No Matter What

12

I'm startled by the sudden car door opening, having had fallen asleep while reading again. Childe nearly throws Xiao into the back seat and slams the door, then throws himself into the drivers seat the same way.

My brow raises, looking between the two of them. "Everything alright...?"

Childe's lips purse. "It's fine," he says. "Xiao, belt. Let's get out of here."

I look back at my son, who surprisingly complies without any back talk. I blink, then glance back at Childe. "What did you do to him? Why is he so well behaved?"

Childe just shakes his head, pulling out of the lot quickly, and we're back on track to the campsite. I eye him, then slowly focus back down on my book, letting it go for now.

We make it to the campsite in only fifteen more minutes of silence. Childe pulls in, and we collect our site number and parking pass, before driving through the dirt road in our black Bentley, receiving odd looks through the windows, and backing it into a drive next to our patch of land.

The three of us get out, big stretches across board, and Childe immediately goes to open the camper on top. Our neighbors stare like they've never seen a camper on top of a Bentley before, and I give a small smirk and wave. They switch up quickly, waving back, and I chuckle to myself and go to the trunk to take out the lawn chairs.

Xiao has taken a seat on top of the picnic table, texting away as usual. "Nugget," I holler, "are you going to help or what? Get your arse over here." He speed texts, standing up with his face still lock on, then pockets it and jogs over, grabbing one of the chairs.

We set up pretty quickly, getting the tents up and positioning the chairs around the fireplace. Childe decides to fire up the grill and we have good ole American cheeseburgers for lunch. We spend the day relaxing and I convince Childe to allow Xiao to go over to the park area by himself, considering this is a private campsite with security and you have to pay to get in.

Childe and I play card games, go on a walk, and I'm even able to get him to stop texting Xiao to check on him for a full hour. It's getting dark by the time Xiao comes back to the campsite. Childe has the fireplace going, and the two of us look up to find him no longer on his phone.

"Wow," I say. "Not texting? You were out there actually taking in your surroundings?"

"My phone died," he says, grabbing the charger and plugging it into the power box at the site. I shake my head, smirking as he plops down into the chair beside me, looking at the dark screen in anticipation. I snatch it from his hand and put it on the picnic table behind us.

"Come on," I say. "Be in the present for a bit."

"Hey, I'm gonna go to the toilets real quick," Childe says, getting up. "I'll be back. The marshmallows are in the cooler if you wanna start the s'mores. This'll be a minute."

"Taking a shit?" Xiao says. "You don't need me to come help you wipe your ass?"

Childe sighs, but it turns into a laugh. "Give me some credit here, you were alone this whole time, weren't you? Don't have too much fun without me." He shakes his head and jogs through the dark path until he's but a spec in the distance.

Xiao watches him until he can't anymore, then turns to me. I give him a smile, ruffling his hair.

"So what have you been up to?" I say. "What's going on lately, Nugget? You don't really talk to us much anymore. How was your first year in high school?"

Xiao brings his knees up for a hug in the chair and shrugs. "It was fine."

"Yeah? Are you enjoying it so far?"