Page 56 of Love in Tandem
When another rumble sounded shortly after they’d reached the bottom of the hill, louder and closer, and the skies darkened to gray, she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He continued securing the tent with the pegs and said nothing. Unbelievable.
They ate the sub sandwiches they’d bought earlier at a gas station in silence. When the wind swept their sandwich bags off the picnic table, Zach jumped up from the bench to snag them with his foot.
“Getting awful windy, isn’t it?” Charlotte said.
He squinted up at the sky. “Yeah. Hmm.” Then lifted a shoulder in a don’t really know what to make of that gesture before taking another crunch of his apple.
Charlotte inhaled a deep breath, searching for patience. Or at the very least, less homicidal thoughts. “Gee, you don’t think it’ll rain, do you?” She met his eyes straight on. He stared back at her for a beat, then stood and threw his apple core into the surrounding trees.
“Who can say?” he answered with another shrug, wiping his fingers on the black shorts he always changed into once they were done riding for the day. He stepped over to the bike and rummaged through one of the side bags and found his toothbrush. He brushed his teeth, rinsed with his bottle of water, spit, wiped his arm across his mouth, returned the toothbrush, zipped up the bag, and pulled out his sleeping bag.
By now the wind had whipped the tent into a frenzy. The opening flap vibrated with the storm’s energy. Charlotte didn’t know how they’d manage to get it zipped once they unzipped it.
But it appeared that was going to be her issue to deal with, seeing as Zach tossed his sleeping bag onto the ground, holding it in place with one foot until he could climb into it.
“You’re sleeping there?” Lightning flashed across the sky. It was dumb enough to sleep in a tent at the bottom of a hill on a rainy night. What kind of idiot slept outside a tent at the bottom of a hill on a rainy night?
He folded his arms behind his head as if the next apocalypse weren’t about to break loose any second. “I don’t want to bother your foot. I’ll be fine.”
“Don’t want to bother my foot,” she repeated as a crack of thunder split the sky. The next moment a bucket of water poured from the heavens, dousing the ground around them. “That’s it,” Charlotte yelled. “I can’t take it anymore.”
“Then get inside the tent, where you won’t get wet.”
“I’m not talking about the weather. I’m talking about you. What’s your problem?”
He continued to lie there with his arms folded behind his head, pretending he wasn’t getting waterboarded by nature. “I don’t have a problem.” He turned his head to the side to spit out the stream of water that had invaded his mouth just from saying that sentence.
“Stop it. Of course you have a problem.” Her hair plastered against her neck. Her T-shirt weighed down her shoulders with water weight. “Look at us. We both have a problem. We’re standing in the middle of a torrential downpour.”
“Then get in the tent.”
“The tent is already flooded. What did you think would happen pitching the tent at the bottom of a mudslide?”
“Then why did you choose this location?”
“Because I wanted you to tell me it was a stupid idea.”
Zach wrestled his way out of his sleeping bag and kicked it aside. He swiped a palm down his face, flinging water away as he marched forward until he was inches away from her face. “You want me to tell you it was a stupid idea? Fine. It was a stupid idea. The worst. Never heard anything dumber in all my life. Happy?”
He started to turn. She grabbed his arm. Her hand slipped from the slickness of rainwater, but she adjusted her grip and tugged him to face her. “Why are you being so mean to me?”
His eyes widened. “You’re the one who told me to tell you it was a stupid idea.”
“I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about yesterday and today. You being all polite and nice. It’s mean. What’s your problem?”
Somehow his eyes widened even more. “I don’t know what you want from me.”
“I want you to stop pretending.”
“Pretending what?” His voice grew to a shout. Finally, they were getting somewhere. “That you’re not losing your mind?”
Lightning cracked the sky apart and a blast of thunder shattered through the opening. Charlotte’s shoulders hunched, but she forced her feet to remain where they were in the rapidly growing swamp. “You’ve been acting different ever since . . .”
“Ever since what? I saw you half naked? I thought we weren’t supposed to talk about that.”
Charlotte stared at him, uncertain if his face blurred because of the rainwater assaulting her face or tears. “I just want things to go back to how they were at the start of the trip. Otherwise I don’t know if I can survive this.”
He swiped water out of his eyes. “Maybe I’m just doing what I can to survive the rest of this trip with you. Ever think of that?”
