10. Rainy Days
10
RAINY DAYS
L ux
Theo and I made out on the rocks for just under an hour, until the sun started making its ascent. We watched it crest the horizon, the light painting the underside of the thick clouds gathering in the distance. Then we crept off to our own tents to sleep for a bit.
We’d held hands while we walked back, and he’d kissed me when we reached my tent, his hand cupping the side of my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair. There was something about that kiss that told me whatever we’d started here was far from over.
I passed out again as soon as my head hit the pillow, exhaustion from the adventures the day before hitting me hard. When I woke up a few hours later, it was to the sound of raindrops on our tent.
It was darker than it should have been with the sun obscured by the greyish rain clouds overhead. I could hear people moving around outside, voices rising and falling from the bottom of the hill, and what sounded like a tarp flapping.
Jasmine stirred beneath her blankets, letting out a long sigh and stretching. I sat up, reaching for my sweater to tug it on. It was a little colder than it had been yesterday, and there would be no sun to warm me up.
“Where’d you disappear to last night?” Jasmine asked, her voice croaky from sleep. But her shrewd eyes were studying me, not missing a thing.
“I went to the bathroom, then noticed Theo was still up stargazing…so I joined him.” I felt no need to lie to my best friend about it.
“Really?!” Jasmine’s entire face lit up. “Did you guys do it?”
“No!” I half whispered, half laughed, my face heating. “We kissed a little, but we didn’t do anything else.”
I’d wanted to, especially after he’d started kissing me and I all but melted into it. I’d never had such an intense reaction to a kiss before. Kissing Scott had never made me feel so sexually aroused, but Theo’s lips upon mine had made me want to peel back my clothes and submit myself to him completely. Each stroke of his hand over my body had ignited more flames of desire.
I had no doubts that if kissing him was as explosive as it’d been, that actually having him inside me would blow my mind in the best way. Now I wanted it more than ever, but…I had no idea how to be that girl , the one that went for the things she wanted without thinking about the consequences. How to be the kind of woman that could separate an amazing sexual experience from their feelings.
Because I knew without a shadow of a doubt now, that I could easily fall for this man. I didn’t know if I even had a causal bone in my body, heck, I already felt a lot of dangerous things for him. How could I have a fling with someone I was already feeling things for? There was nothing casual about that.
A pillow smacked me in the face, rousing me from my rumination.
“You’re thinking too loud,” Jasmine complained, frowning at me.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes and tossing her pillow back at her. “I’ll try to keep it down.”
“I’m just saying, Lux. Don’t overthink it. Let whatever happens, happen. What are you so afraid of, anyway? That you’ll actually have an orgasm?”
“Very funny,” I frowned. “No, I’m afraid that I’ll get attached, and this is doomed to go nowhere.”
“Who says it’s doomed to go nowhere?” Jasmine said through a yawn, stretching her arms over her head. “You’re two consenting adults, you can decide what things look like after. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
“He lives in Sudbury, I don’t. He travels for work, I don’t even know where I’m going to be in three months. The only thing we can decide on is here and now.”
“So, decide on it then. And whatever happens in the future, happens. You have to let yourself be okay with whatever it is.” Jasmine stood up, hunting around the tent for her sweater. She tugged it on when she found it, then she peered out the tent window. “Looks like he’s already up, constructing a rain shelter with Desmond and Baz.”
I couldn’t deny it; knowing Theo was down there had me wanting to hurry up and join everyone.
“Is it going to rain all day?” I asked, regretting that I hadn’t packed a raincoat.
“Pretty much, but don’t worry. I got you,” Jasmine replied, turning back to her bag and rooting through it. She pulled out two plastic packages and tossed one at me. It was a clear rain poncho. “This will keep you relatively dry.”
“Thanks.” I stood up, opening the package. “Wait, how are we supposed to cook food if it’s raining?” The site had two fire pits, one on the rocks and one on the beach, but both were exposed to the rain.
“We brought some propane stoves, it’ll be okay,” she assured me as she unzipped the tent.
Jasmine and I left, zipping the tent up behind us. We headed to the thunderbox first before walking down to join the others who were awake.
Baz, Theo and Desmond had constructed a rather large rain shelter halfway up the hill, tying tarps to trees with ropes. All our chairs were arranged under the shelter, and someone had dragged up the coolers from the beach.
Jasmine gestured to where Desmond had set the propane stoves up along the wooden table built into the circle of trees. It was big enough to hold two camping stoves and not much else. Theo was across from him in front of one with the percolator, brewing coffee, while Desmond heated up breakfast on the other stove.
Theo’s eyes met mine as we walked past, his lips kicking up in a smile that had the butterflies swooping low in my belly. I smiled back shyly, letting my hair fall over my shoulder and obscure my face.
“Coffee?” he offered, cocking his brow.
“Please,” Jasmine answered for the both of us, and Theo poured the coffee into two tin mugs. His fingers brushed over mine when he passed me the tin mug, his smile deepening. My cheeks heated, remembering how his lips had moved against mine last night—and how those hands had felt on my body.
“Thanks,” I murmured, breaking contact and following Jasmine to his cooler to grab the creamer.
“Everyone cool with egg burritos?” Desmond asked, glancing at us. “They’re cooked, just have to warm them up.”
“Sounds delicious,” Jasmine replied, and Desmond grinned at her before he resumed pulling tinfoil-wrapped burritos out of the cooler beside him. “Can we help with anything?”
“Nope, we’ve got it. Sit back and relax,” Desmond said, tossing her another easy grin. Jasmine nodded, tugging my hand and leading me towards our camp chairs. They were a little damp, but not soaked. Someone must have brought them up right when the rain started.
My poncho worked to keep me dry from the dampness, and I was thankful Jasmine had thought to bring an extra one for me. We sipped our coffees quietly, watching Theo and Desmond work the stoves and chat amongst themselves while Baz inspected the rain shelter to make sure it was holding up okay.
A few moments later, Desmond walked over with two breakfast burritos, holding them with paper towels. “They’re a little hot, so you might want to let them cool,” he said, his gaze resting on Jasmine for a moment.
“Thanks, Des! We’ll handle clean up,” she promised, sending him a bright smile.
“Don’t worry about it, there’s not much to clean,” he winked before walking back to the camp stove to put more on. We continued sipping our coffees, letting the egg burritos cool a little longer.
When the burritos had cooled enough to eat, I unwrapped mine and took a bite, moaning from how delicious it was. Scrambled eggs with red and green peppers, onion and cheese. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I started eating, but it hit the spot.
Normally, I wasn’t much of a breakfast girl. But there was something about being outside in nature, with all the fresh air, that made me ravenous.
The others weren’t up yet, but they started stirring when the scent of egg burritos and coffee reached them. One by one, Zoey, Kai and Talia emerged from their tents, Talia carrying her floaty. It was looking more than a little deflated now.
They came down to join us, Talia blowing her floaty back up as she walked. Her eyes still half-closed.
Baz went back up to his tent to fetch Rhiannon and Moose. The moment he unzipped the tent, Moose barrelled out and headed straight to us, tail wagging. It took Rhiannon and Baz a little longer to come down.
Rhiannon was moving gingerly, as if she was stiff and sore. Baz walked behind her, with his hand on the small of her back. He had a thick blanket in his other arm, and once he brought her over to her chair, he wrapped the blanket around her and helped her get settled.
He planted a quick kiss on her lips before heading over to grab coffee.
“Is it going to rain all day?” Talia asked, dropping her re-inflated floaty onto the ground before wiping the sleep from her eyes.
“Until later this afternoon,” Rhiannon replied, accepting the mug of coffee Baz brought her with an appreciative smile. He also brought her a breakfast burrito, which he tucked into her chair’s cupholder to cool.
“Ah, sorry Rhi,” Zoey said, sending her a sympathetic look, sitting in the chair beside her.
“It’s all good, I took some meds. Later I’ll get into the cold water, that’ll help with the aching joints.”
“We could all use a rest day after yesterday,” Kai said, stretching near the coffee station. “My muscles are pissed.”
“What muscles, bean pole?” Talia teased, knocking him with her hip as she approached Theo with her empty mug.
Zoey snickered, stopping when Kai sent her a wounded look. “You’ve got muscles, babe,” she assured him.
“Wanna arm wrestle?” Talia asked, flexing her bicep. I had to admit, it was muscular—even more muscular than Theo’s, and he had impressive muscles. It was clear that Talia worked out.
“Maybe later, once I’ve hit the whiskey,” Kai grinned.
“You’re right. You’d have to be drunk to not feel the pain and the shame of losing to me again!” Talia snorted, holding her mug out for Theo to fill. He poured the rest of the coffee in, then immediately set to making more.
Jasmine leaned over to whisper something in my ear. I met her halfway. “Talia is a three-time winner of the Canadian Professional Arm Wrestling Championship,” she explained. “The guys always challenge her when drunk, but she dominates every time.”
“I believe it,” I said with a laugh.
Desmond finished cooking up the rest of the burritos, and once everyone was fed, he grabbed one for himself and joined us. Theo waited until he’d finished brewing more coffee before walking over with the percolator. He filled a tin mug for himself and paused in front of Jasmine and me.
“Want a top up?” he asked us.
“If everyone’s already had some?” I asked. I was feeling more than a little tired from yesterday’s…adventures.
“I can always make more,” he grinned, topping my tin mug up before moving to Jasmine’s. Once everyone had a top up, he set the percolator down on the stove and joined us.
Jasmine and I sipped our coffee while the rest of the group focused on eating. Everyone seemed as tired as I was, but there was a sense of peace over the camp.
I tried not to stare at Theo, opting to glance over my shoulder toward the beach, watching the raindrops hit the water steadily. The sound of the droplets hitting the leaves around me mixed with the smell of rain and forest was oddly calming.
I had to admit, I was loving this trip. Being outdoors like this felt healing . I wasn’t stressing about my future, I wasn’t thinking about my sister, or holding the ache of what she’d done so closely to me. Yeah, it still stung when I thought about it, but that sting was distant.
When my gaze moved forward again, I caught Theo watching me with a reverent smile.
“It’s nice, huh? Even when it’s raining.”
“It really is,” I nodded, feeling that same hope blooming in my chest. Jasmine’s words from up at the tent echoed in my mind, but my earlier fears about falling for him and ending up hurt seemed to evaporate with his green eyes on me.