[EVENT] Calm River Rafting & Camping

I broke eye contact and stared ahead of myself for a moment, not really seeing what I was looking at and instead completely lost in my own confusion. I quickly realized he had taken what I had said literally and before I could even think to stop myself I began explaining. Oh no I mean... Like when a child only feels safe sleeping with their own baby blanket... I uh... I smiled and scratched my arm, Nevermind. He did bring up a good point however, even if he had completely missed mine. I do hope someone has a spare that they will be willing to part with for the night... I really did wish I had known and come prepared...

I focused carefully on the way he revealed his necklace then locked my eyes on his again and smiled. I fingered around the collar of my shirt and looped my own silver necklace around my thumb to show him as well. I am glad to see it, and I do have to agree, it does feel a bit weird wearing it, but it is definitely better to be safe and prepared for anything. I felt a bit proud of him for not just tossing the tools I had given him and actually putting them to use. It was not like I expected him to do otherwise, but often times others did. It was my own personal vampire repellent, and his too. It was just to bad I didn't think about bringing something to ward off the mosquito's. I guess it was a good thing I could tolerate their blood sucking a bit more than I could vampires.

I pulled myself to my feet shortly after he did and dusted myself off as my eyes scanned the ground. Well, first you will want something that's about two and half to three feet long. You want a pretty good thickness to it too so it will not flop over the fire, maybe about a half an inch thick. Long, sturdy, and somewhat thick is key. Straight as well, and I can taper the ends of what we find with my blade and burn off the bark once we get back to camp. There really was an art to it, and I had to admit I did enjoy carving. Just one stick, unless you want to roast a lot at once of course! I knelt down as I spoke and reached for one that was a bit too long but actually quite perfect. My eyes turned upwards and I stood up as I gripped each end of the one I had found to put a bit of weight on it to test it's durability. That is actually perfect Lenny. I smiled and started back to camp.

What do you think Mary-Ann has prepared for lunch?

Baby blankets? What was Helios even going on about? Huh? And yeah, I dunno, it's not that much of a big deal? You can have all of the ones I bought, I've got a sleeping bag as well and shit. I dunno, we can share them if that makes you feel better. I said, wondering why Helios was getting so concerned about the camping stuff and feeling a little annoyed about it. Shit, I was trying not to worry about camping stuff, and I'd already told him I'd share so it seemed stupid that he'd worry about it.

I clutched my stick and followed him, quickly going back to camp. I let out a surprised, Roast a lot at once?, not having thought of that before, but only gave the woodland floor a few glances before my stomach won over and getting back to camp and Mary-Ann and the food was all I could focus on.

Um.. I don't know.. what's camping food? I think she bought sausages maybe, and um... We'd made it back to camp and I inhaled deeply, trying to smell whatever it could be. There were a few different cooking smells in the air and they were hard to pinpoint. I frowned, trying to figure them out, and wandered into the camp in the vague direction I knew Mary-Ann was.

I saw her first, frowning round to try and get a glimpse of food but interrupted when she came up to me.

You already saw him, hun? She said, and I just frowned harder, trying to work out what the fuck Mary-Ann was talking about. What? The food? What food is there? I asked, placing a hand over my stomach without realising it. Mary-Ann just pulled an exasperated face and sighed, as if she wanted to tell me off, but then stopped and softened a little again. That was weird and immediately put me on alert. No, Lenny, I'm not talking about the food - I saw Jesse earlier while you were out collecting sticks. I'm sorry honey, I didn't know he'd be here. Jesse. Jesse was camping too? Jesse's here? I repeated, mind blanking. I hadn't wanted to bump into him again so soon, or ever really, even if we were still 'friends', and I knew my breakup with him had been part of the reason Mary-Ann had hauled me out on the trip.

I glanced from her, to Helios, and shifted. The most annoying thing about the situation was that I didn't even feel that hungry any more. I.. uh.. it doesn't matter, we're still... friends. I said, trying not to think about what had led up to what happened, because it left a sour taste in my mouth. I didn't want to explain it to Helios either, who I couldn't even remember if I'd told I was no longer with Jesse or not. But, yeah, uh, anyway.. food? You were making food? I tried to redirect, looking to Mary-Ann and feeling a bit less shitty when she chuckled. Yes, I am - don't worry. It's on the grill. I was just quickly grabbing some water. Mary-Ann held up the bottle in her hand and then grabbed another, pressing it into mine. She walked away towards the campfire and also presumably in the direction of the food and I followed quietly after, trying not to let my mind wander to Jesse.

I could smell food on the grill, which was awesome. I was hungry, and I really didn't want to pop a beer on an empty stomach if I couldn't help it. Bad times, man, bad times, at least for me. Oh, god, do you smell that, Jesse? Isn't it fabulous?

I looked over at him to see if his nose was turned in the same direction, but I could tell he was just... staring. And dammit, he was right. I didn't know the other people, but even from a distance I could tell that was the dude I'd met at the bakery. Oh. Damn, I'm sorry, Jesse.

"It figures he'd be with him."
Wait, correct me if I'm wrong, but um.. weren't you the one that broke it off? I guess that was the wrong thing to say, because Jesse looked at me, completely offended.
"Of course you wouldn't understand. That doesn't matter. You were married once, wouldn't it.. I mean didn't it hurt when Robert got remarried?"
Dude, number one, Robert. I mean, yeah, Robert was cool, but... the funny thing is that's what I'd always kind of hoped would happen. I sorta hoped he'd find someone he liked better, so I wasn't the one doing the heart-breaking. Jesse simply looked at me like I had three heads.

"Doesn't matter, I just want moral support. Is that too much to ask?"

Yeah, yeah, I said, now walking toward a picnic table. I knew we try to get some shit set up before the food was ready, but at this rate I was beginning to feel like Jesse was going to bail on me.
Listen, if you want, we can leave. We can go have drinks at my place while you're in town... well if that kid isn't around. Or.. I don't know. But that's just it, I have no fucking clue what to do because this town is so damn boring. That's why I wanted to do this.
"No, no, Don, we can stay," he said, sitting down before me, a purely defeated look on his face. I placed my bag on the table and put my legs one at a time through the slot between the bench and the table. Was I the only one who thought that picnic tables were one of the most awkward things in existence?
Well, my advice, if we are going to stay, is just to get it out of the way. Go ahead and address the elephant now. Let him know you know he's here, get a feel of what uh.. how he's feeling, and see if you wanna try to make nice, or stay at opposite ends of the party. My stomach rumbled, and I frowned. I wanted to eat, but this shit wasn't going to go away until it was dealt with. I'll even go with you, moral support kind of thing. Does that help?

And that was exactly what happened. I found us walking toward Lenny and a few other strangers, me pretending there was nothing abnormal about this, my head up, people watching, a slight smile on my face, as Jesse was all slumped with his hands in his pockets.

Don't I know you? I asked as I walked up to Lenny and the man Jesse had mentioned. Yeah, even I could appreciate that he'd be a threat. I wondered if he really had been the reason for the break. Anyway, I'd hoped that my smile was enough to clue Lenny in that I was being sarcastic. Jesse hadn't even looked up. I nudged him with my elbow and coughed.

We should probably just stick to one. I should have known better than to plant that idea into his head. I had to be honest, I did wish we could have talked for a bit longer before heading back, but my stomach disagreed and won the battle pretty quick. Plus I was sure Lenny was hungry, and I had to admit I was looking forward to carving out the perfect skewers for the two of us and getting settled in. We did not want to keep Mary-Ann waiting too long either, who knows, the food might disappear faster than I thought it would. I am not sure, but I am hoping for sausages.

I caught the tone in Mary-Ann's voice when we made it back to camp, and the conversation had me quickly realizing that maybe his relationship was no longer a relationship at all. I suddenly felt guilty that I had not even thought to ask him about Jesse, how he was doing, or even how Lenny was doing. Maybe I would have known the truth if I would have remembered to ask. What had even happened? Now was not the time to pry, I was not sure any time would be the right time but now I was feeling concerned. If it was a bad breakup then maybe the fun of this trip was over for Lenny, and after what he had just revealed to me that was the last thing I wanted to happen. He needed a good night. This night was a milestone, it was a night where Lenny could see vulnerable situations such as camping out in the open could actually be safe and even fun if he wanted it to be.

I took it upon myself to remove myself from the situation. The air had gone from happy to awkward and it did not feel right for me to listen in on the conversation. I gave Lenny a smile when his eyes met mine, but took the stick out of his hand shortly after. I'll get this carved up for you. I grinned again and moved over to the fire. I sat down in one of the fold out chairs and pulled out my pocket knife just as Lenny appeared beside me, and started carefully stripping the rough flakes off of the end Lenny would hold.

My eyes turned up at the sound of a woman's voice, and beside her stood Jesse. I smiled and nodded at him, Hello, my eyes shifted between the two of them before turning to Lenny. I was suddenly very grateful for my current task, everything just felt tense.

Watching Helios carve the stick was slightly mesmerizing, his hands around the stiff wood as it began to take shape. I began to wish I had picked up a few more sticks so I could try and get him to teach me how to do it - without slicing my fingers off. And then I'd also have the ability to roast a shitload of marshmallows at once. When I heard footsteps approach I assumed it was Mary-Ann with food, perking up at the thought. I'd have my marshmallow stick, and food, and the fire was pleasantly warm. Almost enough for me to want to take my sweater off.

When I turned around to greet what I expected to be food, my smile fell from my face when I saw who it was. I then tried to smile, and look...happy? Maybe not happy, but something, whatever you were meant to look like when your ex - and that was weird, having an ex - turned up when you weren't expecting it and looked all weird. Instead, I just felt tense.

Hey. I echoed after Helios, glancing to Jesse and then back to Donna, who still seemed to safer of the two even though the way she was speaking wasn't matching up to the way she looked. It was fucking confusing. Uhhh... I looked between the two of them, and glanced back at Helios to see if he felt as awkward as I did before continuing, Yeah? You're Donna? I mean, we met at the... uh, the bakery? And, y'know... me and... I looked to Jesse quickly, our eyes meeting and prompting me to look away again. I still didn't quite understand the situation. How did Donna not know if she knew me, when we'd met before, and Jesse must have mentioned me to her? He'd mentioned her to me enough. But yeah, the bakery. I frowned, smiling despite it as I thought I figured something out, Wait, are you joking? I mean, you can't forget those cookies, they're amazing.

As soon as I said it, something suddenly occurred to me. Even the tension of the situation was forgotten in favor of the much more important problem. I patted down my pockets, and then pulled my sweater up to look at them, and even looked at the ground around us before turning to look at Helios. Helios? Did I give you the cookies? I asked, sure and hoping I had because I had no idea what I'd done with the pack otherwise.