“BORED!” said Callie, her voice filling the hallway.
“Me too!” replied Sean from another apartment.
“Wanna come over?” suggested Jordan from his apartment. His boyfriend, Malek, was still at work so he was bored as well. It took less than a minute for Sean and Callie to make their way over to Jordan’s apartment. Jordan wasn’t wearing a shirt when they showed up and his hair was damp, and bright green
“Cool hair colour!” exclaimed Callie.
“Thanks,” replied Jordan as he rifled through a pile of clothes on the ground by the washing machine. “Can’t wear anything red…” he muttered to himself.
“I don’t care if you don’t wear a shirt,” stated Callie.
“I would somewhat rather you do wear one,” added Sean.
“Sean, that’s incentive not to wear one, not to wear one,” mocked Jordan. He pulled out a black tank from the pile and pulled it on
“Is Malek still working at the host club?” asked Callie as she shifted in the bean bag chair on the ground.
“Yeah, it’s good money, despite already having a full time job at the lab,” explained Jordan. He plunked himself down on the couch next to Sean.
“You sound thrilled,” noted Sean sarcastically.
“He’s never home, it annoys me,” retorted Jordan. He got up and got poured himself a tequila sunrise.
“Ooh… what alcohol do you have?” Callie wriggled out of the bean bag chair and scrambled to Jordan’s and Malek’s 60’s style bar.
“There’s some melon flavoured Mojo and that orange Breezer stuff in the fridge too.” Jordan sat back down on the couch as Callie rummaged through the available alcohol. She settled on a bottle of orange Breezer.
The three of them spent the night talking about random things and complaining about their jobs. Around two in the morning Malek came home. He was not surprised to find Sean asleep on the couch and a drunk Callie and tipsy Jordan playing Jenga.
“Why am I not surprised?” chuckled Malek as he took his shoes off and loosened his tie
“Hiya,” said Jordan, looking up lazily at Malek
“Hi Malek!” said Callie loudly. Sean jumped awake, startled by Callie’s voice.
“Hi Callie.” Malek smiled and patted her head as he walked past them to change out of his work clothes. When he came back he was wearing his blue pyjama pants with white bunnies on them and a loose black t-shirt. He plunked himself down next to Sean.
“How was work?” asked Sean, stifling a yawn
“Enh, same old,” replied Malek absently.
“Here.” Jordan forced a rum and coke into Malek’s hand. Malek smirked
“Thanks.” Malek caught the collar of Jordan’s shirt and pulled him in for a quick kiss
“Malek, Malek! We’re going camping tomorrow!” announced Callie, knocking over the precarious Jenga structure.
“Are we?” Malek raised an eyebrow at Jordan. Jordan shrugged, smirking
“Wait were we serious about that?” Sean’s eyes widened suddenly. “I don’t own any camping equipment!
“I do!” Callie thrust her hand into the air, beaming.
“Why do you guys have camping equipment? I’ve never seen you go camping.
“Zombies,” replied Malek and Callie in unison, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“So we’re actually going camping tomorrow?” Sean looked at Jordan as though he would be the most reasonable of them
“I guess so.” Jordan was amused as Sean’s eyes widened even more. Malek grabbed his laptop from under the coffee table and looked up nearby campsites.
“We could go to the Sable Camping?” suggested Malek. “They have a three tent site close to the beach and the bathrooms we could take.
“Cool, reserve it,” said Jordan
“WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” demanded Sean
“Okay…” Malek ran back to the bedroom to get his wallet. When he sat back down the credit card information had already been filled in. He frowned at Jordan who was pouring himself another drink. He finished the reservation. “There, it says we can show up as of noon, and no glass on site. We’ll have to transfer the alcohol into plastic containers.”
The following day they packed up Jordan’s truck. They were bringing more food than they thought necessary but in the words of Callie, it was better to have too much food than too little. They took both Jordan’s truck and Callie’s sedan to the campsite. They had to check in, have their cars checked, and were given a list of rules before they got to their spot.
They set up camp, two tents, and sat around in their camp chairs drinking. Since Sean didn’t drink alcohol, he was just drinking soft drinks. “So is this it? We just sit around drinking?” asked Sean
“More fun if you actually drink alcohol. But no, let’s just get a nice buzz then we’ll head down to the beach. We can go on that hike tomorrow too if you want,” explained Jordan. Just then a group of college girls in a Jeep pulled into the large campsite across the path. They were giggling and talking in high pitched voices.
“Now would be a good time to go to the beach,” suggested Malek, shifting in his seat.
“Let me just get changed!” Callie dove back into her tent and emerged a few minutes later in a bright blue bikini. She was beaming as she grabbed her towel. Malek removed his shirt and tossed it in his and Jordan’s tent. He pulled out a couple of towels for Jordan and himself.
“I know! I hate it when some girls wear bikinis!” said one of the college girls from the neighbouring campsite.
“That’s off putting,” muttered Callie, taking another swig of her drink. Jordan and Malek both looked at Callie, assessing her body in the bathing suit. Malek and Jordan were both technically pansexual, so they both considered themselves capable of judging the looks of another man or woman.
“They are definitely not talking about you,” flirted Jordan.
“Guys! This is getting weird! Let’s just go to the beach before the orgy discussion starts up again!” Sean jumped up and started down the path towards the beach. Malek, Jordan, and Callie jogged to catch up with him.
When they got to the beach they laid out their towels and relaxed in the sun. However it was not long until the college girls appeared on the beach too. Sean and Jordan were in the water at that point while Callie and Malek were drinking and chatting in the sun. “Oh great,” muttered Callie as she noticed the girls settling down not far from them
“Hey you guys are the group near our camp site, right?” asked one of the girls. If her bikini were any smaller there wouldn’t be anything there. Malek rolled his eyes and laid down on his towel
“Yeah,” replied Callie. She pulled her knees in up to her chest and flicked her long purple hair out her face.
“I’m Karen,” continued the girl, her sandy blond curls bouncing around her shoulders as she settled down on her towel near Callie.
“That you’re boyfriend?” asked Karen, pointing at the blue-black haired man lying next to Callie
“What? No. Malek is basically my older brother,” explained Callie
“What about them?” Karen gesture towards Sean and Jordan who were walking back towards them, dripping lake water. Jordan knelt over Malek and let the water drip onto him
“Cold! That’s cold!” Malek scrambled away from him into the burning sand. Jordan tackled him and the two wrestled, sending puffs of sand in every direction.
“Oh, hi, I’m Sean,” Sean introduce himself to Karen. He grabbed his towel and wrapped it around himself.
“I’m Karen,” she replied with a charming smile.
“Karen! Come on!” called another girl from the water.
“Coming!” Karen got up and paused, “see you later.” She charged into the water after her friends.
“She’s kind of pretty,” noted Sean, sitting down next to Callie.
“Something about her irks me,” admitted Callie.
“I am going to be shaking sand out of my hair and ass for weeks!” groaned Malek as he and Jordan rejoined the group.
“I can help you clean it out.” Jordan winked and smacked Malek’s ass.
“I could kill you,” grumbled Malek. They sat down on their towels. Jordan flicked open the little cooler they had brought and pulled out his water bottle of tequila sunrise. They spent the rest of the day drinking, except for Sean who mocked their drunken state.
The next morning, Callie and Jordan were up first and started making breakfast on the camping stove. It was the smell of bacon that got Malek and Sean out of their respective tents. As soon as Malek was in arm’s reach, Jordan handed him a travel mug full of coffee. Malek accepted it with a lazy smile. “You’re an angel,” he complimented.
“Call me that again, and I’ll spill it on you,” mocked Jordan.
“Was anyone else kept up last night by those college girls?” asked Callie.
“Yeah,” replied the three boys in unison.
They ate breakfast and packed a lunch for their hike. As they were about to take off the girls in the next campsite were getting up. They were all wearing basically lingerie as pyjamas. Sean blushed and turned away, while the other three just moaned their discontent.
Karen trotted over to them. “Hi Sean,” she cooed. “I hope we didn’t keep you guys up too much with our music last night.”
“Not at all,” replied Sean quickly, still trying to avoid looking directly at her skimpily clad frame.
“Actually, you did,” interjected Callie bitterly. She was not afraid to look directly at Karen.
“I’m in no mood to socialize with college girls, can we get our hike on?” asked Malek.
“You’re going hiking?” Karen beamed and turned her attention back to Sean. “Can I come? It’ll only take me five minutes to get ready!”
Sean flushed and looked at his friends who were basically shaking their heads. “Sure. You guys go ahead, we’ll catch up later.” He smiled apologetically.
“Are you sure?” asked Jordan suspiciously.
“Yeah.” Sean’s smile broadened.
“Okay… if you insist…” The three of them left on the hike while Sean waited for Karen.
By one o’clock in the afternoon Jordan, Malek, and Callie had reached the top of the mountain. They collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted. “That was something,” muttered Callie, tossing her backpack aside and lying down.
“I didn’t expect it to be that difficult,” admitted Malek as he too tossed aside his bag and lay down. Jordan joined them.
“Never letting you pick the trail again!” he insisted. They took a minute to catch their breath then lay down a picnic blanket for lunch.
It was another twenty minutes before Sean and Karen joined them. Sean collapsed onto the blanket with them. “Why this trail?!”
“Yeah, Malek is barred from picking trails again,” assured Callie.
“I think it was pretty easy,” admitted Karen as she gingerly sat down with them. She was wearing shorts that if they were any shorter would be underwear and a tank top that was two sizes too small. She started rummaging through her bag. “Dammit… you rushed me so much I forgot my water bottle.”
“Oh, sorry. Here have mine.” Sean handed her his water bottle. She took it and downed nearly half of it in one go. Something about that interaction set off alarms for Jordan and Malek.
“What’s wrong?” asked Callie quietly to Malek and Jordan.
“Not sure yet,” admitted Malek.
Over the next half hour that they sat having their picnic, Malek and Jordan noticed other little things in the interactions between Sean and Karen. Mostly it seemed to be Karen making Sean feel guilty for things that didn’t make sense. He would apologize for things that he didn’t do or wasn’t responsible for. Even Callie started to notice.
It was almost five o’clock in the evening by the time they got back to camp. They had started drinking again about halfway down from the mountain. At camp they were relatively tipsy already. Karen continued to hang out with them for some time.
“You’re such a lightweight!” Malek mocked Callie.
“I’m trying to fix that by drinking more often!” she insisted. Jordan shook his head.
“You’re all lightweights to me!” announced Karen.
“Pfft! I’ve been drinking since I was fourteen, kid. I’ll easily drink you under the table,” challenged Malek.
“Did you just call me a kid?!” She was surprisingly offended. Malek smirked.
“Well duh.” He settled more comfortably in his chair. “I mean, you’re what? Nineteen? Twenty? And relatively immature, that makes you a kid to me.”
“I am twenty-one thank you very much!” she fumed.
“You’re only proving my point.” Malek sighed and took another swig of beer.
“What?! How am I immature?” Karen was standing over Malek now, fuming.
“For one, look at your reaction to a simple little jibe. Then there’s your need to draw attention to yourself by wearing clothes that are clearly too small for you. So you’re clearly still incredibly insecure about yourself. You also rely on basic manipulation to make yourself feel better about yourself by making Sean guilty for your short comings today.” Malek rose out of his chair, towering over her. “Sorry kid, but I can see right through you.” He turned to get himself another beer. He could hear Jordan and Callie snickering.
“Sean, do you think this too?” Karen turned on the lanky bespectacled boy.
“Uh… well…” He didn’t like to be put on the spot, and he did think Karen was very pretty and she had seemed sweet. However, he also knew that Malek had experience dealing with manipulators and would know the signs. “Malek’s usually right about these things.”
“Fine, you’re just a bunch asshats!” She stalked back to her campsite in a huff. Callie burst out laughing.
“That was something!” she noted.
“Was it necessary for you to be quite so mean?” asked Sean as Malek sat back down with a fresh beer.
“Would you rather I be dishonest and let you get taken advantage of or hurt by someone like that?” He raised an eyebrow at his friend.
“I guess not…” He sighed and pulled a marshmallow out of the bag next to him and roasted it over the fire.
The rest of the night went by in drunken blur, and for Sean in a sugar high. The next morning they packed up camp, signed out, and drove to a diner for breakfast. Jordan, Callie, and Malek continued to mock Sean for having momentarily fallen for Karen, while he mocked them for their drunken nature.
Sean swore to never go camping with those three again, and they insisted that he would definitely come with them again. He knew deep down that he would, and that overall he had had a lot of fun with them.