-Max-
I was a bit nervous about the trip now that Mrs. Jenkins knew about Freddy's little prank. She kept a close eye on me and Sky, and whenever we were acting too fondly toward each other, she gave us nasty looks over her shoulder. It was like she had a third eye on the back of her head, one that could see through her seat. She never said anything, but she clearly had the wrong idea about how far our relationship was. She was at least suspicious of us. Or she was just worried.
Either way, she really had nothing to worry about. I just wanted to be a kid in every sense of the word now that Sky had shown me it was more than all right to be one.
The drive to the camping site was fun. Sky was talking about all the things he wanted to do and see. He even mentioned he wanted to see a wolf, but I guess my expression at that point was not a manly one, since they all rushed to assure me there were no wolves in that area. Good. I was getting used to snakes and bunnies and rats, but a wolf was not on the list of things I wanted to see in the wild.
The more they talked about their previous trips and adventures they had been on together, the more I felt like a sheltered city boy. And I was a bit envious of how tight their family seemed. Even Freddy was excited about the trip. I had to admit that I still saw him more as the stereotypical cool kid who would be embarrassed to have anything to do with his family than an actual human being with a real personality. He was not around much, so I didn't actually know the guy, but he seemed like a good kid, and a good big brother to Sky – even with the pranks and all – and I was glad I had the opportunity to get to know their whole family better now.
When Mr. Jenkins finally announced we were almost there, Sky nearly jumped through the roof. I laughed at his excitement and took his hand in mine when he started bouncing in his seat. From the moment Sky and I had started dating, I knew that camping would be something I'd be doing often from now on, but it was not until that moment when I realized it wouldn't be long until no one could call me a city boy anymore. I was excited as well, and I was really starting to like camping.
Once we arrived at the campsite, we stopped by a small building at the side of the road, and we were given a map and a small welcome speech by an older woman. She quickly told us where to find the few facilities the campsite had before waving us off with a friendly smile. Mr. Jenkins continued driving until we reached a small, quiet parking lot.
"This is it! Remember to take everything with you so we don't have to walk all the way back here," he said, and we all did as he said.
"We're here! We're here! We are finally here!" Sky jumped around with a big smile on his face as we started making our way to the designated camping area.
"It looks so pretty here," Mrs. Jenkins said, and I had to agree.
According to the map, we were miles away from any kind of civilization. The parking lot had room for maybe twenty cars, and there were only three of those besides ours. We were on top of a hill, surrounded by an old forest with tall trees. Everything had turned completely yellow now, and the leaves were falling all around us in the quiet wind. On our left, behind the tops of the spruces, I could see a hint of the lake where we were heading to, and it seemed like a long hike down.
I was ashamed to admit it, but I jumped when I felt something touch my hand. I made a small ninja-karate-kung fu type of movement with my hands while turning around to face whatever hellish creatures mother nature had decided to throw at me – I was still not convinced about the wolves – only to see Sky looking at me with a blank expression on his face. That lasted only for a second, before he pursed his lips tightly together, clearly trying to hold back his laugh.
I straightened my posture as proudly as I could. "Yes?"
"I was just trying to hold your hand," he said, doing his best to keep his voice steady.
"Well, thank you for the offer, but if you think I'm scared of this place, you are greatly mistaken," I said as poshly as I could.
And as on cue, I could hear a big, ugly-sounding bird letting out a harsh caw somewhere above our heads. I stepped closer to Sky and took his hand in mine.
"Greatly mistaken," I repeated, eyeing the sky, and he finally started laughing.
"I love you, silly," he said quietly with a smile on his face.
I kind of turned into a puddle of happy thoughts after he said that. I even forgot to reply to him because of that. We walked a few steps behind everyone else, exchanging looks and smiles now and then. And then the others stopped, so I had to turn to look away from Sky to see why.
We had arrived at our camping site.
"Whoa," I muttered in awe.
The lake and the surrounding forest were gorgeous! The campsite was located right next to the lake, between two hills. The trees here were bright-red or radiating with all shades of yellow, making the lake look like it was not a lake at all, but beautiful, red-and-yellow northern lights fallen from the sky. The forest ended right next to the water, and if I looked close enough, I could see narrow pathways going up and down the hill.
When I finally managed to rip my eyes off the opposite shore, I saw three small log cabins, probably from almost a century ago. One of them said "canteen", another one had signs for bathrooms and showers. The third one was too far away for me to see what the sign said.
"Would you look at that," Mrs. Jenkins breathed out quietly, admiring the scene.
The forest on our side didn't quite reach the sandy shore, but there were a few massive oaks here and there on the site. Almost all of them had one or two tents surrounding their trunks, but there were a few closer to the forest, with free space for new campers. I wasn't surprised when our little party headed toward them.
I turned to look at Sky when we were walking again. He was being awfully quiet, but when I saw his huge grin and sparkly eyes, I instantly knew he was too excited to speak. I took his hand in mine in fear of him dashing off if I didn't take a hold of him.
"I take it you love it here," I chuckled, making him start nodding in a vigorous manner. "I'm happy to hear that."
I loved to be there. The air was fresh and sweet, the wind was cool but soft, and the quietness was soothing. I felt like this place belonged to the old spirits of nature, and being too loud or presumptuous would anger them. It was a humbling experience.
I was happy about the fact that I wasn't completely useless when we were setting up our camp. I wanted to give Sky's family a good impression, especially after Freddy's prank was now out, so I volunteered to set up our tent, while Sky and Freddy went to get firewood. Sky's parents did seem impressed that I could single-handedly set up a tent, and that I could name each part of it. Granted, there weren't that many parts to name, but I was still feeling a bit proud of my skills. I wasn't maybe as fast as the others, but I got the job done.
"What on earth are they doing?" I heard Mrs. Jenkins muttering just when I was finally done with our tent.
I looked around, and I guessed she was referring to Sky and Freddy, who were still nowhere to be seen.
"Sky probably saw something," I guessed, but I was getting worried as well. They had been gone for ages. "I'll go look for them," I added, and left running to the buildings.
It didn't take me long to spot them. I only had to go around the bathrooms to see them by the lake, and I stopped. There was clearly something interesting in the water, since Sky was on his knees right next to it, staring at something. I couldn't help but smile when I heard his excited blabbering. Freddy was getting a lecture about whatever it was that had sparked Sky's interest.
I walked to them, and Freddy turned to look at me, rolling his eyes.
"You'd think I'd have learned not to ask what's so fascinating about them?" Freddy told me.
Sky giggled and stood up. "Water striders are fascinating! I mean, they can walk on water!"
I looked at the water and saw dozens of them skittering through the surface. To me, they were more creepy than fascinating, but I didn't say that out loud. Sky knew I didn't like bugs at all.
Sky walked to me and got up on his toes to give me a small kiss, but when I tried to take his hand, he pulled it away.
"You might want to let me wash my hands first," he said, showing them to me. He was right; he had mud all over his hands, knees and some splatters around his ankles.
"How do you do that so quickly?" I asked in amusement. "We just got here!"
"It's a talent, I know," Sky said with a proud voice.
I chuckled and took his hand in mine, anyway. "Let's go wash up."
The smile I got from him was definitely worth getting my hands dirty.
*****
After a bit of begging, Mrs. Jenkins let Sky and I go for a stroll around the woods by ourselves. At first, she insisted on coming along, but Sky – with his dad's help – managed to convince her that two fifteen-year-olds didn't need adult supervision while just going for a walk around the campsite.
Sky was all over the place at first. To me, everything in the forest seemed pretty much the same as how it was back at home, but according to Sky, that was not quite right. He kept pointing out things we didn't have or the differences between our forest and this one. The bugs, the birds, the rodents... We didn't even see half of them, but Sky could see the difference in their footprints. And poop.
The walk was not a romantic one perhaps, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Seeing Sky so happy was all I needed. At some point, he stopped almost mid-sentence, and his expression changed to a serious one. I stopped as well and waited for him to speak.
"I'm sorry about Mom... I'm so mad at Freddy. He should've just kept his mouth shut..." he spoke quietly.
"You have nothing to apologize for. I know your mom is just doing her best to protect you, and Freddy is just being a big brother," I said, putting a hand on his back.
"They all treat me like I'm a little kid," he pouted. "I'm not," he added, and I had to bite my lips together. He was being way too adorable.
"What's so bad about that? I asked, gently pushing him forward so we could continue our walk. "It's not like we're adults or something."
"It's just so annoying! You're cool and Troy's cool and Luke is cool and then there's me, the kid everyone treats like a five-year-old!"
"I am far from cool," I laughed. "Unless you mean that being exactly who you are is cool. Which means that you are cool as well."
He turned to stare at me. Then he laughed and rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant. Being a five-year-old is not cool."
I didn't say a word to him. I just leaned in to give him a kiss, and I didn't hurry to break it. When I finally did so, he had a gentle smile on his lips.
"You are not a five-year-old," I told him quietly. "That's not something five-year-olds do, you see."
He lowered his gaze, but he was still smiling. "Point taken," he then muttered.
I took his hand in mine and we continued our walk. Soon curiosity got the best of me, and I had to ask the question that had been burning in my mind.
"Did you really throw them away?"
Sky was silent for a moment. "No..." he muttered and blushed.
"Oh," I said, and felt a hint of warmth creeping up on my face as well. "I see."
"Well how am I supposed to get rid of them without getting noticed!" he suddenly blurted out with an anxious tone. "I can't throw it in our trash can, and I can't go wandering around with it!"
I started laughing, mainly because I imagined him trying to sneak it in a trash can at our school. Now there's a story to tell to a teacher...
"Okay, okay, I get it," I chuckled. "We'll just... hold on to them for now. At least your parents know where you got it from if they find it."
"The problem is I already said I threw them out," Sky groaned. "I feel dirty for keeping them..."
"Why? They're meant to keep you clean and safe," I joked around, and got a murderous look from him.
"Can we just not talk about it?" he pleaded. "I'll figure it out..."
"Sure, sure," I hummed.
We walked in silence for a moment, and I tried to focus on the surrounding forest, but holding hands with Sky was distracting me. Soon we saw a glimpse of the lake again, and Sky pulled me with him. I followed him and stopped next to him, right beside the water. I saw the campsite not far from us on our right.
"I thought we were much further away already," I said out loud.
"We were walking in circles," Sky said. "Mom would kill us if we went too far away."
"True," I nodded, and turned to look at the forest behind the lake. "I think I love fall now," I added.
"It's so pretty here," Sky agreed with a content sigh. "And so quiet."
"Yup," I said, but the mesmerized expression on his face drew my attention completely to him. It took him a long time to notice I was staring at him.
He gave me a shy smile before looking away, but it didn't take long before his eyes met mine again. I truly loved that moment. It was just the two of us, the beautiful view and the calming wind in the trees. I had to lift my hand up to move a finger across his cheek, and he let out a short laugh, like my touch was tickling him. Maybe it was.
"Have I ever told you I love your eyes?" Sky said, sounding a bit timid.
"Oh, I always thought they were weird..." I muttered.
"No, they're not," he whispered. "I think they're the most amazing thing..." he trailed off, still staring at me. Then he smiled and hugged me all of a sudden. "You are amazing," I heard him say against my chest.
"So are you," I said, putting my arms tightly around him. "I love you, Sky."
"I love you more!" I heard his muffled voice and laughed in happiness.
"Not possible," I told him, and he shook his head before looking up at me.
"It is!" he said, just before I pressed my lips on his again.
Kissing him was a bit hard when I was still smiling, but I didn't want to stop. The hold he had on me grew tighter, and I didn't want him to let go. I wanted to stay there with him forever. I didn't want to grow up, and I didn't mind if we were just kids for the rest of our days.
And of course, our moment alone was ruthlessly ended, when Sky's phone started to ring. There was only one person who it could be.
Sky let out a frustrated sigh and picked it up. "Yes, Mom? Yeah, yeah, we're coming..." He ended the call and turned to look at me. "Welp, time to go back."
"Sure," I said, and put an arm around his shoulders, starting to lead him back to our tents.
Okay, maybe if we did grow up, we would have much more time to be together if Sky's mom wasn't hovering over us all the time.