Together

54. Well, well, well

I feel worthy somehow
Please, I don't want to go down, down
The new world is calling me now
Please don't let me go down, down
-Jacob Banks

JJ and Kie have restarted the fire by the time Kie's parents had woken up. They cook bacon and eggs in the cast iron skillet that Mike brought and Anna boils water so they can have instant coffee with their breakfast.

By the afternoon the firewood that Mike had brought with had dwindled significantly. Probably because they stayed up much later than expected the night before in conversation.

Anna scolds him for not thinking ahead about how much they would need and Mike retorts that they haven't been camping in over a decade and reminds her that she thought he was overkilling it when they packed. The mini squabble garnished hushed laughs and broken straight faces from the younger couple, who thought it was oh so amusing to watch the couple bicker with each other.

Mike decides that they will need to go in search of more wood if they want to make it the rest of the weekend and be able to cook the food they brought in the coolers.

Kie initially offers JJ and her to go in search of it, but Mike quickly shoots that down, claiming he doesn't want them to get lost. Instead it's decided that JJ and Mike will be the ones to hunt down the fire food.

"Don't worry, Kie," JJ quips. "The menfolk will do all the heavy lifting for yah."

"Oh sure," she responds sarcastically. "Just gonna leave the womenfolk to clean dishes and do laundry."

JJ could see she was annoyed but her true emotion was nervous. At first, he thought it may be because he was going into the woods alone with her dad. That's at least why he was shitting bricks, but then she glanced back at Anna, who was reading a magazine she'd brough for the trip that had "College Prep" in bold letters on the cover and he guessed what the real issue was.

He knew things still weren't great between Kie and her mom, and Anna hadn't really stopped her jabs even on the ride up. She pointed out anything and everything that could relate to college or college prep, clearly not accepting Kie's decision to drop a couple classes too well. She even managed to turn the topic of turkey bacon into AP biology and based on the mental gymnastics that took, he could only imagine what it would be like with an actual magazine about the subject.

JJ gave her a reassuring smile when Mike prompted him to hustle, daylight burning and all and kissed her swiftly on the cheek before turning to follow Mike into the wooded area.

Mike explained that they would be looking for wood farther in instead of around the campsite because the area was too green and unlikely to burn. Them also not having an axe to chop a tree branch or two down meant they would have to rely on what was dead on the ground.

They found a comfortable silence as they continued onward. JJ kept replaying Kie's face in his mind when she saw Anna pull out that fucking college prep magazine. Like, even on a family trip she had to make it about schools and shit? Really?

Wasn't fair at all, and honestly Mike didn't seem much better. Kie was terrified about having to tell him that she wasn't going to major in business. And no, she wasn't planning on just changing her major when they weren't looking like he suggested. She valued her relationship with her parents too much to do that.

The more he thought about it the more it bothered him. The more it bothered him, the less he paid attention. It wasn't until he felt a pull on his collar that forced him to look up that he noticed that he was about two steps away from falling into a ravine.

"Are you deaf?" Mike snaps, releasing his collar.

JJ shakes his head, a little shocked that he wasn't at the bottom of a cliff side and a lot shocked that it was Mike that pulled him back.