Inspired by this post: post/119898437912/established-relationship-aus
"Hang on," Angie said, a hint of panic and confusion in her voice.
"What?" Peggy, her fiancée, asked, unintentionally sounding slightly annoyed, when she was really just tired from the day of hiking through the woods.
"Shouldn't there have been one of the marker thingies on the trees by now?"
"No, there was one a little while back," Peggy was staring hard at the map in her hands, trying to decipher the mess of paths and symbols that were foreign to her.
"Yeah, like a mile ago."
"Look, see we're following the path," Peggy traced a blue line on the map with her finger.
Angie looked over Peggy's shoulder before saying, "English?"
"Hmm?"
"That's a river."
"There are no rivers here. That's imposs-" Peggy neglected the end of her sentence, looking back at the map, and then at her surroundings. She did a complete circle before saying, "Huh."
"Peg, do you even know how to read a map?"
"Yes! There's just usually keys and landmarks and something other than fucking trees!"
"We're lost, aren't we?" Angie said, sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree.
"I'm afraid so," Peggy replied, sitting down next to and putting her arm around Angie.
After a few minutes of mopey silence, Angie got to her feet.
"What are you doing?" Peggy asked, looking up at her.
"You still have the tent, right?"
"Of course," Peggy began taking it out of her bag, before a random thought occurred to her. "How did I end up carrying everything?"
Angie waved the question aside, "That's not important. So, Peggy dear, where exactly were we hiking to?"
"The campgrounds, why do you-" Peggy then realized what her fiancée was trying to say. "You want to set up camp here?"
"Same concept. We're still in the woods, just a different…section."
"I suppose…" Peggy said as Angie pulled her up from her (quite comfortable) sitting position on the log.
"Alright!" Angie exclaimed. "Where are the instructions?"
"Instructions?"
"You know, the piece of paper that tells you how to put a tent together…" Angie said, earning herself an unamused look from Peggy.
"I thought you've been camping before."
"Yeah, in cabins," said Angie, "I don't know how to set up a tent!"
"How hard can it be?" Peggy said, sounding hopeful and a tiny bit guilty.
Apparently, very. It had been almost an hour, and the couple had had no luck when it comes to setting up a tent.
"This is impossible!" Peggy shouted suddenly, throwing down the mess of poles and tarp in her arms. Angie, who had given up a little while ago, giggled from the ground, where she was laying. Peggy glared at her, more annoyed at the stupid tent than her fiancée.
Just then it started raining, pouring down all at once. It soaked both the girls instantly,
"Hey," Angie said, getting up and walking over to hug Peggy, "it's gonna be alright." Angie didn't need Peggy to tell her that this was about more than getting lost, or the rain, or her inability to set up a tent. Angie also didn't need Peggy to tell her that she didn't want to talk about it.
They pulled halfway out the hug, and stared into each other's eyes. "Really?" Peggy asked, a tremor in her voice.
"Of course, English," Angie said, pushing a wet piece of hair out of Peggy's face. "And if not, then we'll go through it together." Angie leaned towards Peggy, standing up on her tippy-toes to compensate for their height difference, and kissed her. Soft and slow, yet not lacking passion, they kissed in the middle of the woods in the rain on that early July evening. For just one moment, everything else faded into the background, and that kiss was the only thing that mattered.
"Okay?" Angie asked, once she had pulled away. She wiped a mixture of rain and tears from her fiancée's face.
"Okay."
A few more minutes and a few more kisses later, the engaged couple were sitting next to each other, their backs to the trunk of a tree. The rain was coming down heavily, with occasional rumbles of thunder. Peggy couldn't see Angie's face, but she could feel the warmth of her fingers that were intertwined with her own.
It was Peggy who spoke first. "You know we're going to die out here."
"I know," Angie said before bursting into giggles, which were quickly joined by the sound of Peggy's laughter.
