Match

65: Tent

The day has come for the camping trip. Cole strolls through the rooms, scanning to see if he's missing anything.

Sleeping bag, check, he thinks. Into the bathroom. Toothbrush, toothpaste, got it. Moves to the bedroom. Extra clothes, yup. Sunscreen, bug spray. I'll leave my laptop here. Phone's at full charge. I'll get some food on the way. One more round trip just to be extra, extra sure. Paranoia leaves him once it's good to go. He remembers telling Hayden earlier to "take care of the house".

"I'll do it ten-fold, better than you when I was on my trip," he said.

Cole shakes his head, taking an electric blue ball cap and putting it on. As he steps out of the unit with the car keys in his hand, he almost bumps into Sasha.

"Whoa-!"

"Oh, Cole," she steps back. "I wanted to let you and Hayden know tomorrow there's gonna be people coming by to sweep the roads. Can they park in one of your guys' parking spots?"

Cole nods, holding the keys in his hand firm. "Sure. Nobody else uses the other one."

She smiles, then steps back again, tilting her head. "Did you just buy that cap?"

"Oh, this?" He instinctively touches it. "No, I've had it lying around for a while. Figured I use it for camping."

"Camping?"

"Yeah," he walks to his car, unlocking the driver's side. "I'm going camping for a couple days."

"Oh cool. Who're you going with?"

"Some of my teammates, some from another soccer team. And with my boyfriend."

"Okay..." she blinks, realizing what he said at the last part, then turns around. "Boyfriend?!"

But it's too late for a reply. Cole's started the car and begins backing out. Sasha stands there, shaking her head with a smile. She rests a hand on her hip, watching him drive away.

"At least I know he heard my support," she says to herself.

———————————

At least the directions were pretty clear.

"Cole! You're here just in time!"

He's immediately introduced to most of his teammates, with parts of tents splayed out on green tarps. Jay and Joel are holding metal poles, trying to connect them all together. Nathan is sitting on a picnic table, reading the instructions in a booklet. The rest are spreading out the parts. He sighs, dropping his stuff on the ground with the other bags.

"Cole," Nathan stands up. "Have you made a tent before?"

He blinks at him, almost taking offence to the statement. "Yeah."

"Cool, you can pitch in to set 'em up with the others."

"Cole!" Joel waves him over, almost hitting Jay with a pole.

"Yo watch it Joel!"

"Sorry!"

Cole rubs his palms together, walking over to join the two.

"Okay," Nathan points to a part in the instructions. "So the one you three are trying to make is a three-person tent."

"Is there a single tent?" Joel asks.

"Yes-"

He lifts the pole up again. "I call dibs then!"

Jay gives him the side-eye. "I said watch where you're swinging that."

Joel returns it. "And you watch where you're standing."

"Guys, focus," Nathan says. "We need to connect the tent poles first."

Cole rolls his eyes, picking up some poles. He takes a glance around. None of the players from Thunder are here... I wonder if they have a separate campground. The thought of it makes his body feel heavy for a second. Then he realizes the coach isn't anywhere.

"Hey, where's Coach Ryan?"

Nathan perks from the booklet. "Ryan? He went to go talk with John and his team."

Huh. So they are here. Instinct makes him look around once more. The area they're settled in is thick with pine trees and lush undergrowth. While connecting poles together, he begins to reminisce back on the days he went camping with his sister, uncle, aunt and cousin. They were set up right beside a large lake, went fishing, his cousin also caught a large trout for dinner. Of course, campfire stories and looking for the Big Dipper were his favourite parts. The bugs were his least.

"No! Damnit Jay!"

He blinks out of his thoughts. Joel is pointing to another set of poles.

"Those are the ones you use for this tent!"

Jay squints at him more. "Sorry but they all look the damn same."

"Here," Graham comes in for the save. "You guys look like you could use an extra hand."

It's funny to Cole how it's taking four people to set up one tent. At least for him he's not a rookie in this. With ease he connects the poles together, then slides them in the tent flaps.

After several more minutes, the first tent is finally up.

"Great job guys," Nathan says. "Now we have three more to go."

"Three?!" Joel shouts loud enough to make the branches shudder.

Nathan rubs his ear. "Yes, three. There's gonna be nine of us here, including the coach."

"Why aren't you helping us?" He sneers.

"I am," Nathan lifts the instructions up high with a chuckle.

"You're only reading from a booklet. Get off your lazy ass and help!"

Cole takes a mental count of seven being here right now. Of course Ashton is gonna be late. Suddenly, he hears a twig snap behind him. He turns around, thinking it's a deer or worse. Instead it's Coach Ryan and John emerging from the thick forest. They're walking on a pathway.

"Hey guys!" Coach Ryan waves.

"Ryan, scold Nathan here," Joel nods over to him. "He's being a fucking lazy trash can."

"Hey now," Nathan's brows narrow.

"Guys, guys," Coach John breaks them apart. "It's okay. Me and my team came to help out."

"Huh?"

All of Tigers turn in unison to the pathway. There, six players from Thunder enter. Jonah pokes behind the crowd, as he's the last one behind.

In this moment, Cole feels his heart skip a beat. Never has he felt his heart pound so powerfully upon seeing his boyfriend.