Bring Your Own Chick ✔️

26: Adventures in the Woods with Bears

The Night Is Still Young by Nicki Minaj

It was obvious to everyone that Luna was upset but Keenan frankly didn't care much to do anything about it. He ignored the way she ran into her tent with Ajax on her heels a concerned look on his face. His friend Kasper had joined the party and the camping trip would end tomorrow. He wanted just one day of relaxation before he began to really focus on getting Aurora to bed. A part of him knew that he couldn't do it, they had one last night together and with Aurora it was one step forward and two steps back.

So instead of flirting with Aurora all day and succumbing to his friends' blatant curious looks Keenan decided to drink a beer, and then another, and then another. Soon it was dusk and he found that the entire day has passed by without so much as conversation passing between Aurora and him.

Kasper, Ivan, Aiden, and him had created their own drinking party around the fire pit which had later expanded to include Alice, Nora, and Aurora. Keenan was too drunk to realize that India and Jesse had both holed themselves up in their own tents all day, along with Luna and Ajax.

The drunkest ones of them all were obviously Kasper, who would fall off his seat every ten minutes and Keenan who could barely keep his head up. After sharing funny stories and messing around for an hour Aurora was soon joining them in their state of drunkenness.

"You clearly can't hold your liquor," Alice laughed at Aurora.

"Oh shut it slut," Aurora sneered dejectedly but Alice did nothing in response.

Some part in the back of Aurora's mind was telling her that Alice was right. Aurora drank a fraction of what Keenan had drunk and she was just as wasted as him. She was currently damning men's abilities to hold more liquor than women. The fire in front of her was waving back and forth, or maybe that was her body. At this point she couldn't tell.

The air distinctly smelled of barbeque but the thought of eating anything made her stomach churn. She should've taken into account of how little she had eaten that day.

"Guys," Kasper slurred, his head bowed between his legs. "Let's go on an adventure!"

"We're already on one man," Aiden pointed out, shaking his head in amusement.

"No," Kasper yelled, shooting up out of his seat. He wobbled for a bit, just enough to concern Aurora that he would fall into the pit of fire before he steadied himself. "I mean a real adventure! Like in the woods with bears!"

"That sounds horrible," Keenan exclaimed, his face scrunched up in discomfort.

"Let's do it," Aurora chimed in, despite Keenan's comment. When Keenan shot her a confused look she did her best to shrug her drunken shoulders. "It sounds fun."

Keenan thought about it for a second before confirming his approval as well with a nod of his head.

"Three drunk people going into the woods by themselves to find bears? How could this not end horribly?" Nora wrapped the wool blanket tighter around her but with Ivan pressed up against her side Aurora didn't think that she really needed the warmth.

"I'll go with them I guess if no one else will," Alice whined, standing up and wiping the imaginary dirt off her pants. "Let's go find some bears to scare." She wrapped her arm around Kasper's, dragging him from the camp fire.

"Come on rich boy," Aurora sang, skipping in circles as she waited for Keenan to join her. He finally did with a barely empty bottle of Jack in his hands.

"You're wasted," he chuckled, following after her down the road that Kasper and Alice had taken.

"And what makes you?"

Keenan stopped in his tracks, his face scrunched up as his brain tried working. "That didn't sound right."

"Okay Dr. Grammer Nazi."

"Doctor? Since when is it doctor?"

"Well if you're a grammer nazi then you need to be smart, don't you?"

"Woah, woah, woah," Keenan exclaimed, grabbing Aurora's wrist and making her stop walking. "Say that again."

"Say what again?"

"I can't remember. . . just say anything with an 'o' in it."

"An 'o'?"

"Yeah like um 'out'."

"Um out."

Keenen erupted into laughter. "Oh my Jesus, you have a Canadian accent!"

"Well of course I do! I'm Canadian Keenan."

"But- but, I've never heard it before! Do you try to hide it?"

"Yeah. . . but apparently only when I'm sober."

"Hey," Keenan said, looking around them. "Where did Kasper and Alice go?"

"Hmm let's see." Aurora tapped her chin. "Alice is a slut so. . . I would assume they ran off into the woods to have sex."

"Or they're in Kasper's car down the road. Let's go see." Keenan grabbed Aurora's hand, dragging her along with him down the dirt road. Just around the bend would be his and Kasper's car.

"If I'm right then you owe me a Dairy Queen Blizzard."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to just go drive thirty miles to the closest Dairy Queen for you."

"Awe, you're such a gentleman."

"Oh shit," he grumbled, coming to a stop once they rounded the corner.

"They aren't in his car are they," Aurora said with a smirk.

Keenan turned to face Aurora, his vision blurry enough that he couldn't see were her eyes started and where they began. "You know what we should do?"

"Instead of going to Dairy Queen?"

"We should finish this bottle," he said, holding up the half empty bottle, "in my car."

"Fine with me. Lead the way."

. . .

The next morning Aurora wakes up with a killer headache. The sun shines bright into her eyes and her body is covered in sweat from the heat. She winces when her brain vibrates with pain and cuddles closer into her pillow, her face and pillow slick with sweat.

"Never again," she grumbles to herself. She had never drank as much as she had the night before. Back home when she would go to parties she would always make sure to watch her intake but tonight she didn't care. She wanted to have fun the last night of the camping trip, even if she were with a bunch of people she hated. As she rethought the night before she pinpointed the exact moment she should have stopped drinking: when she blacked out.

The last thing she remembered the night before was sitting in Keenan's car, singing ridiculous songs with him as they laughed and passed the bottle back and forth between them. She groaned once again, hoping she didn't do anything last night to embarrass herself.

But that's the thing about hope. It doesn't prevent something from happening. So when Aurora decided to open her eyes for the first time and saw the back of the passenger seat of Keenan's car she knew something was wrong. Things only got worse from there though.

She pushed her face further into her pillow which seemed to move and tighten around her waist. That was when she looked around to see Keenan lying beneath her. As if that wasn't enough he was naked.

And so was she.