Friday, June 25, 2010

29. Camping

I didn't have time to proof it, but I wanted to give yas something to read anyway... lol hope you still like it =)

“You’re going where?!” Emily gawked as Brooks walked around his room, throwing different things into his over night bag. He moved past her, making sure he left lots of room between them, so as not to ignite any inappropriate feelings.
Although, as soon as he thought about trying to stay away from her to avoid those thoughts, he started thinking about it. This was just fucked.

“Camping. You know… into the great outdoors… the wild unknown… man vs. nature and all that shit?”

Emily huffed and followed after him as he left the room, heading down the hall. “Ok but… you can’t just… you don’t know how to camp!”

Brooks stopped in his tracks and turned around to stare at her incredulity. “Of course I know how to camp… you sleep outside. Sleeping outside is camping, it’s not rocket science.” Brooks chuckled as Cosmo stared at him from Emily’s arms, with the same look on her face that Emily was currently giving him. “Look we’re not even going that far. We’ll be fine… and we’ll be back soon.”

He slung his bag over his shoulder and leaned forward to give Cosmo a quick kiss. He pulled back and looked up at Emily, close enough to smell the intoxicating scent of vanilla and jasmine.
Clearing his throat, Brooks pulled back, and awkwardly looked away. “Alright well… see ya tomorrow!”

Emily sighed, but didn’t argue as he disappeared through the door, leaving her standing in his living room, exchanging a worried glance with his daughter.


Brooks didn’t exactly tell Emily where he was going, other then the fact that it was camping. And it was camping, they were sleeping outside, even if it was in the backyard of their apartment complex.

He laughed when he came around the corner and saw the tent, deflated on the ground. It was laid out smoothly, and Brooks could tell by the way the poles and directions were spilled around the green fabric, that Mike had attempted to set it up himself.
Rolling his eyes, Brooks dropped his bag and went to work, assembling to tent easily, within five minutes. Brooks climbed inside and laid on the plastic floor, his hands behind his head and his eyes focused on the highest point in the roof, where the poles met.

The tent was hot and stuff. Brooks could feel the weight of the air as it passed through his nose, down into his chest. He figured he’d enjoy it while it lasted, the night was bound to be colder and knew there was no way they could go back inside, not after he’d already told Emily he’d be gone all night. She’d think he was an idiot; or a bigger idiot then she already thought he was.
“Wow!” Mike chirped as he unzipped the door and poked his head in. “This is awesome! I was out here all morning trying to get it up… I thought we’d be sleeping under the open sky.”

Brooks snorted and propped himself up on his elbows. “I told you, I’m experienced… tonight’s gonna be awesome.”

“Alright well, it’s my first time so… don’t expect too much.”

“Umm… excuse me?” Mike halted his movement into the tent to turn around and stare at a guy that was looking back at him. “Sorry… I didn’t mean to, ah, interrupt… but I was looking for Emily Campbell, I was suppose to be meeting her to go over some last minute plans for my brother‘s birthday party. I rang her buzzer but no one answered… I was wondering if you guys might know where I could find her.”

“Oh. She’s in my place. Under the name Laich.” Brooks called out at the guy, feeling hugely relieved when he glanced past Mike and saw how unattractive the guy was.
The guy gave him an awkward glance, before saying thank you and disappearing again. “Anyway, like I was saying… camping is awesome!”

Mike grinned and climbed into the tent, tossing a sleeping bag at Brooks and unrolling his own before sliding on top of it. He laid still for a minute, before glancing over at Brooks. “So what do we do now?”


“Brooks!” Emily yelled loudly, causing Brooks to grimace as he crawled to the tent’s zippered door, still trying to hide his handful of cards from Mike. He unzipped it and looked up, disappointed to find her standing on the balcony, staring down at him. “I thought you were going camping!” She laughed loudly, leaving Brooks to assume that the guy had come and gone, probably telling her how he’d known where she was.

“We are camping!”

“You guys are like ten feet from the apartment complex!”

“IT’S STILL CAMPING!” Brooks shouted, annoyed when she laughed harder.

Emily rolled her eyes and turned around, heading back through the sliding, patio door. “Whatever the fuck you have to do to have fun…”

When Brooks moved back in he glanced over at Mike. “Fuckin women!”

“Yah!”

“Who needs them?”

“Not me!” Mike answered enthusiastically, adjusting the cards he’d won from their ‘Go Fish’ game.

“Me either!”

“Fuck em!” Mike reiterated, as Brooks took his seat across from him.

“Yah!”

The boys resumed their game, playing another three - all of which Brooks lost - before Mike‘s stomach rumbled so loudly, it interrupted his train of thought. Mike glanced up at him and shot him an apologetic glance before asking, “so… what did Emily pack for supper?”


“… And then, out from behind the house… came…”

“WAIT!” Mike screamed, holding his hands out in front of him as Brooks opened his mouth to speak, the light of the flash light casting dark shadows across his face as he held it under his chin.

“What now? I thought you wanted to hear a ghost story.” Brooks groaned, trying to keep his grin concealed as Mike began to squirm uncomfortably, pulling the sleeping bag tight around his shoulders.

He shrugged, causing the blue, water-proof surface to crinkle around him. “I did, I just didn’t- let’s do something else.”

“Cause you’re-”

“-I’m not scared!” He snapped back, to which Brooks rolled his eyes. He flicked off the flashlight and tossed it aside, not pressing the matter.
They sat in silence for a few minutes before a noise outside caused them both to pause, eyes wide as they stared at each other through the darkness.
"What do you think that was!?"

Brooks shrugged, trying to sound like he wasn’t nervous. "Ummm…. a cat?"

"It sounded too big to be a cat... a dog?"

"What kind of dog would be running around Washington at night? In this neighbourhood?”

"A stray dog?"

“Maybe.”

“A FERAL stray dog?” Mike whispered, his head snapping all around him.

Brooks cleared his throat and began to crawl towards the door. “I don’t really think that there are feral-” He was cut off by the sound of something large slamming across the side of the tent.

"A PACK OF WILD, FERAL, STRAY DOGS! RUN!" Mike screamed, pushing Brooks out of his way and slamming himself through the thin fabric of the tent, ripping the zipper off. He ran as fast as he could and managed to pull open the first door before he became trapped in the buzzer room of the apartment.
When Brooks came in a few seconds later, he was laughing loudly. “Shut up Brooks! Let’s just go in.”

Nodding, Brooks pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, opening it and directing Mike to go through.
They climbed the stairs slowly, Mike complaining about their night with every step. But Brooks also noticed that he didn’t once mention Denise’s name, something that he assumed meant his plan had worked.
Mike opened the apartment door and walked in quietly, heading to the kitchen and pulling open the fridge.

At the thought of food, Brooks felt his stomach grumble and he followed after Mike, leaning over his shoulder to see into the fridge.

When Brooks heard a chuckle behind him, he turned around to find Emily standing in nothing but one of his old workout shirts, leaning against the wall. “Well, well, if it isn’t Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.”

10 comments:

  1. OMFG!!!! I'M LAUGHING SO HARD!!!
    CAN'T STOP THE GIGGLES THAT ARE ERUPTING FROM MY MOUTH!

    You are amazing! And I want to read this to everyone I know, be they hockey fans or not!
    That was just GREAT!

    Please do another update soon, and make it hilarious like that!!!
    LOVED IT!!!

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  2. OMFG!! this was fucking hilarious! mike freaking out, lol.

    camping 10 feet from the apartments lol

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  3. AHAHAHAHAH!!! That was classic.

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  4. Update soon ...i love love love this story!!! LOL too funny

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  5. HAHAHAHAHA!!! Oh Mike... Only he would think that camping could mean in the back yard.

    But I think it was sweet of Brooks to take him "Camping" to get his mind off of Denise.

    What a good friend.

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  6. Yeah. That was pretty much friggen hilarious. Men are so (often) clueless.

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  7. LMFAO LMFAO LMFAO LMFAO! They would go camping in the backyard. Have I mentioned lately how much I love these boys? Because I do. Love them so freakin' much!

    This was so damn hilarious!! Especially Mike freaking out. Zigh, you're absolutely amazing! This was pretty much perfection right here. Love love love it!!(:

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  8. It's still camping... LOLOL!
    Loved this one. :)

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  9. Oh my I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!!
    “I told you, I’m experienced… tonight’s gonna be awesome.”

    “Alright well, it’s my first time so… don’t expect too much.”

    “IT’S STILL CAMPING!” & their‘Go Fish’ game.

    A PACK OF WILD, FERAL, STRAY DOGS! RUN!"

    It was all hilarious!!

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  10. Zigh, where are you?!?! We need some Brooks and Mike and Cosmo and Emily in our lives!

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