Page 44 of Eye of the Hurricane
More so than embarrassing, I think it’s against the rules. Although, we decided to scratch the rules. I’m sure there still some, though…right? Am I spiraling?
I put the last bag into my trunk and slam it shut. I make a mental list of anything I might be missing, but I can’t think of anything. So, I head out to grab the girls.
I drive to Katherine’s house first because I’ll need her to tell me how to get to Luna’s house. I also left a little early because I promised her I would make sure she had everything she needs for the weekend.
She’s never been camping and is a little clueless on the matter. She’s asked me about fifty times if I’m sure no one will laugh at her for wearing dresses while we camp.
Normally that’s not a promise I could have made, but I made sure to tell every single person not to say a word about it. I know she’s most comfortable in a dress and I’m most comfortable when she’s comfortable.
I walk up to her front door where she’s already standing outside waiting with her bags. I reach down to grab them and she swats my hand away.
“I can carry them myself,” she scolds.
I pluck the bag out of her hand. “I know you can, let me help anyway.” She shows her palms in defeat and lets me carry the bags to my car. She follows closely behind me, watching as I throw her bags into the trunk. I make a mental note that we’ll have to put some of Luna’s stuff in the backseat.
“Are you nervous?” I ask her. She shakes her head, but I know she’s lying by the way she slides her nails against each other. “Nothing to be nervous about. If you hate it, I’ll drive you home,” I assure her.
She drops down into the seat next to me and we head for Luna’s house. Once we’ve picked her up and thrown all of her luggage into the car, we’re on the road.
Remindme why I signed up to drive with these two? I know the answer is Katherine. I’m losing sight of that, though, when we’re on the fifth utterly devastating song in a row blaring from my car speakers.
“Do you guys ever listen toanything happy?” I ask.
“Not really,” Kat answers.
“Sad white women feed us amazing music. Who are we to turn our cheeks to it?” Luna adds.
“The best part of music is a gut punching lyric,” Kat confirms with a nod of the head.
I just shake my head and let them listen to whatever they want. By the time we’re pulling up to the camping grounds, I’m contemplating my life at a level I never have before. Is this what women do for a good time?
Within twenty minutes, we’re all parked up and unloading our cars. Lugging bags and tents to the clearing we’re posting up at. We set things up so the tents are all in a big circle with a spot for the fire and chairs in the middle.
I drag all of Katherine’s bags and all of my own to the tent. I also set the tent up while she stands there looking pretty. She offers about twenty times to help me but to be honest, I don’t like the idea of her bent over in one of her sundresses in front of everyone.
When everything is settled, we all sit in a circle around the fire pit to talk about what we’re going to do today. Everyone starts tossing ideas and I hear everything from relax in our tents for the first day all the way to skinny dip in broad daylight. Alright, so the last one was my idea. Sue me. Katherine shakes her head like a disappointed parent when the suggestion comes from me.
“Didn’t know it was a crime to wanna see what the homies are working with,” I exclaim. Everyone bursts out laughing, which was the goal considering the only one here I actually want to see naked is Kat.
We all agree on relaxing for the day, and spend the afternoon laying around in hammocks talking about random stuff.Beck tries to get a card game going and Ravyn laughs at him. We all scold her and tell her she has to be nice.
Nighttime rolls around and everyone has settled around the fire with drinks. Except for Katherine. She’s sipping on a bottle of water and I’ve been nursing my first beer for over an hour.
The day started hot but now that the sun has set and there’s cool air rolling in off of the lake, it’s a little chilly. The fire radiates heat just far enough to keep us all warm enough to stay outside.
“We should play a game,” Ravyn suggests.
“Games are trouble, especially the ones you pick,” I tell her.
“Last time Ravyn picked the game, Ares and I didn’t speak for days,” Audra adds.
“Yeah, I also recall that night not being particularly fun,” Roman chimes in. Ravyn huffs and crosses her arms over her chest.
“I like the idea of a game!” Luna exclaims.
“I’m with the girls, sounds fun,” Sebastian agrees.
Katherine shifts in her chair next to me.
