A Lantern's Light | A TMF Fanfic

Chapter Four | A Hammock, A Spider, And A Breakup

Pulling away from her unconscious state, Hailey groggily opened her eyes, feeling a small tensity in her lower back as a result of sleeping in a sleeping bag for the first time in a while over a mattress. Pushing her arms down, Hailey pushed herself up, lazily looking around the tent, seeing that Jake was still asleep, quiet nearly inaudible snores coming from him. Looking down, taking notice of her pajamas, Hailey decided that she didn't really feel like getting changed in the porta potty offset from their campsite, so instead she would just start the day in her pajamas, and wait until Jake was up to use the tent.

Carefully shuffling her way out the tent, Hailey slowly unzipped its exit, before rezipping it and standing outside, feeling blades of grass beneath her tickle her toes, still wet with morning dew. She took a second to breathe in the fresh air, Hailey gazed at the scenic view before her, taking notice she was the only one up. Bending down, she grabbed and placed on her shoes that she had put right outside of the tent, and then leaned into her bag, to pull out the toothbrush and toothpaste she had packed. Going over to the site's water faucet, she quickly brushed her teeth, before going to a near off tree and spitting next to it. No matter how many times she went camping that would always feel weird to her. Even though it was the expectation, she always felt like she was being rude.

Moving ahead, Hailey walked over to the picnic table, wanting to get an early start to breakfast. Everyone had decided for their first breakfast they would just want eggs and cereal, so Hailey pulled out the small portable stove her and her dad had bought years ago, turning it on so it could start heating up.

"Hailey!"

Hailey shot her head back in the direction of the voice to see Bethany running down from the upper part of the site, and to her.

"Hi, Bethany. What are you doing here?" Hailey inquired.

"Daddy said if I got your permission that I could come down here for breakfast."

"Well of course you can eat with us," Hailey smiled. Excitedly, Bethany returned the smile, and sat down at the table.

Hailey continued to operate the stove, placing a pan on top of it, and Bethany watching, asked, "What are you doing?"

"I am waiting for this pan to heat up so I can make scrambled eggs," Hailey answered, "Because it's a camping stove it takes a lot longer to get ready though."

"I want scrambled eggs!" Bethany beamed.

"I'll make you them, then. Although, we also have cereal, so would you rather have that?"

"Can I have both?"

"What about you have a little bit of both?" Hailey offered.

"Okay!"

"You have to wait a bit for the eggs, but you can get your cereal now," Hailey informed.

Leaning forward, looking up at Hailey with big eyes, Bethany asked, "Can you help me?"

"Um..." Hailey trailed, looking down at the stove, knowing she couldn't leave it alone for too long. "What about you bring me the cereal box, Beth? I have to keep my eye on the stove."

"Okay!" Bethany eagerly agreed, scurrying off to the big plastic container that the club had brought to store the vast majority of their food. In short time, Bethany came back, handing over a small cereal box to her sister. "Here you go!"

Placing the box off on the table, Hailey grabbed a paper bowl they had brought -- as they didn't feel like going through the hassle of managing real dishes -- pouring a small amount of cereal into the box, keeping in mind her and Bethany's "a little bit of both" compromise.