camping <3
By A. Twyla Jensen I like her. I like her a lot actually. Sometimes I look into that girl’s eyes and wonder what she’s seen- I wonder if she’s seeing me. Like, really seeing me.
“We’re going camping,” she texted me one morning. “I’ve decided.”
My stomach was filled with butterflies- camping! I quickly texted back: “Where did this idea come from?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “You said you liked camping one time, and I’m bored.”
When the weekend finally came, she pulled up to my house. I anxiously locked my doors while her toned arms picked up the suitcase and packed it into the trunk. “Ready to go?” she asked me, grinning. I stopped my fidgeting and stared into those eyes.
“Yes,” I smiled.
We got to the lake and campground midday, after enjoying a couple of peanut butter sandwiches she had made. Normally, I hate peanut butter sandwiches- they stick to the roof of your mouth and give you peanut breath- but she made them, so they tasted of love and sweetness. We giggled and clumsily tried to put together the tent.
“Hold it up on that side!” she called to me.
“What side?” I called back.
“The right side!”
I dropped the side I was holding to hold up my fingers in L and not-L fashion. We laughed more.
“Let’s go rent a canoe!”
The man at the canoe rental office down the road from us stared from me to her, to me again. He saw every glance I gave to her, every laugh and nervous sweaty palm moment I presented to her, and he was skeptical. He winked at me as I gaped her strength when she was picking up the canoe.
“I think you guys are a very cute couple,” he told us.
“Oh, we’re not a couple,” she corrected him. “I mean, we…” she trailed off and turned around, grabbing the canoe paddles from the side of the shack.
I bit my lip. “Thanks,” I whispered to him. We walked back to the water in silence. Once we got into the water, the giggles resumed. When we made it to the middle of the lake, she stopped paddling and looked around her.
I stopped paddling too and looked at her.
“Do you ever wonder how fish are in hurricanes?” she asked me abruptly.
“Uh… no?” I chuckled. She was serious.
“Like, do they know the water is churning? Like this?” she began to rock the boat back and forth, smiling that evil grin.
“Thea!” I burst out laughing, trying to hold on. “You’re gonna tip the boat!”
“Might as well join me then, huh?” she yelled over the noise of the splashing.
I started rocking the boat too. Water came up from all sides, hitting the sides of the boat more violently than even a hurricane would. I could feel the boat about to tip. “Aw, shit!” she screamed, still laughing. “Here we go!”
Splash!
The boat tipped. I felt myself fall into the water, and opened my eyes while below the surface. I could see her for a second, splashing around, but I quickly came back up. She roared with laughter and clung to the tipped canoe. I started laughing, too but stopped when I realized something horrifying. Her top was gone. She didn’t seem to care, though; she held the garment in her hands. “Thea! Your top!” I gasped.
She smiled at me, still half laughing. “I know,” she said. “I think I love you.”
My heart stopped beating for a second. “What?” I asked her, dumbfounded.
She stopped laughing and stared into my eyes. “I… think… I… LOVE… you.” she said slowly.
“I think I love you, too.” I choked back a tear. I started to swim closer to her.
“I’m pretty sure you can touch the bottom,” she pointed to the bottom of the lake. “Not to kill the mood or anything.”
I let my feet fall on the ground and inched closer to her. The water didn’t feel so cold any more, with her so close to me. She let go of the canoe and rested her top on there. I took off my bathing suit top, too.
“Just to make it equal,” I winked at her.
I wrapped my arms around her, and she wrapped her arms around me. “I think I love you,” she whispered again.
“I love you, too,” I mumbled. “May I?” I gazed at her lips.
Before she answered me, she leaned forward and pulled me close. We kissed. It was the best feeling in the world to have her arms wrapped around me. My heart was warm and happy, truly happy because I knew… I loved her. I loved her so much. And she loved me.
I looked into her eyes when the kiss was finished. I knew she could see me. Like, truly see me.