CHAPTER 3 – ADAMS-FOSTER CAMPING TRIP PT. 2
"No, Connor, first we got to get the frame right before we can put the pegs in the ground!" Jude laughed.
Connor, having little experience with camping, laid down the pegs and apologized to Jude.
"I'm sorry, I just don't know anything, well, I only know that the pegs need to go in the ground so that the tent won't be blown away by the wind," Connor said.
"It's okay, but please help me with this. Hold this bar, while I connect it to this one," Jude said, and Connor followed his command. In no time, the tent was ready, and Jude laughed as he handed Connor the pegs again.
"Now you can smash these in the ground," he said.
"Dork," Connor giggled as he smashed the first peg in the ground.
In less than a minute, all the pegs were in the ground, and Jude and Connor went to help Callie and Mariana, who found it a little more difficult to set up the tent. With Jude's help, they got it quite quickly as well, although they didn't listen to Jude as well as Connor did, causing the tent to collapse once because Mariana hadn't connected two poles firm enough.
Jude and Connor then went to the cars and opened the trunk, taking out the luggage they'd brought and they set it up in one big pile in the middle. Everyone took what was theirs and put it in their tents. The tents were big enough for three people with luggage, so they had lots of room in the tents. Brandon and Jesus set up their beds on the opposite sides of the tent, with a big gap in between them where they'd put all their luggage. Connor and Jude had arranged their tent a little differently. They'd put the mattresses together in the middle, tying them together to make sure they wouldn't move during the night, and put their luggage on their own side of the improvised double bed. They would sleep together this trip. They unpacked their bags and took two blankets from the pile. They tied the blankets together, making it one big one, big enough to cover them both. They didn't want to sleep under different blankets, as this created a divide between them that they had tried to minimalize by putting the bed together. They both took a pillow and their tent was done.
Jude and Connor got out of their tent and said that they were going to explore the campground. Stef and Lena were sitting on their folding chairs outside their tent, reading their books. Lena looked up and said that it was alright, as long as they'd be back by half past six for dinner. It was a quarter to five, so they had forty-five minutes, which was enough, according to Mariana, who came with them. Mariana had been here before 10 times. They went to this exact campsite each year, and the first time they went, Mariana and Jesus had been six. Now they were sixteen and they knew the campground by heart. Mariana showed them around, and made sure that Jude and Connor knew the highlights of the campground. The little store where they could buy souvenirs, the lake where they could swim, the snack bar where they could get ice cream and other snacks if they got hungry. Mariana even showed them the playground.
"Why would we want to know where the playground is?" Jude asked her.
"Oh, you know, to play around," Mariana said.
"We're not kids anymore," Jude said, but if he really looked deep within himself, that slide looked really attractive.
They went to their tents again when the tour was over, just in time for dinner. Because Stef and Lena hadn't gone to the supermarket yet to buy food, they took the sausages and buns that they had brought, made a campfire and roasted the sausages on sticks and ate them as hotdogs. Apparently, this was a tradition on the first evening of the Adams-Foster annual camping trip, as everybody reminisced about past years and their first meal on the trip. Nobody spoke a word yet about what they'd do the rest of the evening, as this needed to be a surprise for Jude, Callie and Connor. They ate several hotdogs per person, and when they were finished, Lena joked that Connor and Jude would have to do the dishes, which the boys knew was a joke, as there were no dishes to be done. They had cooked with sticks and nobody had used a plate or cutlery. But Jude and Connor both took the empty trays where the sausages once were and brought these to the trashcans.
When they returned, Stef said that everybody needed to take their coats with them, and so they did. When everybody had gathered again, Stef and Lena gestured for the rest to follow them, and so they did. Brandon, Jesus and Mariana already knew what they were going to do, but Callie, Jude and Connor didn't yet. They were a bit nervous, but they knew that they weren't going to do anything dangerous, as Mariana would not have agreed to do anything dangerous, and she'd been doing this for ten years now. They walked off the campgrounds and into the forest, which at this time was still lighted by the sun. Jude and Connor were awestruck by how beautiful the nature looked here and had hardly looked where they were going because they were looking around all the time. Jude once stopped to study a butterfly up close, but when he stopped walking, Callie bumped into him from behind. Both of them laughed and they continued following Stef and Lena.
"How long will we walk?" Connor asked Stef.
"That depends on how fast we walk," Stef replied, winking at Connor.
"How long does it normally take?" Connor asked.
"Usually around an hour," Lena replied, to which Mariana sighed. She never liked walking for so long, but whenever they were on this camping trip, Stef and Lena made her.
"Connor, keep looking around, it's beautiful," Jude said.
"Oh, and if you're at it, look out for bears, we're counting on you!" Jesus said.
Connor, surprised by this remark, kept looking around, trying not to miss anything in fear of seeing a bear, which made the whole family laugh.
"Connor, sweetie, there are no bears here, Jesus is kidding," Stef tranquillized Connor.
An hour later, when the sun was about to set, they arrived at the foot of a hill. Stef and Lena started climbing the hill and the children followed. The occasional sigh from Mariana and Callie broke the silence, but other than that, it was completely silent. The top of the hill was bare. There were no trees, only short grass, and everybody was overwhelmed and dazed by the gorgeous view they had. The horizon was far away and everything they could see was beautiful. There were in the middle of the Dixie National Forest now, and everywhere they looked, they were surrounded by trees and tiny villages that looked even smaller from above. Jude, Connor and Callie had never seen anything like it and especially they were astounded by how beautiful it was here. The others, having seen it before, were still overwhelmed. Brandon and Jesus were whispering to each other about how much they'd missed that view. Especially the setting sun made quite an impression over the kids. It made everything so much more beautiful.
Stef sat down in the grass, and Lena sat down next to her. The kids completed the circle as Stef started pouring drinks for them. It was warm and everybody was sweaty, so a cold drink was welcome. They drank in silence and when they finished, they still said nothing. For the first time since Stef and Lena had adopted Jude and Callie, Jude felt connected to everybody. Before this, Jude had always been aware that he was adopted, but now, he felt like he had known everybody his whole lifetime, and he couldn't feel closer to everyone. Mariana turned around so that her back was turned to the others and lied down. The others followed her example and soon, everybody was lying in the grass, their heads close together and they stared to the red sky above them. Overwhelmed by the whole experience, Jude grabbed Connor's hand and looked at him. Connor saw nothing but love in Jude's eyes, and Jude saw nothing but love in Connor's. They smiled at each other, glad that they were able to share this experience. This maybe was the most romantic thing they'd ever done together, as they usually couldn't do romantic things with each other, as Connor's dad couldn't know about them.
"Moms, I love it here," Jude said, and Stef and Lena both smiled, although Jude couldn't see it.
"I'm glad you do, honey, we come here every first evening, to celebrate our family," Lena answered.
"Because we are glad that we've come together the way we did," Stef added.
"I love it here too, it's so beautiful," Connor said.
"You're welcome to join us next year, Connor," Lena said.
"Thank you, I'd love to," Connor replied, blushing.
"Remember the first time we got here?" Mariana asked nobody in particular.
"Yeah, back when both of us had to carry you and Jesus up the hill because you were too tired to walk up, and we had to carry you all the way down and back to the campground because you had fallen asleep," Stef remembered.
"I loved this place immediately, and I hoped to see it again one day," Mariana reminisced.
"Well, your hopes were fulfilled, weren't they? This is your tenth time here," Brandon said.
"Yeah, and it feels like we're absolutely complete now, with Jude and Callie here too," Mariana said.
Jude was surprised by this comment, but couldn't help but be flattered about how sisterly Mariana was.
Connor lied with his eyes still staring at the sky that slowly turned darker and darker. When the sky was fully black and they could see thousands of stars above them, Connor pointed up.
"Look, Jude. You see that bright star over there?" He said, and when Jude said he did, Connor added: "that's Polaris. It is the star that marks where North is. It's a way to navigate at night."
"How do you know that?" Jude asked.
"Because I pay attention in science class," Connor joked and the whole family laughed. Connor quickly added that it was a joke and he knew it because he used to go watch stars with his mother, because Jude (who was one of the best students in that class) didn't like the joke.
The family lied on top of that hill until after midnight, when Stef stood up, checked her watch and was astonished to find that it was past twelve, and they still had to walk an hour. Everybody was tired, Brandon especially, because he'd driven all the way here, whereas Stef and Lena had taken turns driving, so they walked somewhat slower. They arrived at the tents at half past two, and went in their tents to grab their toothbrushes. They went to the bathrooms and brushed their teeth. Jude and Connor were done before the others, so they said goodnight to everybody and walked back to their tents. When they were just outside the bathrooms, Connor took Jude's hand and they walked back to their tents holding hands.
"Today was the first great day in a long time for me. Thank you," Connor whispered, not wanting to wake up other campers.
"I loved it too, and thank you too," Jude agreed.
When they reached the tents, Connor took his pyjamas and wanted to walk back to the bathrooms to change, but Jude asked him not to.
"Connor, please don't. Please don't leave me alone here," he said.
"I got to change…" Connor said.
"You can do that here, I don't care. I've seen you change at school before PE, it's not a big deal," Jude said.
Connor agreed with that, and he only wanted to change elsewhere to make sure Jude was comfortable, but Jude seemed comfortable changing with him around and so the two changed together. They lied down in their improvised double bed, and turned to their sides, Connor spooning Jude. They always lied like this when they were together, because this felt best for both. Jude loved to be held, and Connor loved to hold Jude. Connor liked to be held too, but most of the time, he liked to hold Jude more than to be held himself.
Jude turned around to face Connor, and their noses touched.
"I love you, Connor," he said, and Connor could feel Jude's breath on his face.
"I love you too, Jude," Connor replied and Jude could smell Connor's fresh breath.
They moved a little so that their bodies were touching each other, and they cuddled for some time, until Connor said he really needed to sleep, so he leaned in to kiss Jude, after which Jude turned around again so that Connor could spoon him again, which Connor did, and the two fell asleep like that.
Authors note:
I do not own anything recognizable.
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The next chapter is called "Adams-Foster Camping Trip pt. 3".
