Page 45 of The Road Trip Romance

I watch as Penn makes a phone call to the campground while the other men drink some water from the bottles we bought two stops ago. Sadness washes over me at the thought of all of this coming to an end. But as my gaze travels back to Tate, the sadness only intensifies.Why do I feel like I’m about to lose my best friend? That’s crazy!Maybe I need this trip to come to an end, so I stop falling for a movie star that I have zero chances with. Maybe it’s time for me to get a strong dose of reality.

CHAPTEREIGHTEEN

Sophia

It takes us two hours to run to the nearest store to buy a few supplies and things for dinner and breakfast and then one more hour to get to the campground and pick up our tents. Penn somehow has them all put up in a matter of forty-five minutes.

And by dinnertime, we’re all sitting around a campfire roasting hot dogs and marshmallows because Jordan requested we do this the proper way. That was followed by a debate between Jordan and Penn on what exactly the proper food was for camping, and in the end, I grabbed things and threw them in the cart, stating that “M was taking over and that’s what was for dinner.”

“What’s that sound?” Rex asks as we hear something behind us.

“Probably a raccoon or something,” Penn says, shrugging as he turns his hot dog.

“Do raccoons make that much noise?” I whisper, turning to look behind us.

“I mean…they can,” Penn answers.

“What other animals are out here?” Jordan asks before grabbing his burnt hot dog and slathering it with mustard.

“Bears, maybe like a deer or something, or a bobcat?” Penn suggests.

“Fuck no! I’m sleeping in the car. Bears and bobcats?” Rex says standing suddenly.

“Dibs on the passenger seat,” Jordan says. “It reclines all the way.”

“Tate,” I whisper as I look into the woods, hearing another rustle of leaves. I take a step closer to him.

“Get behind me, Soph,” he says quietly as he puts a hand out, guiding me to stand behind him.

“I have a stick,” Penn says from our left.

“Great, what are you going to do, smack the bear?” Tate hisses, his hand now gripping my arm.

“This was a horrible idea. There are no stars. I swear it’s going to rain. So much for perfect camping weather.” I give a scathing look to Penn who shrugs. “And we’re probably getting eaten by a bobcat,” I groan, suddenly feeling like an idiot for coming on this ludicrous road trip. Then I yelp as an animal walks out of the underbrush.

All of us freeze and Penn shines a flashlight on it.

“Oh shit!” Tate yelps as a skunk walks by us.

We all jump back, clearing out the camp in less than five seconds flat. Penn hides behind the car and Tate and I take shelter behind a large rock.

“What the fuck was that?” Jordan asks as he cracks open the door. He’s somehow made a bed across the front seats and Rex has the back seats folded down with a bunch of blankets and bags tucked between them to make one giant bed for his tall frame. Neither looks comfortable, but I suppose they’ll make it work.

“A motherfucking skunk, that’s what,” Penn says.

The skunk is unfazed as he walks right through the middle of our camp and then back into the woods on the other side of the clearing.

We all breathe a sigh of relief when it doesn’t spray any of us.

“Well, that was…fun…” Penn says as a raindrop falls on my cheek.

“Shit, it’s raining,” Tate states. We glance at the car but there’s no room. A crack of lightning in the distance sends Penn, Tate, and me scurrying into tents. The sky opens and rain pours down on us.

“Sorry, guys. The tents are waterproof though,” Penn yells as he gets in the nearest one.

“This way,” Tate says as he opens the largest tent, and we dive inside.

I zip up the door behind us and we both sit panting in the middle of the tent. Our clothes soaked. My hair sticks to my face. I’m about to offer to go to another empty tent but my phone buzzes in my pocket.

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