Mindblown

Chapter Sixteen

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my penta-fam cause ya'll really need it right now and I love you all :)

Avi is lying on the bed, he was semi-tired after the walk, and just needed a quick lie down, he had even cooled down in the time it had taken for Kirstie to decide that she was in fact going to have a shower. Avi didn't see the point if they were just going to sit around a smoky campfire tonight, go for a swim in the lake this afternoon, or possibly another walk. He chuckles to himself that last one wasn't very likely, at least not with how much she had complained on the way up.
     Avi contemplated getting his guitar out while he waited, but decided he was just too comfortable where he was. Until a piercing scream rang out and he sat bolt right up, he was 99 percent sure that was Kirstie. So he jumps on the bed, he should probably put shoes on and he's about to until she screams again and so he runs out the back door towards the shower in his socks.
       He stops on the bottom step when he sees Kirstie perched on the top of the shower, but he didn't have a moment to wonder, or ask why because she spots him and rapidly and repetitively starts pointing at the ground of the shower, no words, just screamy-whines.
     Avi didn't know what she was pointing at, but it crossed his mind that it was lucky Kirstie was wearing her bikini, otherwise any passers-by might have seen her on top of the shower naked, he still couldn't figure out how she'd got up there. And she was still pointing and screaming, and he thought maybe that was a word she was saying, but still not a human one, what the hell is a 'nake?' Not a word is what it is.
     He decides he'd better investigate and steps down onto the grass and inwardly sighs, outwardly grimaces, for such a dry sunny day, why the hell was there a wet patch in the grass? There is nothing worse than the feeling of water seeping through your socks. Deciding it was just shower water he troops on, mostly watching Kirstie, and a little bit where he was walking. He finally get to the shower, hearing the water still running and it took a moment to spot what she was screaming about, but when he saw it, he was damn near ready to run in the opposite direction.
     He'd been coming up into the mountains for years now, and it just so happens the first time he brings someone up here who's super out of touch with nature, is the first time that he's ever seen a snake. He honestly had no idea what to do, well he knew he had to get Kirstie down and somehow get rid of the snake, but he didn't know how to do that.
     "Get it!" Kirstie screams.
     "I am not touching it!" Avi replies too quickly.
     "I want to get down," she whines, her voice hiccupy, she was crying. Avi hated that she was crying but he didn't know what to do right now. He was panicking, he just had a different way of expressing it than Kirstie did, she was stuck up on the wall of the shower and he was stuck in his spot: staring at the snake. A green and brown snake that blends in very well, and that's totally not cool, but he did know that it wasn't a rattlesnake and those are the pretty much the only poisonous snakes that reside in California.
     "You can get down, it's not poisonous," Avi tells her.
     "The fuck I am, if it's not poisonous then you can come and get it."
      "I might get bitten!"
      "And it's okay if I do?" her eyebrows shoot up, she couldn't believe he'd implied that.
      Avi shakes his head, "That is not at all what I meant." He watches her roll her eyes as he tries to think of a plan. Neither of them wanted to go near the snake, but he had to get her down, but he wasn't going near the snake.
     He finally finds the courage to move, but not towards the shower, more around it.
     "Can snakes jump?"
      "They don't have legs," Avi says with a hint of laughter, trust Kirstie to make him laugh in a moment like this.
     "But what about that standing up thing they do? It might reach me!" She panics.
     "I don't think he will, but I can get you down if you trust me."
    Kirstie turns to look over her shoulder; Avi was now behind her, just a little way away from the wall she was situated upon. "What are you doing? Come back around and get me down!"
      "You're coming down this way because I'm not going in the shower with him... but you reach the tap first? We don't want to waste water."
     Kirstie gives him a death glare. "I can't reach the tap unless I get in with the snake, so fuck the water, but you need to come closer if you're gonna help me." She snaps with a hiss.
     Avi takes one hesitant step closer and holds his arms out.
     "Oh my god, closer!" she complains.
     "The snake might come underneath," he says in a panic.
     "But you said it's not poisonous," she quips.
     He stares at her a moment then takes a scared step forward, his arms still out.
     "Do you think you can catch me?" she asks a little sceptic. She turns herself around on the shower wall, it wobbles just slightly: it was as sturdy as she'd first thought so she grips it tighter, her knuckles turning white.
     "I can try."
     "That's not reassuring babe."
      He almost drops his arms, "Did you just call me babe?"
      Her face heats up, "I call everyone babe, but I mean we're kinda together aren't we? Actually... can we not do this now, I want to get down Avi."
     He nods, lifting his arms up again, even being as brave as to take another step forward.
     "I'm heavy," she says."
     "No you're not," Avi chuckles.
     Then Kirstie drops into his arms and he goes to ground with her on top of him.
      With a moment to register what had happened, the fact that she was on top of him wasn't lost on either of them. But after that moment she pops right up, Avi was too winded, he wanted to move because you know: snake. He was lucky when Kirstie picks up his arms and drags him along the grass, around the shower, keeping an eye on the shower fiend and towards the steps.
     "My ass is wet," he complains and she drops his arms, if he could complain, he was fine. "And that really hurt my shoulder," he sits up rubbing his left shoulder. "First my socks, then my jeans, I bet my shirt too, why is the grass even wet?" he asks, sliding a hand across it.
       "My towel is over there too," she pouts. "You didn't tell me there was snakes up here."
       Avi stands up, "Is there mud on my ass? Please tell there's not, I don't have any way to wash them."
     Kirstie eyes his jeans, "There's mud," she says, "Your ass, your shirt," she lifts up the back off his plaid shirt, "And your back. Sorry Avi."
     "So you're trying to tell me that I need a shower?" he turns to face her while trying not to laugh.
      Her hands shoot up to her mouth to cover her smile, then the two of them break into laughter.
      "You said there's a lake? I'd rather jump in the lake," she giggles. She stands up and holds her arms up, "You need to redeem yourself, you're better than that non-catch, I'm gonna jump off this step," she tells him.
       "Oh shit," his arms shoot out as she jumps, and this time he catches her, but not without taking a couple of step backwards. "We did it!" he laughs.
      "We did," she laughs with him, and then stops her laughter dead, "Avi run! The snakes there, it's there!" she screams and Avi runs them up the stairs and into the house.

A/N: Hope you liked! Hope it cheered ya'll up, even for just a moment :)

There's a bit more camping to come next chapter!

Hannah :)