Camping Trip

Chapter Eighteen

Their date, Aiden decided it was a date, was surprisingly normal. He didn't mean normal in a bad way. But normal in an unexpected way. They watched an action movie. Ate popcorn. Went shopping, spent most of the time in Eason's, where Aiden amused himself with the music section as Lucas stared at the rows and rows of books, and then stopped for coffee.

They were hanging out.

But it was kind of more.

Aiden hoped it was more.

"This is good." He sipped the bitter coffee, enjoying how it burnt a little on the way down.

Lucas had gotten coffee too, but he was less impressed. "It's too strong." He put down his milky cup and put a slice of cake between the two of them, setting up two forks.

"I don't really like sweets."

"I know" Lucas lifted up his fork and took a bit off the orange coloured cake. "That's why I got coffee cake."

Aiden grinned. "I guess I can try a bit."

The café was quiet, and there wasn't anyone to find them sharing a cake like this strange.

"UL." Lucas broke the pleasant silence. "You're doing a music course?"

"A mixture of practical and theory." Aiden nodded, "If I don't get into that one there's another course in Cork I could do, but it's mostly theory. And you? Engineering?"

"Yeah. It'd be easy to get a job out of." Lucas sounded so uninterested that Aiden stopped eating and drinking.

"You sound excited."

Lucas snorted, but his expression was more serious as he toyed with a piece of the cake. "It's stressing me out. I don't really have anything I want to do. I mean, there are things I want to do, but none of it really leads to a job."

"I get what you mean." Aiden really did. There weren't exactly jobs falling from the sky for someone who could play violin and do nothing else. Teaching. But the idea was very unappealing.

"Music." Lucas said, as if shaking off the sudden serious mood. "Want to go to a concert?"

"Sure." He agreed immediately, "Who do you want to see? It might be hard to get tickets this short notice."

A funny look crossed Lucas's face. "I uh, I sort of got them already."

"Oh." Aiden was a little taken back, but with Lucas watching his reaction he forced himself not to overthink it. "So who are we going to see?" He wanted to ask when he'd gotten them exactly.

Lucas relaxed, and a confident smile replaced the unease. "That will depend."

"Depend?"

"On how many performances he can get around to. I got us Electric Picnic tickets."

He couldn't help the smile that broke out, or the excitement that curdled in his stomach. "Really?"

"Yup. Also, I think we should just be friends."

When Lucas said concert what he meant was music festival. He meant expensive music festival. A three-day event. A three-day party. It was one of those things Aiden had always wanted to go to, but never seriously considered it.

Reason number one; partying wasn't his strong suit.

Reason number two; the horror stories about drugs every year.

Reason number three; Camping.

Aiden didn't know if he was mentally prepared for more camping so soon after getting away from the woods.