Kids In Love (Short Story)

Chapter 6

"It's actually very beautiful out here," I commented after exiting the van.

"Told you so," Katie grinned, skipping to my side so that she could look at the scenery before us.

When I said that it was beautiful, it was an understatement. The van was parked so that we were surrounded by tall trees that resembled Christmas trees. The name of them doesn't come to mind at the moment, but I'm guessing that I'll figure it out at the most irrelevant time.

The grass was a beautiful shade of green, very fitting for the summer weather in California. I could see a few benches scattered around the campsite and a small stream just meters away from us.

"Well," Katie clapped, "Let's get the back all set up," she finished, walking towards the van and grabbing the blankets and sheets that we had taken out of my motel room.

"How do the back seats go down?" Katie questioned, sliding open the back door of the van.

"I don't know," I answered honestly.

"Seriously?" she began, "This is your van."

Technically it wasn't my van. I drove the thing for maybe two hours at the most.

"Let's read the manual or something," I suggested, opening the passenger side door to retrieve the manual out of the glove compartment.

"Gimmie," Katie stated, grabbing the manual from my grasp.

I chuckled at her and watched as she sat down on the floor of the van with the door slid open and began to read. I liked to watch her read because it made me smile when this girl concentrated on something so hard.

She pulled her lower lip between her teeth as her eyebrows furrowed. She nodded to herself once or twice while she was reading and stood when she was finished.

"Seems simple enough, come help me," Katie ordered, handing the manual back to me.

I smiled and stood from the passenger seat where I'd been watching her and tossed the manual in my place before helping her with what she wanted done.

"There!" Katie exclaimed excitedly when we had finally finished.

"This looks pretty nice actually," I commented in slight shock. I wasn't sure that we would be able to pull this off as well as we did.

"Never underestimate me," Katie smirked, pulling herself into the back of the van.

I followed her actions and sat beside her, leaning my weight back onto my hands as I took in the scenery around us once again.

"It is so beautiful up here," Katie stated.

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to follow up with what she said, so I just nodded and gave her a small smile.

Katie turned to me and smiled, poking my arm and glancing across the ink that covered a bit of my arm.

"What does that represent?" she questioned, pointing at the small 'A' on the inside of my left elbow.

I smiled, "My mother's name is Anne, so I just got the 'A' to represent that," I answered.

Katie nodded and gave an indifferent facial expression. It was quiet after that small exchange. I didn't mind, though, because it was nice listening to the birds chirping and the soft sounds of the leaves on the trees being blown by the gentle wind.

"So what are we going to do until we go to sleep?" Katie wondered aloud.

I shrugged and turned to her, "You're the one who drug me out here when I could have had other plans, so you tell me," I smirked.