Pulling away from her unconscious state, Hailey groggily opened her eyes, feeling a small tensity in her lower back as a result of sleeping in a sleeping bag for the first time in a while over a mattress. Pushing her arms down, Hailey pushed herself up, lazily looking around the tent, seeing that Jake was still asleep, quiet nearly inaudible snores coming from him. Looking down, taking notice of her pajamas, Hailey decided that she didn't really feel like getting changed in the porta potty offset from their campsite, so instead she would just start the day in her pajamas, and wait until Jake was up to use the tent.
Carefully shuffling her way out the tent, Hailey slowly unzipped its exit, before rezipping it and standing outside, feeling blades of grass beneath her tickle her toes, still wet with morning dew. She took a second to breathe in the fresh air, Hailey gazed at the scenic view before her, taking notice she was the only one up. Bending down, she grabbed and placed on her shoes that she had put right outside of the tent, and then leaned into her bag, to pull out the toothbrush and toothpaste she had packed. Going over to the site's water faucet, she quickly brushed her teeth, before going to a near off tree and spitting next to it. No matter how many times she went camping that would always feel weird to her. Even though it was the expectation, she always felt like she was being rude.
Moving ahead, Hailey walked over to the picnic table, wanting to get an early start to breakfast. Everyone had decided for their first breakfast they would just want eggs and cereal, so Hailey pulled out the small portable stove her and her dad had bought years ago, turning it on so it could start heating up.
"Hailey!"
Hailey shot her head back in the direction of the voice to see Bethany running down from the upper part of the site, and to her.
"Hi, Bethany. What are you doing here?" Hailey inquired.
"Daddy said if I got your permission that I could come down here for breakfast."
"Well of course you can eat with us," Hailey smiled. Excitedly, Bethany returned the smile, and sat down at the table.
Hailey continued to operate the stove, placing a pan on top of it, and Bethany watching, asked, "What are you doing?"
"I am waiting for this pan to heat up so I can make scrambled eggs," Hailey answered, "Because it's a camping stove it takes a lot longer to get ready though."
"I want scrambled eggs!" Bethany beamed.
"I'll make you them, then. Although, we also have cereal, so would you rather have that?"
"Can I have both?"
"What about you have a little bit of both?" Hailey offered.
"Okay!"
"You have to wait a bit for the eggs, but you can get your cereal now," Hailey informed.
Leaning forward, looking up at Hailey with big eyes, Bethany asked, "Can you help me?"
"Um..." Hailey trailed, looking down at the stove, knowing she couldn't leave it alone for too long. "What about you bring me the cereal box, Beth? I have to keep my eye on the stove."
"Okay!" Bethany eagerly agreed, scurrying off to the big plastic container that the club had brought to store the vast majority of their food. In short time, Bethany came back, handing over a small cereal box to her sister. "Here you go!"
Placing the box off on the table, Hailey grabbed a paper bowl they had brought -- as they didn't feel like going through the hassle of managing real dishes -- pouring a small amount of cereal into the box, keeping in mind her and Bethany's "a little bit of both" compromise.
"Can you grab me the milk in the small blue freezer?" Hailey asked, still not wanting to move far from the stove.
"Sure!" Bethany answered, quickly grabbing the milk and handing it over.
Swiftly pouring the white liquid into the bowl, Hailey carefully placed in a plastic spoon, handing the small breakfast off over to the pig-tailed girl beside her. "And here is your cereal."
"Thank you!" Bethany beamed, grabbing to bowl, plunging her spoon in, and starting to messily gobble the food up.
Hailey then heard some quiet shuffling, and the sound of a tent unzipping. Directing her sight towards the noise's direction, she saw Luke and Zander exiting their tent, Luke still tiredly rubbing his eyes.
"Hey, you two," Hailey greeted.
"Hey, Hailey," Zander returned. Turning his head, noticing Bethany, he added on, "Hi, Bethany."
"Hi, Zander!"
"Well, good morning. Did you guys sleep well?" Hailey asked, making conversation.
"I slept pretty well," Luke hazily answered, still not seeming fully awake.
"Yeah, me too," Zander replied, before shooting a small look at his boyfriend, "But I would've been up earlier if someone hadn't decided to fall asleep half on top of me."
A small blush crossed Luke's face, and Hailey got the feeling this was something they had already discussed. "You could've moved me if you wanted to!"
"Well, I didn't want to wake you up," Zander reasoned, before awkwardly looking away and mumbling, "Plus, it's not like you were uncomfortable." A smile crossed Luke, his blush slightly deepening, but he seemed to be deciding to leave the topic at rest.
Noticing that, Hailey decided to transition the topic, "Luke, I know you're going to be having cereal, obviously, but Zander, are you going to be having eggs or cereal?"
"Um, eggs I guess," Zander answered, not seeming to care too much.
"Cool," Hailey acknowledged, "I think I'll start off by making enough for four people, and if people want more I can make more."
"Thanks for making all of this stuff. You don't have to do it all by yourself if you don't want to," Zander offered.
"It's not a problem," Hailey assured, actually enjoying doing the task solitarily.
"Well, I think Luke and I are going to go off to the hammocks," Zander informed.
A small look catching Luke, he confusedly questioned, "Wait, we are?"
"Yes," Zander firmly confirmed, giving his boyfriend a small look, "I'm forcing you to give them a shot."
"What do you mean by that?" Hailey asked, particularly confused by the "forcing" part of his statement.
Luke's face reddened, and stuffing his face into Zander's hair he just grumbled.
A small smirk crossed Zander, seeming to possibly take a little too much pleasure he started to explain, "Well, you know that Luke doesn't like heights, right?"
Taking a second to process the pianist's words, Hailey tried to confirm, "Wait, so let me get this straight. Your acrophobia makes you scared to go in a hammock?" the musician further elaborated, "A hammock that's a couple feet off the ground?"
"I know it's irrational," Luke groaned, still keeping his head placed in his boyfriend's violet locks.
"I think you'd actually really enjoy yourself once you're in there," Zander cooed, "But if you really don't want to, you don't have to," he added on, "I won't actually force you."
In embarrassment, Luke muttered, "No, I'll give it a shot."
"Cool. Let's go then," Zander transitioned, walking forward, and grabbing Luke's hand from behind him.
Watching the two boys walk off, Hailey called out, "Have fun with hammocks, you two!" Looking back to the table, Hailey grabbed a clear plastic bowl, and a carton of eggs. Placing the items accordingly, she started taking an egg at a time, carefully cracking them into the bowl. As she leaned over to grab a whisk that she would use to beat the eggs, she heard a voice.
"Heyo!" the club's guitarist called out.
"Wow," Hailey started with flat sarcasm, "You're not the last one up. I'm shocked."
"Oh, shut up," Milly scoffed with feigned offense. Walking up to the picnic table, she continued, "I don't think I even get to take full credit."
"How come?"
Taking a seat, Milly answered, "Well, I'm not sure how late he was up since I fell asleep, but Sean ended up spending a lot of time on his phone before bed."
"Really?" Hailey questioned, "Just because Sean isn't a super big glued to his phone type."
"Yeah, but I think there's a particular reason he was that he won't admit," Milly trailed off in a suggesting tone.
"Why?"
"Hm," Milly lightly hummed, "Well, I would say, but he probably wouldn't want me to."
"That's fine," Hailey said, not really caring to pry into the details of her friend's life. Transitioning the topic she asked, "Instead I'll ask you if you're doing eggs or cereal this morning?"
Cocking her head, Milly inquired, "What kind of cereal did we bring again?"
"We brought Cheerios and Life."
"It's been forever since I've had Cheerios," Milly beamed, "I'mma get that."
It had been a little bit since the purple haired girl spoke, and guilty Hailey had temporarily forgotten she was there, but she was reminded when Bethany chimed in, "That's what I got too!"
"Oh, yeah. Guess we're twinning," Milly smiled, before then turning herself to grabbing everything that was out after Bethany got her food ready, placing a bowl before her.
"You realize so far every meal you've had on this trip has been the exact same as a seven-year old?" Hailey pointed out, before teasing, "And you won't admit you're a picky eater."
A petty look crossed Milly's face, and while staring at Hailey, she put down the cereal box she had in hand, and instead grabbed the milk carton and started pouring the liquid into the empty bowl.
"Why are you doing that?!" Hailey exclaimed. When it came to the whole "does the cereal or milk go in first" argument, she had always been particularly hard strung on it, and even though it was just Milly pouring milk into a bowl, she could her face cringe. "You know it bothers me."
"It's your punishment for saying what you think to be an insult to me," Milly scoffed.
"Fair enough," Hailey sighed, concurring. Starring back down at her bowl, whisk in hand, she began preparing eggs again.
~
(Warning: This next section contains a slightly more detailed kiss, so um... yeah, warning 👉🏻👉🏻)
Zander stood, pushing as much of his weight as he could down onto the hammock below him. "See, Luke? It's steady!"
"Sorry!" Luke exclaimed in embarrassment, "I know I'm being paranoid."
"It's fine..." Zander sighed, "With my arachnophobia I'm not at too much liberty to judge. But seriously, Luke. This thing can hold up to five-hundred pounds."
Staring at the hammock, taking notice of it's thin material, Luke leered, "That just doesn't seem right."
"Well it's true," Zander claimed.
Starring again, Luke reflected, "Five-hundred pounds you said?"
"Yep," Zander confirmed
"Okay, I'll go in," Luke agreed.
"Nice."
A smile crossing Luke's face, he smirked, "But you have to go in with me."
Initially Zander's face blushed, but it soon faltered, and he groaned, "Fine. Do you want to go in first or should I?"
Happily placing himself on the hammock, Luke answered, "I'll go first."
After lying down, he held out his arm, gesturing for Zander to come over. Shuffling over, Zander carefully placed himself, not wanting to throw off the hammock with Luke's weight already in it. Originally Zander was planning on resting beside Luke, but catching him off guard, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him, pulling him onto the drummer's chest. At first Zander felt embarrassment and flusterment, but getting over that initial reaction, Zander leaned into Luke, cuddling the boy. A brief minute went by before Zander propped himself up on his forearms, looking down at his butterscotch-eyed boyfriend.
"See, this is nice, isn't it?" Zander cooed, putting a hand to Luke's cheek. Luke initially opened his mouth to respond, but instead he found himself getting stuck on Zander's lavender gaze. In hand, Zander found himself doing the same. Noticing Luke's eyes trail down to his lips, Zander leaned in, briefly kissing him.
After Zander pulled away, Luke let out a delayed reply, "Yeah, really nice."
It took a second for Zander's brain to catch up, but after he did, he just snickered. A comment like that when they had just started dating would have probably just flustered Zander, but by now they had grown to a more comfortable point in their relationship. The pianist then felt a hand graze his cheek, and his laughs dialing down he opened his eyes he saw Luke looking at him softly.
Gaping at Zander's lips again, Luke stammered, "Can we... um, can I-"
Knowing what Luke meant, Zander hummed in contentedness, leaning down again to make their lips meet. Unlike their last kiss which was just a brief peck, this lasted longer -- a long enough time for it to fall into a soft rhythm. Feeling Luke's hands run through his hair, Zander used his own to clutch onto the collar of Luke's shirt, then tilting his head to the side to deepen the kiss.
"Hey there, lovebirds."
Hearing the voice, Zander eeked, shooting himself up and his hands off of Luke's shirt and instead randomly down. Turning his head, he looked to see that it was Hailey who had spoken. "Hi, Hailey!" Zander awkwardly stammered.
Luke's muffled voice then asked, "Zander, could you take your hands off my face?" Zander felt his face heat up even further as he realized that when he randomly slammed his hands down, he had put them on Luke's face.
Lifting up his arms, Zander stuttered, "Sorry..."
"Well, I just came here to tell you guys that breakfast is ready," Hailey informed.
"We'll come soon then," Zander murmured.
Smirking at Zander's embarrassment, Hailey walked off and back to the picnic table again.
~
When Hailey arrived back at the picnic table, she locked eyes with Bethany, and noticing her empty plate, she asked, "Did you finish your eggs, Bethany?"
"Yep!"
In a surprisingly short amount of time Hailey heard her step-brother's and his boyfriend's footsteps coming from behind.
"Okay, we're back," Zander mundanely announced, the two of them shortly after sitting down at the table, beside one another. Hailey watched as Zander's eyes shot back and forth between the two plates of eggs on the table.
"Is a specific one mine?" the pianist asked.
Just as Hailey was about to reply, telling him it didn't matter, Milly suddenly stepped in pushing a plate to Zander, "That one's yours." Hailey was a little confused, but just shrugged it off, not thinking much of it.
"Okay," Zander acknowledged, then grabbing a fork. Silence filled the air, as no one really had anything they wanted to say.
Suddenly, a familiar to Hailey, paternal voice called out, "Bethany! It's time for you to come back!"
Bethany let out a small whimper as she complained, "But I like it here!"
"You said that you wanted to check out the site's playground," Hailey heard her dad start to reason, "We have to go do that now before it gets too crowded."
Bethany seemed to mumble to herself a bit, contemplating her dad's explanation, but she soon replied, shouting out, "Okay, coming!" Quieting herself, she farewelled, "Bye, guys."
"Bye, Bethany!" Milly beamed, lightly patting the girl's head.
"Bye," Hailey replied.
With a smile, Bethany jumped off her seat, running over back to the upper site. Going back to his eggs, Zander stuck his fork in, starting to eat. Luke also walked over to their container in order to grab himself some cereal, which he promptly then placed in a bowl. Hailey then couldn't help but notice that Milly's eyes were glued to Zander as he ate, and a small grin spread across her face.
"Hey, Zander?" she asked, her eyes leering.
"Yeah?" he returned.
Happily resting her head into the palm of her hand, she used her other to point in Zander's general direction. "I think I may see something in your eggs there," she informed, with a hint of mischief as she drew her words out.
This not registering with Zander, he dullily replied, "I don't see anything." Wanting to confirm his statement, the violet-haired boy took his fork, lifting up the eggs to investigate. He took a second to stare, when an abrupt look struck his face, and he let out a harsh screech, suddenly picking up his plate and harshly throwing it into the ground. His look panicked, he then stood up onto his seat, not letting his feet touch the ground.
Alarmed, Luke put his hand to Zander's shoulder, and caringly looking him in the eye he asked, "Zander, are you okay?"
"Yeah, what was that?" Hailey questioned, looking for elaboration.
Zander's voice, both jarring and perturbed, yelled, "THERE WAS A DAMN SPIDER IN THE EGGS!" his volume rising, he continued, "I WAS EATING FOOD WITH A SPIDER IN IT!"
Laughs that the guitarist was clearly trying to suppress, Milly started to apologize, "I'm so sorry, Zander!" Starting to hear Milly's word, Zander shot her a harsh look. "I didn't think it would be that bad-"
Not caring to hear the rest of her spiel, Zander screamed, "YOU PUT IT IN THERE?!"
Holding up her hands defensively, Milly replied, "Yes, but it's fake, Zander! It's not a real spider!" Getting up from her seat, Milly walked over to the splattered plate, picking up what was now a very apparent fake rubber spider. "See?" she said, gesturing to the item, "I'm sorry, I thought you would realize that before throwing you eggs into the ground."
The look of fright left Zander, but replacing it was a look of disdain heavily directed at Milly.
Throwing his arms around his boyfriend, Luke started to apologize, "Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Zander!"
Lowering himself back down to a normal seating position, Zander assured, "It's fine, Luke," eyeing Milly again, he then hissed, "It's not your fault."
Averting gaze, Luke stammered, "Well, um, I'm not sure that's entirely true."
Shifting his eyes to glare at Luke, Zander dreadily asked, "What the hell does that mean?"
"Okay, I know this sounds bad, but I really didn't think much of it then," Luke started to explain, "I didn't think she was being serious, but this Thursday Milly came up to me and asked what the best way to scare you would be-"
Cutting Luke off in a similar way he had Milly, Zander snapped, "So this was your idea?"
"Well, yeah, technically," Luke mumbled, face blushing in guilt, "But I didn't think she would actually-"
"We're not dating anymore."
"What?" Luke verbalized, a tone of naivety. Something about Zander's tone told him that he had nothing to actually worry about.
"For the next..." Zander trailed off, holding up his wrist to analyze his watch, "Ten hours you aren't my boyfriend," Zander finished, confirming Luke's thoughts that he wasn't being serious.
"Ten hours?" Luke questioned, "That's very specific."
"Yeah, why ten hours?" Hailey asked, chiming into the conversation.
A blush subtly crossing Zander's cheeks, he mumbled, "It gets cold when it's dark out..."
"Aw..." Hailey cooed, teasing her sibling.
Face reddening, Zander stood up from the table, "I'm going to clean this up now."
"I can do it if you want," Milly offered, still feeling bad about the small ruckus she caused.
"Okay," Zander very quickly and unproblematically agreed, "I'm going to sit by the campfire then."
Zander then walked off, sitting down on a log, trailing off into his own world.
~
It had been Luke's intention ever since Zander walked off to go talk to him. But he wanted to give him a couple minutes on his own before doing so. And now that he had, Luke carefully made his way over to his periwinkle-eyed boyfriend.
"Hi, Zander," Luke softly greeted.
"Hello, friend," Zander melodramatically replied.
Knowing not to take the melodrama too seriously, Luke sat beside Zander, and started to apologize, "Hey, I'm really sorry about the whole spider thing. I genuinely thought Milly was just asking out of curiosity, which I now realize was extremely dense and naive," Luke admitted, sighing, "But yeah, just, I'm sorry."
Zander glanced over at Luke, trying to maintain a judging composure, but it soon broke, and he smiled, "Yeah, I forgive you. I know you weren't conspiring to scare me or anything," taking a second to shoot a look over at Milly who was still at the picnic table, Zander hissed, "Unlike that little devil over there."
Humored by Zander, Luke started laughing, "I love you."
Zander let a sweet smile cross him, and he gazed at the auburn-haired boy before him. Exchanging the gaze, Luke put his hand to Zander's cheek, and leaned in, intended to place a small peck on his forehead.
Zander then leaned back, cutting him off, "Woah, what are you doing?"
"Well, um, I was planning on kissing your forehead," Luke confusedly answered.
"Why would you do that?" Zander questioned, tone drawn out, "You're not my boyfriend."
"Wait, you're sticking to the breakup thing?" Luke asked, thinking that this small interaction would have cancelled that out.
"I do forgive you, but ultimately you still betrayed me, Luke. Now you must face the consequences," Zander answered, emphasizing his voice for a dramatic -- nearly comedic -- effect. Standing up from his seat, Zander started to walk off again. He briefly paused though, turning around with a small smirk, "I'll take a raincheck for 6:14 though."
The light flirting made Luke's lips curl up into a small smile, and as Zander actually walked away, the drummer was left, blushing on a log.
~
Wow, that was such a hArDcOrE and aNgStY Lander breakup, wasn't it? Totally bet I have you in tears over that 😔 I went back and forth for a while on whether or not I wanted to do this "breakup" because one of the things I was looking forward to when writing this was writing Lander as a couple, but also this only for part of one day, and I promise this "breakup" won't actually deprive the story of much Lander.
Also, I'm sorry this part took a while to come out 😅 In general these A.L.L. parts have been around twice the length of my "Blocked Away" and "We're Fine" parts, so they take a little bit more time to write. Another reason this part took a little bit long to come out is because I started another TMF fanfic ✨ It's called "Realities" and I'm going to shamelessly promote that you maybe check it out 😏 But even though I started another story, this fic right here is still definitely going to be my primary focus.
Anyway, that's it for now ^^ As always, I hope you enjoyed <3
(Random side note: I am especially looking forward to writing the next chapter ✨)