Perception

LIX

Her spirits were quite firmly lifted on the Sarah's grandmother front as she turned around and made her way back to the little table, where she found Eli looking at her expectantly.
"Any better?" he asked, and she nodded.
"Yeah. Seems to be going in the right direction."
"Phew. Good."
She picked up her now-cold half sandwich and took an eager bite. It wasn't nearly as nice any  more now that it was cold, of course, but she didn't care. At least she wouldn't get hungry in the night.
She smiled as she looked back at the field, where she now knew the river to be. She'd seen a little ladder going into the water while she stood and listened to her friend, and there were no prizes for guessing what this ladder could be used for. She swallowed the last bite of croque monsieur and got up, extending her hand to Eli in an invitation. He stood up straight away and took the proffered hand.
"So." she said as they were walking back towards their tent, and once again there was that little shiver of excitement she was getting to know quite well. "Wanna go for a quick swim?"
He turned to her and she registered his slight surprise for just a fraction of a second before he smiled widely.
"Absolutely!" he said. "Let's just get the beds in order and go see the river!"

The yellow tent was standing on the grass innocuously enough, really. It wasn't necessarily large though, was it? Anna stood for a long moment, rooted to the grass, watching the tent move slightly as Eli rummaged around in it. No matter how much she had come to trust him over the course of the last few days... was that happy excited feeling enough to drive out any reservations she may have had about sharing a small tent with someone of the male persuasion? She blinked once more at the canvas, narrowing her eyes as she tried to feel her way around the confusion, but before she could reach any conclusion Eli's curly head appeared back out of the opening.
Well. It wasn't like she had much choice now, was it? She'd kind of made that call when she stepped into the Micra with the bag on the back seat, no?
"I like sleeping in tents." she told him quietly. "It's nice, that dome above your head, being outside but yet not quite."
He nodded. "I agree. Especially when it stays up during the night."
She giggled. "Poor James. I do hope you took him in for the rest of the night."
He shook his head. "Nah, no way he was ever going to want to join me. He just went for a jog around the campsite to get warm and we set off at ridiculous o'clock."
"Men." she said dryly as she opened the car door to get the self-inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags out. Then she climbed into the tent, opened the valves and put the mattresses down to fill. She looked around at the yellow canvas as she sat there on her knees.
Yeah. This was a pretty good tent.
She quickly dug out the bikini she'd somehow thought to throw into her suitcase and put it on.
"Right!" she said as she wiggled her way back out of the tent. "Let's go see the river!"
She waited while he got his swim shorts on and they walked off, back to the field.

The campsite was clearly going to sleep around them now, lights being turned off in caravans, the sound of tents zipping up in the air. Here and there were groups of people sat on camping chairs behind tents, citronella candles on plastic tables, voices hushed.
"What a find, this campsite." Eli said softly as they made their way over the field to the edge of the water, the light of the terrace behind them illuminating their steps just enough to avoid the mole hills.
"I know, right?" she breathed.
She could hear the river, now, the soft gentle lapping of the stream against the bank, and she just about stopped herself from diving into the water with reckless abandon.
You can't dive into strange waters in the dark. So she grinned at Eli and descended the ladder quickly, gasping slightly at the chill, and let herself fall back into the calmness of the flowing stream.