Reasons To Live✔

18

"What's this?" Josh asks as he digs through the closest under the stairs.

"A bag," I respond, glancing up from the TV to answer.

"Yeah, but what is it really? It's not empty," he says, punching the bag with no fear of breaking anything. "It's very heavy," he continues before dragging it over to me.

I force myself to stand up as I stare down at the bag. "A tent for camping," I respond and walk back to the sofa. "And sleeping bags," I say, flashing him another look. He drags it onto the sofa and stares down at him.

"It's fate!" He finally laughs and places his hands on my shoulder. I look up at him with confusion as he slightly shakes me.

"What is? You litterally just dug around my closet and pulled out the closest thing to you," I respond and slowly move away from his light grip.

"Me and you! We're meant to go camping!" He shouts, rushing towards the bag he brought last night.

"What!" I shout, gasping as I stand up to turn to him.

"We both need to get away, let's be honest I've lost my friends but I have you! So, let's go and do a friend thing? Your parents don't have to find out- they're not back for ages-" he excitedly says, rushing around the room.

"-we can't drive, we don't have food, we might get lost, we have no change of clothes. Josh, there's so many things you haven't thought about," I interupt him and go to stand in front of him.

"Elyse, stop being a fart, be spontaneous," he pats my shoulders condescendingly.

"I can be spontaneous!" I defend.

"Prove it, let's go camping," he huffs, his arms crossed over his chest.

"What about the lack of food and your clothes and travel-"

"It's 10AM, my parents are working so I can go home without hassle and get clothes and food, you can do the same and look into camping places and then travel," he says as he rushes towards just front door. "See you in an hour," he laughs and slams the door behind him.

I'm left in my front room stuttering. What just happened? Is this really happening?

Slowly, I turn on my heel and walk towards my bedroom.

Not long after I've filled my old Dan and Phil pixel bag with clothes, old ones incase they get dirty.

Josh
10:37AM
I'M DONE, ON MY WAY OVER NOW!

Elyse
10:39AM
COOL!!

I yank the half-full bag over my solider and head down the stairs and towards my fridge and the pantry.

After I've spent some time searching through cupboards there's a rhythmic knock at the door, and a few seconds after the same knock.

I shuffle towards the door and open it to Josh smiling. He pushes past me, his voice chirping as he laughs.

"Took long enough," he sticks his tongue out at me.

"I was getting food for you, idio-"

"Did you find a camping place?" He interrupts me and falls back onto the sofa.

"No, but I got my laptop down and unlocked it-"

"God, you can't do anything," he rolls his eyes and opens a tab on my laptop.

"Can you stop interuppt-"

"Oooh, 3 hours away and one train, I like it. We just need to pay for the train and not the site."

"Oh my god," I mutter and zip up my bag. "Do you think I'll need the mini cooking-thing?" I ask, staring at in my cupboard.

"What does it do?"

"It means we can cook on the go."

"Sure, go for it, a proper camping experience! Also, does this look good?" I shove the thing into the tiny part left in my second bag before walking over to Josh. I lean over the sofa and he clicks on the tab.

He clicks through 5 photos, one of the tents set up, one of the location, one of a lake, one of a mountain and one of the shared bathroom. The bathroom is semi-clean, the mountains and the surroundings of the tents are green as the tall trees cast shade onto them, the lake is extremely blue with trees surrounding it and people swimming in it.

"And the train is only 3 hours, one train from the Central station of the High-Street," he continues, clicking on another tab. "The next train is an hour?"

"We're really doing this?" I ask, feeling the nerves settle in.

"You only live once, let's do it," he shrugs and goes to pay. "It's our break, we might as well, we have nothing better to do and the best moments happen spontaneously," he chuckles.

I hesitate for a second before nodding too and sliding my credit care out my purse and onto the coffee table.

"Is that a yes?" He follows up with.

"Yeah, I guess so," I awkwardly say.

He clicks pay and together we type in all the necessary details, it adds up to almost 40. The train is in just over an hour so we have some time to do things.

An hour later we're stood at the train station with our printed-out tickets. He slides the ticket out my hand and passes it onto the bored looking man. He nods us through the gate after giving us them back. Josh slides his hand into mine, I feel my heart flutter for a second.

"Don't wanna lose you," he turns and says to me. I slowly nod. He pulls me through the flow of busy travellers. He stops suddenly, my body pressed against his, his hand still in mine. His eyes are darting around at the different coloured trains.

"This one," he mutters as he yanks me into the cart. He quickly lets go of my hand and I follow him to a the train seats. He sits down on one. I smile and sit down opposite him. I place one of my bags under the table between us and the other on the seat next to me. My eyes move to outside the window as I watch the people rushing around the platforms. 

"I really needed this, El," he suddenly says, his voice low.

"Me too," I smile back. "I brought snacks," I continue and unzip my second bag and pull out two cans of lemonade, some sweets and some biscuits.

He excitedly smiles at me as the train starts gliding down the tracks.

"Number eighteen: travelling."

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Dedication: rey_sterling your support has meaned so much to me and I appreciate every comment and vote! Also, I love your book so much and you're so talented. For real, go check out their book Love Is Bullsh*t because it's so good and I'm always excited for the next chapter.