If Summer Never Ends

Chapter 9

Chapter 9:

As soon as the vehicle came to a halt, I unlocked my door and leapt out of the car to retrieve our camping essentials from the trunk. I wasn't sure if the car had come to a complete stop, now that I think about it, but I didn't care; I was so excited to spend a whole weekend with Luke. 

When the rest of the family exited the car, Aunt Julia raised her eyebrows at me. "You couldn't make it any more obvious that you like him."

"I don't like him!" I exclaimed, even though deep down, it was partly true.

She helped me unload the tent, our bags, and all of the basic necessities for camping: food, bug spray, toilet paper, blankets, etc. Two figures approached us and Uncle Matt locked the doors to the car. 

"Julia! Matt!" Beth called, a man trailing behind her. They both wore jeans, boots, and flannel shirts, obviously decked out for camping. "We're so glad you could join us this weekend!"

Aunt Julia smiled. "Thank you for inviting us to tag along."

The man, who I presumed was Peter, stood next to Beth and wrapped his arm around her waist. She shook her head and pushed him forward. 

"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce him. This is my fiance, Peter. Peter, this is Julia, Matt, Gabby, Evelyn, and Rose," she explained, pointing down the row of people. 

He shook all of our hands and gave us a friendly, warm smile. "It's nice to meet you all."

Bethany began to reminisce how she, my mom, and Aunt Julia would always get together whenever she visited from Chicago when I was younger and how close the three of them were. Unfortunately, she had to explain what happened to my parents and the situation I was in, and Peter frowned but didn't say anything to me. He didn't apologize for something he couldn't control. He just frowned at my depressing life story. I liked him already. 

The two of them led us deep into the forest where they had set up their camp. A big, green tent was pinned to the ground, and piles of wood were placed in a pit where I assumed the fire would be. There was a small canopy of trees hovering over the campsite, providing a shady spot to cool off. The bristle of the tree branches and leaves had caused memories of the past to appear in my head. 

Luke and I used to love camping as children. We would lay on the grass and stare up at the stars in the sky, catch fireflies, and roast S'mores just about every other weekend. It didn't surprise me that they had set up camp in the same spot we used to camp in when we were little. That was the thing I loved about the forest: it never changed. The dirt was still dirt. The trees were still trees. The air was still the same air, maybe a little more polluted, but it was still just about the same. 

"Gabby!" Uncle Matt called. "Can you help me set up this tent? I have no idea how this thing works." He scrunched his eyebrows and ran his hand through his hair, trying to figure it out.

I rolled my eyes. "Uncle Matt," I whined, bending down to pick up a booklet of paper off of the ground. I wiped away the mud so that it was readable. 

"Read the instructions. They tell you how to set it up."

He flipped through the pages and then tossed them aside. "I'll just wing it," he shrugged. 

Genuinely, I just did not understand the mechanics and workings of the male brain sometimes. They made things a lot more difficult then they really were. 

"Do you know where Luke is?" I asked Bethany, whom was helping a distressed Uncle Matt along with Aunt Julia. 

She pursed her lips. "Um, he was down by the lake the last time I saw him. He's probably still there."