Mauled - Book 2 of the Close Call Series (Currently Published On Amazon)

Ch.4 Fishing

Josey woke to the sound of giggling, when he reached his arm out to find Laura gone, he opened his eyes to search for the source of the laughter. He saw the three best friends headed back up the hill towards their camp, they were in their bathing suits and soaking wet, so they'd clearly been swimming. How long had he slept? He pulled his phone from his pocket and checked the time, it was only ten, they must've gotten an early start.
    He crawled out of his sleeping bag and walked towards Laura, "How long you been up?"
    "I don't know, a while, these two crazy birds decided we should go swimming at sunrise," she said, smiling and rolling her eyes.
    "Wow, I bet it was cold," he said wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against his chest.
    "A little, not to bad," she responded looking up at him.
    "I guess I better get a move on if we're having fish for supper. I still have to run the line on my pole were it broke the other day."
    "Okay, Neka and I were gonna play cards while trying to get a tan any way." He gave her a peck on the lips before releasing her to walk towards the car.
    Her eyes followed his movements as he pulled his fishing stuff from the trunk, and walked towards the fire to perch on a log. She loved to watch him sometimes, she couldn't help it she just found him so mesmerizing. Most of the time she didn't even realise she was staring, she turned away and headed towards the tent before she fell under his spell.
    Laura spread her towel out beside the blue haired beauty already laying on the ground, then sat down with a deck of cards in her hand. Neka looked over and watched the cards slide back and forth as they were shuffled.
    "So what do you want to play first?" Neka asked.
    "Hmm, you pick," Laura answered, mesmerized by the shifting cards.
    "Um okay, War I guess," Neka said with a casual shrug.
    Laura dealt half the deck to Neka and half to herself so they could start their game.

    Josey and Claire headed towards the river. They both had a tackle box in one hand and fishing pole in the other. To some people they probably looked pretty strange taking two tackle boxes, but it just worked better that way. Claire couldn't find anything in Josey's jumbled mess, but he knew exactly where everything was. Claire on the other hand, had everything in a specific place, and Josey got confused just looking at it.
    They walked down the bank a ways until they found what looked to be a nice, secluded, spot. They sat down a couple feet apart and baited their poles before casting out, careful not to get their lines to close together.
    "I hope this is a good spot," Claire said softly, pulling neon pink gloves from her tackle box.
    "Me too, I don't wanna go back empty handed,” he said seriously, appearing to already be completely focused on his line.
    "I'm sure we won't, this river is probably loaded with fish," Claire said, watching her cork bob as the wind blew across the water.
    "You're probably right, I guess I'm just nervous."
    "It's just fishing," Claire chuckled.
    "Not about the fish, about Laura," he said, reeling in his line slowly and casting it back out.
    "Why?" Claire asked, her eyebrows moved closer together and her forehead turned into a canyon made of wrinkles.
    "Well...I was thinking...about asking her to marry me," he stuttered out unsure of himself.
    "Why does that make you nervous? You've. been dating for almost two and a half years, she's sure to say yes," Claire responded not really surprised, if anything she was surprised he hadn't already asked.
    Her cork went under, she snatched her pole slightly, then started cranking the handle.
    "I don't know, because she could turn me down. Because she's the most amazing creature I've ever laid my eyes on, and she could easily do better. Maybe she'll decide she doesn't want to be with me forever," he answered, watching her pull in a decent sized brim and start working the hook out of its mouth.
    "She won't. If she wanted to leave you she would've already. She's not gonna all of a sudden realise your not worthy of her or something," she said, putting her catch on a stringer.
    "How do you know?" He asked, hoping she had all the answers to his problems.
    "I just do," she stated, completely certain.
    The rest of the time they sat there in silence, watching their lines, they both believed that to much conversation could scare the fish. But that wasn't why they were so quiet, it was because they were to busy chasing random thoughts around inside their heads.

    Neka and Laura looked up from their game of twentyone to see Claire and Josey walking past with a stringer full of fish.
    “Wow, great job y'all!” Neka exclaimed.
    “Thanks!” They responded in unison.
    "Oh my, y'all are red," Claire chuckled on the way by. The girls decided to grab their towels and follow after them, it was only fair they help clean the fish.