summer child // joshler

15

josh's point of view

"is there anything we can do?" tyler asks. he's laying upside down on my couch with his legs over the back and his head hanging near the floor.

"i dont know," i shrug and continue scrolling on my phone.

"you boys should go camping!" my mom comes out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron.

"miss laura, with all due respect, why on earth would i want to go camping?" tyler sits up again, looking over to her.

"tyler, your parents and i used to take you boys camping all the time when you two were younger. the campgrounds are free and they're only a twenty minute drive away. you both loved it." she says, her hands now on her hips and a soft smile on her face. "it's just a suggestion."

i put my phone down and look to tyler. "it could be fun. we could go on a nature walk, swim. we could make smores, pack sandwiches. we've got a tent and sleeping bags."

he groans dramatically, but relents. "ughhhh, fiiiine."

-

we leave for the campgrounds late the next afternoon. tyler is driving and our bags and supplies are thrown in trunk with whatever wouldn't fit residing in the backseat. i'm in the passenger seat next to him, going through my music to find something to put on through the aux.

"josh, please pick something. i literally could not care less what we listen to."

i eventually settle on a song i know he likes and listen as he hums along. it isn't too far, so the drive doesn't last very long and we arrive at our destination before we know it.

"i think we'll have fun." i tell him, unbuckling my seatbelt when we come to a stop.

the campground has a dirt road that leads to several clearings, each with a space big enough for a tent and a firepit in the middle. there's parking spots next to each area so we don't have to walk very far to unpack our things.

"sure," tyler scoffs a little and then gets out of the car, taking a few things from the backseat while i grab a few things from the trunk.

we spend the first bit of our time there setting everything up. the tent is actually pretty complicated and i end up doing most of it while tyler watches. by the time i'm finished, the sun is already in the process of setting.

after everything is finally out of his car and settled, tyler and i go on a short walk to find some firewood. it takes us another hour to find enough and get the fire going, so it's almost all the way dark by the time we sit in front of it, roasting our hotdogs for dinner.

"i will say, hotdogs taste much better cooked this way," tyler pulls his out of the fire to inspect it before taking it off the skewer and putting it in a bun.

"for sure," i agree, doing the same.

"dont look at me while i eat this." tyler says, taking a huge bite.

"dude, you can't tell me not to look. i have to look now." i say, laughing a little when he gets ketchup on his face.

"shut up, no! it's so awkward!" he tells me, trying (but failing) to hold back a smile.

"it's only as awkward as you make it," i take a bite of my own hotdog and he shakes his head, avoiding eye contact with me.

"so, we're doing marshmallows after this right? for smores?" tyler finishes his hotdog and starts the process of cooking a second one.

"duh. what would camping be without them?"

tyler and i continue to make light conversation as we finish our dinner, then discuss how to roast a marshmallow to perfection.

"no way, man. that is too dark." i shake my head as tyler pulls an almost black marshmallow out of the fire. "it's literally still burning."

he blows the small flame out and shrugs. "delicious."

"gross." i pull mine out of the fire, a nice light brown color, and assemble my own smore. "you are gross," i repeat.

"maybe so." he smiles, and even though it's not a huge, sappy grin, i can tell it's genuine. i can tell he's happy. it makes my heart swell and causes my own smile to widen.

after we're finished, tyler and i watch as the fire dies down, making conversation about nothing important until we both begin to feel tired.

we take turns changing in the tent and then lay next to each other in our sleeping bags. there's a small, battery-powered light in the corner near tyler's head that i packed for him. he said he didn't need it, but he made no move to turn it off.

"tyler?" i ask, laying on my back and staring at the ceiling of the tent above us.

"yeah, j?"

"i'm really glad we did this."

"me too."

(an: i hate camping and i hate smores. i will only eat raw marshmallows and i very rarely like hotdogs. next chapter is a good one though!)