Living It Up

Chapter Eleven

Drew picked me up to go for the camping trip the next day. I smiled at him as I sat in the car, feeling butterflies in my stomach. I couldn't remember the last time I'd gone camping. Probably sometime with Jason some years back, I thought to myself.

"Hey, do you mind calling Nate to ask him where he's reached?" Drew asked, glancing towards me before looking at the road again.

"No, I don't mind. I'll have to borrow your phone, though. I left mine at home," I said.

"You forgot it? Do you want to go back to get it?" Drew asked, looking at me again.

"No, I left it on purpose. I'm going electronics free," I grinned at him.

"Nice, one more thing off the list. And the perfect time for it. Maybe even I should do that," he grinned back at me, handing me his phone.

We drove down to the edge of the woods, parking the car next to all the others. There was a trail starting from there that led to a small lake, where we were planning to camp out.

There were already a few people hanging around, and Drew greeted them as we walked from the car. I could see a couple of familiar faces. Nate had already reached, and I recognized a brunette girl from one of my classes.

"Hey everyone. This is Lexi," Drew said. He told me all their names, but I forgot them as soon as I looked at all the new faces. I wasn't used to hanging out with so many strangers at once. The only name that stuck with me was that of the brunette girl from my class, who was called Nikki. She waved to me, and I waved back with a small smile. She seemed quite friendly.

We started walking along the trail, and I found myself walking beside Nikki. It was quite hot and humid, and the sun was strong. Thank god I wore shorts. As we walked deeper into the forest, we were fortunately protected from the sun by the thick trees. I was only carrying a light backpack, but it soon felt like it was filled with rocks.

"Man, at such times I wish I exercised more regularly," Nikki panted, as the path sloped a little upwards. I couldn't agree more. Nikki was quite talkative, and I soon felt my awkwardness fade away. All I had to do was listen to her and put in a few inputs once in a while. She made sure there were no awkward silences.

I stopped to rest for a moment, drinking the last sip of water from my bottle. The rest of the group walked on, and I was soon the last one. I walked on as soon as I finished, not wanting to get lost alone in the woods. Drew was waiting for me at a folk in the path luckily. He was really sweet sometimes. That boy sure is growing on me.

"How far do we have to go yet?" I whined as I caught up with Drew.

"I;m guessing we should reach in around ten minutes."

"There's definitely a lake, right? I can't wait to swim. I'm melting in this heat," I said, pulling at my sweaty T shirt that was sticking against my body. "I wish the Aguamenti charm actually existed," I said, referencing Harry Potter for the millionth time. Somehow Drew was turning me into an even bigger nerd, if that was possible.

"I don't need Aguamenti to make you wet, babe," he promptly replied with his trademark smirk.

"Ughh, you're so disgusting. Why did I ever agree to come camping with you? You're just hell bent on ruining my childhood," I huffed, increasing my pace to get away from him.

"Aw, come on. Don't be like that." I continued ignoring him. "Alright, I"ll stop the pick up lines."

I looked at him sharply, trying to make out if he was telling the truth. It didn't seem possible for Drew to survive without sprouting out his lame, cheesy pick up lines.