I pulled my sweater up further around my neck, shivering in the back seat of Freddy's car as he kept his window slightly cracked to let in the cool morning air, gusting softly on his face but like a tornado on mine. Jannie was still half asleep as she sipped at her travel mug filled with a questionable beverage, her hood pulled up over her head as she reached over to turn up the heat in the car. I sighed with relief, looking over to John who noticed how cold I was and immediately put his arm around me to try to maintain warmth together. He leaned in and gently pressed his lips against my temple, holding there for a moment while Freddy reached over to the newly adjusted heat and turned it down again.
"Come on, babe, we're not all warm blooded like you," Jannie chirped, attempting to touch the dial for the heat again but Freddy intervened with his hand.
"You're the camping expert, you should know that the only heat you get in a tent is the warmth you make," He said, winking at her.
"I'm aware, but we're not in a tent yet and I don't know about the others but even my nose hairs are freezing together," Jannie laughed, trying to fight through his hand to get to the dial but he continued to not let her. Finally she gave up and slunk into her seat, gripping her travel mug with both hands as she pouted. Freddy laughed and prodded at her gently, reassuring her that she would be fine.
"Here, listen to some music and maybe that will take your mind off of it," Freddy said as he pressed the radio button, allowing a soft tune to play out in the car. He looked in the rear-view mirror at John and I before turning his attention back to the road. "So how long have you two been together?"
I hated to admit that this was the question I was fearing the most, simply because John and I hadn't discussed what our relationship was or even if there was one to begin with. I knew that I would be more than happy to start seeing each other seriously, but I wasn't sure that was something John wanted right now. He clearly liked me, that much I knew, but these days not everything is so cut and dry with dating. I looked to John for the answer, trying not to show any signs of nervousness as he met my gaze and shrugged.
"We just started seeing each other, actually," John replied, squeezing my shoulder slightly.
"Oh, so this is like a first getaway for you two?" Freddy asked, nudging Jannie slightly.
"I guess it is," I replied, smiling at John.
"Remember our first trip together, Jan?" Freddy said, placing his hand on Jannie's knee. "The motel in Boulder?"
Jannie gave a warning look to Freddy, shaking her head. "Please stop," She laughed, turning around in her seat to face the two of us. "I think it's nice that you two get to share this together, it's not everyday that you get to go to Burnswood Park. It's definitely romantic. Have you ever been here, John?"
"Not to my knowledge, but I've heard of it from Hadley," John replied. "She mentioned about wanting to come along, actually."
Jannie looked to me for a moment but tried not to show any reaction on her face as she focused her attention back on John. It wasn't that Hadley was a problem, it was more so who she happened to be dating. Seeing Atheson with her at the party had been weird enough, I didn't have much of a desire to get caught in the middle of that situation. But that was a thought for another time, instead I focused on the rolling mountains in the distance and how the trees parted where the parking lot was.
~~~
"They couldn't have some sort of golf cart rental or something? I can't feel my feet anymore," Jannie complained, tugging along a suitcase as she juggled all of the sleeping bags in her arms. "It seems a little silly not to allow car access beyond a certain point, especially given that most people come with a butt load of camping equipment – like us, for example."
I was in charge of the rest of the luggage and the water cooler, which was giving me trouble with every little jut in the ground, John had one of the tents and two folding chairs while Freddy managed the second tent and the other chairs. I sighed as the water cooler refused to move past a divot in the pathway, pulling as hard as I could until it freed itself and began wobbling behind me once more.
"I mean, I get why they chose not to, but it's impractical to say the least," I replied, using the side of my arm to wipe sweat from my cheek, hoping that John hadn't seen the perspiration building on my forehead. I hated to be so vain, but we were still new to each other and for some reason that meant I wanted to always look pristine around him, as silly as that sounds. Meanwhile John had a trickle of sweat rolling down the muscle in his neck that drew me in like a moth to a flame; he looked flawless even while perspiring.
After a bit more of a travel around the campground, we finally made it to our site that was located at the furthest edge of the loop. The trees nestled close around our site with a small path dividing them that led to a watchtower that oversaw the entire park. We all set down our baggage and took a break, noticing that the park staff had already left a bag of wood and kindling for the fire pit. The noon sun sent beams of light through the trees and danced along the grass with every whisper of a breeze that passed through. We were lucky that the temperature was starting to rise, especially given that it wasn't summer yet, but the nighttime was going to be a different story.
As soon as I had caught my breath I began fiddling with the tent for John and I, pulling all of the parts free from the bag and examining the instructions. John joined my side, not bothering to look at the sheet as he spread out the deflated tent on the ground, focusing his attention on the poles next. Jannie and Freddy were cuddled up together, watching the two of us try to configure the tent.
"I'm dying to see that watchtower – you want to set up our tent after?" Jannie asked Freddy, cocking a coy smile in my direction.
Freddy wrapped his arms tighter around her before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder, causing her to let out a chorus of giggles. She fought her way out of his arms and onto solid ground, wrapping her arms around his waist as they got caught up in a long kiss. I loved seeing Jannie so happy, especially because Freddy seemed to love to be just as passionate as she was. The two then pulled apart from each other only enough to start walking down the path, leaving John and I to continue putting the tent up. John looked over to me and smiled, passing me a rod that had been completed already. I got down on my knees and gently fed the rod through the sleeves that held the skeleton of the tent in place.
"So what did your dad have to say about you spending a weekend in the woods with me?" John asked playfully, heading to the other side of the tent to grab the end of the rod to free it from being stuck on a loose thread.
"It helped that I mentioned Jannie was coming, but he didn't seem bothered either way," I replied, waiting for John to continue freeing the rod before pushing it through the sleeve further. "Besides my dad and I have a pretty good relationship, we don't really meddle in each others lives."
"Really? He seems like the type to be over-protective," John said.
"That's what he wants you to think," I laughed, pausing my thought as we headed over to grab the next rod to put together. "He's always let me live my own life, it's just his way of parenting. It's not like I was really a trouble-maker, anyways."
John bit his bottom lip, nodding for a moment as guilt washed over his face. I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Don't tell me you were?" I said, prodding him gently as he squirmed away from me.
"I wasn't a bad kid by any means, but I definitely had my moments where I came close to giving my mom a heart attack."
I stopped in my tracks, placing my hands on my hips as I looked at him sternly. "Oh come on, you're not really going to leave me with that? I want to know all about your bad boy days, Johnathan."
He snorted. "I was a bit of a daredevil as a kid. You know, stupid boy stuff where the end result is usually a broken bone or a bloody nose. Long story short, my mom was on a first name basis with the hospital staff for about seven or eight years of my life."
"What would you do to end up in the hospital?"
"If I wasn't wrestling the boys in Ryler's backyard, I was more than likely building ramps made out of questionable materials to take my bike off of," He chuckled to himself, pointing to his elbow where there was a long scar. "This is one of my many war wounds from where I tried to take my skateboard off of the pier and slipped just as I was about to make my descent."
I ran my fingers along the scar, feeling each and every bump. "And your mom kept letting you out of the house?"
"Most times she didn't have a choice, I was always finding a way to get out without her noticing."
I took my hand away from his scar, focusing my attention back on the rods that we were putting together. We took the next one over to the tent and this time he fed the rod through sleeve while I helped at the other end. "So how did your mom respond to all of your many self-inflicted injuries?" I questioned.
"With many, many lectures about how she would be devastated if anything happened to me, and of course with about half an hour of her telling me how much she loved me followed by a shmooze-fest of hugging and kissing," He said, chuckling to himself as he waited for me to help him pull the rod through the other side. "She was really good about it, but like most moms she was always worrying."
"Does she still worry about you now, or have you calmed down?"
He paused. His face grew grim for a moment as he pulled his lips in against his teeth but he tried to hide the growing expression on his face, attempting to shake it off as if it wasn't a big deal. "Mom's not like that anymore, not since the accident," He replied, heading back over to the second last rod.
I joined his side, feeling guilty about having upset him. "The accident?" I asked, not sure if it was inappropriate to do so. But he wouldn't have mentioned it if he didn't want to talk about it.
"About eight years ago my mom was in a near fatal car accident that left her partially brain dead, so she can still respond to a certain extent but she doesn't have a lot of control over what she does. She hasn't spoken a word since the accident, frankly she's just lucky to be alive," John informed, trying to force out a smile at me but I could tell how much it bothered him. "She's still my mom though, that much I know. Even though she can't speak and I'm not sure if she understands most of what I say, I know deep down she's still in there."
"I am so sorry, John," I said, reaching out to place my hand on his forearm. He placed his hand over mine, squeezing it slightly before focusing back on the rods for the tent.
"Don't be, I've come to terms with it now. I'm just lucky to have her with me still," John said, and now his face was glowing. "I would love to have her closer, but I just can't afford it right now."
"Where is she?"
"She's in a nursing home in Denver, it's a really great place but she's so far from all of our family. I didn't want to come to Harrow Hall because I didn't want to be even further from her than I already was. It was bad enough when I moved to Brook, I felt like I was abandoning her," He said, but shrugged it off as he headed back to the tent to finish the job with the rods. "But moving to Brook felt like the right thing to do at the time, I thought I would graduate university and get a job right away so that I could support her, but I guess life doesn't always work out the way we plan."
"It still can, though, you know that right?" I said, helping him prop up the tent. He nodded at me once as he grabbed the pegs from the bag and began shoving them into the ground to secure the tent, using his boot to get them in closer to the ground. I watched him for a moment until he came over to my side of the tent, gently pulling him away from the tent to make him look at me. "I think your mom would have wanted you to go to university and make a life for yourself, and I think if she could tell you, she'd tell you how proud she is."
His smile was warm and inviting, leaning down so that he could gently press his lips against mine. My heart fluttered for a moment, feeling all sorts of emotions pass through me in the few seconds that our lips met. He slowly pulled away from my lips, almost as though he didn't want to, bringing up his hand to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear.
"She would, you're right," He replied, biting his bottom lip before leaning in to kiss me again but this time with an eagerness in his lips. I carefully placed my hands on his hip bones, pulling him in closer to me as he cradled my face in his palm. He dropped the small bag of pegs, his other hand snaking around my waist to hold me against him. Our lips moved like two currents meeting and finding synchronicity in one another. Finally, he broke the kiss and found himself gazing into my eyes. "Thanks for listening to me, I don't talk about her much to people," He said, using his thumb to stroke my cheek lightly.
"You can talk to me about her any time you want," I added, wrapping my arms further around him as I stared up into his eyes. "I'd love to know more about her."
"Maybe a bit later?" He asked, pointing to the fully erected tent. "We should unpack some of our stuff so we can go explore the park. Those guys will be setting up their tent in the dark, I bet you anything."
"Knowing Jannie, you're probably not wrong," I said, laughing as I helped him carry our things over to the tent.