Page 1 of A Little's Campervan

1

Emmie

Emmie was not a camping person.

To be honest, Emmie barely tolerated the outdoors—horrible loud place that it was, with far too many bright lights and full of things that wanted to kill you.

Plus rain. She hated rain.

And yet here she was, in the centre of Crater Lake National Park.

As much as she hated the outdoors, Emmie adored her sister Christie and for some reason, Christie had begged her to go camping with Christie and her girlfriend. So here she was.

Camping.

There were limits, however. Sleeping in a tent was out of question. Emmie pitied Christie and Dana, who were going to have to brave ground mats and sleeping bags, but she had been sensible. She had hired a campervan—which she’d instantly named Luna—which would be home for the next weekend. Luna had a little gas ring, a fridge, and most importantly, a bed. Luckily the campsite Emmie had been directed to had electrichookups, even though most of the people who were also there for the Crater Lake Pride Campout, were doing the whole tents thing.

There were a handful of vans dotted towards the edge of the site, and Emmie pulled into her allotted slot to park up.

She had to admit, it was absolutely beautiful. The campsite was high up, overlooking the large lake itself, Wizard Island in its centre viewable from where they were based.

It was blue, bluer than Emmie could possibly have imagined.

There was a tap on her window, and she rolled it down to see Christie and Dana grinning at her.

“You got here okay?” asked Christie, and Emmie raised an eyebrow at her.

“Clearly.” Teasing Christie was one of Emmie’s favourite past times. Her little sister was the baby of the family and adored by absolutely everyone, and especially Dana. “Can we look inside, Em?”

“Sure,” Emmie shrugged.

Christie’s squeal of delight when she pulled open the side door had Emmie reaching for my earplugs. Bother sisters were autistic, but very different flavours. Christie’s needs focused on routines and stability, whereas Emmie was a little different.

Change wasn’t going to necessarily result in her having a meltdown, but a strong smell or too much loud noise sent Emmie into hiding. Being an interior decorator worked perfectly for her—half the time she was on her own at home, in her safe space, and the other half she was out turning other people’s homes into safe spaces. Everything about her life had been curated to make it easier.

Camping refused to be curated.

Nevertheless, she’d brought her own unique touch to the campervan. The grey fabric that lined the walls has been complemented with light pastel curtains that she was hopefulwould keep the early morning sunlight out, and the bed was fully made up with duck egg blue sheets and a collection of stuffies in one corner.

Christie almost threw herself onto the bed before Dana grabbed her and pulled her backwards. “Come on now, monster, none of that.”

She turned wide eyes on her girlfriend. “Monster?” Christie’s lower lip began to tremble and Emmie stifled a laugh as Dana bopped her on the nose in a no-nonsense manner. “But I want to explore the campervan!”

“Then we should have got a campervan instead of a tent. This is Em’s camper—let your sister have her space.”

“But stuffies!”

To be fair, Christie was part of the reason why Emmie had so many stuffies. Her job as the receptionist at Stuffie Hospital, meant that Emmie’s birthday and Christmas presents over the last couple of years had primarily consisted of the most squishily adorable stuffies.

“You’ve got your little monster with you. That’s enough stuffies for tent life.”

Christie stuck her tongue out at Dana, and then leaned up to kiss her. They were ridiculously adorable, and as much as Emmie was quite satisfied with her own life, seeing the two of them together made her wonder whether she could make space for someone too.

“Go explore,” she said, and they broke apart and grinned at her sheepishly. “I’ve got to get myself oriented.”

The campsite was well organised, with clean showers and toilets, Emmie was pleased to note, and as she wandered over to where the organisers of the event had their table, she noticed a short woman holding a clipboard.She looks like she knows what she’s doing, thought Emmie, the hiking boats and the plaid a good sign that she’d probably done this before. Emmie, however,was dressed in a long flowing yellow skirt and a cheesecloth white top that tied up under her boobs.

“Hey,” Emmie said as she got closer. “You’ve got the itinerary for the week?”

---