Assigned Partners

Chapter 20

trigger warning: self harm mentions.

--

On Wednesday, near the end of the school day, I got a text from Normani.

Normani: I'm going to follow you home after school. Then we have some things to do before we go.

I frowned. I figured we were just going to go out to dinner or something like that. I also thought that she was supposed to have a cheer practice after school. I went with it though, and as I drove home, Normani was right behind me in her car. We pulled up to my house, and parked. She came over to me once we were both out of the car, and she pressed a kiss to my cheek.

"I already talked to your parents about my plan, and they're okay with it. It took some convincing though.." she told me.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

Normani chuckled, shaking her head. "I'm not telling you that. C'mon, we have to go get some stuff from your bedroom."

I nodded and lead Normani into the house. After a quick greeting to my parents, we headed up to my room.

"Empty out your backpack, you'll need it," she told me, so I did it. "Awesome, now you'll need a sweater, some clothes, maybe a bathing suit. Oh, and some toiletries."

I raised an eyebrow but didn't verbally question it. I just went with it and got all of the things that she said I needed. About seven minutes later my backpack had the clothing in it, as well as all my toiletries.

"So I can assume we'll be overnight somewhere?" I asked. She nodded.

Normani slung my bag over her shoulder, and laced her fingers with mine. We headed out, going downstairs. My parents pulled me in for a hug, and told me to enjoy myself. I didn't doubt that this was going to be a fantastic night.

Once we were outside, I tossed my bag into the back seat of Normani's car, and got myself situated in the passenger side. Normani climbed into her seat and started up the car, buckling her seatbelt.

"Can I know where we're going yet, babe?" I asked.

"Nah, you'll see when we get there," she told me, flicking on the radio.

"Aw, come on Mani.. Just a hint?"

"Fine, one hint. Where we're going, the stars are going to be gorgeous," she said, smirking a little bit.

"You've got to be kidding me! That's not a good hint!"

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. We drove for at least an hour before we were on a road surrounded by trees.

"We're going camping, babe. Usually it's really hard to get a site unless you book in advance but I managed to get us a small site for overnight that wasn't booked. Your parents think some time out here without being around everyone at school will be good for you," she told me.

"Yeah, well.. They're probably right. I start seeing someone next week about my cutting and all of my other shit going on, and they're trying to keep me from having a meltdown or anything before the day comes."

She nodded, looking at me sympathetically. My arms looked like a fucking disaster. The cuts were healing, slowly but surely. However my arms were littered in red and brown lines from where the skin was trying to heal. It looked bad.

Upon arrival, we got ourselves registered and headed in to find the site we were on. It took us a little bit, but eventually Normani pulled her car into the small campsite and I grinned. It wasn't too big, but there was a picnic table, and a fire pit. I got out of the car, Normani doing the same. She popped open the trunk, and unloaded the bag with the tent, and a large air mattress.

"C'mon babe, let's get the tent up," she told me.

We took the tent out of the bag and set it out where we felt it should be. Trying to get the poles in was a bit of a challenge, but we somehow managed to get it done fairly quickly. I took some pegs and a mallet, knocking the pegs into the ground to hold the tent in place. In total it took up probably around twenty minutes.

"I think it looks nice," I commented.

Normani nodded. My girlfriend picked the tent bag and moved it aside. We hauled the large mattress through the tent opening so we could inflate it. Luckily it was a battery powered mattress so we just had to turn some things on it and started to inflate. Once it was done, I closed it up and positioned it in the middle of the tent floor. It was a queen sized mattress, and it was more than enough room for the two of us. I knew I'd end up just curled up to Normani all night.

"I brought us lots of thick blankets and a sheet for on there later. We can set that stuff up later though, there's no rush," she told me.

I pulled Normani close to me and pressed a deep kiss to her lips, wrapping my arms around her waist. Even being out there for such a short period of time, I could already feel the effect it was having on me. I felt calm and happy.

"However," she began, "We should go hop in the car to get some wood for the fire," she stated.

Glancing at the fire pit, I nodded. I was excited for the fire to eventually get started. I took Normani's hand, and tugged her out of the tent, pausing to do it up. I took her hand again, and lead her to the car, climbing in so we could go get the last small things we needed.

--

a/n: I went camping so basically this is what I decided their date would be. Shit's been busy and this is basically a filler right now because you all deserved an update. I'm busy on Tuesday, so no writing will happen then, but the rest of their camping night together is going to be what the next chapter is about. Despite the short length, hope you liked it.