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As dusk rolls in, Lupe makes her way up the mountain, praying her rust bucket of a car doesn’t choose this moment to give up on her.
A possum runs in front of her car, she swerves, slams on the brakes (god she hates Jo for making her go camping, god she hates her boss for not giving her the afternoon off and making her have to drive up alone)
The clouds threaten rain, the wind howls - she hears it even in the relative safety of her car. It drowns out the radio static over some early 2000s pop song that she can’t hear well enough to feel nostalgic about
The wheel ruts appear out of nowhere - what’s the clearance on this car again? Probably not enough. She drives around them, hearing the vegetation scrape along the underside of her car - it’s a pile of shit anyway
The campsite is finally in view, if Lupe was in a better mood it would take her breath away - even in the low light, mostly obscured by fog.
The first thing she notices after the scenery is the emptiness.
The alarming emptiness.
There’s a car with the National Parks logo emblazoned on the side. There’s… no other cars. A run-down ranger’s hut with a light in the window.
Not a single tent.
Jo and the others should've been here hours ago - maybe there’s another campground if she drives a bit further? Further where - she’s at the top of the mountain now.
Lupe wants to go home.
She’s driven two hours already and probably fucked up the bottom of her car. She can’t go home now.
It’s fine, she can just call Jo (if she’s not too busy snuggling with Maybelle - no Lupe isn’t bitter, she’s not lonely).
Lupe could call Jo, if she had reception - if her stupid piece of shit phone had reception. That’s what you get for going with the cheapest provider.
Lupe stares at the light in the window - while she dreads having to talk to a stranger in her current mood it seems as though talking to the ranger would be the best (only) option
She sighs, considers the possibility of sleeping in her car, thinks about Jo worrying about Lupe - wondering whether she’s dead or alive
Lupe gets out of the car and knocks
The door swings open, creaks open, groans open, as though it doesn’t quite fit in the frame. As though it used to, but years of sitting on top of the world in the fog has caused the wood to swell and warp
Blue eyes and a cocky grin stare out at her from under the rangers hat - who wears a hat at this time of evening under this much cloud cover
“What are you doing here?”
Lupe is taken aback, not exactly the response she expected.
“Excuse me??”
The ranger doesn’t even have the decency to look slightly sheepish at her outburst, she just drags her eyes up Lupe - Lupe can’t tell if she’s being judged or being checked out.
Lupe can’t help but hope it’s the latter.
“Park’s closed”
“What??”
“Park’s closed, inclement weather”
Lupe stares, eyes wide, mouth slightly open.
“Once the rain starts the roads go to shit, can’t get in can’t get out - park’s closed”
As if the rangers' words reminded the clouds of their purpose, the skies opened.
Lupe, not quite under the cover of the ranger’s hut, feels the rain soak through her instantly.
Before Lupe even has time to swear, the ranger’s hand wraps itself around her wrist and pulls her into shelter.
Lupe thinks there must be lightning coming, she can feel a faint electricity crackling through her skin, making her arm hair stand on end.
Lupe shakes her head slightly, trying to clear the buzzing in her brain
She shifts from one foot to another, uncomfortable caught in her wet clothes and under the intense eyes of the park ranger
“I guess the rain is my cue then, I should get out of here before the roads get too bad”
The ranger raises an eyebrow quizzically, she squints a little - looking over Lupe’s shoulder into the storm
Thunder cracks, Lupe jumps. She’s never liked storms.
Lightning splits the sky
The ranger sighs.
“Sorry man, you’re not going anywhere tonight”
Lupe feels the blood drain from her face.
Where is she going to go?
She doesn't have a tent.
She could sleep in her car.
Can you get struck by lightning in a car?
Surely not right?
Lightning is attracted to metal...
“Hey, are you alright?”
Lupe snaps out of her reverie.
“What? Yeah, sorry fine”
“You don’t look fine” the Ranger’s blue eyes darkened with concern.
“No it's just..” Lupe grabs for any explanation that doesn't start with ‘Well I’m terrified of storms and don’t have a tent’ … “I was supposed to meet my friends here, I need to find them they’ll be worried”
“You sure about that? Nobody’s come through in the past” she pauses to think “week or so?”
Lupe scrunches her brows in concentration, surely she didn’t get the wrong place- oh god what if something happened to them on the roads?
“Where’d they say they were meeting you?”
“Old Pine National Park, that’s this one right?”
The ranger chuckles dryly, showing a flash of teeth“ Yeahhh, this happens more than you think- you’re in Old Pine State Park”
Lupe feels her stomach hit the floor, she’s in the wrong park.
Of course, this is just her luck - Jo is going to be so worried! Well, Jo will probably be fine, maybe concerned is a better word. Shirley on the other hand….
“You alright?”
Lupe meets the ranger’s eyes, she’s caught off guard by the genuine concern she finds there - god she must look pathetic!
Lupe rubs her eyes, the feel of the palms of her hands digging into her face grounding her.
“I was supposed to meet some friends, and I have no service so I can’t even tell them where I am - plus they brought the tent and I have nowhere to go!”
Lupe knows there was panic in her voice, she had expected this - she’s good in other people's crises, her own..not so much.
What she hadn't expected was for the ranger to rest a (large, strong) hand on her shoulder and tell her to take a deep breath.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she thinks she should feel embarrassed for her obvious panic in front of someone who probably never panicked about storms. Someone who probably never panicked about anything.
But Lupe was too caught up to feel embarrassed. She was caught by the feel of the ranger’s hand on her shoulder, by their synchronised deep breaths.
“There’s a ranger’s hut here for exactly this reason, I’ll grab you a towel and you can shower and get warm then I’ll set you up for the night okay?”
Lupe nodded, grateful for the kindness.
“Okay great, while you do that I’ll satellite phone the ranger at the national park and they can tell your friends that you’re okay, write their number plate down on the notepad while I get a towel.”
Remembering Jo’s number plate with a brain full of cotton wool was a Herculean task, but somehow she managed before the Ranger came back with the towels.
“Here you go, first door on the left.”
“I really appreciate this, thank you so much-” Lupe trailed off, how in all of this had she forgotten to ask for the Ranger’s name!
“Jess, it’s Jess. And you are?” The Ranger - Jess - said, having picked up on Lupe’s silent question.
“Lupe, nice to meet you.”
Silence hung in the air as Lupe struggled to decide whether she should try to shake Jess’s hand. Could she cope with any more physical contact?
Her decision was made for her when Jess passed the towel over to her, instructing her to go shower before she catches a cold.
Ducking her head awkwardly, Lupe made her way down the hall to the bathroom - she desperately needed the hot shower.
After eventually wrangling the shower into producing water that wasn’t freezing or scalding, Lupe made her way back into the main area of the hut. She spied Jess by the counter, hunched over a chopping board.
“Thanks for the shower” Lupe called.
Jess looked like she jumped a foot in the air and then swore. Loudly.
“Oh shit man I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!”
Lupe already felt bad for giving Jess a fright, then she saw the blood.
Fighting the lead heavy guilt Lupe sprung into action. Taking Jess’s bleeding hand and placing it under the tap she looked around for bandages. A first aid kit hung on the wall and she grabbed it, along with what appeared to be a clean towel.
After wrapping Jess’s hand in the towel to stem the blood flow, she led Jess over to the beaten-up couch in the corner and sat her down.
“I can take it from here you know, all rangers are first aid trained.”
“I don’t doubt your capabilities, but I’m first aid trained too - and it’s always better to have someone else do it.”
Lupe looked into Jess’s eyes, trying to determine whether Jess would accept her help. It didn't look promising.
Jess looked stubborn, unmoving, unshakable. Lupe wondered what the ranger saw staring back at her.
“Plus” Lupe continued, “I owe you for the use of your shower, let me do this and then we’re even”.
With a sigh, Jess flopped back against the couch dramatically. Which was probably the only concession Lupe was going to get.
As she cleaned off Jess’s hand to assess the damage, she felt those blue eyes scrutinising her. It took every ounce of self-control not to match Jess’s gaze.
Not until she dressed her cut.
It turned out to be long rather than deep, Lupe doubted it would need stitches but placed a few butterfly bandages just in case.
She looked up to meet Jess’s eyes, which turned out to be a mistake. She had expected the intensity, but there was something deeper there- something tender. It pulled at Lupe’s chest.
As though in a trance, Lupe raised the bandaged hand to her lips, pressing a kiss to the second knuckle.
“I think you’ll live”
Lupe could hear Jess’s breath catch in her throat, could see her pupils dilate slightly.
Jess watched as Lupe brought her hand to Jess’s face, slowly and deliberately. The distance between them fell away, whether it was Jess or Lupe who closed the final gap neither could say.
As their lips met Lupe was shocked at how soft the other woman was. She had expected wind-chapped lips and bruising intensity. Jess kissed as though she wasn’t quite sure Lupe was real, as though if she pushed too hard Lupe would disappear forever.
Reluctantly, Lupe pulled away.
“Jess, you know I’m not made of glass, right? I’m not going to break.”
Jess raised an eyebrow at Lupe, looking at her in a way that made her flush.
“You want to put that to the test?” Jess said, winking.
Maybe camping is worth it after all.