"Are you all packed?" Shawn called to me from the next room.
"I think so," I called back, stuffing a few more items of clothing into my backpack.
Shawn and I were going on a camping trip up in the mountains for the weekend. It was April, and it was supposed to be nice out, so we decided that now was as good of a time as any. Shawn was big on anything nature related, and I usually had fun with him whenever I got dragged along, so I agreed to go with him. I glanced around the bedroom, making sure I wasn't forgetting something obvious. I had enough clothes for three days, even though we were only staying for two, and I had a sleeping bag. Shawn would be carrying all of our other supplies, like the tent and any other things he deemed necessary. I picked up my backpack and went downstairs to the living room where Shawn was putting his last minute things into his backpack. He straightened from his crouched position in the floor when he saw me enter the room.
"Do you think we're ready to go?" he asked, looking down at our stuff.
"Maybe. I think we should look through it one more time though," I responded. "You check my pack, and I check yours?"
"Yeah. It's better to have both of us look through it."
I sat down on the couch and pulled Shawn's backpack into my lap. It was a lot heavier than mine. "Jesus, what do you have in here? It weighs a ton."
Shawn chuckled. "There should be clothes, the tent, a sleeping bag, bug spray, a knife, a flashlight, a compass, and food and water."
"Oh! I forgot to get food. I'll get that after I go through this huge thing."
Shawn shook his head. "How did you forget food? That's, like, the most important thing."
"I don't know. I got water, though."
I began rummaging through Shawn's backpack. The tent and sleeping bag were obviously there, and he had clothes. I saw the knife, flashlight, and the compass, two bottles of bug spray, and his food and water.
"It looks good. I think you got everything," I said, placing the backpack back in the floor. "Now I'm going to get some food."
I headed to the kitchen and opened the pantry. I grabbed a plastic bag and filled it with granola bars, trail mix, and dried fruit. I went back to the living room and crouched down next to Shawn to tuck the food into one of the pockets on my backpack.
"I think we're ready now. You have everything else," Shawn said.
"Are you going to bring your phone?" I asked.
"Yeah. Just in case something happens. It's on the charger right now."
He turned to look at me, a small smile spreading on his face. He didn't say anything, though. We were just sitting there, staring at each other. I began counting backwards in my head. 3,2,1. When I got to one, Shawn leaned forward slightly, wanting a kiss, just as I'd expected. When he was less than an inch away, I spoke. "Can I do something that I've wanted to do ever since I came in here and saw you crouched down?"
"What's that?"
"This." I placed a hand on his chest and pushed him backwards. He was balanced on the balls of his feet, so when I pushed him, he lost his balance and fell backwards onto his butt. He looked kind of shocked. I'm sure he wasn't expecting me to do that. I smiled at his expression and crawled over into his lap, straddling him. His face had now broke out into a smile. I leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the lips, giving him what he'd wanted the whole time.
"I think I deserve a better kiss than that," Shawn complained. "You did knock me over."
"Fine," I said with a smile. I leaned back in and kissed him again, drawing it out a little bit longer this time.
"Was that better?" I asked when I pulled back. "Because we need to leave soon."
"I guess," Shawn sighed. I got off his lap and stood up. Shawn did the same.
We put on our hiking boots and carried our bags out to Shawn's Jeep. We got in and began our journey to the woods, where we'd get out and hike for about a mile to the campsite. We were in the car for about 20 minutes, just listening to music and having small conversations.
When we got to the edge of the forest we'd hike through, Shawn put the car in park and cut the engine. Shawn glanced over at me. "You ready for this?" he asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." I opened my door and climbed out. Shawn went to the back and got out our backpacks. He opened his and pulled out a can of bug spray.
"Hold out your arms," he ordered. I obeyed, and he sprayed me down with the bug spray, putting extra near my ankles. I did the same thing for him. Then we put on our backpacks and buckled all the straps.
We began our mile long hike uphill. Along the way, Shawn pointed out all the plants and birds he recognized. The only mammals we saw were a few squirrels and one deer. Thankfully, we didn't see any snakes. As we hiked further, it began to get a bit chilly. Shawn said it was probably just because we were at a higher elevation, so we stopped to put on the sweatshirts we brought and eat some of the food. We walked for a little longer until the terrain eventually flattened out. Shawn picked out a flat spot for the tent, and he set it up. I mostly just handed him the poles every so often; I didn't really know much about setting up tents.
When the tent was fixed, we crawled inside it to set up our things. We rolled out the sleeping bags and put our backpacks in a corner.
"What do you say we start a fire and roast some marshmallows?" Shawn asked.
"You brought marshmallows?" I didn't remember seeing them in his bag.
"Yeah. They've been in there the entire time. They were just in the front pocket where you didn't look. There's also matches in there."
"You're amazing," I said with a smile.
"So I've been told," Shawn responded, smiling back at me. "We need to find some dry wood," he ordered when we climbed back out of the tent. "Do you think you'll get lost if we go separate ways?"
"Probably," I admitted. I had a terrible sense of direction.
"All right. Then we'll both go this way." He gestured to the forest, where I was pretty sure we had just come out of. He took my hand, lacing his fingers through mine, and we headed into the woods together. It didn't take us long to find firewood. It hadn't rained in a while, so most of the wood was dry. We carried a pile of it back to the camp. Shawn placed the wood in a specific structure-type thing (A/N: I know nothing about building fires.)
I sat on the ground next to the fire, and he went back to the tent and got his backpack. He got out the matches and lit the wood. Then he pulled out the marshmallows.
I realized that we didn't have a way to cook them. "You didn't, by any chance, bring any of those skewer stick things, did you?" I asked.
"No. There wasn't enough room, but we can use real sticks." He walked over to a nearby tree and snapped two sticks off of low hanging branches. "The fire will get rid of any germs on them. It'll be fine."
I took one of the sticks from him and ripped open the bag of marshmallows. We each took one and put in on a stick. Our fire wasn't really that big, but it was big enough to turn the marshmallows brown.
When my marshmallow was cooked just the way I wanted it, I pulled it back out of the fire. I blew on it for a moment to cool it off. Then I pulled it off the stick and bit into it. It was very sticky, but it tasted amazing. It got stuck to everything - my fingers, the stick, probably my face. "It's so sticky," I complained.
"You and I both know that it's not the first time you've dealt with sticky white stuff," Shawn said, smirking.
"Shawn!" I scolded, gently shoving him away from me. He just laughed. I rolled my eyes and cooked another marshmallow.
"I should have brought stuff for s'mores," Shawn said. "I want a s'more."
"You should have. S'mores sound pretty good right now. It's ok, though. Marshmallows are good enough."
"You know," Shawn said a few moments later. "I never got a proper kiss earlier. That was the only kiss I got all day, and it wasn't even a good one."
"Are you criticizing my kissing skills?" I asked.
"Maybe. Why don't you prove to me that they're good?"
"Fine. Only because you challenged me," I said, grinning. I scooted over to sit in his lap, facing him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and slowly leaned forward. When I was about an inch away, I stopped. Shawn leaned towards me, trying to close the distance, but I pulled back slightly.
"On a scale of one to ten, your skills are at about a negative two right now," he whispered in complaint.
I smiled and leaned forward again. This time our lips actually met. The familiar taste of his lips was mixed with the sweet toasted marshmallows. His hands, which had been resting on my waist, slid up my back, drawing me closer to him. We continued kissing for a few more moment until we were interrupted by a strong gust of wind that blew my hair into Shawn's face and made the dimming fire flicker.
I pulled away and pushed my hair back. "Woah. Where did that come from?" I asked.
"I don't know. Apparently Mother Nature doesn't like us kissing."
"I think it just got colder. We should put out that fire and get in the tent."
"That's probably a good idea," Shawn admitted.
I stood up and shivered. It was significantly colder than it had been earlier. Especially since I didn't have Shawn's body heat anymore. "Do you have any extra water to put this out?" I asked, referring to the fire.
Shawn was already heading for his backpack. "Yeah. I brought a bottle just for that." He pulled out a plastic water bottle and dumped its contents on the already fading fire. Then he stomped on the pile of wood, making sure it was completely out.
We went back in the tent and sat on our sleeping bags. "What should we do now?" I asked.
"Can you tell me the story about the ghost with the one black eye?" Shawn asked with a hopeful look.
"I guess," I said with a laugh. "But you've already heard it a hundred times."
"I know. But it's still my favorite."
(A/N: My mom used to tell me this story all the time.)
"Ok so, there were three little girls who went to visit their grandma in her really old house. Everything was fine in the daytime, but at night, ghosts came out. When the little girls were tucked into bed for the night, the oldest decided she was thirsty, so she went down the creaky stairs to the kitchen, where she heard a voice. It said 'I'm the ghost with the one black eye.'
The oldest girl ran back upstairs and woke up her little sisters. They didn't believe her. The second oldest decided to go down the creaky stairs, to the kitchen, to prove that there was no ghost. When she got down there, she heard the same thing. 'I'm the ghost with the one black eye.'
She ran up the stairs and told the other two that there really was a ghost. The youngest still didn't believe it. She went down the creaky stairs and to the kitchen, the same way her older sisters did. When she got in there, she heard the ghost. 'I'm the ghost with the one black eye.'
And she said 'Shut up, or you'll be the ghost with two black eyes!'
She got her sister a cup of water and went back upstairs. And that's the end." I finished with a smile.
"The youngest girl is my favorite," Shawn said.
"I think she's everyone's favorite," I told him.
"Probably. She's kind of the hero."
"Yeah. Is it cold in here, or is it just me?" I asked. It felt like the temperature had dropped 20 degrees since we got here.
Shawn pulled his phone out of his pocket. He hit a few buttons and read over something and frowned.
"What is it?"
"The temperature is dropping fast. It's going to get down to 5 degrees tonight."
"But I thought the weather was supposed to be nice."
"I guess it changed."
"Should we hike back? We could freeze out here." I was beginning to panic a little. We only had small sweatshirts, sleeping bags, and a thin tent. That probably wouldn't be enough for 5 degrees (Fahrenheit btw)
"No. It's getting too late. We'd definitely freeze if we walked back. We'll have a better chance just staying here."
"Could we call someone to come get us?"
"And make them freeze, too? A car couldn't fit on the trail we came through. It's better for us to stay here."
"All right," I agreed. His reasoning made sense.
"We should get in the sleeping bags now to start gathering body heat," Shawn said.
I nodded and unlaced my hiking boots. I left my socks and sweatshirt in and got into the sleeping bag. Shawn got in his next to me.
"Now what?" Shawn asked after a moment of silence.
"I don't know," I responded. The silence took over again.
"What are you thinking about?" Shawn asked, breaking the silence again.
"Oh, you know, just human popsicles and frostbite, and how cold I'm going to be tonight. All great thoughts," I said with sarcasm. "What about you? What's going on in your head?"
"I was just thinking about that one time a couple of years ago, before we lived together, and there was a black out. You were terrified of storms, and your parents were out of town and you texted me, freaking out. I drove over to your house, and you basically tackled me as soon as I came in the door." He chuckled slightly before continuing. "There wasn't much we could do since there was no power and it was dark out, so we just stayed in your bed and cuddled all night."
I smiled at the memory. "That night was also the first time you told me you loved me."
"What?" He turned his head to look at me. "You were asleep when I said that."
"No I wasn't. Not completely anyway. I heard every word of the little speech you gave. It was very adorable."
"I don't even know what to say. I never knew that. I meant every word of that speech, but I cringe thinking about it now. 17 year old me was not good with words."
"Don't worry. I thought it was cute." I looked back in his direction. In the dimming light, I could only vaguely see his face, but I smiled at him.
As the sun continued slipping away and the tent grew darker, it got colder. My fingers began to grow numb, and I was shivering uncontrollably. "How long has it been?" I asked Shawn.
He pulled out his phone, and his face lit up with the light. "It's been about an hour since I last checked it."
Only an hour? It had felt like forever. "It's so cold," I stuttered out.
"Wait a minute. I have an idea," Shawn said suddenly.
He got out of his sleeping bag. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Get back in there. You'll freeze."
"Not with what I'm doing."
He came over and unzipped my sleeping bag. I automatically flinched away from the cold air. "Scoot over," he ordered.
I finally understood what he was doing, so I scooted over. "I don't know if you'll fit, Shawn."
"It's going to be tight, but the whole point is for us to be close together."
He slid into the sleeping bag next to me and forced the zipper up behind him. I immediately felt slightly warmer with his added body heat. I slipped my arm over his rib cage and pressed my face against his chest, inhaling his familiar scent.
"This is kind of like that scene in Twilight," Shawn said once I had stopped shivering. "Except I'm actually your boyfriend, and there's no vampire sitting in the corner, wishing he could kill me, so it's better."
I smiled. "I'm glad I made you watch Twilight. We might be dead if I didn't."
"Well we wouldn't be dead yet, but yeah. It probably would have happened eventually," Shawn admitted.
"You're so warm," I mumbled, pressing my face against his chest again.
"I don't really feel that warm. It's better now, but I'm still cold." I felt his face press against the top of my head, and his breath began to warm there, too. I tangled my legs with his and lifted my head slightly to kiss the base of his throat. I saw his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. I left my head resting near his throat. Whatever cologne or shampoo he used that I loved was stronger on his neck. I leaned forward a little, taking a deep breath. "You smell good," I informed him.
"Thanks, I guess." Even though I couldn't see his face, I knew he was smiling.
I tilted my head up a little bit more. "Can I have a kiss?" I asked. "My lips are kind of cold."
"Of course. You don't even need to ask."
He slanted his head down to press his lips against mine. His lips were warm, too. After a moment, I felt his lips part, and his tongue flicked against my lower lip, asking for entrance. I complied and parted my lips. His tongue slipped in to dance with mine. When I felt his hand tighten on my hip bone, and he groaned softly against my mouth, I pulled away.
"We can't do this right now," I said. "We need to stop. The last thing we need is for you to pop a boner because you'll just be stuck with it. I'm not leaving this sleeping bag, and I won't give you a handjob while we're in here."
"All right. Fair enough," Shawn sighed, leaning away from me a little. "It doesn't really help that you're so close to me," he said after a moment. "When you're pressed up against me like this, I just want to kiss you."
"Well, sorry. It's either this, or we freeze to death. Your hormones are going to have to deal with it."
"We should probably get some sleep then," Shawn suggested.
"Good idea," I said. I laid my head against his chest again and closed my eyes, but I didn't think I was going to be able to fall asleep. My brain still felt really worked. "Shawn?" I mumbled after a few minutes.
"Mmm?" he responded.
"Can you sing to me?"
"What song do you want?"
"I don't care. Surprise me."
I allowed my eyes to flutter shut again as he began to softly hum Perfect by Ed Sheeran.
By the end of the song, I was almost completely gone.
I heard Shawn whisper into my hair, "I love you. Always." Then I slipped away into the darkness.
___________________________
I'm just gonna stop right here because it's already way longer than I meant to make it. 3430 words. But in the morning, you wake up, you're not freezing, and you go back home. Obviously, a source of inspiration for this was Twilight. I used to be obsessed with Twilight.
Anyway, this is a day late because it took me so long to write it. (Time I should have been using to write The Cabin. #sorrynotsorry) It wasn't done until today. But at least it's an update!
-💜