Hot Springs Horror #NaNoWriMo2020

○s i x○

Eventually, all the booze we'd imbibed in prompted us to all realize one thing we had in common: we were starving. Jenny reminded us that she'd brought turkey burgers, and the boys—including Jay—all shoved us from the springs so we could hurry up and eat.

As the men wavered over to their car to dry off, Jenny led the way back to our tents. Millie grabbed me by the arm and giggled in my ear, struggling to put one foot in front of the other. I'd given her my towel, since she hadn't brought one, so a gentle breeze nipped at my damp skin and my teeth clattered.

"I did something," she said, likely thinking she was whispering when, in fact, she was yelling.

I wasn't much more stable than her, having had my own fair share of alcohol; yet I was more lucid, and I held on to her so she wouldn't trip. She was barefoot—couldn't find her flip-flops in the dark—and still in the nude. "What did you do?"

I knew the answer—there was no hiding what she and Aaron had started within seconds of his arrival. How she sat in his lap and they often got lost in silence and sucked face and disappeared together. I'd even said it as they hurried off to obtain more booze—they were doing dirty things in the dark.

And I wouldn't judge—Millie was young, single, and looking for fun.

She cupped a hand around my ear and giggled again. "I had sex with Aaron."

"No way!" I clamped my mouth shut to not burst out laughing.

Jenny, wrapped in a thick tie-dye towel, flipped around, shining the flashlight over her face—she was grinning.

I tried to act surprised, but even in her drunken state, Millie saw right through it. "You knew?" She peeked at Jenny. "You knew, too?"

"Come on, Millie," I said, patting her back and trying to speed up our pace. "We know you."

Finally we reached our tents, but we stilled at the chaotic sight before us.

"What the fuck?"

Our tents weren't how we'd left them. The brief windstorm earlier had affected more than just us; it had affected our campsite. Jenny's tent, in the middle, had the least damage. It was a bit ruffled, a few stakes had popped out, and dirt caked its orange surface. My tent, to the right, was half-caved in and knocked over, but not unsalvageable at first glance. But Millie's, off to the left... was an utter disaster. The whole thing had sank into itself, a pile of fabric on the sandy ground, untethered and ready to blow off if another heavy gust flew through the clearance.

Though Jenny and I gasped and hurried to fix our messes, Millie only stood near the fire-pit, chortling at the situation. "Well that will be a new adventure," she said, as I jammed my stakes back into the ground, and Jenny brushed off her tent.

"What?" Jenny scoffed. "Putting your tent together?"

"Fuck that." Millie lifted a can—no idea where she found it, as the cooler was on the other side of the car—and snorted. "The adventure is sleeping in that thing as it is."

Jenny and I weren't having it—as I held the flashlight up, she attempted to put Millie's tent back together. Though she groaned and complained, Millie helped; and what a sight it was to watch them both guffawing at their drunken efforts. They were still in the nude, fumbling with bent metallic pieces and ripped material, yelling instructions at one another in some inebriated language I couldn't understand. Oh, how I wished I'd been able to film it all.

Once satisfied—there was no way to fully repair the thing, but at least some of it would resist the wind if it returned—I went to my tent, and Jenny went into hers. Millie, who lingered outside, retrieved liquor from the cooler and fetched cups from her car.