You arrive at the trail, Eddie parks the van in the empty parking lot, clearly no one else was feeling like a hike today and the feeling is mutual for Eddie. Eddie sighs as he cuts the engine, you laugh and then grin widely at him.
"Oh come on, we've not even begun yet." You giggle.
"How 'bout we just skip the hike, get into the back of the van, I can think of other things we could get up to in this empty parking lot." Eddie smirks, throwing a thumb over his shoulder to gesture to the private spot in the back of his hand where you've been known to have sex before.
"Nuh-uh, we are hiking and that's that!" You tell him again. "But.... I promise I'll make it worth your while." You tease him, you wink at him before jumping out of the van and strapping the backpack onto your back.
Suddenly Eddie seems eager to go, he hops out of the van and locks it, pocketing the keys.
"Let me take that for you." Eddie says as he pulls the backpack off of your shoulders and puts it onto his instead, you smile.
"Such a gentleman." You coo.
"You know me babe." Eddie chuckles before grabbing your hand and tugging you towards the beginning of the trail, "let's get this over and done with then, shall we?" He sighs exaggeratedly.
"Let's gooooo." You sing as you begin the long hike up the wooded hills. You walk hand in hand for the first while, chatting more about your experience at the hospital with nurse Jenny and in turn he talks about some new songs he's learning to switch up Corroded Coffins set list for their upcoming gigs next week.
It's only about thirty minutes before huffy toddler Eddie comes out to play. He lets go of your hand and bends over, he puts his hands on his knees as he puffs and pants. You can't help but laugh at him.
"Oh come on, you weakling, you're so unfit!" You laugh loudly at him.
"Yeah you're right, this body wasn't made for exercise!" Eddie pants as he catches his breath. "And my goddamn legs are chafing!" He complains.
"Well, who the hell wears skinny jeans to hike anyway!" You laugh at him, crossing your arms over your chest as you wait for him to get on the move again.
"I told you, I don't own any damn mountain climbing gear!" He whines before digging his hand into his hoodie pocket, pulling out a cigarette placing it between his lips, he lights it before taking one very long drag. Then he begins shuffling his feet, unwillingly, towards you again.
"We aren't climbing a mountain Ed, it's just a hike." You giggle as you grab his free hand and drag him uphill, by your side.
"Well it's been all vertical so far," he huffs, "feels like a goddamn mountain."
"Oh shut up and enjoy it will ya." You nudge him and giggle.
"Make me." He teases. You stop briefly, you spin around to face him, capturing his lips in a kiss. He almost stumbles and falls backwards at the force of your mouth on his, he steadies himself and then he grabs your ass with his free hand while he holds his cigarette away from you with his other hand. You pull away and smirk, taking his hand again, you begin dragging him uphill once more.
"More of those please, then maybe I'll quit complaining." He chuckles.
"For every mile, you get a kiss, deal?" You tell him.
"Deal!" He says eagerly and picks up the pace, puffing on his cigarette.
You stay true to your word and give Eddie a kiss every mile or so up the trail, each one different from the other, some sweet and soft, others hard and fierce. Unfortunately, he doesn't stick to his word though and he complains every few minutes.
"I'm sweating." He complains.
"Take your hoodie off." You tell him.
"My legs hurt." He whines.
"Bare with it." You giggle.
"My lung feels like it's gonna collapse!" He exaggerates.
"So stop smoking so many damn cigarettes and just walk!" You laugh at him, rolling your eyes.
"I've ran out of cigarettes," he complains, "this really is torture!" Eddie yells, stomping his feet.
"You want a snack?" You ask him, you already know the answer is yes, but you just want to shut up his complaining for a moment.
"Oh, yes please." He grins and stops his tantrum. You unzip the backpack he's carrying on his back and you pull out a candy bar, unwrapping it for him and shoving it into his waiting hand. He chews on it, finally a grin on his face, you think to yourself.
"Eat and walk, come on, not long now." You tell him. The chocolate bar has done the trick, it keeps him quiet... for about five minutes, if you're lucky.
A few more miles, you stop and give him another kiss as a reward, he holds you tightly against his body, you think he'll never let go but you're not complaining.
"Think we are almost at the top." You smile to him as he holds you in his grasp.
"Really?" His face lights up.
"Really." You laugh.
"Let's go then." Eddie says and it's now him that's dragging you up the path.
"Oh, someone's eager now." You giggle as you speed walk along with him.
"I just need a sit down, my legs are tired as shit." Eddie laughs. A mile or so more of fast paced hiking and you finally reach the peak of the trail. There's a circular clearing in the trees, it gives an incredible view over the forest, completely undisturbed for miles, just greenery and woodland as far as the eye can see.
"Wow." Eddie gasps as he takes in the view, he drops your hand and then removes the backpack, dumping it onto the ground. He steps closer to the edge of the rock face, it's a long drop into an abyss of oak trees and jagged bushes. You rush to his side and grip his hoodie, he's a clumsy guy and you definitely don't need to perform a mountain rescue up here today.
"You scared I'll fall?" Eddie laughs as he looks at where your hand grips onto his clothing tightly.
"Wouldn't want you to damage that pretty face of yours." You giggle.
"Think I would damage more than my face," he says with wide eyes as he inches closer to the edge, your hand grips so tight your knuckles turn white, "it's a loooong way down." He blows out a long breath.
Finally he steps away from the edge and goes over to where he dumped the bag, he pulls the picnic blanket out and lays it on a flat patch of ground. He sits down and stretches his long legs out in front of him before rummaging through the bag for some food.
"Join me." He smiles and pats the spot beside him. You tear your eyes away from the magnificent view and slump down into the spot beside him. You take the flask and mugs out of the backpack, filling them to the brim with hot liquid and pulling out a pack of chocolate covered biscuits to dunk into the tea.
Eddie munches into the variety of snacks you brought with you and sips on his tea slowly, both of you enjoy the peaceful silence up here on the hill, surrounded by nothing by trees and nature for miles, it's so calming.
"Maybe hiking isn't so bad after all." Eddie smiles as he bites into a slab of chocolate.
"I told you so." You giggle.
"Only 'cause I have the best company." He says and nudges your arm, smiling down at you. You lean towards him, he thinks you're going for a kiss, he closes his eyes and pouts his lips in anticipation; he gets a shock when you take a huge bite of the chocolate bar he's holding instead. His eyes shoot open and his jaw hangs low in surprise.
"Heyyyyy, I thought you were gonna give me a kiss." Eddie pouts and screws his face into a frown. You laugh with your mouth full of chocolate.
"Sorry," you say while chomping on the candy, "kiss me now?" You say and reveal your chocolate covered teeth to him before cackling with belly ache laughter, loud enough for all the insects in the forest to hear you.
"Nothing could put me off of you baby," Eddie laughs, "come here and give your man a smooch." He dives on top of you, pushing you onto your back on the blanket as he leans over you and his mouth finds yours, kissing you with a passionate fervour. He pulls back and grins down at you, licking his lips.
"Chocolatey." He winks. You both laugh aloud.
"You're such a goofball." You smack his chest softly.
"You're the one with chocolate all over your teeth!" He chuckles. You use your tongue to remove what's left of the melted chocolate from your pearly whites and wipe your mouth with the back of your hand, your face hurts from laughing so much.
"I used to come up here with my dad all the time." You say with a nostalgic smile across your face, remembering all the Sundays you and your dad would hike to this very same spot.
"So you're a pro at this then." He laughs and nudges you.
"Yeah, I'll be climbing Everest next." You joke.
"Uncle Wayne was more of a lunch at the diner and a good old fashioned movie back at the trailer kind of Sunday guy." Eddie tells you.
"Then to my house for dinner, of course." You giggle.
"Of course, how could we ever miss that, you're mom feeds us gooood." Eddie chuckles.
"Do you think when we've got our own place we will host our family some Sundays?" You wonder out loud.
"Well... can you cook as good as your mom?" Eddie laughs, you join him.
"I can learn." You giggle, "and you can learn with me." You tell him.
"Hope we've got good house insurance... I'll burn the lot to the ground if you leave me to my own devices in the kitchen." Eddie barks a loud laugh.
"I'm sure that's not true, we can learn to cook together and then we can have family and friends over for dinner parties." You say excitedly.
"Sounds good to me babe, I'll be your sous chef." Eddie nudges your shoulder.
"What do you think we'll do with our kids on Sundays? In the distant future of course.." Eddie asks you.
"Hmm I don't know, suppose we will begin to make our own traditions with them." You answer.
"Hopefully it doesn't involve hiking." Eddie laughs, you nudge his arm.
"Heyy, I thought you said it wasn't so bad after all!" You giggle at him.
"Yeah it's not bad.. but it's not fun neither!" He laughs.
"Well I guess we could take them hiking every second Sunday." You suggest.
"How about once a month?" He replies. You roll your eyes and laugh.
"Fine, once a month!" You agree.
"We will find other fun activities for us to do all together as a family on the other weekends." Eddie smiles and pulls you in closer to his body for a cuddle, he plants a sweet kiss onto your forehead. You love to talk about the future with him, you can't imagine it with anyone else. It always leaves you wishing you could time travel to the future, skip all this college stuff and just be living a beautiful family life with your husband Eddie and your future kids. You've got to remind yourself to enjoy being a teen, your mom always says to not wish your teenage years away cause you'll be wishing for them back someday when you're old.
You lay together on the uncomfortable ground for a while, staring up at the birds that fly above you in the blue afternoon sky. You have no clue what time it is now, you begin to worry you may not make it back down before afternoon turns into evening and the sun goes down, leaving you with no visibility for the hike down.
"Maybe we should head back down before it gets dark." You tell Eddie, you peck his cheek before sitting up and packing all the rubbish back into your bag.
"What, scared of the dark are we Y/N?" Eddie teases.
"Not scared, no," you lie, "but we won't be able to see where we are going without the sunlight." You tell him as you rise to your feet and grab his hand, pulling him up with you.
"Whatever you say, if you're scared then don't worry, you've got your strong and brave boyfriend here to defend you." Eddie says as he shows off his muscles and puffs his chest out.
Suddenly, you hear a branch snap somewhere behind where you stand, followed by a scurrying sound. Eddie literally jumps about a foot into the air and gasps loudly, he has genuine fear in his eyes. You almost collapse to the ground with laughter at his fearful reaction to what was probably a rabbit or something like that running through the trees.
"Strong and brave?" You chuckle, "oh yeah, suuuuure." You mock him.
"Okay, maybe you can be the one to protect me." Eddie blushes and laughs, he swings the backpack onto his back and grips your hand tightly. "Let's get the fuck outta here." He chuckles.
It doesn't take so long to get back down the hillside, gravity is on your side thankfully and Eddie doesn't complain nearly as much as he did on the way up. You're not sure if it's because the walk down is less strenuous or if it's because he's scared shitless as the sky becomes a shade of grey and the woods seem a lot eerier than they did in the sunshine. He grips your hand tightly in his and you both march back down hill towards the van. You'd be lying if you said you weren't delighted to see the van coming into view, it was a hard hike, it's been years since you've done it and you're a lot unfitter than the last time you hiked with your dad admittedly. But you refuse to complain in front of Eddie since you gave him into trouble for being a whinge.
You let out a loud sigh when you reach the van, it doesn't go unnoticed by Eddie. He smirks and bites his lip to hide it from you as he begins rummaging in his pockets for the keys. He searches his hoodie pocket, the front pockets of his jeans, he pats down his back pockets.
"Uh oh...." He says as he begins frantically searching his pockets. You're frozen on the spot.
"No no no, Eddie! Where the hell are the keys?" You yell.
"I don't know!" Eddie says.
"Well, what pocket did you put them in?" You ask in annoyance.
"I must've left them up at the top when we stopped for a rest..." Eddie says slowly, pointing to the top of the hill, "guess we will need to hike back up and find them." He shrugs and sighs. You throw yourself to the ground, it's your turn to be a huffy toddler now.
"Noooo, I am not hiking another goddamn step!" You shout with your arms folded across your chest.
Eddie begins laughing so loudly at you that you're sure it can be heard for miles, he has the goofiest grin plastered on his face.
"I'm serious! You can hike back up there yourself!" You tell him with a pointed finger and stern expression. Eddie begins jingling the front pocket of his hoodie, revealing that the van keys were in there all along . You stand up, march over to him and punch his arm.
"Ouuuuch!" He laughs rubbing his arm with his hand, "guess you don't love hiking as much as you say you do." He shrugs with a smirk on his face before unlocking the van.
"Shut it Munson, before I take off in your van and leave you out here for the bears!" You say, trying your best to act like you're still mad at him as you hop into the van with your arms crossed.
"Wait," Eddie freezes, "there's bears out here?" He says as he looks around about himself, his complexion as pale as a ghost. You laugh so loud at his reaction, it'll probably wake the nonexistent bears.
"Just get in the van Eddie." You chuckle. He hops in, starting the engine with a splutter, the van roars to life and thank god for that, you don't fancy a night camping out here as it's pitch black now and you would be lying if he said you weren't just as spooked out by the dark woodland as Eddie is right now.