Adventures Of a Teenage Drifter

Chapter 5 ** Day two in the Badlands**

I woke up to find Ethan let me sleep in, as he and Judge were all ready up and about somewhere as I got dressed, brushed my hair and put on my nikes. I opened the side door to see Zeke coming towards me shuffling and looking a bit troubled. Ethan and Judge walked up at the same time, Judge growling, Ethan nodded to Zeke as he pulled me against his chest in a hug wrapping me in his arms saying " What's up man?" Zeke looked at me saying " Kass, I came to apologize, I'm really not like what you saw last night so please forgive me?" Ethan gently placed his chin on my shoulder, Judge leaned against me as I rubbed between his ears softly answering " Sure Zeke, even you deserve a second chance, so if you start drinking again I will just leave." He nodded softly looking into my eyes saying " Not happening again I swear, so we good here Ethan, sorry man, I know this lady is with you."

Ethan put out a hand as Zeke and him shook saying " Yea we're good Zeke, you gotta know though you had her shaking bad last night." He sighed saying " God I'm sorry I was way out of line, got a lot of stuff going on, yea no excuse I know but I never meant to hurt or scare you Kass." He looked at Judge tilting his head when I said' It's okay bud, he's a good guy normally I think." Zeke laughed as Judge allowed him to scratch his head then he turned saying we could catch up later and headed back to their camp spot. I turned in Ethan's arms asking " Okay, now where have you two been so early this morning?" Ethan let go of Judge's leash answering " Figured we could hang out here today and do more stuff tomorrow so he and I scoped out the activities around here." I leaned up kissing his lips softly saying " I'm cool with relaxing here today, thank you for last night by the way." Ethan softly ran his thumb down my cheek saying " Anytime beautiful, now let's get some pancakes then you choose what we do today."

The Cook's Tent serves all-you-can-eat pancakes for just $2.50 along with Buffalo sausage, juice, milk, coffee, with pork sausage are available for an additional fee. When Ethan got our breakfasts along with extra sausages for Judge we sat down just as the other teens came up smiling and getting their breakfasts. Zeke shyly asked if he could sit be me as I nodded yes and Ethan clapped his shoulder with a smile sitting on my other side. Liam winked at me as I mouthed ~ thank you.~ He nodded mouthing back ~ antyime, he's actually a good brother~. As we ate we all decided to rent paddle boats and the guys wanted to fish so we had lunch now planned.

As we finished we messed around then the guys stopped at Trout Haven because they furnished equipment, bait, everything with no license needed. The plan was to go to the Pier Cafe and their full menu along with them offering to fry our catch for lunch and the guys were catching the fish in no time at all! The girls laughed as we all did the paddle boats while all the guys fished for our lunch and Judge ran up and down the shore line chasing me in my boat. All in all a good afternoon and when I heard Ethan whistle at me we all came in, returned the boats and followed the great fishermen to the cafe. They cooked the fish to perfection, we all laughed teasing the guys as we ate the fish they caught. Zeke seemed to back to the happy guy that he was when we first met so I nudged him as he smirked teasing me, even Judge mellowed out around him again. After lunch the ten of us browsed through the gift shops they had here by the lodge and then Ethan stopped at the desk finding out we could do a chuckwagon dinner with real cowboy music, so he and Zeke made the reservation for our awesome dinner plans tonight.

As I yawned, Zeke, Liam and Ethan chuckled when they agreed a nap sounded good so we all went back and took few hour's nap while Judge slept on the grass, Ethan and I snuggled on the bed, I felt at peace and happy wrapped up in Ethan as he spooned me against him. We all met back up at the lodge for the wagon ride to the Circle B Ranch Chuckwagon Supper and Music Show for dinner making me laugh as it was advertised "An evening for a toe stomping good time." The Chuck Wagon Dinner Ride offers the most authentic chuck wagon supper show in the Black Hills. Guests are even picked up on horse-drawn wagons! So as ten teens enjoyed authentic horse drawn wagon ride into the Black Hills National Forest, arriving at a traditional chuck wagon camp. The menu included a slow cooked, mouth-watering, barbecued beef brisket and an assortment of tasty side dishes.

We all really enjoyed live cowboy music while we took in the scenery and chuck wagon fare. When it was all over they brought us back to the KOA and we said goodnight to Zeke, Liam and the group, then Ethan and I got Judge from the van and took him to the dog park to do his thing, while burning off some energy, he and Ethan played frisbee as I smiled, happy that I had Ethan now with me on this trip. Around 10 pm we three headed back to the van, Judge jumped in as Ethan then locked the door and we crawled into bed for the night. Ethan kissed my neck after we got settled in and whispered " Another amazing day, sexy, I'm glad we are doing this together, can't think of a better way or anyone else I want to be with this summer." I smiled answering " Me either sexy, you being here makes this very special for me this summer, thank you." He chuckled against my neck saying " Special for me too Kass, now sleep knowing I'm right here and that I need you in my arms, want nothing else, night beautiful." I blushed as I took slow soft breaths falling asleep in his warm embrace again.