Cody
"Hey, wake up. Cody. Wake up. We got to go."
I heard a voice, emplify in my ears, "Yeah ma, give me five more minutes." I said, whining.
"Get the fuck up, Cody!" The voice sternly demands.
"Who the fuck is waking me up from my slumber?'' I shout, realizing it's not my mom.
"Cody, it's after ten. We slept in."
"No, we didn't sleep in. Cody stupid idea of bring gummies, knocked us out!" I heard Chantel's voice shout from afar.
"You know Chantel, instead of bitching first thing in the morning, you should have woken me up with kisses all over my body." I said with a smile.
There was no response, " Hum, nothing to say now, hey sunshine?" I say outloud.
"Okay jackass, let's try not to fight today." Rico says to me and throws my sweater on my face.
I try to roll over, my bones are stiff. Sleeping on the cold ground doesn't help my situation at all. It's shity that the car broke down. Rico claims all was fine with the car, but he must have missed something. We managed to bring a blanket each but it was enough. The ground is hard and cold at night.
"God, that was the worst sleep I ever had." Chris said.
"Well sleeping on the ground is never comfortable, but under the circumstances at least we had tents."
I lay down smiling, hearing Nicole's reasonable logic in this situation. This is where Chris needs to say something comforting to Nicole so she can see what a great guy Chris is.
Come on Chris... Say something nice to Nicole...
Nothing?! Nothing?!
The fucker didn't say anything. No wonder he can't get Nicole's attention. He's not letting her know that he's there for her, anytime. I have to give him some pointers.
"Cody. get up. Everything's almost packed." I hear Nicole shout at me. I smile thinking how these guys will go on in life. They're predictable right now. Pathetic really. Let's be honest. I love them all, but they are stuck in their lives. I want to help them get unstuck and live their lives to the fullest. That was the point of this trip. Of course I want to find the gold, but I want to spend as much time with my 'besties', away from their predictable pathetic lives and be free to be themselves. Who knows, maybe they will change or demand for change.
"Code-Man, are you really going to fucken lay there all day?!?" Chris yells.
"NO," I shouted, " I was hoping Chantel would come in with me. I wanted to show her something." I say, chuckling at my spontaneous response.
"RUDE!" I hear Chantel yell, "You're fucken rude Cody!"
I laugh, rolling onto my stomach, looking at my friends as they pack their belongings. God. I hope they stay best friends forever. I smile at this moment. How poetic, from a birds eye view, I'm hidden in the tent and only my friends can be seen together.
Chantel stops and looks at me, " IF YOU DON'T GET UP, WE'RE LEAVING YOUR SORRY ASS HERE!"
I smile at her. She's so beautiful when she's mad, "Hey Hon, " I call out to her," Can you make me a coffee?" I sarcastically ask.
She grunts, as she walks off.
"CODY!" Nicole shouts.
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. i'm getting the fuck up. God, guys, there's no alarm clocks out here.'' I remind them as I stumble out of the tent. I reach down into my bag for the gummies.
Nicole comes out of nowhere and grabs the bag out of my hand. I look at her. Her sleepy eyes stare at me.
"What?" I yell in shock, " I need breakfast."
"Get a granola bar then." Nicole says walking away from me with the gummies.
You know, if Chantel wasn't around Chris would definitely have competition. Nicole is quiet but she's strong in her beliefs, and stubborn. Not with her parents and Gavin-ass.
Maybe she should unleash her bitch-self on them and see if they like that, " Here's a thought Nicole. Maybe you should give Gavin some gummies. Maybe his tight ass will loosen up." I said with a smile.
Nicole throws the gummies into her bag and takes a deep breath, "I will deal with your ass when we get home, but right now, we need to focus. No gummies until I say so." Nicole said in a scolding tone.
"What the fuck, Nicole!" I said pretending to whine.
"You can have them tonight." Nicole shouts as she puts her bag on her shoulder. She pulls out a breakfast bar and walks back to me, "We all had one already. Eat it and let's go."
Looking at Nicole, I couldn't resist saying, "You know, if Chantel and Chris were not around, I'd definitely be on you like a wet t-shirt." I said with a smile, blowing a kiss at her.
Nicole takes the breakfast bar, and smacks me on the forehead with it, "Just eat the bar and pack up." she said ignoring my playful advances.
Well, I do as told and wolf down the bar, quickly take my pill and stuff the tent into its bag.
We walk through the treeline and back onto the shoulder of the road. It's quiet up here. We haven't seen many cars go by. We walk in silence for a while. I was too busy thinking about how to get this trip into a 'fun mood' again. The troops are losing their morale and I need to think fast.
"Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall," I start to sing, "Ninety-nine bottles of beer. If one of those bottles should happen to fall, ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall."
"Oh my God, I haven't heard that song since I was a kid in camp!" Nicole shouts from behind me.
I smile and look at Rico beside me, " ninety-eight bottles of Jack Daniels on the wall, ninety-eight bottles of Jack," Rico starts laughing and joins in, "if one of those bottles should happen to fall, ninety-seven bottles of Jacks on the wall."
Chris chimes in, "Ohhh, Ninety-seven bottles of Stella on the wall, Ninety-seven bottles of Stella," now we all join in, " If one of those bottles should happen to fall, ninety-six bottles of Stellas on the wall."
I smile as I hear my best friends singing and dancing as we walk down the empty road. I feel a great pride and victory as we all sing the repetitive lyrics of a childhood song we sang every time we went on road trips. This is better than any medicine, that's for sure.
I not sure how long, but about an hour into our walk, our morale beings to fade.
"Shit." Rico says looking at his phone, "the battery's at thirty percent."
I grab my phone from my pocket, "yeah, mine is twenty. Who cares Rico, we can't use our phones out here anyways." I casually turn to look at the other three, "we have no service up here. Our phones are dead ducks."
" So are we, Cody, if we don't get out shit together soon." Rico answers back.
I look forward thinking, " my guess is that we're probably a day away from the park, according to the map. If we can go further today, rest tonight again and walk a bit more tomorrow, then we should be there mid-morning."
"Do you think the others can handle it?' Rico asks.
I look back again, "i hope so."
"Holy Fuck." I heard Chris say from the other side of me.
"what ?" I ask.
"Girls, that's what." Chris answers.
"Nicole?" Rico confirms.
Chris looks at us with distress in his eyes, "Yeah. Can you imagine that Nicole won't talk to me now."
"Why?" I ask.
"I told her what I thought about Gavin."
"Again?" I said.
"Yeah, but this time I tried your approach; the hot asshole response, and it backfired."
Rico starts to laugh, "Chris, man. You know there's only one Cody and Nicole isn't into Cody."
I look at Rico, " I resent that." I say sarcastically.
"She wants Chris. Be yourself. I promise it will work out." Rico said.
"Nicole isn't Chantel, Chris. " I said
"What do you mean by that Cody?" Rico asks.
"What I mean is, Nicole is more straightforward and likes control. She likes equality in a relationship, but with someone like minded."
"Where the fuck did Gavin come in from?" Chris asks.
"Well, that's not Nicole's choice," I said looking at Chris, "that's her parents choice. You should try to ask her who she would choose. She won't lie." I said , still looking at Chris who looks like a light bulb turned on his head, "So talk to her?"
"Yeah, but not now if she's mad at you." I saying with a warning..
"What's Chantel's type?" Rico asks.
I smile at Rico, "I see inquiring minds wants to know." I look at Rico. Different, I thought, "Chantel needs reassurance that she's doing it right. Her social media is a guidance beeken, if you will, keeping her straight in her path of life Chantel lost Chantel and I want to make sure she finds herself."
"By dating you?" Rico says with soreness hidden in his question. I look at Rico. I have a hunch, "I wish, but no. She won't date me. If she wanted to, she would have sealed that deal a long time ago. She's scared of me, actually."
Chris chuckles, "Of you? Fuck off Cody, who are you to her?"
I look down and smile, "The best memory she'll ever have."
"Hey, wait up for us! You guys move so fast." Chantel gasps as she and Nicole join us, "What are you guys talking about?" She continues.
"The birds and the bees, my hummingbird." I answer as I catch Chantel rolling her eyes with a grin.
I put my arm around Rico and lean into him. I'm going to go with my gut feeling, "assurance and she will trust." I pat Rico on the back.
Rico looks up, " A car's coming."
We all look up, "Okay guys. Just relax. We're just going for a walk." I say choking on my breath.
We walk in silence. I side eye the car as it goes by, feeling like the driver is going slower than the speed limit.
"Oh God, is he still driving off?" Chantel asks.
Chris rubs his nose and looks behind us, "he's still driving."
"Good." Nicole says with relief.
"Oh Shit!! Shit! Shit! He's reversing back to us.
"Fuck, what do we do." Chantel whispers with a screech tone in her voice.
Rico stops and looks back, waiting for the driver to meet us.
I look at Rico with a cold expression, "I have the gun tuck behind my pants."
"Oh God." I heard both our girls mutter behind us.
Rico stands tall, "Just wait," He said calmly, "but maybe be ready," Rico looks at me stone faced, "Only if I say so."
I tend to jump the gun (no pun intended) and Rico knows it.
"Are you kids lost?" The driver's an older man, maybe in his sixties.
"No sir, just going on a day hike." Rico answers with a cheery voice and a smile.
I see the man scan each of us. I casually move my hands to my waist inches away from the gun.
Just try old man. Just try, I challenge the man in my head.
"Well, Be careful. There's a storm coming this afternoon, so best get some shelter." The man warns.
"Yes sir. Thank you. We'll make our destination by then." Rico said as he nods his head.
The man waves and drives off.
"What a rush that was." I said jumping around, "Did you feel that rush." I said, grabbing Chris' shirt on his chest.
"Yeah Cody, I felt something; shit in my pants."
"Good," I said, "you're still alive."
"Okay, can we get going before the next car that stops isn't so nice." Nicole said with her arms across her body.
"Yes," I said, "let's partner up. Nicole and Chris. Chantel and I and Rico can lead us."
Nicole grabs Chantel's arm and walks by me, "No, I'll go with Chantel and you losers can walk together." Nicole says as she locks arms with Chantel and eyes Chris as the girls walk by us.
I look at Chris, "I tried man."
Chris walks by me, "You practically forced her." Shaking his head.
"Hey, at least you know where you stand," I yell