Always

Chapter 21

He thought about that for a minute. "Yeah, you're probably right actually. We're gonna need your help." "That's what I thought," I replied laughing. We all started back down the trail when Corey stopped suddenly. "This might not be a good idea." "Why?" Jake asked. "Because we won't be close to the car anymore. What if we need to leave? We'll have to go back through these trees in the dark...at night." "We'll be fiiine Baby. Stop worrying so much. It's beautiful out here." Devyn exclaimed. He shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn you." We just rolled our eyes and laughed at him. It didn't take us too long to roll up the tents, and get the rest of our things. The trip back was a little longer, just because we were loaded down with supplied now. When we finally got back to the lake, the sun was starting to set, casting a brilliant purplish pink glow over the mountains. "Wow, this is just breathtaking." I said softly, putting my arm full of stuff down and looking out over the lake. I pulled out my phone to take some pictures. "Come on guys, let's document this!" Kat, Devyn, and Tara all came over to where I was and we started taking selfies and pics of each other with this amazing background. "These are incredible." I breathed, looking back through my camera roll. "Don't I get one?" I heard Colby's deep voice from behind me. They were finished setting up the tents by now. I turned, smiling up at him, pointing my phone at his face. "Say cheese!" He did the typical tongue out, hand up in the "I love you" sign. I snapped the pic, then showed him. "How can you not ever take a bad photo?" I asked, admiring the way the setting sun lit up his eyes and hair. "Whatever," He chuckled. "I have a ton of bad photos out there on the internet for everyone to see." "That's where we disagree babe. You've never taken a bad photo. Even your goofy ones are adorable." I replied.  "Colby, come here." I looked over to Sam, who had his phone out, with Corey and Jake posing with him. "Go take selfies with your friends." I laughed, swatting him on the butt as he jogged back over to Sam. After we were all done with the photos for a little while, the guys got out the camera and started filming. "I thought this wasn't for a video." Corey said suspiciously. "It's not," replied Colby, who was holding the camera. "We just want to film it. For memories brother." Corey still looked suspicious but didn't argue. "Colby, I need your help starting this fire before it gets too dark. We need to start cooking something." Sam said. Colby passed the camera to Corey and went to help Sam with the fire. I searched through the cooler and found the simplest thing to cook for now. Hot dogs. I set those down on the picnic blanket and found the buns and condiments. I heard a bag of chips being torn open. Turning, I see Jake with a handful of chips headed to his mouth. "Jake!" I cried. He looked at me surprised, hand frozen in front of his mouth. "What?" I sighed. "Tara, come get your man." She walked over smiling. "What did he do now?" I just pointed. "Jakey! Those are supposed to go with the meal. We're going to be here all weekend. You can't just eat them all up now." She took the bag from him and set it on the blanket with the rest of the stuff. He put the rest of the chips in his hand in his mouth, looking sad. I giggled and patted his arm. "It'll be ready soon Jake, don't worry." The fire was blazing by now, the sticks charring and breaking. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sam yelled. "I think it's too big brother." "It's fine Sam. It'll die down in a minute." Colby replied calmly. I shook my head and laughed silently at them. Kat walked over to me with the sticks that we bought at Target to spear the food. We put a hot dog on each one for all of us, then passed them out, after the guys set up the chairs. "This is nice." Jake said. "It really is." Sam replied, holding his hot dog a little more into the fire. The sun was fully set by now so the fire was our only light at the moment. We were saving the lanterns for when we needed them. "It's kind of creepy." Kat said, looking around. She wasn't wrong. The trees were just giant, black shapes against the night sky, the mountains looming ominously. The water from the lake was an inky black, with the moon reflected in it. "Pretty, but creepy." I agreed. Corey turned some music on and we finished making and eating our food. After the clean up, we all settle back around the fire just hanging out and talking. "Hey, does anyone have service out here?" Sam asked, looking at his phone. We all pulled out our phones to check. "I don't." "Me either." "Nope." "Nothing on mine." We all looked around at one another. "So no one has service?" Corey asked. "Bro, this is some scary movie sh*t! I told y'all!" Jake passed him the stuffed Shrek that he had sitting on his lap. "What's this for?" Corey asked, confused. "To help calm you down brother." Jake smiled at him. Corey got the sweet, innocent look on his face, with a small smile, and wide eyes. "Thank you brother." he said, batting his lashes at Jake, and hugging up to the Shrek doll. Devyn giggled, and the rest of us joined in. I caught Sam's eye, and he motioned to me to get Colby's attention for him. I nudged Colby, pointing to Sam. They communicated with their eyes somehow, then Colby leaned over, his breath on my ear. "It's time to get everyone to start leaving. Can you signal the girls?" I nodded, turning my face towards him, pressing my lips to his.