BEYOND The SUMMIT

Chapter 14: Secrets in the Woods

Chris

We probably walked, God knows how long. My legs are tired. Worse than any drill coach Peterson put me through.

Even Cody is coughing a lot. And the girls are way behind us.

"Wait for us!" Chantel screams.

"Run!" Cody yells at them, "Pretend there's a sale at Lululemon."

"Fuck off Cody." Chantel responds.

"Chris, go back there with the girls. Show some love and support to Nicole." Cody says heaving.

I shake my head, "No way. Nicole's still mad at me. I'll let her come to me."

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Chris." Rico says, "don't let her stay mad at you for too long."

I smile, "Nah, you guys are tripping. She's my best friend, she'll get over it." I said with confidence.

"Yeah, you keep fucking it up and you're going to stay on the friends side for life."Cody says, putting his arm around my shoulder, "no offence but you suck at relationships?"

I detangle myself from Cody's arm, "fuck off okay. I'll convince Nicole to drop Gavin's ass."

"Yes sir!! Now you're speaking my language." Cody says in a soldier-like voice and pats my back, "Mission; Get rid of Gavin!"

We chuckle at the idea.

"What about you Cody. What's your plans with Chantel?" Rico's asks.

Cody looks forward, looking tired, probably from last nights sleep on the ground.

"No plan really. I just want to shower her with love. I want her to grow up living a happy life for herself and not others." Cody looks at Rico, "Does that make sense to you?"

Rico looks away from Cody, " Yeah. It's a cheese analogy, but yeah, I get it."

"HELLO?!?! Do you guys mind waiting for us!?!?" Chantel's screams again.

Cody slows down, "Yeah!" He shouts at the girls, " I need a break too." He says as he sits on the gravel shoulder.

Rico and I follow Cody and plop our bags to the ground. I lay my head on my bag and look up to the sky, " the man in the car might be right. The sky's changing."

"Yeah, we're going to need to set up camp soon." Rico says.

"My God guys, was it that hard for you to wait for us?" Chantel bitches.

"Please Chantel, we walked the same fucken distance you did. Just sit down and shut up." Cody snaps as the girls sit with us. Cody looks at Nicole, "And you. Do you have anything to say?"

I look at Nicole. I feel so bad that I got in a fight with her. I should have not said anything about Gavin to her. I should be focusing in proving to her why I'd be the better boyfriend.

" Cody, leave the girls alone. This isn't easy for any of us." I scan our surroundings, "I think we should stop here, go into the bushes, and camp for the night." I say with authority.

If it's authority, control and organization that Nicole thinks is hot, then I'm ready to play that part and win my girl.

"I agree with Chris." Nicole finally says something.

YES!!!

"But we should make sure we go deep into the woods so no one sees our fire." Nicole adds.

I love when she's in her element of organization. She was always cautious, but in the last couple of years even more so. I think she's had to choose her words very carefully around her parents. I know she lies to them when she sees us, or talks on the phone with us. I know we have different names on her contact list of her phone so when we call, our fake names show up on the display. I know she deletes every message and photo we send on our group chats and she sends our photos to her secret email, that only she knows.