Breathless | Colby Brock ✔️

19

The rest of our drive went surprisingly fast. Colby insisted that I told him stories about my wildest college experiences, and I was more than happy to oblige. It made me miss my friends from back home even more. I'd barely had time to think about it with all the craziness of the past few weeks, but talking about them made my heart twinge.

"You should have some of them come up. We can show them around, take them to parties, all that. I'd really like to meet them." Colby suggested, as if he was reading my mind. I smiled at the thought, but shook my head.

"They're all in classes, too, and there's no way they can afford to fly here for a weekend. Maybe during the summer."

We dropped the topic then, finally arriving at the national park. I quickly turned the camera back on, filming the view. It was absolutely gorgeous. There were huge rock formations, like mountains, and the alien trees were scattered for miles.

We paid to enter the park, as well as for our site. We got a small map to find our campsite, and it took us a bit to find it. It was elevated on one of the rock formations, with a fire pit and big clearing for us to set up our tent.

We went to work, putting everything up before the sun could start to set. Normally, when my family went camping, my siblings and I would argue for hours trying to erect the tents. But with Colby, he didn't show a spark of annoyance at me being a complete disaster, and he just untangled me when I somehow got myself trapped in our ropes.

I admired our set-up while Colby put in a fire. We had a beautiful view of the park, which went on for longer than we could even see. I was excited to see how clear our view of the stars would be.

We vlogged a bit more, showing off our handiwork and gorgeous view. After the fire was roaring, we made some food over it, sitting side by side on a rock next to the pit.

"We should hike up higher on the mountain, to watch the sunset," Colby said, looking up at the peak of the rock formation. We were settled about halfway down, and the climb didn't look too difficult. I agreed, and we finished our food before setting out.

Within minutes, we were huffing for air. I reminded myself to start going to the gym, so I didn't look like such an idiot the next time I went for a hike. As it got later, it cooled off, and I was thankful I had packed so heavily.

We timed our climb well, and at about the time we reached as high as we could, the sun was starting to set. Colby laid a blanket down, and we settled on it, sitting shoulder to shoulder.

The colors in the sky were absolutely incredible, like a watercolor painting of swirling pinks, reds, and oranges. The silhouettes of the Joshua trees stood against it. I pulled out my phone to take a picture, and then decided to turn it around and snap a few photos of Colby and I.

"This is the first time you're the one taking pictures of us," He commented, smiling. "You should post one."

"I don't even have makeup on, I am not posting those," I laughed while shaking my head.

"Doesn't matter. You look gorgeous, with or without it. Plus," He kissed the tip of my nose. "If you don't, I will. So everyone will see them regardless."

"Are you threatening me?" I teased.

"What're you gonna do about it?"

I pursed my lips, pretending that I was thinking hard. "I'm sure I could find something much better to blackmail you with. Tread carefully, Colby Brock."

He grinned at me, but his expression softened. "I'm serious, though. I want everyone to know you're with me."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "You basically claimed me, already. Anyone who watches your videos knows, so you don't have to worry about that."