(Now) Lauren: Labor Day Camping Trip part 2

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" I shriek.  I throw a shirt across the tent and glare at Alex, though I'm sure this isn't even remotely his fault.

He looks at me warily.  "What?"

"All of my stuff is spilled," I reply.

"What stuff?" he asks hesitantly.  He's clearly treading lightly to avoid my wrath, and I take a deep breath and get a hold of myself.

"My shampoo and sunscreen and everything.  It's all over my entire fucking bag."  I sigh and push my hands through my sweaty hair, immediately regretting that decision.

"Like they leaked?"

I snort and shake my head.  "It's almost like someone opened them all and squeezed everything out.  I could take a guess at who."  Alex cocks an eyebrow at me, and I can't tell if it's a curious eyebrow or a warning eyebrow. "Fucking immature stupid bitch," I mutter, and Alex's eyebrow gets higher.  "Oh, stop looking at me like that, I'm not going to do anything stupid."

I carefully lift out the clothes that have various products on them and set them aside.  When all is said and done I'm left with 1 tank top, my swimsuit, a pair of shorts, and a pair of capri workout leggings.  Everything else has shampoo or sunscreen or lotion all over it.  I change into my swimsuit and pull on the shorts, then leave the tent.  Liv looks my way as I come out and I walk over to her.  "Did you overpack?" I ask, knowing that she always does.

"Of course," she replies, laughing.  "Do you even know me?"

I force a smile and ask, "Can I borrow a couple shirts, maybe?  Someone thought it would be a good idea to go in our tent and open and dump all my shampoo and shit on mine."

"Wait, seriously?" she asks, giving me a weird look.  She looks around, locates James, then lowers her voice.  "Haley?"

I shrug.  "I don't know who else it would have been, and it's not like stuff just leaked.  Whatever.  I'm not going to make a scene because I'm sure that's what she wants."  Have I mentioned that I hate camping?

Liv returns with two shirts and hands them to me.  "Let me know if you need anything else," she says.  I nod and thank her, then pop back into our tent and put the shirts in Alex's bag, where they'll probably be safer.

Once we're all ready to go we make our way down to the beach.  As much as I'd prefer to just find our own spot, our little group wanders towards Kinsley, Damien, and Haley.  Haley pushes herself up on one elbow and watches us approach with a smug look on her face.  Or maybe that's just her face.

"How was your hike?" Kinsley asks as we start to get settled.

"It was great," I answer cheerfully before anyone else can.  Kinsley lifts her sunglasses off her eyes and gives me a skeptical look.  "It was," I growl, cutting my eyes at her.  I don't want to talk about the hike.  I'm pretty sure I'm not going to sleep tonight after the snake encounter.

"Okay," she replies with a shrug.  She replaces her sunglasses and flips over, wiggling to get comfortable.

I settle into the spot next to her and ignore Haley, who is watching me.  It's warm and the sun beating on me relaxes me.  I hadn't slept well the night before, and I quickly find myself dozing off.  I wake with a start when I feel something cold dripping on my stomach.  When I open my eyes, I see a wet Alex standing above me, dripping disgusting lake water on me.  "Gross," I say, rolling to the side and out of reach of his dripping.

He chuckles.  "You're going to fry, you should flip over."

"You couldn't have told me that without dripping all over me?"

He shrugs.  "I could have, but it wouldn't have been as much fun."  I flip myself over and adjust my bikini bottoms, brushing some sand off the back of my leg.  Alex lightly smacks my ass with his wet hand, and I glare at him.

"I swear that I will murder you in your sleep," I warn him.

"Kinky," he replies, wiggling his eyebrows at me.  I huff out a breath and roll my eyes, then turn my head away from him, trying to get comfortable again.  "Have I told you lately that you're pretty?"

"Nice try," I retort.  "I don't need your validation."

He laughs and kisses my shoulder.  "I love you," he says softly.

I turn my head back towards and roll my eyes, then realize that he can't see my eyes.  "I love you too," I reply finally.  He grins and leans forward, kissing me lightly.  I'm not normally into PDA at all, but he's looking pretty damn good right now and it's hard to resist.  Plus, he puts up with my shit like a champ.  The least I can do is let him kiss me in public once in awhile.

We relax on the beach for about another hour before we pack our stuff up and head back to the campsite.  At this point, I'm hungry again and I don't understand why.  Why does camping make you so hungry?  I busy myself actively ignoring Haley.  Liv approaches me.  "I'm going to take a shower.  Want to come?  You can use my shampoo and stuff."  She says the last part quietly.

"Sure," I agree.  "I have sand in my hair.  And my ears.  And all over."

We get our stuff and walk towards the bathroom.  The showers are disgusting and cold, and I decide not to wash my hair.  It's the shortest shower I've ever taken, but it's nice to at least rinse the combination of sweat and sand off of me.  I get dressed in my workout pants and one of the t-shirts Liv gave me.

Liv braves washing her hair and takes a little longer, so I have time to twist my hair back into a tight French braid, pulling it off my face and neck.  When Liv is done she asks me to do hers too, and my fingers work quickly to braid her long, straight hair.  Her hair is so easy to work with, it's a shame she's so hair-impaired.

We make our way back to the campsite and I'm pleased to see that the guys have started the grill.  I think we're grilling the steaks tonight.  I'm so glad we're not eating hot dogs.  Steak is so much better.  Of course, as we get close, I hear Haley complaining about red meat.  I want to smash her face into something.  My fist, maybe.

I do my best to ignore her as I throw my towel over the clothesline someone has rigged up.   I continue to ignore her throughout the evening.  "Need one of these?" Alex asks me after dinner, holding out a bottle of beer.

"Yes," I reply, reaching for it.  He pops the top off and hands it over.  "I might kill her."

"You wouldn't do well in prison," he points out, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.  The sun is going down and it's getting chilly so I actually welcome his arm and snuggle into him.  "Who are you?" he asks, laughing and kissing the top of my head.

"Shut up, it's cold," I say, but I laugh while I say it.

Haley seems to disapprove of us drinking cheap wine and beer and drags James to bed early again.  I can't say I'm sad about it.  We do nothing to keep our noise level down on their behalf, and I'm not sorry.  Well, I'm sorry for James, because I don't understand why he's with such a bitch.  It doesn't seem like his style at all.

Eventually we all wind down a little.  Alex volunteers to stay up to let the fire burn out tonight, and after everyone else disappears into their tents, I climb into his lap.  I'm a little tipsy and it's making me touchy-feely.  "Are you drunk?" he asks me, chuckling.

"No," I reply.  "Mostly not, anyway.  Maybe a little.  Shut up."  He laughs and rubs my back, and I relax against him.  

Once the fire burns down enough that we can easily put it out we do that and head to our tent.  It's definitely cool now and I quickly climb under the unzipped sleeping bag we're using as a blanket and press my body against Alex's.  "Cold?" he asks softly, rubbing my arm before slipping his arm around me and pulling me tightly against him.

I nod and shiver a little.  Alex presses his lips to the back of my neck and I sigh contentedly.  He shifts and finds my ear with his lips.  "I'll kill you if we pop this air mattress and I have to sleep on the ground," I warn him.  

He laughs softly and his breath tickles my neck.  "Do you want to be warm, or do you want to not sleep on the ground?" he asks.

"Right now I want to be warm," I admit.

"Then we'll just have to be careful." I roll onto my back and kiss him, enjoying the warmth already spreading from everywhere my body is in contact with his.  His hands are warm as they creep beneath my shirt and sweatshirt.  He strokes my sides and I shiver, but this time it's not from the cool air.

I'm conscious of the thin nylon separating us from everyone else, and I clench my teeth and hiss out a sharp breath when Alex peels off my pants and drags his fingertips up my inner thigh.  I moan barely louder than my breath when his fingers stroke gently between my thighs.  He presses his lips to mine to help me stay quiet as he brings me to orgasm, touching me perfectly to get me there quickly.  Then he wastes no time pushing down his sweatpants and pushing into me.

By the time we're done, I'm far from cold.  I snuggle up to Alex, not wanting the warmth to fade.  "I should take you camping more often," he teases.  "You're so cuddly."

"Enjoy it while it lasts," I say, yawning sleepily.

"I will," he replies.

"I love how warm you are.  That's the only reason this is happening."

He laughs.  "I'm going to turn the heat down in my house this winter," he says.  "You'll have no choice but to cuddle with me."

"Or I just won't ever go to your house," I retort.  But I shift closer to him, burrowing against his chest.
"I doubt it," he says, kissing the top of my head tenderly.

"Shut up," I reply, shaking my head.

"You liiiiike me," Alex says in a soft, singsong voice.  "You can't stay awwaaayyyy."

"Oh my god, you're the worst," I say, trying not to encourage him by laughing.  I try to roll away, but he tightens his arms around me.

"I love you too," he replies, chuckling.

"I do love you," I assure him.  "Even though you're the worst.  Now shut up, because I'm tired."  I snuggle even closer to him, relaxing into the gentle sag of the air mattress and Alex's warmth, and quickly fall asleep.