5

My eyes fluttered open to the feeling of someone stroking my hair. For a second, I confusedly looked around, not recognizing my surroundings.

"There she is," Charlee's voice softly floated into my ears, and I felt a smile curl up on my lips, "I've been trying to get you back to the land of the living for ten minutes."

I snickered, slowly sitting up, "I'm an absolute boulder after I fall asleep. Not even nuclear war can wake me up."

Charlee leaned down and kissed my forehead, "Well, somehow I managed."

As I came to, I reached over for my phone. "Yo, it's 5 am, what the heck." I glared over my screen and Charlee's shit-eating grin.

"I wanted to show you something. I found it yesterday morning."

I grumbled as she handed me one of her sweaters, "You're lucky you're cute."

Much to my dismay, 10 minutes later we were taking a short hike in the murky dawn light. Charlee had packed us coffee and some muffins to munch on once we got to our location.

She stopped suddenly, turning to me, "Close your eyes."

I narrowed my eyes at her before sighing and obediently closing my eyes. "Please don't murder me."

Charlee snickered at that, "Good girl."

The way she said that breathy and full of lust, made my stomach twinge behind my belly button. I could feel my cheeks get red as I remembered the world-crashing orgasm she had given me the night before.

"Okay, aaaaand," Charlee positioned me, "Open!"

I opened my eyes to the most beautiful view of the lake we were on. We were on a small cliff that overlooked the lake, and the mountains in the distance loomed closer than at the campground.

"Oh my god, Charlee, this is beautiful." I scanned around me greedily.

"Pretty great, eh?" Charlee dropped her backpack and rifled through, pulling out a blanket and spreading it on the flat, smooth rock. "I found it yesterday morning and watched the sunrise from here. It's absolutely insane."

I smiled wide and sat down. I enjoyed the quiet and gorgeous scenery while Charlee busied herself by pouring coffee and making herself comfortable next to me. She pulled out another blanket, and draped it over our shoulders, pulling me closer. We sat in content silence, soaking up nature and each other's company.

The sun had just crested the peak of the mountains when people at the campsite started stirring. We watched, amused, as a couple of people made the walk of shame from another person's tent to the cabin. Movement in Devin's tent drew my eyes over. What I saw made my jaw go slack.

A buff man crawled out of his tent, quietly zipping up the tent and tip-toeing away into the surrounding bushes. I glanced up at Charlee, whose eyes were laser-focused on the tent.

"That was my friend Brandon." Charlee looked confused, "Brandon is incredibly gay. What was he doing in Devin and Beth's tent?"

We sat in silence as her question hung in the air, swirling around us, and feeding our curiosity. Finally, I spoke up.

"Maybe he just bunked with them?"

Charlee shook her head, "No, he was sharing his tent with a couple of other people from my friend group. He has a place to sleep."

"Well, let's not jump to conclusions," I leaned back on her shoulder, "Ever heard of the saying, 'not my circus'?"

Charlee laughed and smiled down at me. "One of them is a part of my circus, you sass!"

We laughed and started to gather our things for the small hike back down. I acted nonchalant but deep down I was taken aback by what I saw. Because if Brandon was completely gay, then he wasn't there for Beth. And that confused me so much more.

___

The campsite was in complete chaos when we got back, with some people taking down tents and piling into cars. We had until 11 to pack up and get out, but a lot of people wanted to get home to sleep before Monday came around.

"Hey, I'm going to pack up my stuff, want me to pack up yours too?" Charlee asked.

"You don't have to!" I blushed.

Charlee reached over to kiss my hand, "It's no problem, goddess."

I giggled and nodded, "Okay."

Smiling, I climbed up the cabin stairs to make my way to Casey's room. The inside of the cabin was quiet except for soft snores that echoed around. I tiptoed past the pile of sleeping bodies in the living room when I froze in my tracks. There, sleeping on the couch, was Bethany. Her makeup was smeared, and her hair was ratty. An almost empty Malibu bottle was cradled in her arms.

My mind raced with what this could mean. Forget that she was supposedly pregnant, if she was asleep in here, that means Brandon and Devin were.. alone in the tent. There was nothing inherently wrong with that implication. Perhaps they were just friends who fell asleep in the same tent. I tore my gaze from Bethany, shaking my head. Whatever.

When I opened Casey's door, the room was pitch black. Flicking on the switch I yelped at the scene in front of me. Jim was sprawled out, arm draped over Casey's back.

"Oh my god!" My yelp was louder than I expected. Jim shot out of bed, giving me the uncensored version of his muscular body.

I covered my eyes, "AHHHHH MAN BUTT!"

Casey, who was now awake and rubbing her eyes, busted out laughing as Jim dove under the covers to cover himself.

"You know, knocking is a thing!" Jim shouted from under the covers. His muffled voice made me laugh, and soon he surfaced, lightly chuckling as well.

"I'm just here trying to get my shower bag and a change of clothes," I started rummaging around in my suitcase on the dresser next to the bed. "Before all the warm water gets used up by the hungover cast of Greek."

Casey leaned over to look out of the shade as she heard car doors slamming and tires crunching on the gravel driveway. "Are people leaving?"

I turned to them with my shower bag slung over my shoulder, "Yep, it's Sunday which means it's time to go back to real life."

Casey groaned and flopped back over in bed, "I'll just stay here."

___

The cold tile slapped against my warm, wet feet as I got out of the shower. I threw the towel over my shoulders, hissing through my teeth as the gnarly sunburn I had gotten protested angrily. After lathering some aloe vera on my tender shoulders, I got dressed and threw my wild, curly hair into messy space buns. I looked camping chic today in a zip-up hoodie, super short jean shorts, and my athletic sneakers. I opted for sunscreen and light makeup, being too tired for anything of extreme effort.

Once I was happy with how I looked, I swung open the door, only to come face to face with Micheal. At first, he looked surprised, his hand was reaching for the knob, but then an annoyed expression shadowed his face.

"Sorry, I didn't know anyone was in here." He looked past me into the bathroom, "You done?"

I nodded, quickly darting into the safety of the hallway. "All yours." His vibe was intense and violent as I felt his eyes on me. Glancing over my shoulder I caught a glimpse of him watching me leave. His eyes were like fire, raking over my body possessively. Gasping, I rounded the corner and ran back to Casey's room where they were now properly dressed, and slowly packing their things. Only now, Nora was in the fetal position on the floor, clutching a trash bin, and Charlee was handing her a water bottle.

They all looked over, surprised when I burst into the room.

"Where's the fire?" Jim quipped a smirk stretched over his lips.

"Uh.. nowhere, just. Excited to go hiking!" Casey narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously before turning her attention to Nora.

"Don't know if that will be happening, Nora here decided to keep up with her brother last night."

Nora groaned, "Big mistake."

Casey sighed, "Yeah, so, we need to try and get pukey here home ASAP. And I'm sending Nick my bill for babysitting and car cleanup."

With that, Nora started to retch into the trash bin. Grossed out, I sighed. "Guess we're leaving then."

Sneaking a glance at Charlee, disappointment weighed heavy on my heart. I really didn't want to.

____