“I can’t believe you brought a compass to a corn maze,” he says.
“I like being prepared,” I say.
“Thenwhat heading do we proceed along?”he teases.
“The heading isshut up or I’m leaving you to fend for yourself,” I say.“It’s getting dark and someone told me that they release wolves into the maze at sundown, so be nice to me.”
“I could fight a wolf,” Hunter says, grinning.
“You could fightonewolf,” I say.“Not a pack of wolves.”
“I’d retreat up here,” he says, looking around the tower.“They’d be forced to come at me one at a time, like henchmen in a bad action movie.”
“Sure, no problem,” I say.
A magenta jacket catches my eye.It’s running out of the maze.Hunter sees it too, and we both sigh.
“Cheater,” I mutter.
When we finally get out ofthe maze, it’s nearly sunset, so we skip the pumpkin patch, get hot apple cider, and go sit by the bonfire.I sit against a haystack, Hunter leans against me, and I drape one arm over his chest.
We’resurroundedby teenagers making out.It’s pretty obvious that the Ladies Auxiliary didn’t quite think the bonfire through, because several of them are just walking the bonfire in circles, frowning at teens and reprimanding their inappropriate behavior.
“Hey,” says Hunter.
“Are you gonna ask me to make out?”I say.
“I was gonna ask if you wanted to getinappropriate,” he says.
“Maybe if you put your jacket over your lap I can give you a hand job without anyone noticing,” I say, laughing.
I’mslightlymore tempted by the idea than I should be.
“Or you could sit on my dick and pretend you’re just sitting on my lap,” he suggests, grinning up at me.
“Solid plan,” I tease.“It’ll fool everyone.”
Another Lady of the Auxiliary walks by, glaring.Hunter and I wave slightly, and she nods at us.We both go quiet for a little while, watching the fire.After a few minutes he sits up and puts his arm around me and I lean against him, our positions reversed, his thumb slowly stroking my shoulder.
“I really like this,” he says quietly.
“The bonfire?”
“Everything,” he says, slowly.“I like the festival, I like living in Lodgepole.I like being withyou.”
I snuggle into him a little more.
“I like it too,” I say.“We didn’t even get into that fight in the corn maze.”
He considers the fire for a moment.
“What about our sex life would we bearguingabout?”he says, mostly teasing.
I laugh.
“That was a joke,” I say.“Though I was really annoyed two weeks ago when you had a cold and wouldn’t have sex with me.”
“I was afraid I’d sneeze and cover you in a layer of snot,” he says.
