Chapter nine- It's a kind of magic.
The next week passed with dread, as the camping trip loomed with the boys, she knew there would be drinking and probably drugs, hopefully she and Eric didn't fall back into the pattern. They had dabbled in some stuff in their earlier relationship, Hash, Marijuana, occasionally a hallucinogen, neither of them sure what it did, but it made everything go all trippy. They had been very self destructive and it had shown, and now that they were clean again, Shelly didn't want to go back down that route. Everyone piled in Jake's car, well actually it was a station wagon, Shelly held her stuff on her lap, Eric beside her in the middle, she giggled at the thought of them putting the tallest guy in the middle, she patted his thigh sympathetically, knowing if Jake made a sharp turn she would get smushed. Getting to the campground was another fun thing. They got there and eventually was an understatement, everyone was cramped, dying of heat and hungry, not to mention it was getting dark. Everyone spread out their stuff, Eric and Shelly together, he didn't trust the guys if there was beer involved knowing how wild they all could get, she went to start the fire, unable to find any dry wood, she used news paper she found in the bottom of the car which was certainly and uttermost disgusting and felt bad burning it, who knew what toxins were in that mess. They were on a lake shore, once the fire did get going, everyone began to unpack, there was the cooler, with some food and beer, and instruments were in their cases being guarded against the damp. Jake looked at him " so Eric, when are you getting your bike back from the shop?" he asked opening a bottle of beer, Eric shrugged " whenever it's fixed". " so dude what happened to it anyway?" Jeremy asked eating a twinkie, Eric shrugged wrapping an arm around Shelly who was eyeing the bugs with a can of bug spray. " dude! She's tripping!" Michael laughed as Shelly kept continous eye contact with a bug and sprayed it as it landed, Eric laughed and ruffled her hair " no she just doesn't like bugs" he said grinning, she glared up at him playfully " watch it, your looking awfully like one yourself" she said teasing, he grinned and tackled her gently to the ground, and kissed her lips, she kissed him back and he sat up. She lay down her head on his knee, kinda drowning out the talking, wondering if she could get away with skinny dipping in the lake…probably not she thought with a frown. Though the water looked really inviting…she squirmed some, sliding off her sleeping bag, as she looked at the moonlight water, " shelly?"…" Earth to Planet Shelly" came Jake's voice piercing her thoughts, "whaat" she said annoiyed sitting up, he looked at her holding a joint " do you mind?" she shrugged " whatever, your all big boys." He nodded and lit it, passing it around, she watched as they took a drag or two, Eric only taking one drag and passed it to her, she passed it back to Jake, he looked at her " come on Shell. Where's your sense of adventure?" she scowled at him " been there done that, didn't like the after effects" she said calmly, eyeing the water, really really wanting to. Eric looked at her then at her area of gaze and made a face, he could swim but he didn't really like fish, something about their beady little eyes. Eric looked back at her and grinned " emu" he whispered, she let out a yelp and hit his arm and stuck out her tongue. " emu's are devil birds!" she whimpered closing her eyes tightly, Eric grinned triumphantly " she doesn't like Emu's"…Shelly shuddered " with their beady little eyes, and pointy beaks and those knobby scaly legs" she made herself scream a little, Eric patted her and looked at the guys, Jake laughed "man she doesn't need to be tripped out, she's tripped out already". Eric scowled and cracked his knuckles " watch it." He said threatingly as a warning, Shelly put a hand on his arm " it's okay, I know he's not trying to be an ass". He kissed her temple, the atmosphere was brought down a little, then " hey Jeremy" Michael said teasing, Jeremy looked at him uneasy " I dare you to go skinny dipping" Jeremy looked at him like he was nuts " are you crazy dude! The water is cold! it's November! See NO LEAVES ON THE TREES!." Dash it all though Shelly, the water would be to cold, amazing there had been no sign of snow yet…just rain. Jake leaned back and looked at the sky, some stars appearing, even though the lights could see semi be seen " you know, it's kinda cool to be out here." A chorus of " dude" echoed in agreement. Shelly looked around the tree and smiled, now she knew where they were, she looked at Eric and tugged on his sleeve and pointed to the old oak tree near the lake, his eyes widened and shook his head..if the guys found out…she grinned and nodded evilly, but she wouldn't do anything, she was to happy and comfortable, even if he did have hard joints and very firm muscles..no bad shelly she thought to herself, not wanting to get any of those thoughts in her head glancing up at him she traced his neck with her eyes and down to his shook and his chest, she stopped and forced herself to look at something else, " come on Shelly don't do this to yourself not when you can't act upon" she mumbled beneath her breath, and stole another look at him, let out a frustrated squeak, she got up followed by many weird looks from the guys. "gah! I'm going nuts! I knew this was a bad idea" she said heading to the water killing bugs as she went, having left the bug spray with Eric. Finding some rocks she picked them up and tried to skip them, only ending up splashing, the guys had opened the cooler and she could hear their laughs and jokes, and just looked over at the water, wishing it were warmer so she could go in..maybe just her toes she though taking her shoes and socks off sliding her feet in the cold water, she let out a gasp the water was colder then anticipated, making the veins in her feet pop upwards. She would let the guys have their fun, besides she smiled to herself, maybe thinking was what she needed. "Alright, we're getting married now, maybe it should be a sunset…and timed perfectly so the vows are directly at midnight…hmmm on Holloween! That would be perfect, on holloween… and we could have lit pumpkins around us, not in a church though…to traditional, and holloween lanterns everywhere…and..maybe just maybe I could get Eric to wear a tuxedo..heh heh heh penguin..no! Bond James Bond" she said talking to herself, grinning and laughing. " Man, who should we invite..definetly the guys, what's life without them…maybe a sibling..eh..maybe not, definetly parents. Maybe not…damn…" she sighed dejectedly and wiggled her toes to return feeling in them, not wanting to take them out of the water yet. She looked around as a crow came to land beside her " hi there..are you lost or maybe hungry?" she asked, it squawked at her indignantly and flew off " find then be that way" she grumbled " ungrateful bird" she said pulling her feet from the water, and put her socks and shoes back on, going back. The guys were laughing hysterically, she slid beside Eric, he wrapped an arm around her protectively, she smiled at him and kissed beside his lips, sliding into her sleeping bag she pulled him down on top of her so she was holding him, like how they would cuddle on the couch, he smiled and tilted his head kissing her cheek, she smiled and rubbed his arm. " I love you" she said softly, he smiled flitting her arm slightly with his fingers " say that again" she smiled widely and kissed him " I love you". Eric smiled and leaned up some careful of her smaller frame underneath and gave her a long passionately kiss, she smiled up at him dreamy eyed, he smiled and kissed her lips softly barely touching them " goodnight" he whispered as one of the guys drowned the fire, and everyone got settled in their comfy sleeping bags, Shelly turned towards Eric in her's and reached out her fingers, already missing his body contact. The next morning a thin layer of frost covered them, Jake was already up, she leaned over and touched Eric's face gently, stiff from the hard ground and kissed his nose " wakey wakey prince charming" she whispered, as his eyelids stirred, all the guys seemed to have suffered from major headaches, serves them right, as long as Eric didn't one she would make it so she would squeal or giggle even more. She touched his face " morning love how's your head?" she asked quietly, he groaned and shut his eyes, she kissed his temple, " my poor babe" she said softly, keeping her voice down as much as possible. He made a face and stood up " no chance of an egg and orange juice is there" he asked groggily, she shook her head and went to the car and grabbed him and aspirin and water bottle she had in her bag, " here, and take small sips" she said trying to find some wood for the fire tonight, knowing they were planning to stay ALL weekend…
During the day, it was sunny and somewhat warm, a little cool but not untolerable without jackets or a heavy sweater, the guys went fishing and Shelly went for a walk, thinking mostly, just about the future. She hadn't thought much about the engagement, somewhat just taking what life brought. But who knew in a year maybe two she'd be married to the perfect human being in the world…she heard a splash and ran over to the lake, Jeremy was laughing hysterically, Jake was in the water, as was Eric, she ran over and went to Eric which about Hip deep mid chest " are you alright?" she asked worriedly, he nodded and looked at her " what are you doing in here! You could get sick! Then I'll get sick" he protested picking her up. She shivered feeling the effects of the cold water " I'm not cold" she said trying to keep her teeth from chattering " suuure your not" Eric replied with uttermost sarcasm in his voice. She stuck her tongue out at him, he set her down on the shore, and sat down in the sun with her, his arms wrapped around her shoulder, resting his head on her's. " damn it why are you always so warm" she said snuggling against him. He shrugged and laughed " pure talent" she stuck her tongue out at him " well other then getting cold, wet, stiff and hung over this hasn't been that bad" he said teasingly. " now you're the one that got hung over, I was a good girl and walked away so I could think" she said in a matter of fact tone, he raised an eyebrow at the good girl statement, turning around in his arms she put a finger to his lips " don't even say it." He grinned cheekily and started to snicker, she glared playfully at him and slapped the inside of his arm gently with her fingers " ooww Shelly's beating on me" he whined playfully. The guys smirked " good job Shellie" they teased, she scowled and narrowed her eyes at them playfully. " Oooh Shellie's mad now" they grinned, she got up from Eric's arms " I'll show you mad" she grinned, Eric looked at her " be gentle, they still need to use their arms" he said laughing, she smirked and flung herself at Jeremy tackling him and clothes lining Jake in the process, Michael moving beside Eric. That night it started to rain, and not just a little spitting rain, a great torrential downpour, the campers fled, rolling up their sleeping bags, and making sure they left no evidence behind of their one night of chaos, and climbed into the car, Shelly falling asleep her head on Eric's chest for the rest of the drive home.
