lovers rock | jay kelso

004, camping out

CARMENS POVS

gwen and nates mom got pretty tired of us hanging around in their basement all day.

so tired, that she convinced her new boyfriend to lend us his RV to take it out camping for the weekend. she claims we need more "outdoor time."

if she saw what we did & what we've been doing this summer, she'd certainly disagree.

anyways, this is how we ended up here.

taking the main road from point place, to madison in the chunky RV. nikki road in the passengers seat next to nate, who has had most experience with driving. much to his dismay, of course. the boy wanted nothing less but to not have to drive.

but his mom made him, and gwen threatened to snitch if he swapped with jay.

"did nobody get anything gluten free?" ozzie asks with a glare as he goes through the bite-sized pantry in the RV kitchen filled to the brim with everything, but gluten free foods.

"no, we went shopping at walmart. besides, nobody here is allergic to gluten." gwen answers with a chuckle. "but i'm on a diet! i can't do gluten," ozzie complains with a huff.

"should've brought your own snacks then!" nikki exclaims from the front. "well i THOUGHT we were more inclusive & aware nowadays. guess not," he says as he begrudgingly picks up a brownie and takes a seat on the couch next to gwen on the couch.

"nik, why don't you come sit back here with us?" i ask, curious as to why the girl is sitting up there. they're not even talking. literally just sitting in silence.

"hell no! this is the first time i get to sit in the front when nate's driving. jay always calls shot gun." she says, giving jay a nasty glare as she does so.

"be quicker," jay simply says. "looks like i was quicker then you this time!" nikki argues back.

"nikki, you're up there because i don't want to be." jay says humbly before throwing the blanket over himself and laying his head in my lap.

"whatever," nikki slightly grumbles.

"how much longer till we're there?" gwen asks, starting to get impatient. "i don't know. i can't read maps", nate says in an imbecilic tone.

..so where are we going then?

"what do you mean you can't read maps, nate? how do you know where we're going?" i ask, suddenly feeling very iffy about letting nate drive any further.

"i've just been winging it."

he leaves a shocked look on everyone's face as he says this.

i'll be surprised if we even make it to madison. let alone to the campsite itself.

brushing off the thoughts, i start to get myself comfortable to go to sleep. it's 10 pm, and we got on the road at 4. our parents kept nagging us about leaving earlier so it doesn't get dark while we're on the way, but of course, we didn't listen.

we also didn't expect to not be there 6 hours into the trip though.

madison isn't even 3 hours away. but with all the pit stops, arguing, and traffic, we've turned a 2 hour trip, to a 6 hour and ongoing trip. are we surprised?

no.

we can't get anything done with this group.

as i start to doze off, i notice ozzie and gwen are already fast asleep. i can hear nikki's slight humming as she taps her fingers on the window, her feet up on the dashboard about to fall into a state of slumber herself.

re-positioning myself, so i'm now laying next to jay on the couch, i feel his arm snake around my waist as he pulls me in closer to him, aimlessly muttering something under his breath as he sleeps. feeling myself finally let sleep overcome me, i pull the blanket completely over our bodies and doze off.

9:25 AM
NARRATERS POV

4 out of the 6 teens had woken up almost perfectly in unison as the sun shone through the open window of the RV.

nate had been the only awake for the remaining hour of the trip, and set the whole thing up at the site by himself before going to bed.

ozzie, nikki, gwen, and nate were the ones up, meaning jay and carmen were still asleep, snuggled under the blanket.

everyone knew they were close. they grew up with eachother. but this time, something was different.

"this feels weirdly more intimate than it usually does." nikki stated as they surrounded the two teens, trying to figure out what it exactly was going on.

"it does, doesn't it?" gwen says with a tilted head. "like, there's cuddling, and then there's cuddling. they are cuddling. have we missed this the whole time?"

"yes." ozzie says as he holds his head up in pride. "i've been watching though, i saw the second their dynamic changed. i am an empath," he said proudly before making his way out the RV.  "cmon weirdos stop watching them sleep, it's nice out."

nate, nik, and gwen suddenly come to the realization that we're doing is immensely creepy, and follow ozzie outside as they start to explore the campsite.

JAYS POV

this is the second time i've caught myself staring at carmen in her sleep.

i really gotta stop. but i'm not going too.

i feel her stir around in my arms as she lifts her head out the blanket, stretching as she does so. "where is everybody?" she asks looking around the empty RV in confusion.

i hadn't even notice there was nobody in here, despite having woken about 5 minutes ago. carmen just has that affect on people i guess.

just as i'm about to tell her i don't know, nate's laugh is heard from outside. we get up, pushing the blanket on the floor and heading to open the door.

i squint as she pushes it open, not being used to the harsh sun of the early mornings. her hairs in its natural state, which makes the look of it flowing in the wind 10x better.

carmen has somewhat loose, but bouncy curls which somehow always looked nice despite the lack of attention she gives her hair.

"there they are!" gwen exclaims as she notices the two teens standing at the door of the RV. taking two steps down, carmen's rushes over to gwen to give her a hug as she greets everyone, me following shortly after.

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NARRATERS POV

"so, what should we do today?" carmen asks as rests on the large blanket they set down over the grassiest area of the site. she lays face down, her arms folded beneath her with her legs crossed. "lake?" gwen asks.

"we always go to the lake" jay adds.

"what do you wanna do then, jay?" gwen asks sarcastically.

"i dunno. we can just walk around, we'll think of something."

maybe going camping wasn't the best idea. the kids had none of their local stores, and no sense of navigation what so ever. just miles and miles of dirt, grass, mountains, and lakes.

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