,” Mark sighs.
I look around the site. It looks like it never even changed over the course of the few years we didn’t visit. The same tall pine stands at the north end, and the trickles of the stream is louder here since it only a few yards away.
“Still, just as lovely,” Ryan says, as he slaps my back.
“Sure is,” I respond, but my gaze is on Jasmina, and she blushes a bright red. I feel Ryan’s attention on me, but choose to ignore it.
“Now what?” Ryan asks.
“Well, we set up camp!” I sigh. “Come on, how many times have we done this before guys?”
“And how many times did we just follow your lead?” Mark asks, stepping forward.
“Well, first we need to collect firewood and set up camp, right? Jesus.”
Mark scratches his chin were a bug did manage to bite.
“Ryan and I can go collect firewood. You can stay here and set up the tent.”
“Sure thing,” Ryan says.
The two head off into the woods. I watch as their shadows disappear in the thickness of the wilderness.
“Think that they are actually gonna go collect firewood?” Jasmina asks.
“Fuck, I hope so,” I sigh. “What else would they do out there?”
“They’re probably going to go smoke,” she suggests undoing the tie around the tents.
“I don’t think Mark still does that,” I try to recall.
“Who knows,” she says softly.
I can’t help but stare as she bends over slowly, pulling the tents out of the casing. I can see the part of her pink nipples peeking out. I feel my cock jump at the sight.
“Here, let me help you,” I swallow, reaching a hand over. Hers brushes mine and lingers. We stare at one another. I snap back to reality and begin to pop the first tent up.
“Who will sleep in this one?” she asks.
“Well, it’s the biggest one so probably your dad, so he can fit his ego in there.”
She giggles at the remark and stands next to me. She bends down again right in front of me, so her ass is right on top of my junk. She nails in the last stake of the first tent. I quickly take a step back, before I become to overwhelmed with desire. Her head lifts and turns back.
“Oh, sorry,” she says softly.
“You’re okay.”
She smiles and continues hitting the stake.
“So how’s it actually like working for Ryan?” I ask, switching the subject and breaking the tension. She gets up wiping the faint line of sweat from her brow. She looks so fucking sexy with the sweat glistening off her body. We walk over to set up the second tent.
“It's actually pretty good, believe it or not.”
“I can believe it. Ryan is a great businessman. Just don’t ever tell him I said that.”
“He really is.”
The second one goes right up. We walk to the third.
“This one is the one I want to sleep in,” she says with a smile.
“Sure, whatever one you want.”
“This is the only tent I have actually slept in. You're the only person I know who likes to go camping,” she sighs, putting the stake into the ground.
“Well, that’s because Mark and Ryan prefer everything easy.”
“I just hope I don’t get too cold tonight,” she says, when it's finally pitched.
“It shouldn't be that bad.”
She walks over close to me, so I can feel the heat of her body close to mine. The button on her shirt has gone down one, and I can fully see her bra peeking out. She catches me staring and we hold each other's gaze. She raises her eyebrows.
“Well, I figure if I get chilly I can come snuggle up with you,” she says with a smile.
“Maybe,” I whisper, under my breath. I am suddenly aware of how close she really is to me. My hardening cock is a mere inch away from her hand. Her breasts brush against my chest. Is this happening? I repeat in my head. I don’t know what else to think.
“We got wood!” Ryan shouts from the other side of the tent, which hides us from their eyes.
Jasmina glances down at my boner and smirks.
“Good!” She stands on her tiptoes and leans into my ear, “though I think you might have found some woods as well.”
I am left completely speechless by her remark, and just like that she twirls around and pops up on the other side of the tent.
“Let’s get a fire started,” she squeals with delight. I take a deep breath and try to gather my thoughts. What just happened there? I gnaw on my bottom lip and finally come around the other side. Ryan dumps a large pile of wood onto the ground. Mark rolls some next to the pile.
“Here ya go, captain,” Ryan says. “Make us fire!”
I smile and take a few good dry logs to the fire pit. I bend down and start lighting some kindling on fire; once that is all set, I place the logs on top of the small flame. In one big burst the fire erupts into a great plumage and smoke billows upward from the pit into the sky. The sun is setting low and is turning a orange, pink. A few stars appear, and we can see the moon.
“What’s for dinner?” Ryan asks, setting his foot on one of the stones around the fire.
“I thought maybe some corn and hotdogs?” I suggest.
“What a typical camping meal,” Mark whines.
“Yeah,” Ryan adds on sarcastically. “Mark was really hoping for some frog legs or something. I mean I know Jasmina loves wild rabbit.”
“Ew, no!” she squeaks scrunching up her nose. Her face lit up by the fire.
“What! Don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it.”
“You are so gross,” Jasmina laughs punching Ryan in the shoulder. I look to see if Mark notices his daughter blatant flirting with his best friend, but Mark’s face is buried in his phones. I stare at them both. What is Jasmina doing with us?
“Have you ever had rabbit or frog?” I ask her.
“No! I don't even like meat that much.”
“Well, rabbit really isn't that bad if it's’ cooked right.”
“What does it taste like?” she asks me.
“Kind of like chicken,” I say after thinking about for a second.
“Then I think I’ll just eat chicken instead. That makes more sense to me. How could you ever eat a poor little rabbit? They are so cute!”
“You kind of look like a little rabbit,” Ryan says, leaning forward into the fire.
“She does, doesn’t she?” I add on. Her face lights up, and she chuckles. Mark looks up from his phone then and shoots her a glare.
“Alright, well, I guess I will get the corn and stuff,” I say, standing.
“I’ll go with you,” Jasmina says, standing up and walking with me to the cooler, we have kept locked in the trunk of my car. There are too many bears and raccoons who would happily find their way to it, if it wasn't locked up tight. Took us a few years to figure out a good plan with how to keep the food safe.
I open the trunk, lift the food out.
“Here, you carry the corn,” I say handing Jasmina the husks. She takes them eagerly.
“Are you having a good time?” she’s asks.
“Yeah, of course, I am.” I reassure her.
“Okay, good.”
“Why?”
“I just want to make sure. You are important to me,” she says. “ I want you to be happy.”
“I am happy, Jasmina. Where is this coming from?”
She shrugs.
“I just know that sometimes you can feel lonely, and I want you to know that I am here for you.”
“Thanks, baby girl,” I say smiling. “You really are a blessing in my life. Do you know that?”
She nods.
“Come on. I’m starving, let’s go eat.”