“Can you grab the chairs?” I ask.
He does and unfolds my chair first, gesturing for me to sit down.
“How romantic.” I grin at him.
“So where are you wanting to go hiking today?” he asks.
“I’d love to see the red clay hills.”
“That’s quite the hike from here, about nine or so miles.”
“Are you saying you’re out of shape?” I jest.
“We’ll see who’s complaining about their legs on the way back,” he teases back.
I smile at him, knowing I’ll never cave, even if I’m in pain. It’s just my competitive nature.
Ryan is well aware of this and meets me with a challenging smile.
After we finish eating, we clean up.
Grabbing our backpacks from the truck, we double-check our gear and make sure we have enough water and snacks to stay energized and hydrated.
“Alright, let’s go,” Ryan says excitedly, putting his backpack on. Then, he points in the direction we have to go, and my stomach bottoms out.
We will be passing our new friends’ campsite.
Pausing for a moment, Ryan turns around. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah, of course. I was just doing a quick mental checklist, making sure we have everything.”
Puzzled, he says, “We just did that. Come on.”
We walk side by side and naturally fall into simple small talk, laughing as we go.
Ryan nudges me playfully, and I stagger a bit. “Hey!” I laugh, looking up as their campsite comes into our periphery.
We both stare at it. It looks empty and like the fire was just put out, the black smoke rising toward the sky.
“Wow, do you smell that?” I murmur to Ryan, holding my nose and breathing out of my mouth.
He’s pinching his nose, too. “It smells awful.”
Looking over at the RV, I quicken my pace. Then, I notice one of the blinds closes in the blink of an eye.
“Someone is in there. I just saw one of the blinds close,” I hurriedly whisper.
“Well, it is where they’re staying. They’re probably still sleeping. It’s only 7 o’clock.” He looks at me sideways, as if I have lost my mind.
I shake my head, trying to get the smell out of my nose. “Yeah, you’re right. Remember when we were that age? Sleep was everything.” I laugh, rushing to change the subject.
“Sleeping and drinking basically sum up my college experience.”
“I don’t know how we made it to classes before noon.”
“We weren’t human.” I roll my eyes at the thought of college.
Silence ensues as we continue our hike, and it’s always comfortable with Ryan; we’ve shared so much time together.
