He Will Be Mine

Chapter 1: The Breakdown

*** Five Years Later : Matt's POV***

After my long-time girlfriend, Jessica, accepted my proposal the other night at dinner, the first thing I thought of was taking her to the same campground where my parents spent their 20th wedding anniversary. I guess because it was a special part of my childhood, and I so clearly remember how much they loved going there, it stands out in my mind as a good way to celebrate a marriage. They kept talking about how it felt like a second honeymoon for them, and for some reason, that has stuck with me all these years.

It took some serious persuading to convince her to come rough it in the woods with me, and honestly, it wasn't until her best friend, Meredith, invited herself to come along that Jessica was fully on board. Meredith has been with my best friend, Trevor, since we were 12 and in junior high together. Meredith is why Jessica and I got together in the first place, so it fits that she would come along to help us celebrate our engagement. And since it has become a group thing, we also invited Tyler, Trevor's and my roommate, to come too. Tyler is single, but he is always down for any excuse to drink beer and party, so he was game before we even asked him.

This morning we all packed our suitcases, tents, and camping gear into the back of my old secondhand minivan and set out on our 7-hour road trip.

The first thing Jessica asked me when I told her we would have to drive for several hours was, "Why can't we just camp somewhere around here?"

Her question brought a smile to my face because I remember always being the one to ask that when I was younger. Sure, there are plenty of good camping locations more locally, but this one is special to me. I guess at my ripe old age of 21 I have grown sentimental, and I want to go back to the same place where my extended family used to meet every summer to camp together.

"Because this place is right smack in the middle of where my dad's family lived all spread out around the country, so it was about an equal trip for all of us to make," I explained to her why my family chose it.

She argued a bit more that since we aren't meeting up with my family, it makes no sense, but eventually she stopped protesting. I think she could sense that it was important to me not just to go camping, but to do it there.

For the first few hours, Trevor and I sat up front and the girls were in the middle seat. They seemed to be content passing the time having their not-so-private girl talk and giggling together about practically everything. Every now and then, one of them would squeal when Tyler would randomly pop up from his seat in the back and mess with them. He's a goofball, but I love that about him. There's never a dull moment when he's around.

Partway through the trip we stopped for food and a bathroom break, and now Jessica is up front with me and Trevor moved to the middle with Meredith. Tyler seems to love being in the back, and we're happy to let him have it. Of course, Trevor and Meredith can't seem to keep their hands off each other and have spent most of the past couple hours making out. Tyler will reach forward to pull her hair every now and then, and it's actually kind of funny because she thinks Trevor did it and gets turned on by it. I don't think either of them have noticed that they have an extra participant.

Jessica and I have been talking about the wedding. We agree that we want to wait until we are finished with college before getting married, and since we are both heading into our last year of undergrad at the end of this month, that will be at least a year from now. It is still too far in the future to be worrying about the finer details, if you ask me, but she insists we need to at least pick a date and start making reservations for things. Apparently, venues can be booked up years in advance, so you want to book early to make sure to get your preferred date. Who knew?