Prompt: Lost
"Slow down!" My breathing was ragged as I tried to keep Mitchie's pace. Of course, with her fancy hiking boots and her strong leg muscles, she was strides ahead of me. I wasn't the outdoor person. I was the city lights and sidewalks person. Even so, a grin was indefinitely plastered across my face because this was my favorite part of the week: mitchie's choice of activity. She would always have something creative up her sleeve, and the deal we made set her decision in stone despite my protests.
"Keep up, city folk!" she called over her shoulder. A chuckle escaped me as I shook my head at her. I pulled the heavy duffle bag holding our tent further over my shoulder. One look at the brown-eyed girl mouthing the word camping so unsurely as if she knew I'd groan over it, and I was sold. Not because of the activity, but because of her excitement. Mitchie had this energy about her that made everyone drop everything and follow her, and I loved that quality. She pulled this off without ever seeming egotistic. How she managed was a secret she kept to herself.
"Mitch, when I agreed to camping, I didn't know we'd have to walk three miles into the woods," I huffed, quickening my stride a bit to catch up to her. I ended at her side and she laughed, passing a quick glance at me.
"What did you think camping entailed, Alex?" she looked ahead as the wood seem to endlessly stretch on. At least it seemed that way to my tired legs. I couldn't make out the horizon over the hill we'd been trudging up the past twenty minutes or so. It was nearly noon, and I could feel the persperation on the back of my neck as a result of the hot, yellow sun overhead.
"I don't know," my calves screamed, and I let out a heavy breath,"a trailer?"
I knew that would earn a fit of laughter from her.
"Nope," I didn't have to look to know she was grinning, "Nice, ol' camping bags out in the heat and under the stars. We're almost there, cry baby."
We came to a particularly clear area. It was the middle of summer, and the trees boasted bright green leaves as their peaks stood several feet above our heads. It was beautiful out here, I had to at least give Mitchie that.
I let the duffle bag slip from my shoulder and it hit the ground with a thud. Mitchie turned to me, it was the first time I'd seen something other than the back of her head or her profile for the past hour. She was beautiful, standing there amid the bright colors and the heat. Damn that girl, she hadn't even hardly broken a sweat.
"Hey, be careful with that. That's our house for the night," her hands placed firmly on her hips, she raised her brow at me. My grin was still there; I could feel it devouring my face.
I'll save you the cliche story of how I fell in love with Mitchie Torres, it isn't one for the books. It's stupid, really. Not even worth mentioning. All you need to know is that I am and no, it's not complicated. Because Mitchie knows and I know that she is waiting for a time to confront me about it. I'm waiting on her, and for once this isn't something I will fall behind in. I stand at the top of this hill now, reaching my hand out to her. She'll take those steps when she's ready, but for now we go see firework shows and we teach each other how to bake and we hike up hot trails to a clearing that never felt more like summer. For right now she is my best friend, and she looks so beautiful amid the bright colors and the heat.
Mitchie set down her own bag and the large basket that held most of our food for the following day and, of course, dinner tonight. I bent to unzip the bag holding our little house, and comenced the confusion of trying to put it together. I knew Mitchie had lost the instructions some time ago. She didn't live by rules, anyway, and that didn't exclude measly tent instructions.
"Alex, you've got that all wrong," I could feel her behind me, but my determination at fixing this damn thing overrid any and all present thoughts. She reached down to grab one of the pipes holding one side of the tent up.
"Ugh, no," I pushed her prying hand away, "Shoo, I'll figure it out."
She let out a sigh and as she walked away I heard her mumble something along the lines of, "Stubborn."
"Alex, come on get out here," I had just fallen asleep in the tent that Mitchie eventually had to set up. I had just fallen asleep, this girl was calling my name, and damn it I knew I was going to get up for her. I fought my way out of the autumn red sleeping bag that had just begun to actually provide some comfort and crawled my way to the opening of the tent to peer at Mitchie. Her head was turned towards the heavens, stargazing I only assumed. She twisted to look back at me, grinning that grin and waving me over towards her. With a sigh I left the coolness of the tent and went to sit beside her. A quilt lay beneath us, and Mitchie lay back on it, placing her hands contenly behind her head. I admired her for a minute, her hair all around her like a strange, dark halo, before laying down beside her and turning my attention to the sky.
"Wow," I breathed, a smile sneaking itself over my face. I surely didn't expect there to be so many stars. Living in the city, the lights would block the true view of them. But out here with the open, clear sky, they were so many stars that one almost couldn't make out the dark clouds behind them. It was all light, and the moon shone like a bright, large, beautiful eye over it all.
"So, city girl," Mitchie turned her head towards me and I did the same, noticing that her eyes reflected some of the light in the sky so that they just so glowed a delicate and lighter shade of brown, "what do you think of camping now?"
"I think... we'll have to come out here more often..." I smiled at her and watched the satisfaction of having converted me on her face.
"Mitchie, I swear if we end up in a ditch somewhere I might strangle you," I raked my nails through my sweaty hair, stopping to lean against a tree and catch my breath. "We passed this clearing twice already. Just admit it please so you can stop looking at that damn thing."
"We," Mitchie pulled her compass roughly out of her pants pocket, "are not lost, Alex."
I rolled my eyes at her, sinking against the tree and down to the forest floor. I watched as Mitchie mumbled to herself, staring intently at her compass one minute and looking frantically around the wood the next.
"Mitchie," I whined, wiping my forehead on the back of my hand, which did nothing but produce more sweat against it. "Please."
She threw the compass to the ground and turned to me, hands on her hips and eyes to the earth.
"Okay," she let out a hard breath and wiped her face, "we're lost."
"Fantastic. You know, I take back the comment I made last night," I chuckled to myself.
"Yeah, yeah. Go ahead make fun," She waved her hands at me, turning away and facing the small brook that we'd indeed passed before. I couldn't stop my chuckling, and Mitchie turned back to me incredulously.
"And what is so hilarious, Alex?" Her eyebrow raised the way it did when she was frustrated with me. And yet I laughed again because sitting there against that tree and looking at her made me realize that I didn't even care. I didn't care that we were lost, I didn't care that we were lost in the woods, and I didn't care that I hated the way the earth stuck to my shorts.
I laughed again, "I love you."
Mitchie's face softened, "What?"
"I came out here with you even though I hate the woods, I went hiking with you in my converse, and now we're lost and neither of us knows the way back and..." I stood, dusting off my shorts and my legs and smiling at the girl before me, "I love you."
I reached out and took her hands, pulling her a little closer towards me so that I could see my reflection in her eyes. The eyes that were confused, searching my face for an answer to my words, my behavior.
I knew she'd figure it out soon enough. This was it. This was the moment. This was her final step up the hill, and now I held her hands and she was close by and I could feel the warmth that had nothing to do with the summer. Then I saw the way her face changed, and the way she looked at me was suddenly different.
"I love you too," she whispered finally, leaning her forehead against mine. They stuck together but I couldn't care any less because I was seconds away from exploding like a firework with that simple answer. I felt that pure, golden feeling well up in my chest, the one I would always feel when I was close to Mitchie like this.
I couldn't believe it took us being lost, sweaty, and frustrated in the middle of a wood clearing to finally give in to an obvious feeling. But honestly, when is something so complicated as being in love predictable? We may be lost but I've never felt more at home than when her arms were around me and if that isn't magic enough to prevail then may we stay lost forever.