Brittany reeled in the line to, yet again, find nothing on the end. She sighed "I don't know why we bother, we never catch anything"
Tobi doesn't hear, just carries on listening to his music and jostling the boat with his movements, her father shrieks in protest in the water beside them, a small fish falling from his grasp "It's his music that's doing it, scaring all the fish away"
Brittany watches him splash and scream, trying his best to impersonate the people on the discovery channel "Yeah that's what's doing it"
Tobi tugs off his head phones "Could the Loch Ness monster be in America?" he asked, following up on his brand new obsession with urban legends "Particularly here? Like right now?"
Brittany casts the line out again "Barely any fish can survive out here, I doubt the Loch Ness Monster could" she said through an exhale, smiling at him "But I'd be happy to feed it pieces of blueberry pie and take pictures of it with you if it was"
He stares at her, a smile building "The Loch Ness Monster doesn't eat blueberry pie"
"How do you know?"
"Because Nessy lives in a lock where the primary food source is fish, not blueberry pie" he explains, eating a cracker out of the picnic basket.
Their dad resurfaces, his head dripping wet "There's that hotel near Loch Ness, who knows maybe it sneaks blueberry pie out of the dumpster to sustain itself"
"There are no nutrients!" he almost screams, face red.
Brittany hushes him "You'll scare the fish away" she lets out a chuckle with her Dad and Tobi rolls his eyes.
It suddenly turns very quiet as they go back to fishing; Brittany watches the trees for a little just for something to do while her dad wades off far away, looking for a good place to 'hand fish'.
Tobi lets out a cough that wasn't needed "Will this…" he stammers, staring at the bottom of the boat "…Will this be the last time you come fishing with us?"
Brittany looks over at him and he avoids eye contact "Well…" she thinks for a moment, deliberating her entire life "I'm not quite sure"
He forcefully picks at the skin of his fingers "Are you staying? Where are you going to go?"
She shrugs "I don't know, I guess I'll just…" it dawns on her, she hasn't thought about the rest of her life in months. Things were uncertain and she had no idea who she wanted to be, what she wanted to do, it almost seemed absurd that she had to decide now, when everything seemed so turbulent and stressful. "There's only a few months isn't there?" she looks to him for help "Four months to decide everything"
Tobi stands up and taps her lightly on the side of the head, she stares at him "Stop freaking out" he tells her "I was just asking a question"
She's almost in tears "A terrible question"
"But still a question" he says calmly, sitting back down. He folds his arms "Whatever you want to be you can be, you don't need to decide now what the rest of your life will be like, all you need now is the next step. When you know you'll know, even if it's not when you're eighteen"
She nods, eyes almost unbelieving "How do you know all this?"
"It's simple" He shrugs "Just stop thinking about everything else, just be a kid I guess"
"Be a kid" she repeats through a rueful laugh, there's a long silence, she looks down and then back up again "You know something?"
He raises his eyebrows, ignoring the splashes of their dad metres away "What?"
"You're my best friend"
He frowned "What about-?"
"It's different" she stated and he smiled, closed lipped and happy.
Brittany's dad waded up to the boat, pulling a couple of crackers out of the basket for himself "You better get going" he said through a mouthful "If you want to get there on time"
"Right" she stood up shakily, about to jump in the water before stopping. She shucks off the old and tattered fishing vest she's worn every year, and hands it to Tobi "It looks better on you anyway" he looks up in awe at her "I promise this won't be the last time" she says before she jumps in the water, shivering on impact, turning back for only a second to catch the image of Tobi slipping the vest on for the first time. It's huge on him, but it looks right.
Quinn had given up on the whole hiking thing about forty minutes ago, meaning Mike had been carrying her on his shoulders for over an hour. His legs were burning like someone had set them on fire and he couldn't even remember the last time he had feeling in his shoulders. He was seriously starting to rethink his decision to hike to the camp ground instead of driving with everyone else.
"I'm gonna pass out"
Quinn's head perked up from her magazine "What's that noise?" they listened for a moment and there wasn't a sound, until Mike started moving again "I fucking heard something" she jumped down and Mike fell to the ground with relief.
"I can't hear anything" he wheezed but she ran off anyway, he quickly lost her in the thick of the wood.
It wasn't long before she was shouting after him; he shucked his backpack on and ran after her.
"What did I fucking say?" she grinned, stood in front of a large metal gate before a clearing. Inside were large log cabins and a huge field that looked eerily happy and full of sunshine, a group of girls were stood among the field, practicing dance moves of some sort while a woman barked orders.
"It must be some kind of summer camp thing" he tried to explain "bit of a weird time of year though"
Quinn watched creepily as they chanted "When I say fun, you say-"
"Fuck you!" she shouted, laughing loudly as they all gasped and dispersed in outrage.
"Why does it have a fence?" Mike ignored her, threading his fingers through the chain links "I mean it goes all the way up? It's not even a small fence, do camps normally have fences?"
The faint and extremely unconvincing sounds of a bear come from the lining of the woods behind them- just in time too, Quinn was already undoing the button of her shorts to moon the people at the camp- before Brittany bursts out the foliage, arms up like claws, imitating a growling bear.
They stare at her with straight faces, so she gives up and just shrugs "I was being a bear" she says, walking over to the fence to join them.
Mike looks her up and down "Why are you wet?"
"I've just been fishing for three days what do you expect"
"Is that what that smell is?" he says and Quinn laughs.
"I don't smell do I?" she vigorously try's to somehow smell her armpits "I stink of fish"
"Indeed" Quinn agrees, trying to move her away with the toe of her shoe.
"Do you have anything I can wash with?"
Mike looks around in his bag and pulls out a bottle of mouthwash, she takes it even though it'll probably burn her skin off but at least she won't smell of fish, just chemicals and mint. Quinn throws her a new shirt to wear and she hobbles back into the woods to sort herself out, without leering eyes.
/
Sam struggles valiantly with the map, view completely blocked by the huge abyss of paper, he gasps "We should have taken a right back there"
In the front, Rachel rubs at her temples while Santana controls the overwhelming urge to bang her head against the steering wheel "I'll kill you" she calmly states "I'll crash this goddamn car right now, get out and kill you"
Sam sticks his head between the seats "Take a chill pill" he folds the map up into his lap "Just take the next right, it's like virtually the same"
"It better be, because if I have to ask one more sweaty local for directions again I'm shoving that map so far up your-"
"I think we all need to calm down" Rachel intervenes, subtly knocking her elbow back to collide with the side of Sam's head while she pretends to be assessing the situation "We should call someone who knows where we're going"
"Brittany's the only one who knows" Sam sighs "But she did tell me so you know, my word is as good as-"
Rachel puts up her hand "Be quiet"
His nostrils flair and he points an accusing finger at her "You and me are on thin ice!"
Santana's seconds away from pulling over and giving up all together "Will somebody please just call Brittany"
"I'll do it!" Rachel chips in, a little too excitedly.
Santana gives her a look "Maybe I should, being her girlfriend"
"No, no" Rachel insists, already ringing Brittany "You're driving" the phone rings until the last minute before laboured breathing comes through "Hello…?"
"…Hello… yeah… hello"
Rachel looks at the phone screen with a frown before bringing it back to her ear "Why are you panting?"
"Because I'm running, what do you want?"
"We're lost and I'm hungry and a little tired and I can feel a headache coming on which so has to do with the fact Sam keeps spraying bug spray every five seconds and- why are you running?"
"Quinn found the axe in Mike's bag and well, you can guess what's happening"
Rachel gasped, causing Santana to slap at her arm to find out what's happening, she fought her off "Do you need help?"
"No point, she'll tire herself out soon enough. Where are you?"
She twirls a lock of hair between her fingers, listening to the sounds of heavy foot falls and laboured breathing coming through the phone "I don't know, there's a lot of trees" she says, just as the sound of Mike yelling comes through.
"Gee thanks Rachel, for that stellar report of your surroundings, let me think where do I know in the woods that has lots of trees"
"All right you don't have to be so pissy about it"
"Hang on"
Rachel grimaced "What?"
"I said hang on!"
Just like that Brittany jumped out of the thick foliage at the side of the road, Santana slammed on the breaks, sending half the cars manic camping gear straight into Sam's crotch. He howled in agony.
Santana was out the car in record time, beaming with delight at the sight of her girlfriend. Brittany dropped her backpack to the floor and met her halfway, nearly keeling over when she jumped up into her arms.
She planted a series of equally sloppy and desperate kisses on Brittany's lips "I missed you so much"
"It's only been three days" Brittany said, her hands running up and down Santana's back, revelling in the feeling of familiar hands in her hair.
Santana smiled, staring down into her eyes "Three days too long baby" she said, putting on a fake smooth voice.
Brittany grins, giving her a cheeky wink "You know it babe" she joined in, kissing her some more.
Mike staggers out of the woods, catching them mid kiss, as he nearly passes out, sweat dripping from his face. "Oh thank god" he declares, eyes set on the car as Rachel waves excitedly at him. Moments later Quinn comes sprinting after him, deliriously happy as she wielded the axe towards him with a war cry. "Cut it out" Mike shouts at her, rolling his eyes.
She stops abruptly, lowering the axe "Alright, don't get your knickers in a twist"
Mike hobbles weakly over to the car, walking gingerly on his many blisters, and Quinn follows, stopping when she reaches the still kissing couple "You kids ready to go campin'" she drawls, raising the axe in a pseudo horror type manner.
Santana pulls away from the kiss; dropping back to the ground "Get ya shit together" she tells her, plain and simple, walking off with Brittany in tow.
Mike's already passed out on the backseat, the air conditioning blowing directly on his face while Sam pats his hair comfortingly as he reads a magazine. Brittany's quick to find the map to see where they need to go, explaining the directions to Santana while she very unhelpfully runs her fingers up and down her arm and relentlessly whispers things in her ear.
Rachel rolls down the window as Quinn walks past to get to the backseat "You look like shit" she comments, lowering her sunglasses to the bridge of her nose, she looks terrible in them really, being one of those people that just can't pull off sunglasses.
Without turning round, Quinn slaps her ass "You know you want me"
"Come on, it'll be dark soon" Brittany says, a fresh hickey brewing on the side of her neck. She squeezes in the back with Mike, Sam and Quinn, a prominent pole from one of the tents jammed into her back while Mike is passed out on her shoulder.
/
It's an hour before sundown when they get to the camp site in the middle of the woods. Quinn's already cracked open a beer and is running off to find a place to pee before the car even stops, very cleverly avoiding putting up the tents.
Mike's found his second wind and he's quick to help Brittany put up their tents, while everyone else hangs around the car spraying bug spray and eating half the food.
"You know it would go a lot faster if you helped" Brittany says, pumping up the air mattress Santana insisted on bringing.
Santana raises her eyebrows in an expectant manner, and that's all the reaction she gets out of them, apart from a burp from Sam, which is followed by giggles and a smack on the head from Santana.
Quinn comes back to all the tents already been set up and a fire roaring in the middle, she nods in approval and goes over to Brittany to offer one of the beers in the six-pack she has cradled to her chest. Brittany stares down at the offered beer for a long moment, looking up to find Santana talking to Sam, smiling and laughing, before taking the beer, cracking it open and taking a sip.
"I'm an avid advocator for drinking alcohol around fires" she jokes, while Quinn lets out a belch at the gassy liquid and nearly falls over a small twig on the floor. The sun is seconds away from setting, lighting the woods with an orange glow. Brittany watches Santana sit by the fire from afar, watching how the shadows from the trees casted along her features, like sinewy fingers clawing at the supple flesh of her face.
She set her beer down on the floor and went over to Santana, sitting down beside her so the shadows casted along her face instead. She looped an arm around her waist, pressing a kiss to her temple while her other hand played with the fingers of Santana's free hand. "I love you" she said, quietly over the crackling of the fire, letting out a sigh of content when Santana moved to lean her head against her chest.
Santana squeezed her hand "What's wrong?"
Brittany pulled back to look Santana in the eyes, smiling, though it didn't reach her eyes "What do you mean?"
Santana shrugged "You only drink when you're sad" she moves back to laying her head against her chest, rubbing her thumb over Brittany's palm "Because you think it'll make you seem happy and no one will notice"
Brittany closed her eyes for a moment, clearing her throat "It's not the time" she said, watching everyone laughing and running around beside them.
"Do you promise to tell me when it is?"
"When have I ever not told you something?"
She smiled "True"
Quinn comes out of nowhere, wielding a large stick with a giggling and already half-drunk Rachel on her arm, and hands them fresh beers. She stops mid-way towards sitting down next to them, head perked up like a dog sensing danger "Do you hear something?"
"Don't" Sam simply says, sipping his beer and laying down next to them to look up at the stars.
She nudges Mike with her foot, finding him half asleep "I reckon it's that camp we found"
Rachel cheers from next to her, arms up in the air "Panty raid!"
Santana rolls her eyes "Or sexual harassment as normal people call it"
Quinn raises her stick into the air in a military stile fashion, letting out a battle cry "A vast on the perilous nature of the high seas"
Sam looks up at Brittany "It's all very exciting isn't it" he says with a straight face.
/
At some point somebody decided to turn the radio on in the car, so music starts blasting out of the open vehicle as everyone teeters around, drunk, and Mike busies with barbecuing burgers and hot dogs and what not.
Brittany's in the midst of devouring a hotdog with half a wine cooler when Santana comes over and kisses her on the cheek, though it's sloppy and drunk it still brings a smile to her face.
She tries to swallow the chewed up hotdog in her mouth quickly but it's too dry "What was that for?" She coughs out, taking a swig of alcohol to stop from choking.
Santana flops elegantly to the ground, pirouetting to stop from smashing her head in the dirt "I missed you"
Brittany tries and fails to join her on the ground, ending up splayed across the floor, her feet shucked in Santana's lap "I want you to draw me like one of your French girls" she giggles out, curling her top lip to in some way sound French.
Santana, laughing to the point of nearly crying at the alcohol in her system, drags Brittany up by the arm so she's sitting up in front of her, smiling like a fool.
Brittany's mouth falls open in mock shock, her fist coming up to fly, very slowly, through the air and land as gently as possible on Santana's cheek, the sound of inaudible screaming coming from Brittany's open mouth.
Santana's eyebrow shoots up and she takes a swig of beer just for the sake of it, laughing into the bottle when Brittany keeps trying to kiss her. She ends up with half the beer splattered on her tank top, the loose fabric sticking to her uncomfortably, and Brittany practically attacking her neck with kisses.
Meanwhile, Quinn jumps and dances around the fire to the sounds of an eighties mash up, a lit joint sticking out the side of her mouth while Rachel sits with Mike eating the brownies Sam made for the trip, chocolate smeared all over their faces as Sam rummages through all their tents trying to find spare batteries for a flashlight so he can just go to the goddamn toilet.
"Tell me about your first love"
She looks at Brittany sceptically; watching her facial expression to see if it would turn into a smile or just stay neutral "You're my first love"
Brittany grins "I know it's great" she pushes a piece of brown hair back behind Santana's ear and takes another drink, "All right, tell me about your first crush" she says, kissing the back of her hand.
"Ooh I got a good one" she laughs, fitting her fingers through the gaps in between Brittany's "She was really pretty, that's all I remember about her really, just that she was pretty… and she used to draw pictures of hamsters all the time, it used to freak me out sometimes but I liked her anyway"
"How old were you?"
"Like eight" she laughed "Well anyway, I really liked her so I asked my mom what other girls like as a present and I guess she was having a craving or something because all she said was brownies, like she'd been thinking of them for the last ten minutes. So I made her some goddamn brownies, and they weren't even that packet shit you get, these bitches were fucking homemade brownies"
"Did she like them?"
"Did she fuck" she shouts, the wound still fresh "She said she was lactose intolerant and gave them back to me like I'd just handed her a tub of my shit"
"That little bitch"
"I know" she agrees round a sip of beer "All right your turn"
Brittany kisses the back of their joined hands again, "I don't know, I never really had a crush on anyone apart from you, I was a very asexual child"
"You've never been attracted to anyone apart from me?"
"No, I've been attracted to people; I just never really liked anyone for who they were, apart from you"
Out of the blue, Santana surged forward, lips connecting roughly with Brittany's in a sloppy open mouthed kiss so strong it knocked Brittany back onto the floor of the woods, Santana quickly pushing forward to land on top, continuing the kiss. Her hands fell to the small of Santana's back, holding her closer while Santana deepened the kiss, fingers working on the button of Brittany's jeans.
Brittany abandoned holding her close for just taking her shirt off, primary instincts kicking in; she dragged her hands up the parameters of her back, taking the top with it to reveal smooth skin in the dim moonlight. Her jeans were undone and down to her ankles before she could think and Santana was sitting up to pull her shirt all the way off, not wasting a second.
"Take your shirt off" is whispered huskily into the night air and Brittany's quick to apply, pulling her t-shirt over her head, Santana watching her intently.
It messes her hair up like nobody's business, but she doesn't care, just surges up to find those lips again. Her hands travel up Santana's back, landing on her bra, working on the clip to release-
"Sorry to bother you" interrupted a fake southern twang "but have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal lord and saviour?"
They turned in shock, like a couple of deer in the headlights, to find Quinn rolling around on the floor laughing at them, while the others just laughed and pointed
"Fuck you" Santana cursed, getting up and dragging Brittany, to kick Quinn in the ribs.
She stuck her middle finger up at all of them while they continued to laugh, unabashed in just her shorts and bra, as she made way to their tent.
Brittany shuffling behind with her pants around her ankles.
/
Quinn was still passed out in her tent by the time everyone else was packed up and ready to go, Rachel shook the sleeping bag and threw empty cans at her head for about an hour but that didn't help the situation in the slightest, it only made her slightly pissy and slightly covered in old beer. Eventually they just decided to go with it and Sam had to drag her, sleeping bag and all, into the car.
Mike drove because Santana was busy sleeping cuddled into Brittany and everyone else was too hung over to even open their eyes.
Sam stared out the window from the passenger seat, teeth gritted as Rachel's foot smacked the back of his seat once again "It feels like a baby bird is trying to crawl its way up my throat"
Quinn, dropped in the foot holes of the backseat and concealed by her sleeping bag like a cocoon, cleared her throat "I can't feel my ass"
Brittany gave the part she assumed was Quinn's butt a firm kick, jostling Santana awake.
"Thank you"
Santana yawned, slapping her lips together "My mouth's as dry as a junkie's carpet" she grimaced.
"There's a waffle house at the next stop" Mike chipped in; the moans from everyone seemed to be the answer to that non-existent question.
Santana had black coffee and half of Brittany's waffles, she would have had some of Sam's but he smothered his in maple syrup before she could tell him not to, there's nothing worse than a soggy waffle. Rachel just sat, grumpily, in the corner, taking small bites out of a banana and watching Quinn devour a meal fit for four people.
It really was a sight to behold.