Page 35 of Choose Us
“You learn quick.” It was alucky guess.
The smell of food overwhelmed my senses. People were setting up their fire pits in every direction. There were women making giant bowls of rice, men cutting meat, and children turning fish on the portable cookers with chopsticks; it was a real family affair. They were cooking as though they weren’t camping, but in the warmth of their own homes. The smell of butter chicken caused my stomach to tighten. I was so hungry.
The woman behind the counter in the shop looked displeased to be there, which was unusual. I’d never had an experience with impolite locals before. She rushed through serving the customers before us; maybe the shop was due to close.
The shop sold a range of vital necessities. I purchased a grey hoodie with a green mountain logo on the front. I preferred it to the one with bears inside a warning triangle. I grabbed a large bottle of water, some toothpaste, a toothbrush, and most importantly teriyaki flavoured crisps.
“I’m sorry,” Brooke said as she glanced over my shoulder at the limited chocolate section.
“Me too. I shouldn’t have yelled.”
“It’s fine. I would’ve yelled too. Here, I found these. Might be better than what’s currently on your feet.” Brooke handed me a pair of croc-style slip-on shoes in green. “Kind of matches the hoodie too.” She ran her hand down my arm and wandered to the other side of the shop to look for more supplies.
When my hands were full, I approached the woman behind the counter. “Excuse me, do you have any tents available, please?”
“No,” she replied sharply.
“None at all?”
“This is the summer; we are fully booked until August.” She began pulling items from the counter and scanning them one by one with urgency.
“Oh, so there’s no way we can hire a tent?”
“All tents are gone. You book early or you bring your own tent.”
“But we just walked for five hours straight, and we have no way of getting back until the morning. Surely you can—” Shecut me off.
“No tents. There is another campground that way; try that one. They might have availability for you.” The woman whose name badge read,Sakura, pointed towards the map on the wall. “Total is 8020 yen.”
“Thank you for nothing.” Brooke grabbed her chocolate and left. The day couldn’t get any worse.
*
When I slipped on the crocs I understood what walking on clouds really meant. They gave me the burst of energy I needed to chase after Brooke. She was quickly making her way across the campsite.
“Brooke, wait.”
“What are we supposed to do now? Sleep in the forest? She didn’t need to be so mean,” Brooke cried clenching her fists. When I reached her side, I dropped my trainers, which she automatically kicked. “Hey, what did they everdo to you?”
“What are we supposed todo, Holly?”
The words were forced through clenched teeth, her voice strained. She threwher arms up.
“Nobody’s going to help us. We’ll get eaten before the sun comes up. My phone’s dead, so I can’t even let anyone know where we are or that I’m safe. If my dad doesn’t hear from me, the police will be out searching for me by midnight. This was supposed to be a nice day, and I’veruined it.”
I placed my hands on her shoulders, closing the gap between us. “Hey.”
She shook her head, so I placed both my hands on her cheeks. It was instinct to swipe away the tears.
“Look at me. I’ll figure something out.”
“How?”She sobbed.
I touched my forehead to Brooke’s, running my hands down her arms and entangling my fingers with hers.
“Trust me. Just breathe.” Sucking in breath, I let the space around me fade into the background. Her eyes were focused on mine, her chest falling into the same rhythm as my own, and I wantedto kiss her.
There was an audible cough to our right that immediately broke the intimacybetween us.
