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1. Bruce and Ashley
“I’m so glad you guys came out to L.A.” Bruce huffed as they hiked.
“Yeah.” Ashley was a few steps behind him “But next time, we’re just going down to rodeo drive.”
“No… way!” Bruce kept trekking up the steep trail. “Can’t buy… this stuff!” He reached top of the small hill, hands on his knees, panting.
“How much farther, Bruce?” she caught up to him and looked around. They were pretty far up, surrounded by nature. She looked back at Bruce, but he was gone. “Bruce?”
“Up here!” Ashley turned and saw Bruce up in a nearby tree.
“Dude, what the fuck are you doing?”
“I.... I thought I would be able to see a camping spot from here.” Bruce yelled. “But, uh, I can’t and I don’t know how to get down.”
There was a pause between the two where only the birds made any noise.
“Are you stuck?” Ashley tried to hold back a laugh.
“Shut up!” Bruce’s voiced cracked little, which made Ashley laugh even harder. “Just… shut up, give me a second.”
He started to shimmy back down the tree, but only got down about a foot.
“Bruce, just jump down!” Ashley set down her backpack and walked closer to the tree. “Just, like, let your legs hang and let go!”
‘I’m gonna break a leg!” He screamed. “It’s like 11 feet!”
“Bruce, it’s only 5 feet, just let go!”
He considered for a moment. “Okay….” he said. “Okay… i’ll do it. Ahhh…” He wiggled a little lower, holding onto the lowest branch. “1...2...2 and a half…”
The branch snapped, and Bruce came down with it with a thud.
“Holy shit!” Ashley rushed forward, and landed on her knees next to him. “Are you okay?!”
“Yeah.” He wheezed. “Just… knocked the… air out… of me.”
“Can you feel everything?” Ashley was searching him for broken bones.
“Yeah.. yeah I got it all.” He sat up. I THink this spot right here is perfect for camping, actually.” He smiled. “This.. this looks reeeally good right now.”
Ashley smiled and smoothed out his hair. “Alright.” she whispered. “We’ll camp here.”
2. Adam K. and Jeremy.
Walking deeper into the woods, Adam noticed that Jeremy was still just as anxious as he had been when they unpacked the car. He was looking around, wildly almost, as if waiting for something awful to happen.
“Hey, are you okay?” Adam finally asked.
“Yeah.” Jeremy answered a little too quickly. He was still looking frantic, even with the smile he put on for Adam.
“Come on, what’s wrong?” Adam continued. “We’re out of the city, no work to do, no deadlines… what’s up?”
“I, uh, well…” Jeremy rubbed his forehead as he spoke. “So I was playing a lot of Until Dawn this week…”
“You think the wendigos are going to get us?” Adam chuckled.
“Don’t say that!” Jeremy snapped, still worried. “I’m just...a little paranoid.”
Adam stopped as they entered a clearing and set down his pack. He watched Jeremy continue to look sharply at every snap and tweet they heard. He finally saw Adam watching him.
“What?” He demanded.
Adam just chuckled with a smirk. “Babe, we’re fine.”
“You don’t know that…”
Adam shrugged. “Does this look like an okay place to camp?”
Jeremy surveyed the opening, eyes wide. He walked towards the center of the clearing, kicking rocks out of the way. Adam stayed back, admiring how Jeremy looked outside the office and in nature.
“I guess this could work.” Jeremy yelled back. “You think it’s safe?”
Adam walked up to Jeremy, a hand on his cheek. “You think I’d let anything happen to you?” He asked playfully. Jeremy blushed even though no one else could hear them.
“Yeah.” Jeremy laughed, finally at ease. “This will work just fine.”
3. Ryan and Lawrence
“This tent is not cooperating.” Lawrence huffed, entangled in rods and tent material. “I think it’s broken.”
“Did you read the instructions?” Ryan yelled back as he was gathering firewood.
“Yes!” Lawrence yelled. “Well, sorta…” He said a little quieter.
“Did you?” Ryan walked towards him with some sticks.
Lawrence sat back on his heels with a sigh. “No…”
Ryan laughed and started picking up some of the rods.”The trick is to try to line up pieces that seem to have a curve together.” He said, attaching piece to piece.
“Why couldn’t we have just taken a camper to KOA?” Lawrence rolled his eyes.
“Because this is free,” He said, snapping another rod. “And this view is way better.”
He had a point. From where they were, they could see down the large hill they had climbed a few hours earlier, not a building for miles. The air was crisp up here. Lawrence stood and walked towards an opening in the trees where you could see straight out into the valley. The trees went on for miles, a river cutting thru the center was the only thing that broke the expanse. The sun hung just above the horizon He took in a deep breath and felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Ryan.
“Beautiful, right?” Lawrence asked.
“Yeah, stunning.” Lawrence turned to see Ryan staring at him.
“That was so cheesy.” Lawrence laughed.
He shrugged. “Sorry not sorry.” They watched each other intently.
“We should finish that tent.” Lawrence finally said. “It’ll be dark soon.”
“You know, that tent might just be broken…” Ryan leered.
“What are you talking about, you have it half done-”
Ryan smiled mischievously. “Mmm, nope, can’t use it, to many structural issues. Looks like we’ll have to sleep out under the stars.”
Lawrence walked over towards the tent and pushed it aside. “Well, get out the blankets then… we’ll have to build some kind of nest.”
Ryan’s grin widened. “Yeah, great idea.” They started laying out blankets and pillows from their bags, opening the sleeping bags to use as a mattress and a comforter.
After things were set, the sun began to dissolve into the horizon, just as the two began to dissolve into each other.