Nowhere In Particular // H.S.

Twenty-Two: Rabbits and Reality

"Hey, got any room in there for me?"

"No, Harry."

"Aww," he whines. "C'mon. Why not?"

"Because it's a sleeping bag meant for one person and it's currently being occupied by me."

"I'm sure we can squish," he blinks at me quickly, smiling wide. I have to squint my eyes to actually make it out in the darkness, but it's obvious he's doing everything he can to try and convince me. "Mind over matter, Greta."

"The answer is still no," I breathe out, closing my eyes for a moment. "You just announced that you were going to sleep naked to be one with nature. Not sure how I feel about that being so close to my leg."

"That?"

"Yes, Harry. That."

"Well, I think I have solution to this problem," he states sounding like he has the answers to all of the pressing issues in the world.

"Which is?"

"We both sleep nak-," he begins to propose his idea, but I stop him before he can finish.

"Harry."

"Sorry," he laughs quietly, clearly amused by my reaction. "Only a joke."

He laughs again and I let out an annoyed puff of air from my lungs before smiling myself. I don't understand how that would solve anything, but I should have expected the comment from Harry the moment he suggested he had a solution.

"Are you really naked?" I blurt out, deciding not to care about the entirety of the question and how his answer could influence things.

"Umm," I hear him hesitate.

"I highly doubt Hugh and Robin are going to appreciate you using their sleeping bag in such a way. I feel like it's a given to keep your clothes on when using a strangers sleeping bag."

Technically they aren't strangers anymore. Hugh and Robin are the nice couple Harry and I befriended after spending our morning at the lake. We were the only ones up there for a good part of the morning, but we eventually crossed paths with them.

They're a newly retired couple, traveling the country by RV and somehow Harry schmoozed his way into yet another friendship. We hiked back down together, talking about all sorts of things and when we got to the bottom, they invited us to their campground that was nearby.

They are extremely friendly, kind, and giving people so it wasn't difficult to trust them. They made us dinner, which happened to be a fish Harry caught while fishing with Hugh, and offered their extra tent for us to stay in for the night.

Of course Harry was enthusiastic about this idea and I was pretty open to it as well because it has been awhile since I'd been camping. So we figured out the logistics of getting the rest of our stuff from the hotel we stayed in the night before and then decided to take up the offer of sleeping out in the wilderness.

Hugh and Robin were very interested in our adventures, enthralled as Harry told stories about what had happened up to this point, leaving out little details that only seemed important to the two of us. It was a quiet day of making new friends, eating home-cooked (or technically RV-cooked) meals and filled with plenty of laughter.

We finished off the day with s'mores and star gazing. Hugh and Robin told us goodnight pretty early in the evening claiming, "We're old and can't keep up with you crazy kids." So Harry and I stayed outside, staring up at the stars until the fire went out. And now we're here inside their tent, with me trying to figure out if Harry's serious about being in the sleeping bag in the nude.