Chris POV

I look around at the camp site after I finished pitching the tents, honestly being out here surrounded by trees and no civilization; just us and our friends does feel good. We come out here and are not prejudged by what people think about us from the news reports. I look over and see Ash collecting wood for a fire, Jess is trying to help but is getting freaked out by all the bugs. I read Sam's text saying they're almost here, I go over to my car and take out the cooler full of drinks from my trunk. I start taking out the chairs I have for everyone and placing them up against the car. Ashley walks over "Let me give you a hand" she says as she starts grabbing the chairs and opening them around where the fire is going to be. "Thanks" I say to her as I hand her two of them, I can't help but stare at her. I know her too well, she's self-conscious and insecure, but to me she's perfect. If only it were as simple as telling her that, I can already hear Josh's voice in my head 'if you let too much time go by, you may lose her'.

I shrug it off, Josh doesn't know what he's talking about. Who is he, to lecture me on unrequited love? When he's had a thing for Sam since Hannah first introduced them. If anything he should be taking his own advice. Now that I think about it maybe he is, I did notice that him and Sam slept on the sofa bed together last night... Jess came over to me and asked if there was anything else she can do, "well if you want you and Ash can pitch the canopy tent" she gives me the why did I ask look. But grabs the box and drags it over and her and Ash get to work. I pick up the cooler and bring it over to the table, I open up the chest full of beer and wine coolers and ice bags. I grab a beer and pop it open and take a couple swigs. I look in the trunk to see if there is anything else that needs to be taken out but it's not really much, other than extra sleeping bags and stuff for later.

I look up and see both Josh and Mike's car pull up at the same time, I look at the time 1:20PM, damn that was fast. They all hop out the car and Josh comes over to me grinning "You made it!" I say with arms wide to give him a hug, I keep my arm around his neck and I bring him over to the cooler. I grabbed two of the chairs and grab a beer for him to take a load off in one of the chairs. "Chris the place looks great! I'm pretty sure Ash and Jess are tired since they look like they're the only ones working around here!" he says throwing his voice over to Ash and Jess who actually look like they're struggling to put the pins in place. I notice Mike and Sam run over to give them a hand since it looks like it was about to close in on them, I snicker inwardly. He turns to me and says while opening his beer, "All jokes aside the setup is nice man, you out did yourself" he says punching me in my shoulder. "Man I'm just glad you could make it!" he looks over at them putting the pins in place and takes a swig of his beer and leans back and says "Me too". I can't hold it in anymore, "So man what's with you and Sam? I saw you guys slept together last night" he look like he almost choked "Oh that was nothing" he said looking away from me. "What do you mean? If that was me and Ash I would've been stoked." He just nodded his head, there is obviously something he's not telling me; let me try it from a different angle. "Well since you guys slept together last night I was hoping you guys wouldn't mind doing it again for the trip. We can only fit about 5 people in the big tent which would leave one person out. But since you and Sam clearly don't mind I thought maybe you guys can keep each other company, in the smaller one." His eyes got big looking at me jaw open to speak but no words came out, but suddenly his face relaxed with a small smile "she won't go for it" he said as he was getting up from the chair "but nice try bud" he said patting me on my head. He goes over to the rest of the group as they are finishing up with the canopy, he helps put up the netting around it to keep bugs out.

I sat there sulking since Josh didn't want to spill the beans about him and Sam. Speaking of which, I see her coming over to the cooler as she grabs one of the drinks pops it open and guzzles like half. She must've noticed my apparent sulking demeanor "Why are you over here all by your lonesome?" she says walking over. Is it wrong if I take the opportunity since it's presenting itself? Does that make me a horrible person? A wingman? Whatever you want to call it, I'm doing it. "I was just over here thinking" I said with a sigh, "about what?" she takes the bait and has a seat across from me. "Well the small tent was for Mike and Emily, but since Emily isn't here, I'm pretty sure Mike doesn't want to be in their alone especially considering he just got his heart broken." She listens drinking her cooler and motions for me to continue, "And I couldn't help but notice that you and Josh, you know slept together last night." Her eyes get wider as she takes a sip of her drink trying to hide her blush. "So I was thinking that if you guys wouldn't mind taking the smaller tent?" her blush darkens she looks over at him talking to the others laughing and doesn't say anything right away, I immediately think to myself there's hope! So before she could rebuttal I said "I asked him already and he said he doesn't mind if you don't mind" Josh will thank me later if this works out in his favor, or kill me if it doesn't. But I'm willing to take my chances. She looks at me surprised "he did?" I nod my head approvingly, and she takes a moment thinking. I can see the gears turning in her head as she sat their contemplating the possible pros and cons. I cross my fingers that the pros are heavier. She says "Well…" I'm practically on the edge of my seat in anticipation, "if he doesn't mind, I don't either" I grin and say "awesome sauce! I mean cool." Official Wingman, I deserve a trophy for this! Josh looks over at us smiling and we wave.

Josh POV

I look over at Chris and Sam talking when I made eye contact with Chris they started waving. Is she blushing? I become distracted when I heard "So Josh you seem like you are doing well!" Ashley says pushing me in my arm playfully. I rub the back of my head and shrug my shoulders "As well as I can anyway" they all look down in uncertainty, "No I'm mean I'm fine, really guys. I wouldn't be out here if I didn't feel up to it." I go to change the subject "Where's Em and Matt, they aren't going to be joining us?" Ash and Jess' face perked up but Mike looked down and started walking toward his car silently. Ashley was the first to answer "Well Matt is doing a football practice with a college that's looking into him, he's hoping to get a full scholarship for this school" I smile and bring my hands together "Go Matt!" I said in a cheerleader voice and strike a pose.

Sam comes over to join us and Chris seems like he's setting up the wood for a fire later. "I heard Em wasn't feeling well" Sam says and Ashley agrees on that's what she was told. I notice Mikes making his way back with his backpack, he scoffs when he hears everyone discussing what kind of ailments Emily may have. We turn to him and Jess says "Well Mike what's wrong with her?" He started looking through his backpack and said nonchalantly "apparently she was sick of me…" he said curtly. We all looked at him confused, he looks up at us looking conflicted, "Well you guys are going to find out one way or another… Emily broke up with me last night" The girls immediately start up with I'm sorry Mike are you okay? I pat him on the back and say "Sorry bro" he smiles and says "its fine, I'd rather not dwell on it. We're here to have fun right!" he says taking out his bottle of vodka, he walks over to the cooler and puts it on ice, I followed suit.

He grabs a beer opens it and chugs about almost half of it, "Hey man slow down we got all night" I say to Mike as he sits in the chair, he runs his hand through his hair and he looks stressed. "I know man I just don't know what I did wrong. It was just whatever I did I was just never good enough." I sat down with him and listened since it seemed that's what he needs right now, he looks at me and says "I can only be me" he takes another sip of his beer, "I don't know man, but you don't have to sit here and listen to me complain." I look at him and realize I haven't been a good friend. I've been off the radar for months trying to put the pieces of my life back together, and in doing so I've neglected the best friends a guy could ever ask for. I hold up the last of my beer up to him, he smiles and holds his beer up, "When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you'll want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible" he laughs and clinks beers with me and we chug the last of them. He grabs my empty bottle and brings it to the make shift trash can, he turns to me and says "When in doubt movie quote it out" I get up and pat him on his shoulder "That'll do pig, that'll do" I said in a southern farmer voice. Chris walks over to us and says "Guys…we need more wood. Who wants to come with me and grab more?" I look at Mike and Chris and I raise my hand and say "I volunteer".

We head out not too deep into the forest to find wood. We go deep enough in that we could still be able to see camp, but far enough that we aren't within ear shot. After about what felt like an hour of collecting wood Chris says "Man I think your right…" picking up a section of log putting it in the pile then wipe the sweat trailing down the side of his head. I grab a one and add to his pile, I start clapping the dirt off my hands "as much as I blindly and wholeheartedly agree. Right about what now?" I said to him having no clue what he was referring to. Chris laughed "about Ashley man. I think I need to make my move." I grin at him "My man Cochise!" he puts his hands up "yeah but I don't even know where to start, I feel clueless when it comes to her for some reason", I wipe the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand "Chris you know her better than anyone, you know what makes her smile, I'm sure you'll think of something." He smiles over at me and says "What about you?" I tilt my head "what about me?" He picks up another log and says "You and Sam?" He brushes me off "I already told you. Plus I doubt Sam even thinks of me that way." Chris looks down at the ground smiling, I lean over and start stacking the logs from the pile into my arms to carry back to camp, when I hear him say "Have you ever thought that she may feel the same" I almost dropped the damn wood on my foot. I speed walk over to him balancing the wood in my arms. "What did you do?" I said glaring at him, he smiled pointing at himself "Me? nothing just that I'm the best wingman ever" I started shaking my head no "I didn't ask for a wingman, Chris what did you do?" he looks at me with a serious look "A favor Josh, I did you a favor" I walk around in a circle exasperated, and start talking to myself, not because I'm crazy but because Chris makes me act crazy. "I knew he was up to no good, I seen it but did nothing about it! I could've prevented the whole thing but just keeping my ass home. But noooo I had to say yes!" Chris steps into the circle I was creating and has his hands up "Dude calm down, I didn't tell her" well at least that's a relief. "If you didn't tell her then what did you do?" I said taking a step closer to him while he took a step back. He turns and starts picking up the rest of the wood from the pile we made, "Nothing too serious" once he grabbed the remaining wood from the pile we start walking back to camp. "I just asked Sam if she wouldn't mind sharing a tent alone with you" I felt my face get hot, fuck warm because I know I was red probably burgundy. Part of me wanted to scream but we were still close enough to camp that they would hear, and the other part of me wants to kick Chris' ass. He turns and looks at me and says "Dude breathe, she said yes", my knees suddenly felt like jelly it was hard to walk back to camp.

Nerves started setting in the closer we got to camp…. Sam and I alone in a tent for 2 days, but if she said yes does that mean, she likes me? Or maybe she doesn't want to sleep alone again…But she could've chosen to sleep in the big tent with everyone else and felt safe. But she chose to be alone with me? My mind is just trying to wrap my head around this right now. The closer we get to camp I start to hear her laughing, and my heart sinks and flutters simultaneously. I thought of this morning and my half dream hallucination whatever the hell it was. For a split second I thought one day it may come true but then brush it off what am I thinking she could never see me that way.

Sam POV

Ashley and I are sitting drinking some coolers chatting catching up, while Mike and Jessica put together the beer pong table. While Chris and Josh are preoccupied collecting wood "Ash can I ask you a question" she looks at me with a slightly concerned look "anything Sam. What's up?" I look at her and whisper "well you're the only person that knows …I like Josh and I don't know lately I've been feeling that he might feel the same-" Ashley was grinning bouncing in her seat with squealing in excitement, "Simmer down! I don't know if it's in my head, but then again if he is. Do I act on it and possibly ruin a great friendship if it doesn't work out." She stopped bouncing and started to think, "Hmm… Think about it this way, if you never try you'll never know. You don't want to live with what ifs. It's bad enough that it's been this long" I wipe the condensation on the side of my wine cooler, thinking about what Ashley is saying "I guess the problem is I don't even know how to go about it!" Ashley laughs and says "you can't force it, it'll happen naturally and you'll know the moment when it comes" I nod my head and go to take a sip of my drink when I say "I guess your right" I noticed she looks like she started to space out. I lean in her view but she still didn't acknowledge me, I turn to see what she's looking at and see Chris and Josh walking toward camp. I snap my fingers in front of her face "Is that what you want to happen between you and Chris?" she snapped out of it and looked at me with a beet red face and started stammering. "I –I Umm… See... I don't know" I hold my hands up laughing "I'm joking Ashley chill out" she takes a deep breath and a few seconds later the guys emerge from the forest with chunks of wood. Chris seems amused but Josh not so much, I wonder what happened… Mike and Jessica finished putting together the table when Mike shouts "let's get this party started!"