Part the Eighteenth

David readjusted the duffel bag on his shoulder, for what felt like the twenty seventh time that day, as he made his way through the airport. Looking around, it was hard not to notice the lack of travelers, both on his flight and near the gates, despite the holiday weekend.

'I guess West Virginia isn't really on the top of most people's travel lists,' he mused to himself, walking past the luggage carousel. Even with the sparse number of travelers around him, David realized that bringing his camping equipment—like he had originally planned, before Max had talked him out of it—would have been a bad idea.

Once he was closer to the lobby, David pulled out his phone.

"Hey Max," he greeted with a smile, again adjusting his bag. White it was not overly heavy—it only contained some necessities, like a few sets of clothes and his lightweight sleeping bag—the length of the strap made it awkward to carry at times.

"About damn time," Max answered, "I'm waiting by the car rentals."

"Ah, got'cha. Is that by the big yellow sign?" he asked, looking over the second floor railing. Though he could kind of make out a sign with the letters UGET CA, he couldn't see a service counter or anyone matching Max's description—at least, not from his angle.

"Yeah. Can you hurry it up? I've been here for hours," the pre-teen complained.

"Almost there," he said, jogging down the escalator.

It didn't take long at make it to the service counter, where there was a bored looking young woman staring at her phone, and a pile of camping equipment stuffed into an airport trolley. However, there were no signs of Max. Confused, he looked from the gear to the woman, who still didn't acknowledge him in any way.

"Err, Max? I thought you said you were—"

"Behind you, idiot."

David paused mid-turn and only half felt his arm return to his side, phone still on and call connected.

The boy looked very different from the last time David had seen him. For one, he was taller than expected—much taller. While David doubted that Max would ever reach his own height, Max was now at least as tall as his chest. Upon further inspection, Max also seemed to hold himself straighter—his shoulders far less rounded—than David remembered.

"Close your mouth. You look dumber than usual," Max continued, before he ended the call and shoved the phone into the pocket of his unzipped hoodie. In the hand not holding the phone, there was a cardboard tray holding two cups of coffee. "You ready to go?"

"Uh," David replied, pocketing his own phone.

Logically, David knew that there would have been some changes since the two of them had last met, but he was still having difficulty processing what—or who—he was looking at.

In addition to the acquired height, Max had seen fit to shorn off the majority of his hair, only leaving a wild mess of curls at the very top of his head. The sides were cut with a fade, which made Max look closer to fourteen. However, the annoyed expression, along with the heavy bags under Max's eyes had remained the same.

"Err, yeah." David answered, shaking himself out of his stupor. "You got everything?"

Max gave him a long unimpressed look, rolled his eyes with a quiet huff, and then tilted his head in the direction of the trolley. He then walked past David without another word and approached the counter.

"License and credit card please," said the woman, who still hadn't looked up from her phone.

Max turned around with a look that said 'well?' before he pulled a card from the pocket of his jeans. Not waiting for David to fish out his own wallet, he tossed it on the counter with a flick of the wrist. David then placed down his license, albeit more gingerly and with an apologetic wince.

It took a while, and a few not so subtle threats of blackmail on Max's part, but their gear was loaded into a 2016 Honda without too much trouble. Afterwards, the coffee was transferred to the in-dash cup holders, and then they were on the road.

For a long time, the only sounds were the engine, the wind against the windows, and Max's occasional sips of coffee. Eventually, Max thumped his head against his headrest and said, "Ugh, enough with the side-eye already. If you've got something to say, spit it out already."

"Well, I'm just… surprised, is all. I know it's silly, but—for some reason—I expected you to be, oh I don't know…" David replied, keeping his eyes on the road. It felt silly for being so unbalanced by the change. Looking back on the past two and a half years, a lot had changed in David's personal life, so he wondered why it was so surprising that the same might be true in Max's case. During the entire summer, David had never stopped to consider it, because then it would mean… David still wasn't sure. It bugged him.

"Ten?"

"… yeah."

Max snorted.

They were coming up on a stop sign.

Slowing, David tried to put words to his thoughts, "I mean, I know you're almost thirteen—gosh, it's so strange to say it out loud—I guess, it really puts things into perspective…"

Just over two and a half years since Camp Campbell. Those years felt both incredibly short and insanely long for David. But at the same time, life kept moving forward, and for a while David had felt that he had been moving with them. Now, he wasn't so sure.

Two steps forward, one step back.

Or was it two steps forward, three steps back?

He gripped the steering wheel a little bit tighter and felt corners of his mouth turn downward slightly.

"You know," Max said, changing his hold on the cheap paper cup from a two-handed hold to a single handed one. After a fair amount of shifting, Max managed to wedge his spine into the corner between the seat and door, despite still wearing his seatbelt. Satisfied, he tucked one leg under himself and wrapped an arm around the headrest—all without spilling a drop of coffee.

David turned his head to keep Max in his peripheral vision.

"You really haven't changed that much," he said, taking another sip, "Like, yeah, your insufferably positive attitude's gotten a bit more… tolerable…"

David couldn't help feeling amused at both the statement and delivery. Was that Max being tactful?

He didn't check the mirror to see, but something in David's expression shifted, causing Max to raise an eyebrow. David focused back on the road. It was almost time to turn off of the main road. He slowed the car to a halt and turned on his blinker.

"But…I think, maybe—and this is a big maybe here," Max continued, "I just got to know you better this summer."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Max took a large swig of coffee, using the raised cup to hide his face.

David took the pause in traffic to make his turn. David felt his body relax once they were on the side road. He thought about what Max had said.

Moments later, Max tapped the side of the cup with a finger. David watched from the corner of his eye as Max brought it back down, removed the lid, and checked the inside for more coffee. Max's eyebrows furrowed in indignation at what David guessed was an empty cup.

It was returned, now with the lid stuffed into the cup, to the cup holder.

"But looks-wise, it's freaky how much you haven't changed!" Max said, crossing his arms. He made no move to sit properly. Instead, he aimed a critical look at David that made the back of the ex-counselor's neck heat. "I mean, you're not some immortal forest spirit are you? Because if you are, turn this car around. I don't want any part in your weird Druid Voodoo shit,"

"I'm pretty sure those are two entirely different things," he replied, slowing his speed a little. It was a straight run from that point out, so he rolled his shoulders and tried to relax a bit.

The rest of the drive was spent in easy conversation, with Max eventually stealing the cup of coffee on the driver's side of the dash. He had tried to be sneaky about it, though David didn't really care either way, so David pretended not to notice. After all, it wasn't his job to dictate how much caffeine Max was or wasn't allowed to have, or when he was supposed to go to bed, or anything anymore.

They both seemed happier by the shift in the power balance.

Forty five minutes later, the pair was settling into their own quiet corner of campgrounds. The weather was pleasantly warm and there weren't many insects lingering, which made Max happy. It didn't take long for them to set up, so they spent the rest of the afternoon foraging for ingredients to add to their dinner, during which David introduced Max to blackberries, and Max kept trying to get David to partake in some mind altering mushrooms they came across.

That evening, however, Max was unusually quiet.

Dinner was done and the scraps were done away with by David in a way as to not attract local wildlife. There was a small fire going in front of the tent, supplying light, and a small bit of warmth after the temperature had gone down—though luckily not to an uncomfortable degree. David was leaning backwards against a log that they had together pulled closer to the tent, enjoying a cup of tea made on the campfire. A few feet away, Max stared up at the night sky from a thin blanket on the ground with his arms tucked under his head.

David listened to the soft sounds of nature. The three-or-so crickets near the tent were rather active, along with the last of that summer's cicadas, and a few other airborne insects. The buzzing of their wings, chirps, and movements through the foliage made the campgrounds feel alive in a way that was hard for David to describe. The trees rustled around them slightly with the slight breeze. It was peaceful in a way that cities—or even suburbs—just weren't. David felt his entire body slowly start to relax, starting from his brow and ending in his toes. Letting out a breath, he rolled his neck and shoulders. He was relieved not to hear anything crack.

"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?" David asked, idly swirling the contents of his tea around his tin cup. The warmth felt great against his hands. "I know you don't really care for swimming, but I thought we could check out the river east of here and maybe try our hand at catching some fish?"

When there was no response, he tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. It was just beginning to truly darken and stars were starting to appear in greater numbers. Looking away, he shifted his attention to Max. Grinning, he tried to sweeten the deal by adding, "We might not have fishing rods, but I can show you how to make a spear, if you promise not to try to stab me with it."

David tilted his head a bit when there was again, no response. He wondered for a moment if Max had fallen asleep, before recalling a hint of a memory—one that he couldn't be a hundred percent sure about—but felt true enough, considering the bags under the pre-teen's eyes. Hadn't Max suffered from insomnia when he was younger?

David shifted his weight so he was sitting a little straighter. He decided that he wouldn't freak out or be too put off by the lack of response just yet. Besides, a lack of reply beat a negative or obscenity filled one any day, right?

With a little more attention on Max, he continued, "Or, we could go hiking along the trail to the west. I read that the view is quite good this time of year, if that's something you'd be into?"

Instead of answering, Max sat up with his back to David, and fiddled with his hoodie.

"You alright there, Max?" David asked softly, setting his tea to the side. In a fluid movement, David pulled his legs up and rolled forward onto his knees, leaning forward. Soon after, he was pushing himself to his feet, intent on making his way over to the blanket where Max was sitting. This time, there was a pop of protest from his knee—thankfully not a painful one, much to David's dismay.

"Yeah, I'm… fine. You were saying?" Max asked, shaking his head, as if dispelling a thought. The pop seemed to snap him back to reality. He turned slightly, so he could look at David.

"Something you want to talk about?"

"No," Max tilted his head back to keep David in his line of sight once David was standing beside the blanket. David could see the tension in the set of Max's shoulders. One of Max's hands was withdrawing itself from inside the hoodie, leaving a slight lump over Max's left side. If he had to guess, David would have said he had put something into an inner pocket of the garment. The other hand rose up and David pretended to be preoccupied by a wrinkle in the blanket when Max scrubbed the edge of his sleeve over his face.

"Look. We're here to have a good time, right? So…" Max trailed off, avoiding eye contact.

David had a moment to think, 'Classic Max,' before he was haphazardly dumping himself in a mess of too long limbs onto the corner of the blanket, next to the boy. Max, realizing what was happening, recoiled, and scooted himself over to the edge of the blanket with an unhappy look. He then shot a glare at David, though David ignored it and pointed up at the sky.

"Right. Well, do you know what that is?" he asked, pointing north-west.

"A star?"

"Alright, smart guy," David threw what he assumed to be an unimpressed look over his shoulder at Max. He doubted that it was at all effective, but continued anyway, "Which star?"

"How should I know," Max replied, looking less tense, and more perturbed. "Err, what's with the quiz all of a sud-?"

"That one there's called Schedar, or Alpha Cassiopeiae," David continued, as if Max hadn't spoken. He turned his attention to the sky, which was slightly darker. It made the stars a little easier to see, "And that bright one there, that's Gamma Cassiopeiae."

He gestured to the stars above, all the while narrating calmly. Out of the corner of his eye, David noticed that Max seemed more interested in staring at him rather than the stars. Pointing to the stars again—this time waiting until Max had found the stars in question—he moved his finger right, left, and then into a vaguely squiggle-like shape. "Those two, along with the ones next to it—see, they sort of make a W shape?—make up a constellation called Cassiopeia the Queen.'

"Stars can also help you navigate if you ever get lost in the woods or at sea," David said, tilting his head towards a nearby tree. "It's a shame we never got to covering it at camp. I mean we did go over a few of the stars when we taught you kids about the planets—still not sure where that idea that the sun goes around Jupiter came from…"

David shook his head and turned his attention back to Max. "So, any ideas about what you want to do tomorrow? It's all up to you, Max. If you want to do something out there—that doesn't include eating questionable mushrooms—cool. If you want to just lounge around here—that's cool too. If you decide and then change your mind, guess what."

"You're too damn accommodating, you know that, right?" Max said, standing up and adjusting his hoodie. With David sitting, Max actually managed to tower over him. He seemed to delight in it.

Putting his hands on his hips, Max brought himself to his full height, with chin up and shoulders back. He looked David in the eye and announced, "What if I wanna sit around and look at my phone all day?"

"Seems a waste to me, but I'm not going to stop you," David replied. He made absolutely no move to stand up. Max seemed to be enjoying being the tall one for once, so David let him be.

"A waste of perfectly good nature, you mean?" Max threw his arms up and out, gesturing to the trees around them. Max's face held a small smile rather than his usual sardonic smirk.

"Of electricity," David shot back, attempting to make himself comfortable on the blanket. Something told him that he would be there for a while, so he arranged his legs and arms in a way that was somewhat comfortable. "You know there isn't anywhere to charge your phone around here, right?"

"I brought an external battery, David. There's no way that I'm going without my phone any longer than I absolutely have to. Speaking of which," Max pulled the device out of his hoodie pocket, and tapped a few buttons to wake it from sleep mode. As he fiddled with it, David couldn't but notice the photo of three very familiar faces shoved haphazardly under the clear plastic case.

David startled at the sound of a camera's shutter going off.

"There we go. Captured your derpy smile and everything," Max said, pocketing the phone once more. Adjusting the hoodie once again, he turned on his heel, and directed a wave over his shoulder at David. He then proceeded to walk into the tent without so much as a glance back. "Night, David."

Surprised, David muttered a soft, "Night, Max," and stared blankly in the direction of the tent. Rubbing his own eyes, David decided that it was just about time for him to turn in for the night as well. Wanting to give Max some time to get settled, David went about rolling up the blanket, finishing his tea, and putting out the fire. Then with a quick check to see if Max was sleeping—which he was—David grabbed his stuff from the tent, quickly brushed his teeth, and rolled out his sleeping bag in front of the tent. He feel asleep under a blanket of stars and surrounded by the sounds of nature.