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“Is that all of it?” Hilda asked as Caspar hoisted the suitcase into the back of the car
“Think so,” he responded with a grin. “Wow, Hils, I didn’t realize you could pack so much for just a camping trip.”
“It’s not just a camping trip,” she reminded him with a playful jab to the arm. “Remember that I booked us that nice hotel to stay at on the way back? Just because we’re going to be camping for a few days doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy ourselves too.” Camping. Not exactly her idea of a nice way to spend their spring break, but it was always a treat to see Caspar in his element. Besides, Claude and Aria were coming with and their last day would be spent in style.
“Alright, that’s true. But camping’s going to be a whole lot of fun, too! Trust me, we can go hiking, or kayaking, maybe we can do something relaxing together too, like flower picking?”
“Gotta be careful while picking flowers though,” Came a new voice. The two turned around to see Claude and Aria making their way to the car, luggage in hand. “Red Canyon National Park can fine you if you end up picking too many native plants.” Claude explained with a small shrug. “Just going to have to be careful.”
“Hey guys! We were getting worried, it took you forever to get here!” Caspar exclaimed, hurrying over to take their luggage and put it in the back with the rest.
“We would have been here earlier but…”
“Claude lost his beanie.” Aria interrupted with a wide smirk.
“I did not!” Claude defended with a laugh. “You put it at the bottom of my bag!”
“Hmm,” Aria hummed with a shrug. “Guess we’ll just need to agree to disagree.”
“Alright, lovebirds, as much as I hate to interrupt, it’s time to hit the road. If we don’t leave now we’ll be stuck in the Garreg Mach traffic for a long, long time.” Hilda interjected, already making her way to the front seat.
A few minutes later they were on their way. Luckily they left early enough that traffic out of Garreg Mach University wasn’t too terrible. It worked out that none of them had an afternoon class that day. Meant they had more time to pack up and leave! As Hilda looked out the window, she took note of the trees that were already beginning to flower on the sides of the road. The pretty pink and white petals were just perfect for spring. Honestly if the Red Canyon could look like this she might have suggested going earlier. From the pictures that Caspar showed her though, it almost looked like a rocky desert. Still, a change of scenery would be great. She was getting tired of being in the university’s town day in and day out.
“So…” Hilda began in a sing-song voice, turning to Caspar. “What’s our itinerary for the first day?”
“Well, it’s going to take a while for us to get to the campsite,” He responded, getting Claude and Aria to quiet down and pay attention. “But once we get there, we’re gonna want to set up our tents. If we get there earlier enough we can probably explore around for a bit before having dinner.”
“Claude and I are probably going to split off for a bit. He promises he knows a great place to stargaze there.” Aria spoke as Claude gave her a reassuring nod.
“I’m not going to need to help put up the tent, am I? I’ve never put up a tent before.” Hilda said, earning a quick glance from Caspar.
“It should be easy, I’ve done it dozens of times before! Besides, it comes with instructions. I shouldn’t need too much help. You can just sit back and relax.” He responded, making Hilda grin.
“You’re literally the best, Caspar.”
By the time they rolled into the Red Canyon National Park campsite, the sun had already begun to set. Hues of yellows and orange danced across the horizon, followed by a deep twilight and the first twinkling of stars. Hilda wished they could take a moment to enjoy the scenery before getting down to work. As soon as the van came to a stop though, the chaos began.
Immediately, Caspar, Claude, and Aria jumped out of the van, digging through the back to fish out all their gear and luggage. Hilda took an extra moment before stepping out too, letting Caspar take everything out before she got in the way.
“Here, I can carry some of my stuff,” she offered, holding her arms out. Caspar turned around with a raised brow, clearly surprised at her offer.
“Are you sure? Some of this stuff is pretty heavy…”
Hilda rolled her eyes before grinning slightly. “I know, I know, and I probably could have packed a little lighter. I just don’t want to make it harder on you. You already drove us all the way here.” She reasoned. Admittedly, she understood his surprise. She did like taking the easy route…and Caspar did love lending a hand. It was a great dynamic. Still, Hilda couldn’t just sit back and do absolutely nothing. He had already helped plan this whole trip!
“Alright, you can take this bag, it shouldn't be too heavy for you. I can carry the rest of it.” Caspar advised, handing Hilda one of the bags before making his way to the campsite.
When the pair made it to where Claude and Aria were, the two had already nearly finished setting up their own tent. “Alright, and then you…yeah, hold that while I nail this stake down.” Claude mumbled as the two worked together.
“Wow, you two work fast,” Hilda quipped.
Aria looked up and gave Hilda a thumbs up. “Actually, it wasn’t too hard. I definitely thought it would take longer, considering I’ve never done this before.”
“I added notes to the instructions after watching some tutorials online. Definitely streamlines the process.” Claude added
“Right, of course you did, I’m not surprised.” Hilda teased before turning back to Caspar. Her grin slipped off her face when she saw him rummaging through the tent kit. “Is everything okay?” She asked.
Caspar didn’t answer for a moment, opting to spill all the contents out before looking through the fabric and ties. “We aren’t…missing anything are we?” Hilda asked carefully. Caspar slowly looked up before nodding hesitantly.
“Um. I think I’m missing the instructions.”
Hilda stared at him blankly as Claude and Aria chuckled in the background. “The instructions are…missing. How are we supposed to put up our tent without instructions?” She asked quickly, worrying about the worst possible outcome: sleeping on the dirt.
Sensing her worry, Caspar quickly stood up and dusted himself off. “Don’t worry about it! I think I can remember how to do it. Remember I said I’ve done this before? We’ll be fine.” He reassured her.
“Hey, if you want, we can help you guys out.” Aria offered as she approached the two.
Hilda sighed and shook her head. “No, it’s getting late. Shouldn’t you two go stargazing? We got here a little late and it’ll take you a while to find the perfect spot.”
“I don’t know, it doesn’t feel right to leave you two struggling…”
The two looked at one another before Claude shrugged with a small smile. “At the very least take the instructions for our tent,” Claude said, handing Caspar the booklet before returning to Aria and wrapping an arm around her.. “We probably don’t have the exact same tent but it should have the same general idea.”
“Thanks Claude,” Caspar spoke, taking the booklet as Hilda waved the two off, wanting them to have their time together like a good best friend would. “Okay now. This should be…relatively easy…”
It wasn’t. At least not at first. Caspar tried to tackle the tent building by himself, like he had promised her would hours earlier. Every time he twisted the fabric or tried to thread the nylon rope through the tent, one end would end up crinkled or screwed up and he would need to try again, checking a rechecking the instructions to try and find out what he did wrong.
For a while, Hilda watched, standing to the sidelines. Eventually, she began trying to give helpful advice that never ended up helping. On Caspar’s fourth attempt, she began feeling like she needed to do more. As much as she loved keeping herself out of this mess, it was clear that her boyfriend needed help. Eying the dirty ground for a moment and weighing her options, Hilda carefully lowered herself to the ground to kneel by Caspar’s side. “We’re clearly getting nowhere this way. Do you need help?” She asked.
Caspar sighed and nodded. “Honestly, yes. I know you don’t really like getting dirty or over exerting yourself, so I didn’t really want to ask for your help.” He admitted.
Hilda gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. “And you know me so well. But you know I also don’t like leaving you to struggle alone, so let me see those instructions.” Caspar chuckled before handing her the booklet. Sure enough, among the margins was Claude’s messy handwriting, giving helpful hints and tricks. “Okay. Step one. Lay down the base layer. I guess they mean this tarp…”
For a while, the two worked in perfect tandem. Hilda read off the instructions and helped hold down the fabrics as Caspar went to and fro, doing the hardest parts. As he wove the nylon ropes through the tent to keep its shape, Hilda followed behind to keep them tight. The two worked perfectly together, down to the last stake of the tent.
Stepping back to admire their handiwork, Hilda began clapping before hugging Caspar tightly. “We did it! Wow, look at us, we’re so clever!” She cheered.
Caspar laughed as he returned the hug. “I couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks for stepping in, I know work makes you uncomfortable.”
“Yeesh,” Hilda said with a chuckle. “I don’t hate work that much…I do wish you would let me know when you need help more.”
“I’ll try from now on, promise.” Caspar amended. At least their tent was set up, now Hilda didn’t need to worry about sleeping in the dirt anymore. Now the thought of camping didn’t seem so bad anymore.