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Tony offered to take him camping as long as Clay agreed and in the end Clay gives in surprisingly easily despite swearing he’d never go camping again after Tony ‘tried to kill him’. Tony doesn't even seem shocked when he tells him about Clay’s reversal in decision. They pool sixty dollars to reserve a campsite and set off early on a Friday morning. He takes shotgun cause Tony appreciates his superior navigating skills and that thankfully gives him control of the music so he can prevent a Clay monopoly on it. Unfortunately that leaves Clay in control of snacks and he's not only cheap with buying them but also stingy in giving them out.
They get there before noon and Tony brings him to check in with a man whose hat is enormous. He then makes him help set up the tent, pointing out in his usual annoying sensible way, that if they don't do it now they'll do it in the dark. It isn't hard anyway, Tony has the directions memorized and guides him through it in under ten minutes.
He wouldn't have minded except Clay goes to look at the lake and that's what he really wants to do. Tony reminds him it'll still be there when it's done but that isn't the point, he just wants to see it. It'll be like a preview of seeing the ocean!
Once finished Tony walks over with him, annoying slow in the same unhurried speed as if this were more mundane. He tells him to relax and enjoy the forest and that the lake is only one part of it. It may be true but still...he can see trees at home...the Jensens' house has a huge one outside. But a lake...the park has a pond but it's smaller than Bryce's pool and this is a lake. Tony doesn’t seem to get this.
When they finally reach the top of the hill his breath gets caught in his mouth. Below them the trees thin out on the hill side and it gives a view of a beautiful, sparkling pool of water, glowing in the afternoon sun. Behind it another hill rises, deep green against the blue of the sky above it and the blue and gold of the water below.
A thin, sandy beach and dock are on this side and a lone figure sits at the end of the dock, feet in the water, socks and sneakers behind him. It's Clay, and he takes a quick picture to send to Hannah later when he has time to think up a teasing caption.
Stepping onto the dock is an interesting experience. It moves under him! He grabs Tony on reflex who steadies him and reminds him the dock is floating and is going to move.
They join Clay after that who teases him for his amusement of the lake but Tony pushes him off the dock. Clay comes up sputtering and spitting water and glares at them. He decides not to point out he had nothing to do with it. Of course Clay gives an over the top performance complaining about being wet and complaining his phone could have been ruined and a bunch of stuff that Tony just rolls his eyes and replies in a dry voice that he’s certainly not made of sugar and doesn't have to worry about melting.
They walk back, Clay barefoot and dripping wet, even though Justin sort of wants to go swimming right then. Tony of course has to be a party pooper and point out that they should change first. So they return to the little campsite, change and grab towels before walking back. The water is amazing, cool and refreshing against the heat of the day, but it also tastes funny. Clay says there's a lot of dissolved iron in it which is why it tastes like blood. Tony mumbles in Spanish about Clay being familiar with the taste because he’s a vampire. Justin laughs and Clay assumes they’re making fun of him which starts a water fight. At least he’s right this time.
Tony eventually bribes him out of the water by saying they need to make dinner and they can light a fire after. Clay complains about collecting firewood but not too much and about an hour later he and Tony are at a portable two burner camp stove that he thinks is cool as hell while Clay wanders off into the woods to collect branches and stuff for a fire. It’s still bright out but Tony assures him the golden rules of camping are that cotton kills and there’s never enough wood for a fire, apparently collecting early is essential.
Dinner is made and eaten and then Tony and Clay carefully arrange wood in a ring of rocks, Tony explaining as they go along. It’s interesting and he hopes tomorrow he gets a chance to help build it, after Tony assures him they’re making one tomorrow.
They stay up pretty late. The fire is beautiful but that may be because he’s never actually seen fire besides the one time an apartment in the neighborhood burned up but that was too deadly to be pretty. This is different, the red and orange flames jump up from the wood and he could stare into it forever without ever really knowing why it looks so amazing but it does all the same.
Arguably the only thing more impressive is that it sends sparks high into the air that get lost among the stars and he can’t help but relate to them and be jealous of them at the same time. The little sparks get to fly up and up and up and for a few seconds be with heavens above, which makes him envious of them, but then they go out and fall to earth and he can’t help but relate to them on that level he’s felt like a dying ember before.
Tony does most of the talking that night. He tells stories, strange ones, about things Justin’s never even thought of. He figures out at some point they’re folk tales and stories from Native Americans and they’re interesting but the best part is Tony’s calm voice narrating them. Clay nods off sitting on a tree stump but he’s too busy listening. He likes them, the world built on the back of a turtle for a lady who fell out of the sky by animals who go diving for dirt so she’ll have somewhere to stand, a story that sounds suspiciously like Cinderella but with a cave-in that kills people.
His favorite is about the Old Man and the Old Woman who have different ideas about how humans should live. Old Woman clearly runs the show and it sounds a lot like Matt and Lainie. He says one thing, she says another and he goes with that. He does think Matt is much smarter than Old Man though, he would know rocks always sink. It makes him kind of sad though, wondering what it would be like if people never died. Before all of this, he always thought of death as a good thing in a way, a way out, and an end of the misery. He never wanted to rush it but at the same time he always thought it might be sort of a relief when it did come.
Now, there seems like so much more to live for and experience and he can't help but feel annoyed that Old Man gets taken to the cleaners so easily. If he hadn’t, maybe there would be more time to do and see everything, meet everyone and spend time with them...he tries to give up that line of thought pretty quickly because it’s too sad and this is a happy time.
They stay up late into the night, up until the fire is mostly out, just glowing a little on the bottom of the pit. Tony at that point dumps water on it and mixes the wet ashes around with a stick while he gets Clay up. They head into the tent and close it up. He sees now why Clay told him to unroll his sleeping bag when there was light because he can’t see anything now.
The next morning Tony makes scrambled eggs for breakfast and then they go hiking. He’d rather go back to the lake but hiking is part of the experience and that is what he’s here for. Tony pointing to the top of the hill behind the lake shakes his confidence a little and he can’t help worrying they’ll get lost. Clay telling him there are trail markers makes him feel a little better but that only lasts until he sees it’s only a little paint strip on a tree.
It’s hot, sweaty work and honestly not entirely pleasant since Clay is grouchy, he can’t tell if it’s because his brother hasn’t had coffee, is up before noon, it’s hot, or some combo of all three. It isn’t unpleasant though, Tony points out a lot of things from different types of trees and flowers to birds and even some deer that that they happen to pass and they reach the top of the hill before ten and with Clay in a marginally better mood. It’s sort of awe inspiring looking down on the lake from up here. It looks so small and less like water than glass.
He gets a tap on his shoulder, “You’re looking the wrong way.”
“What do you mean?” He doesn't see how something could be cooler than this but he turns around anyway. The other side is dominated by mountains, rising up into the sky like jagged towers. They dominate the landscape, filling it up.
“You look smarter when your mouth is closed.” He assumes Tony gives Clay a dirty look cause right after follows, “Well he does.”
The hike down is easier and he’s happy the rest of the day is spent in the lake cause it’s too hot to do much else. Later that night after they’ve had dinner and are sitting around the fire again he finally asks a question that’s been on his mind for a while. “Hey Clay, how come you didn't want to come camping? This is great!”
Clay takes a deep breath and a glance at Tony confirms he’s in for a highly dramatized story of the real events. “Tony tried to kill me the last time we went.”
He goes to interrupt but Clay is only just starting. “He forced me on another hike and put us directly between a mother bear and her cubs. Do you know what that’s like?”
Justin shakes his head but he’s picturing Lainie in a bear costume for some reason and it’s sort of funny.
“Bears are three or four hundred pound killing machines with teeth and claws who are super protective of their cubs and this one growled at us! And Tony led us right into it! And his solution was ‘walk back slowly and don’t look too afraid’ as if that was going to help!”
“But you weren’t mauled by a bear sooo, didn’t it?”
Tony is trying not to laugh as Justin gives him a questioning look because he must be missing something. He would have heard if Clay had a gory bear mauling incident.
Tony clarifies “We did come between a mother and her cubs, I did tell him to walk back slowly and not to be afraid and we did make it out unscathed. Clay is just dramatic.”
The pair dissolves into bickering about who’s right and he leans back to watch the embers fly up. This has been fun, and he’ll be sad when they leave tomorrow even though getting back to air conditioning and civilization, and Jess, will be great. He hopes they get a chance to do it again, maybe bring some of the fishing gear Tony mentioned and stay an extra day if they can manage that. Apparently there’s a place to rent canoes and paddle boats too. Or they could just swim again, he’d be fine with that, with anything really.