The Road To Glory

Camping: It's Cathartic

PRE-CHAPTER DISCLAIMER: This chapter (as well as the next) contains a great deal of language that could be taken as homophobic, and generally bigoted. Speaking from a personal perspective, I don't condone or encourage the use of the word "fag" or any other homophobic slur when directed at anyone, gay or otherwise. It's how the characters talk. If this language offends you heavily, I advise skipping this and the next chapter as the language in both is much heavier then it's been in previous chapters. 

About a month had passed since that night in the basement. Though I'd tried talking to Adrianne since, she had been stubbornly avoiding me almost nonstop. Tay was busy with class. Isobel was even more devout then ever since she'd decided I was being distant and apparently we needed to spend more time together to fix that. Of course, Adrianne avoiding me meant less time with Tuck, which in this case was actually a fringe benefit.

I dunno, something about kissing my best friend's girlfriend made me feel guilty about hanging out with him. I guess I'm just kind of weird like that. It didn't really help that we weren't exactly lighting it up on the field, either. In the last three games, we'd only went two and one. I hadn't really been seeing the ball a whole lot, and we'd gotten into more then one screaming match on the sidelines over it. On top of all that, I had college decisions to make. So yeah, not a great stretch for me. Apparently it hadn't been so great for Tuck either, because after a Thursday practice he propositioned me with this:

"Hey, man. It's a bye week. Time to cut loose a little bit. Come out camping with the boys!"

I stopped trying to cram my shoulder-pads into my locker for a moment, and turned to look at him. "I've got homework," I answered uncertainly "but I'm not sure. Who's going?"

"As of right now? Johnson, Lewis, and Lachowski for sure and maybe some other guys, too. C'mon you've gotta go. We never get to hang out anymore!"

"Adrianne's not coming?" 

"Nah," Tuck replied "It's a boys' weekend out. She says she doesn't want to be the only girl for miles if it gets cold out and spooning starts going on."

"I don't know what her issue is," I grunted, finally managing to shut my locker with my shoulder "It's not gay if it's just to keep warm."

"I'm saying!" Tuck agreed, with a nod "So, you in?"

"I dunno," I replied "I'll think--"

"Cool!" Tuck cut me off with a laugh "We'll pick you up at like noon on Saturday. We've got Monday off, so that leaves us plenty of time to get some actual adventure in. You're not going to regret this!"

He clapped me on the shoulder and jogged off to go drive home. I wasn't sure how correct he'd be that I wasn't going to regret it, but I supposed it was better then sitting at home playing video games and agonizing over what had happened with Adrianne. 

The trip came faster then I thought it would. I was somewhere between anticipation and dread, as far as the trip went. Best-case scenario, I forgot all my troubles and had a great time with some life-long buddies at some park in the middle of nowhere. Worst-case scenario, I spent the weekend thinking about Isobel, and Adrianne and what an absolute idiot I'd been.

My parents were more enthusiastic then I'd hoped about the prospect of my going on this trip. My father, a former fullback himself in his High School days, was an overly enthusiastic proponent of team bonding. I sort of expected him to be behind the idea one hundred percent. My mother, an elementary school teacher, I figured would act the part and at least try and convince me to stay at home and catch up on homework. Instead, she was equally enthusiastic. Something tells me that their upcoming anniversary coinciding with this trip played into it more then a little bit.