Nothing More - Sam Kiszka

Chapter 23

"Nat, wake up baby," she hears, causing her to stir in her spot, still not fully awake enough to open her eyes, "c'mon, we gotta get ready to go."

She sighs as her body wakes up, her eyes opening briefly until the light hits them and they instantly close again. She hears Sam chuckle, his hand moving up and down her back soothingly. "I know, you can sleep all you want in the car."

Eventually, she was able to wake up enough to sit up and rub her eyes open, looking over at Sam and leaning her head on his shoulder. Since he was up, he decided that waking her up would be more pleasant than an alarm so early, which is exactly what he did.

Today they were leaving for a little camping trip with everyone about 2 hours away. They wanted to leave by 7 so that they had the entire day to get settled in and explore the area, even though all of the guys had already been there. Natalia and Ashlynn were both new additions, and, of course, not morning people.

She gets up and stretches, taking Sam's hand and walking to the bathroom on their side of the apartment. "Where are we going?" He asks, an amused expression resting on his face as he follows the half-asleep girl.

"Shower," she mumbles, not ready to talk yet.

He laughs to himself and shakes his head, watching her go over and turn the water in the shower on. "I already showered, Nat."

She looks over with a displeased look, shrugging her shoulders as if the solution was as clear as day. "Take another one."

After a few additional minutes of convincing, they both stepped in, Natalia crossing her arms over her chest and immediately getting under the water in an attempt to warm up. After being under her blankets all night, she felt absolutely frozen. Sam drapes his arms over her shoulders, pulling her into his chest, where she rests her head. His fingers glide with the water across her back, feeling her press a couple of lazy kisses to his sternum as she closes her eyes.

"Don't you fall back asleep on me, Lia," he smiles, running his free hand through her wet hair, "let's get you cleaned up real quick so we can get going."

He ends up helping her wash and condition her hair, eventually stepping out to get redressed while she finishes up washing her body. When she gets out, he wraps her in a towel and leaves her to get the rest of the way ready while he gets their bags into the living room to get ready for everyone else to come in the van they were taking.

Natalia gets dressed in a tank top and a pair of comfy shorts, not much caring how she looks for the car ride, brushing her teeth and leaving her hair to dry naturally. She was thankful that the guys convinced her to pack the night before so that she had one less thing to worry about. When she steps into the living room she gives a little wave to Sam and Danny, who return the gesture from where they were chatting on the couch. "Sleeping beauty finally joins us," Danny smiles, "they'll be here in like 5 minutes."

She gives a silent nod, going into the kitchen and making coffee as fast as she can will herself to move, sitting down in the living room and drinking it while she listens to the ongoing conversation. The mug didn't leave her lips for more than a few seconds, knowing that she had to finish her drink before they got there but also using it to prevent having to join in on whatever the guys were talking about.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door that Danny got up to answer, prompting Natalia to go rinse her mug and put it in the dishwasher. She gets a water bottle to bring with her, going into the living room to find Josh who was helping take bags. "Natalia, my peach, you look elated to be awake," he grins, picking the bag up off of the ground and pretending to be hurt at the dirty look he receives.

Sam puts a gentle hand on the small of her back guiding her with him out the door. He seemed more tense than earlier, but she was too tired to give it any more thought. Jake sat in the driver's seat with his hand resting on Ashlynn's knee, who was in the passenger's seat. He greets everyone as they get in, Josh and Danny in the middle and Sam and Natalia taking the very back seat.