Nicole
Okay, the fire is set, the beans are warm and the guests are seated." Cody said, as we sit around the firepit.
There's nothing appealing about the beans, as I poke them with a plastic fork that I packed. They're brown and mushy, but it's food and right now anything in our stomachs is far better than nothing at all.
"God! I can't eat this shit!" Chantel rants as she puts her plastic cup down on the ground.
"Hey, watch your mouth. We're lucky that Nicole even thought about bringing food." Chris reacts to Chantel's comment, "we'd be dead."
"Or resort to cannibalism," Cody throws in, "which, in that case, Chantel, you'd have no choice but to let me eat you." Cody says as he looks at Chantel with a smirk of victory on his face.
Chantel reacts with a shiver and sticks up her middle finger. She then picks up her cup of beans and starts to eat.
"I think the battle of C and C is going to be the most entertaining of the whole trip." Chris chuckles.
Cody looks at Chris, with an annoying expression, "Hey Christmas, why don't you focus on your goal on this trip and grow some balls and get your girl."
Chris quickly looks down at his beans as I do the same. I know what Cody is implying and I wish these guys would stop using this trip to get laid.
I take a deep breath, as I put my thoughts together. No one wants to talk about the obvious concerns that we are facing. As always, I'm the one who's going to be the bearer of bad news.
"We should talk about what we plan to do tomorrow." I start, "Which direction we should go and maybe delegate duties and make some rules."
"Fuck rules!" Cody answers to me.
I stare at him, "and respect."
Cody springs up from his seat, "Fuck rules, and duties and all that shit that confines us to the dead and dreaded. Nicole, look around you. Who the fuck are you trying to impress? We have the whole world out here. We could die tomorrow and have never looked up at the stars, "Cody looks up, " which by the way are so fucken beautiful up here. Which of you have looked up at the stars in your backyards?"
None of us say anything.
"I didn't think so. Me neither, but we are tonight. Together. Best friends for life," Cody looks at each of us, " and I wouldn't want to be with anyone else but you guys."
Chris and Rico dramatically applaud as Cody bows down and waves his hand to us.
"At this point, I'm so high on life that if a bear kills me tonight, I'll be happy that I spent tonight with you snots."
My eyes open wide, Shit Bears!
"Oh my God!. I didn't even think of bears." Chantel whispers with anxiety, "Holy shit, what the fuck were we thinking?"
"Relax, the fire will keep them away." Cody assures Chantel, " but if you're worried, you can always sleep in my tent with Rico and we can..."
"CODY, SHUT UP!!" Chantel shouts as the rest of us moan in disgust at what Cody's implying.
Cody smiles the biggest smile. I haven't seen him smile that much in a long time as he looks at Rico.
"What? I'm sure the thoughts ran through your dirty minds already. I'm sure you guys have already played out many different scenarios in your heads."
I look at each of them and try to get back on topic, "I think we should discuss and organize how we're going to move forward. We have no car, limited food and I estimate three, four days before we are near the gold."
"I agree with Nicole." Chris adds.
"Of course you do," Cody intervenes, " Okay beautiful and smart Nikkers. What's your plan of action?
"I think we need rules. You know, like when going to the washroom and no comments about how we look," I say looking at Cody.
"But I can compliment, right." Cody says, moving his eyebrows up and down.
"And if anyone passes gas, you say nothing." Chantel adds.
Rico laughs, "okay so no negative comments about how we look or smell."
"Yes!" Nicole smiles.
"Let me get this straight," Cody interrupts, " Let's say Chris wants to tell you that your beautiful eyes shine like the full moon on the darkest night of the year, that would be ok, right?"
God. Cody has a way of getting into your veins like poison and yet stains your heart with his memorable comments. That's why you can hate him with love.
" What about the animals? What the hell are we going to do to protect ourseelves from them.?" Chantel asks, looking around into the dark of the woods.
Everyone's silent. I'm not sure what to do either. I was in girl guides and had gone to camps, but with limited supplies, we're going to have to be very watchful, "We should keep the garbage away from our tents. This way the animals stay away from us." I said.
"Make noises, " Chris adds, " I heard noise keeps the animals away.".
"I wish we had a shotgun, " Rico muttered, " if we had to, we would shoot it."
" Actually, funny you should mention that, " Cody says, getting up and walking to his bag, "I did wonder what or who we could have run-ins with, so I - " Cody reaches inside his bag and pulls out....
"What the fuck Cody?!?" Rico said as he stumbled on his words, "where did you get that from!!"
Cody looks at us with guilt and confidence at the same time, " Look, before you guys talk, hear me out. The reality is that we are in the woods, with no sign of civilization around us. So I thought, if we do get into some serious shit like wild animals, or some crazy lunatic, then we have some protection."
We don't talk. A heavy looming feeling sat around me. I can see in everyone's expressions that this all just got really real. The flirting and jokes and maybe Cody and Chantel hooking up was real and it would be okay, but the fact that Cody might have to shoot something or, hopefully not, someone is so surreal.
"What the fuck possessed you into thinking that bringing a gun on this trip was a good idea?" Chris angrily asks Cody.
"The fact that we are out here in God's country., and i'm going to protect us at all means. That's what possessed me."
"What possessed you to want to bring us out here and jeopardize our lives for gold that might not even exist." Chantel questions Cody.
I look at Cody. Honestly, I wanted to know too. I mean, look at us. In the middle of a forest hours away from safety.
" We can handle it." Cody insists.
"When we had a car." I said.
Cody looks at me, "okay. I didn't think we would lose the car, but hey, that's life isn't it. Shit happens and we have to be strong enough to get through it."
"Wow, it just got uncomfortable here." Chantel bluntly says.
" Look guys, it's here in case we need it," Cody puts the gun back in his bag and zips the zipper, "it will only come out when we need it," Cody pulls out a bag, "but i know what we do need right now, is a pick-me-up to embrace our new found frontiers." Cody sat back in his spot and opens a bag filled with...
"GUMMIES?!?" Chantel claps her hands together with excitement, " Good. Something that will put me to sleep and forget that I'm in the middle of nowhere."
Cody stops moving the bag and looks at Chantel, "Really, you couldn't stop at Gummies!!" Cody said, mimicking Chantel, clapping.
"Fuck off and just open the damn bag." Chantel scoffs at Cody.
Cody continues.
GREAT. I roll my eyes as I see my friends, jumping in their spots with their eyes popping out of their sockets for this candy. I know it's not just any candy, Chris and Chantel wouldn't be so excited, as they try to eat healthy foods, but this kind of gummies is not for the faint of heart, but now i know in about fifteen minutes, i'm going to lose my best friends to a influential world of riding the wave of hallucinations and stupid conversations.
"Nicole, you're going to have a couple, right?" Chantel asks.
" No, not tonight." I answer, not happy with this turn of events.
"You mean not ever." Cody says, looking at me as he takes a handful of gummies, before passing the bag to Chris.
"What Cody means, " Chantel interrupts glaring at Cody, "Just take one or two, just to take the edge off. To relax and forget the shit that's happening to us." Chantel coveys.
"Well, I'm in," Chris announces as he pops the two gummies he grabs into his mouth, " If there's a chance of being eaten by a bear then at least I'll have fun tonight."
"Wrong thinking Chris. Embrace the possibilities of letting the gummy take you into a space of anything." Cody said as he lit up his cigarette.
Rico grabs the bag from Chris. He looks at the bag, "if Nicole won't have any, neither will I." Rico gets up and passes the bag to Chantel.
"What are you doing Ricardo?" I ask.
"Nothing, no point in you being the only one not high while you watch us having a wonderful time."
"He's right. You'll be bored, while we have fun." Chantel says as she chews her gummies.
I hate when my friends put guilt trips on me. I know they want me to embrace the more relaxed, fun side of me, but I'm scared to. I'm scared of saying things or doing things that might change my life and hurt my parents.
"Come on Nikkers!!" Cody shouts out loud as he stands up as he pumps his chest out, "live a little. Embrace your wild side and see where it goes."
Well that didn't take long. I look at my three friends who are now officially on cloud nine. Chris looks like he's dancing to music in his head, Chantel is talking to herself about the importance and philosophy of beauty and Cody is doing some kind of dance.
"And you guys wanted me to act like that?" I said to Rico, "fuck no."
"Nicole?" I heard Rico say. I look at him with a sour expression, "is it that hard to let go and relax for you?"
I look at Rico shyly. Rico is the only one of all of them who doesn't in my life. He does not question my choices and, although he is also not crazy about Gavin, but says very little about him.
" I'm scared of what I'll do, or say, if I'm not in control."
Rico smirks confused, " what could you possibly say or do that would be that bad?"
I look at Rico. I want to say a few things, but I can't. I want to tell my friends a few things, but I don't want them to get mad or hate me for it. I want to keep it hidden in my heart.
"I don't want to regret anything, you know I hate confrontations." I say trying to cut this conversation short, " You know Rico, you can join them. I'm fine babysitting your asses."
Rico chuckles as he holds my hand, "Nah. I'll stay sober with you. That's what friends are for."
I laugh, "really?" I say.
"Yes." He said as his smile disappeared.
"What?" I ask.
Rico takes a deep breath as he looks at me, trying to find words, "ah, I want to ask you something, but I'm not sure if I should even entertain the idea. I don't even know why or how it happened."
I move my body to face Rico, "Are you ok?"
" The real reason I didn't want to eat any gummies is that I was afraid of saying something out loud that could cause a lot of shit on this trip." Rico starts.
"You don't have to say it right now." I told him.
" I need to say it to someone, cause it's bursting inside me and I don't know what to do with it."
I look at Rico's hands holding mine tight, Oh God, Not you too.
"Ah Rico. I love you as one of my best friends, and I think we're best..."
Rico leans closer to me, " I think I have feelings for Chantel."
I look at Rico. Well that was embarrassing. I smile at Rico, then realize the sticky situation he's in. the silent crush.
"Oh?! When did you realize that?' I asked.
"I always had some level of liking Chatel, but on this trip, the more I see her letting go of her Influencer image, the more I find myself thinking about her and feeling excited when she comes around me. BUT don't fucken tell any of them. If Cody finds out, I dont know what the fuck he would do."
I understand Rico. I find myself in that same situation with Chris. That's why I can't lose control on this trip. I'm afraid that I'll say something or do something with Chris and then have to face the wrath later.
I squeeze Rico's hand, "I won't say anything." I promise as I smile at Rico.
Rico smiles at me, "Now, which one do you think is going to hit the ground first?"
We both laugh as we watch our friends have fun in LaLa Land.
*** okay. So Cody continues to bring the fun on this trip, but is really avoiding the questions about his intentions of this trip. And now Rico has admitted out loud about Chantel!!!! I let me know what you think of this chapter. I sat on it for a few days trying to figure out how to bridge what's coming up next. Don't forget to touch the cute star at the bottom!! 🥰