When I Came Back

Chapter 11: Setting Up Camp

"Alright I need a break" Colby said through an airy breath as he held the nozzle over to me. I swallowed hard as I took it from him. I was going to be putting my lips over where his just were this time. I knew it wasn't that big of deal, it's not like we haven't shared drinks or anything before, but this seemed a little different.

Nonetheless I brought it to my lips and started to blow again, and I could feel Colby's eyes on me but I didn't look at him. I felt him watch me for a good minute and when I took a break for a second I looked up at him.
"It's getting there" I said as I looked down at it, it was about halfway inflated.

For the next ten minutes we switched off and kept having to take breaks to move around the tent as it got bigger. Eventually we were right next to each other on the side of the tent once it had folded all the way out.

We were both out of breath, and when Colby passed it to me for the last time he hugged his knees into his chest and leaned against me. The whole left side of my body was pressed against him as I blew into the nozzle with what air I had left, not even thinking anything about the tingles running through my body.

After one more minute and a few more breaths, I leaned forward and felt the mattress, it felt firm enough. I reached up and closed the nozzle tightly, dropping the mattress and leaning my head back on the tent.

"I can't feel my lips" I breathed. I heard Colby chuckle.

"Me either" he said, and when I looked over at him he looked over at me.

I realized then how close he was to me, how close our faces were. His eyes looked down at my lips and then back up to my eyes.

"Your lips are so red" he said with a smile, and I couldn't help but look down at his.

"So are yours."

We both just sat there smiling at each other, we were too exhausted to move. I felt my cheeks start to burn from his gaze and I quickly held my hand out.

"Nice teamwork" I said, and he looked down at my hand, lifting his up to give me a high five.

I looked over at the mattress. "You think we're all going to fit on here?"

There was a pause as Colby scanned it. "Hopefully" He said with a chuckle, "if not Sam's sleeping outside, he's the one that said we only needed one tent."

I giggled and laid my head back on the tent. I closed my eyes and sighed, trying to regain some oxygen. A few seconds passed before I felt a strand of hair being tucked behind my ear. My eyes shot open and I looked over to see Colby staring at me, a look on his face that I couldn't place.

"Have I ever told you you're really pretty?" He asked. There was shy smile on his face.

I felt my face get hot.
"No" I said after thinking about it, he actually hadn't.

"Well you are" He stated. He was looking at me admiringly and I swallowed hard. Before I could even say anything, we heard Sam and corey coming back.

"Are you guys still in there?" We heard Sam yell. I half expected Colby to jump up or move away from me but he didn't.

"Yes" Colby yelled back.

A second later Sam peeked his head in and looked over at us, then down at the mattress.

"Dang I didn't think you guys would be done yet" he said, and suddenly Corey was next to him.

"Wow Tess, you must have lungs of steel" he said, and I laughed.

"I had some help. I would have probably passed out halfway through."

We all laughed and I asked Sam to throw in the blankets so we could get everything set up. There was about a foot of space between the mattress and the side of the tent where Colby and I were, and I sat up on my knees.

"We could set a lantern over here with our phones and stuff" I said.
"Good idea" Corey said.

Sam brought in the blankets and Colby and I made one side while Corey leaned in and fixed the other side. It was going to get pretty cold at night so we had quite a few blankets and a pillow for each of us, and once we were done it looked pretty comfy.

Once that was done colby and I crawled out of the tent and stretched, we had been in there for a while. Sam and Corey showed us all the wood they got for a fire, they got a pretty big pile. I filmed them during this and then they wanted to show us what they found while they were walking, and we followed them to see a bridge with a big creek not too far away from the camp, it was really pretty.

I asked Sam to take some pictures of me by it, then we decided to just go on a hike to seen other things. The whole way I kept replaying Colby's words in my head. I know he had complimented my looks before, almost every time we had seen each other since I got back to LA, but he has never just told me I was pretty.

He was probably just being friendly, that doesn't mean he found me attractive... but I'm glad I was pretty in his eyes, it reassured me that at least I wasn't 'ugly' compared to his girlfriend. Not that I had any reason to compare myself with her... we were completely different.

She was blonde, had fake lips, cheek fillers, possibly butt fillers, and was always caked in makeup. I didn't have any plastic surgery, I was proud of my natural body that I worked hard for. I was brunette, and wore minimal makeup, only getting glammed for special occasions.

I was taken out of my thoughts by someone nudging me, it was Colby.
"You okay?" He asked, "you've been quiet."

I smiled up at him, feeling warmed from the thought of him noticing and caring if I was okay.

"yeah I'm good" I said, continuing to smile as I looked down at the ground.

"Are you having fun?" He asked.

I nodded, "I'm having a blast."

He smiled at me and we continued to walk up a path near the edge of the mountain.