“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Ryan shoots back, stroking his stomach.
Leaving half of my burger on my plate, I fill myself up with my remaining water. Ryan stretches his hand over to my plate and picks up what’s left and devours it. We’ve been together long enough that this is what always happens when we eat, if I have anything left over.
“I’m exhausted. We’d better head back if we are going out to the lake tomorrow,” I inform Ryan, yawning.
“You’re right, it’s getting late. Let’s clean up and then head out.”
“You guys are going to the lake tomorrow?” Cora probes.
“That’s the plan, a whole day of fishing,” Ryan replies as I hit his arm with my elbow teasingly.
“What are you fishing off of?” Jared curiously asks.
“We brought our kayak,” Ryan tells them.
“Nice, well, if you catch something, we’ll make it for dinner,” Jared suggests, again attempting to confirm that we’ll be back tomorrow.
“That sounds great!” Ryan responds.
We throw our plates into the trash bag hanging from the side of the RV. As I’m putting mine in, I hear a scratching sound.
“What was that?” I shriek, jumping backwards and bumping into Ryan.
Cora bursts into a fit of giggles. “Oh, that’s just our cat; I’m sure you’ll see her around this week.”
My gut churns as I nod, glossing over it because that makes sense.
“We sure love pussy, don’t we, Cora?” Jared laughs, lifting one of his eyebrows.
“Can’t get enough of it.” She tilts her lips into a sly grin as she looks his way.
Georgia erupts into a fit of laughter, clutching her sides.
I shake my head, not understanding the inside joke, and look at Ryan, ready to leave.
Ryan shakes the guy’s hands, and I give a little wave to the girls, and they wave back. Cora even blows me a kiss.
Shoving my hands in my pockets from the cold, Ryan and I fall into sync walking.
He turns on a flashlight that one of the guys must have given him, luckily, because you can’t see shit out here, and we forgot ours.
Something scurries off to the side of us, making us both jump and crash into each other.
We both start laughing at once until tears stream down our faces. “You’re so on edge tonight,” Ryan announces.
“Ryan, we don’t even know these people.”
“Look, I know you’re doing this for me, and I love you for that, but you have to understand, campers are just friendly people who like to swap horror stories or just stories in general. They are a cool group, just give them a chance. You don’t have to be suspicious of everyone. I’m not like you. I’m a social butterfly that has to stretch his wings.”
Exhaling defeatedly, knowing he’s right, I say, “But I only want to spend time with you.”
“We are going to be with each other every minute. It'll be nice to have some company. Plus, you didn’t look like you hated it.” He grins wickedly over at me.
A smirk curls my lips as I tilt my head side to side at him. “It was the E, nothing more.”
“Bullshit, I think you’ve always secretly been into women.”
“I’m into you.” I clutch onto his arm, and my gaze meets his.
