The Summer Deal

Thirty - Kissing is not a part of our deal

Noah Jordan's POV:

I always hated camping as a child. Yet every year, I was forced to go to summer camps and fishing trips because my father thought every person in the world should know how to survive in nature.

He was right though. I grew up learning the most basic survival skills any living human would require in time of need, and those skills helped me survive in the harshest climates present on Earth.

But I never imagined I would be using those very same set of skills to light a bonfire even though we have a lighter as well as a matchbox easily available while Stephen and Julian brought firewood.

"Noah," Sasha knelt beside me, a pack of frozen peas in her hand. "Show me your head first." I stopped rubbing the stick between my palms and lifted the hair which was covering my forehead. I had a haircut barely two weeks ago, and it had already started to grow long again. Sasha examined it carefully. "Hmm. You still have a bump. Here," she pressed the pack on my head. I hissed in pain and she cringed slightly. "Sorry. That must have hurt."

"Thank you," I gave her a soft smile as she let go of the pack. I pressed it harder on my head. "At least I can strike off getting hit by a hard ball from my to-do list."

"Then you can also strike off cheating in creating fire from your list," she pressed a finger on her lips and discreetly used a lighter to light a fire to the small bundle of twigs I had. "I hate the concept of camping in a resort, but I can't complain because Raven kind of worked hard for this, and I don't want her to feel bad. I love the idea of a bonfire, roasting marshmallows, and having dinner, but I don't like how strict her concept is of being close to nature so much that we cannot use simple privileges." She then turned to the small crowd behind us. "Noah got the fire ready!"

Stephen dropped the firewood on the ground, disappointment evident on his face. "Already? There's still half of those logs left and we have a long night ahead of us."

I decided to go along with Sasha. "I have skills. You don't."

"At least my skills don't involve getting injured every time I see my wife in a bikini."

"I'm going to pretend that I don't know you."

"I mean there was a time when I used to get injuries too, but nowadays I get injuries when my wife asks me to throw a trash can full of my baby's dirty diapers." Stephen arranged the pile of logs he brought and threw the burning wood into it. We had a bonfire ready in no time. "I have better, advanced skills than you."

My face became flustered. "I don't... I was just distracted."

"So was I before my condom broke."

"Stop teasing him, Stephen. They're dating so it's obvious." Sasha pushed him playfully and faced me. "Don't listen to him, Noah. Sarah's really awesome. If I was swinging for the other team, I'd get injured too."

That sounds so assuring.

"Speaking of your girl..." Stephen looked around in search of Sarah. "Where did she run off to again? She keeps running away from us, or maybe it's just you."

"I..." I had absolutely no idea, and the fact that everybody else had gathered around was also not good. It was very hard to keep up with her the entire day. Most of the time, I was in a bad mood with a bump on my head.

"Oh! I gave her a coconut not so long ago," Sonya revealed. "I think I saw her heading outside with it. I haven't seen her since then."

"That's alright. But the question is..." Carol said and pointed an accusing finger at me. "Why is she running away from you?"