First Impressions

She nods her head, still grinning like no tomorrow.

"You think you got enough snacks, Autum?" Trev asks, picking up the jar of peanut butter and examining it. "Why are you taking this?"

"It could in handy, you never know." I shrug, taking it from him and stuffing it into a plastic bag. "So, who brought the tents?"

"Me." Brad raises his hand. "But one is sort of bigger than the other, so it's up for grabs."

Trev and I have a stare down automatically.

"This isn't coed, so I'm not even sharing with you." I huff, crossing my arms. Trev stares down at me with the same look.

"Well, I'm not letting you have the tent either." There's a moment of silence.

"Rock, paper, scissors for it?" I suggest. He nods and we play, two out of three. I win.

"Ha! Take that!"
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Yeah, I forgot a little bit at the end of the last chapter, so I went ahead and put it up here. A slightly, very minor, reveiw.
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CHAPTER 19:

"Ok, your turn." Brad groans and shoves his hair out of his eyes. We were both riding in the bed of the truck because Shale wanted to talk to Trev alone. Even if we could hear them through the open back window. All our bags moved across the bed with each turn we took, also making me and Brad slide around.

"Alright." Brad says, finally coming up with something. "If you could build a building out of anything, what would it be?"

"Cheesecake." I answer. He gives me a weird look. "What? It was the first thing that came to mind."

"How would it stand without collapsing?" He questions, lifting an eyebrow out of curiosity.

"Graham crackers. They help make cheesecake therefore allowing such support." I state professionally. Brad snorts and looks at a passing car. "Fine then, Mr. Logical. What about you?"

"Cheese, of course." He says bluntly. Now it's my turn to raise an eyebrow.

"And how do you plan to keep the rodent infestation down exactly?" I ask.

"Do mice and rats like blue cheese?" He asks. I shrug before making a face.

"I hate blue cheese. It's just moldy cheese put into mush." I cringe. "I think I prefer mozzarella."

"Cheddar's the best." Brad replies, looking back at me. "You're turn."

"Ok, if you could describe me in one word, what would it be?" I inquire, flipping over onto my stomach and looking at him. I watch the corners of his mouth twitch towards the sky.

"Interesting. Unpredictable. Idiotic." He lists off. I sigh.

"And that sums it up into?" I motion with my hands.

"Autum." He says blandly. I urge him to continue. "There are a lot of things that describe you, but in one word it would be Autum. Because you're you and nothing else."

"Wow, that has to be the corniest line I have ever heard." I conclude, slightly shocked and wide eyed. "But it's still sweet!"

I break out into a toothy grin, turning over onto my back again.

"Mysterious." Brad turns to look at me.

"What?"

"You're mysterious." I say, sitting back up beside him, making our shoulders brush together. "You just seem like a mysterious character, being all quiet and all. I don't know. You just seem to think a lot."

"I do." He says, turning his head to stare at the car tailgating us.

"Stop fucking humping my car!" Trev yells from inside before sticking his middle finger out the window. I chuckle at this and watch the guy do it in return. I stand up and start undoing my belt, turn my back to him.

"What are you doing?!" Shale screeches, her face appearing in the back window. I just continue grinning before pulling the back of my pants down and mooning the guy. He honks and passes us, shouting obscene words.

"You know you liked it! Stupid pedophile!" I shout, pulling my pants back up and buckling them.

"Autum, your going to get us rear ended!" Shale shrieks before disappearing from the window. I continue grinning when I sit down again.

"So, what do you think about?" I ask, returning to the previous conversation. He just laughs and shakes his head. I give him a confused look. "What?"

"You just mooned a guy out of nowhere, called him a pedophile, and then act as if it was nothing out of the ordinary." He gestures with his hands, his eyes lighting up in amusement. They sparkle again, silver at the bottom of blue water. I become so hypnotized with them that I miss everything else he's saying. His mouth stops moving suddenly and his eyes shift downwards before coming back up to meet mine.

"You have really pretty eyes." I mutter absentmindedly. Like I said, I'm hypnotized by them. I shake my head before going back to my previous of previous question. "So, what do you think about?"

"Oh." He says, blinking and rubbing his head. "Well, a lot of things. Ok, not exactly a lot but different scenarios, I guess."

I hop up and down, my body towards him, sitting Indian style.

"Now you've got me interested." I squeal. "What are these scenarios about?"

"Uh, I don't know if I should really te-"

"McDonald's!!" Trev yells from inside the truck, cutting Brad off. I jump up on my knees a whoop, grateful for food. It's been at least a good hour and a half since we left my house, so I'm starving.

"What do you guys want?" Shale asks, her face sticking out the window.

"I want a large fry, two whoppers, a hot fudge sundae, a large sweet tea, and a large sprite." I list off, trying to hit all of my courses. "Oh! And don't forget a salad, any kind, I don't care."

Trev repeats it to the lady before Brad says what he wants and then we pull up. I stick my hand through the window and give Trev a twenty for my expenses. I am very high maintenance when it comes to food. We pull from the drive through and back out onto the highway before quickly taking a turn down a country road.

"Here." Shale sticks three bags through the window, followed by three drinks. I take a bite out of my sandwich and shove some fries in my mouth.

"What were you saying?" I ask, taking a drink of my tea while chewing my food up. Brad makes a face at me.

"That looks disgusting." He comments, cringing.

"What does?" I open up my salad and shove it into my mouth, then take another bite out of my sandwich.

"Mixing your food altogether. Doesn't it make you sick?" I shake my head before grabbing my sundae. I take another sip of my sweet tea.

"Mm. McDonald's has the best sweet tea. Wanna taste?" I ask, holding my drink out to him. He stares at the straw for a minute before leaning forward and sipping it. When he's done, I bring it back to my lips and gulp it down before taking a bite out of my ice cream.

"Where do you put all of this food exactly?" Brad asks, putting a fry in his mouth. I look down at all of my food spread out and open, even my other sandwich.

"My thighs." I shrug, taking another bite of my salad. I reach for my sandwich but then suddenly jerk forward, slamming into the back of the cab. My salad goes flying everywhere but my drinks stay safe, only spilling a couple drops.

"What the fuck was that?" Brad asks, turning around to give Trev a glare in the window.

"I don't know, man! There was this retarded squirrel or something, it just wouldn't haul ass!" Trev yells back, starting to go forward again. I look over the side to see that we're on a dirt road now, trees starting to form more quickly.

"Oh well, the salad wasn't that good anyway." I shrug, reaching for a handful of fries and my sandwich again. Brad just rolls his eyes.

"I'm driving on the way back." I hear him mutter.

"Are you sure it's okay to leave the truck behind?" Shale asks, glancing over her shoulder. "I mean, what if we get lost?"

"We won't get lost! Brad and I always come out here." Trev replies, slapping Brad on the back. I sigh, hoisting up all the bags I am carrying.

"Why do I get stuck with most of the luggage? Shale's only got one bag and I've got five!" I whine, looking over at Shale's shoulder. "And it's not even that big."

"Because Brad and I are carrying our other necessities and if Shale carried more than she is right now, she might break a nail." Trev snickers. Shale glares at him but doesn't say anything.

"But you guys are barely carrying anything. You only got your stupid fishing poles and tents." I mumble. I hear Brad groan in annoyance and turn around, taking two bags from me. "Thank you! At least someone has common courtesy!"

"Autum, if you're going to bitch about common courtesy you're wasting your breath." Shale whispers from beside me. "They lack anything that's common: common knowledge, common sense, common courtesy, common-"

"Ok, ok, I get it!" I huff. I look at her without turning my head. "So, what did you and Trev talk about? Hmm?"

She scowls at me.

"Oh, so you're gonna be like that, are you? Well, let's just see what Trev has to-" I jump when her hand lands painfully over my mouth. The smack echoes throughout the woods, making both of the boys look back at us.

"She had a mosquito on her mouth." Shale grins innocently. I just roll my eyes and quirk an eyebrow at Brad, who is staring at me.

"Well, try to refrain from slapping them off her face. We're almost there." Brad says, turning back around. Shale takes her hand off my mouth and we walk on in silence. For ten minutes. I look back behind us with a confused looking face.

"How far have we walked?"

"Dunno." Trev shrugs. "Probably three fourths of a mile."

"And you're sure that we'll be able to find our way back just as easily?" I question again.

"Arg! Why doesn't anyone believe me when I say that we'll be able to get back?!" Trev huffs. I shrug and look away from him with a small grin. It's not that I don't believe him, it's just fun to annoy him. And I don't think he has any sense of direction either.

We stop walking when we come to an edge of a lake. I was surprised at the water though. It wasn't the disgusting murky water that most lakes have; it actually looked clean and sanitary. Sort of a bluish green, like the ocean. I drop everything, including myself. The two bags were cutting into my shoulders and the other one was starting to rub my hands raw. I unwrap all of the bags from my body and stand back up, cracking my neck.

"Ok, so who wants to help me with my tent?" Trev asks, holding up the smaller tent. Shale bolts from my side and starts walking with Trev a few feet away from me and Brad. Sighing, I turn back to Brad who is already taking the tent out of the bag.

"Do you know how to put a tent up?" He asks while he spreads it out. I grin at him widely.

"Nope. Not a clue."

"Pull the other one. The other one." Brad grunts. I whirl around to pull the other tether but trip and fall onto the tent, making it collapse in on me.

"Ah! Ah! Help!" I squirm and kick around. It's immediately pulled off of me and Brad rubs his temples.

"Autum, go sit over there." He says, pointing to a spot two feet away. "It'll take a whole weekend just to have you put the tent up and I would actually like sleeping inside it by Sunday."

I hang my head in defeat and sit where he pointed, watching him put the tent up expertly. Five minutes flat to be exact.

"Show off." I mutter. I look over to the spot Trev and Shale were putting up the tent, seeing the tent but no sign of them. "Where did Shale and Trev go?"

Brad just shrugs and looks around while I stand up, brushing the dirt off my butt. Then, faintly but surely, I hear laughter. Brad hears it too because he walks beside me when I start walking towards it. We're both silent as we can be . . . well, I am at least. I plan on catching them in any action they might be in and taunt them about it later.

After we pass a group of trees that block our view of the lake, I see something that I could have lived without seeing.

"Trev, what the fuck?!" I screech, covering my eyes to keep his nude form out of my sight. I hear a splash, signaling that he had jump from the rope he was swinging on when I first saw him.

"Skinny dipping!!" Shale squeals in excitement. "Come on, Autum! It's fun!"

I snort with skepticism and cross my arms. Like hell it is. I don't plan on having in fishies swimming around my nether regions. Who knows what damned disease I can get. And I could get hypothermia! Is Shale this oblivious to the diseasable world?

Before I know what's going on, I'm turned upside down with my butt sticking in someone's face, likewise for them. I do the only rational thing that comes to mind: scream and pound.

"Put me down you devilish fiend! Unhand me this instant!" I screech, pounding uselessly onto Brad's back. Then the splashing of water is very close and it's not long before the ground is replaced by H2O. I start pounding harder before I get completely submerged in the liquid, allowing bubbles to escape from my mouth.

I emerge from the water with a gasp and wide eyes before I start flailing around like a drowning cow to reposition my weight. I glare at Brad evilly while he just sheds his shirt with an arrogant grin.

"You are going to pay." I growl deeply before launching myself at him. The only thing I'm really able to see after that is the splashing of water and the rapid movement of hands. After a couple minutes of that, water gets in my eyes and we both call it truce.

"Come on, Autum. Strip down." Shale grins, floating over to me. "You're the one who hardly wears a bra, this should be no problem for you."

"Well, maybe I think the water's cold." I huff, crossing my arms. Then I immediately regret my saying when I see a glint in Trev's eye.

"Only one way to find out."

Then I'm underwater for the second time against my will.

I open my eyes to glare at Trev under the surface, but let a cloud of bubbles escape my mouth when I see Brad smirking at me, his hair hovering around his head. I quickly close my mouth and try swimming away, only to be dragged back. I feel his finger fiddle with the bottom of my shirt, slowly tugging it up. Then his fingers rest on the bare skin of my stomach.

Zap.

I grip his hand, trying to squirm my way out of his hold, but no prevail whatsoever. But he quits tugging my shirt up. Instead, his hand just lies on my tummy while his finger traces circles around my belly button, tickling me. I giggle underwater, another stream of bubbles escaping. That's when I realize that I need air.

Duh!

I squirm again and when Brad turns me around I actually think that he knows why I'm struggling. And then I think that he'll let me reach the sacred air that us human beings need to live.

Wrong.

What he does next is totally unexpected.

Totally.

Zap.

His lips meet mine.

Zap.

He wraps his hands around my thighs.

Zap.

His hand traces up my thigh, along my BUTT, and up my shirt. Before I know it I'm breathing in fresh air without a top on. Did I mention that it's cold? Oh, God, it's cold.

But even like this, with my stupid nipple poking out and my mentally challenged teeth chattering together, my head is zinging about what just happened underwater. Of course, it was a distraction to get me in the nude, but why did he have to resort that way? That's the second time he's done it and every time he touches me like that there's that freaking Zap there.

Ooohh! He is so dead!

"Brad James Flitcher!"