Author's Preface: Everyone in the story is at least 18 years old, and the story is entirely fictional. Any similarities to real people or events are purely coincidental.
This story follows the relationship between John and Laura, first introduced in "New Neighbors Pt. 01" in which they meet. Constructive comments are welcome.
Enjoy.
New Neighbor Pt. 05 - Road Trip to Cabin in the Mountains
August and September were busy for John and Laura. John made good on all the promises he'd made to the girls and the ones Laura had made for him. He took nude pictures of the girls who had to leave his "Meet the Boyfriend" party early, including Ashley. He also took Laura's, whom he had stupidly forgotten in the first set of pictures. He took a group picture of the girls both nude and in clothes. He intended to take that picture every year.
Since Ashley was trying to move from being a model for teen clothes to young adult fashion, he shot pictures for her portfolio that included nudes, clothes for the office and clubbing, everyday lingerie, sexy lingerie, and sleepwear. Laura made sure to be there as Ashley's chaperone to protect John from her. For casual pictures, they posed her in outfits around town, sportswear, and several bikinis at Laura's pool.
Vicky and Ken were ready for his "Meet the Boyfriend" party and Laura agreed to host it. John bought a new professional underwater camera. It came in handy at Ken's party. He shot some wonderful pictures of the girls swimming underwater straight at the camera. He hadn't had a chance yet to take it to the secret pond with Laura, but he was hoping to soon.
Ashley had a new boyfriend, Luke, whom she brought to the party. The girls warned her that she was responsible for both herself and her boyfriend. They reminded her to drink in moderation. She disappeared with Luke quite often during the party. He was twenty years old surrounded by nine gorgeous naked women. It was difficult for him not to get excited, no matter how often Ashley helped him out. There was just nowhere for him to look. The girls were nice and didn't tease him much. Everyone spent the night this time, including Ashley and her boyfriend. With two houses, there was plenty of room. The group split up between John's house and Laura's.
Of course, everyone loved Ken and it was fun to see Vicky so pumped up and proud of her great boyfriend. Katie was not as happy. She came without a date again. She asked both John and Ken to set her up, but neither of them had any ideas. John really liked Katie and was unhappy to see her sad.
The most surprising thing that happened at the party, at least for John, was that Blaire and Cynthia announced that they were a couple. They'd been together for a while but were not sure when to bring it up to the group. It seemed that most of the girls already suspected as much. The only one that was surprised was John. Everyone congratulated them and John took close to fifty pictures of them together.
About mid-October, the weather was a little cooler, not that it was ever cold where they lived. John was itching to go on a photography road trip with his dog Bo and he wanted Laura to go with them. It had been a long time since he'd been on a road trip, and he wanted this trip to be the first of many with Laura. In the mountains of northeast California, it was getting cold, but snow was not a problem yet. He'd never been up there. The thought of Laura in a tight sweater was hard to get out of his head.
Laura had always insisted that she was not the "camping out in the wilderness" kind of woman. But John didn't want to go without her. He loved waking up next to her.
"Laura, I want to go on a trip to the wilderness with you and Bo."
"John, I'm afraid that I'm not going to like it and ruin your trip. Why don't you just go with Bo?" she whined.
"Because you're more fun to sleep with. I'd miss waking up with you."
"I really don't want to."
"I can promise that you'll have a good time. Have I ever lied to you?"
"No."
"Do I need to remind you of the things I've done for you?"
"Like what?"
"The meet the boyfriend party for one. I was terrified of that."
"But you had a good time," she said.
"And I guarantee you'll have a good time on this trip."
"Are you really going to make me go?"
"Yes. You're going to have to trust me."
"Alright, but if I don't like it, I'm going to punish you."
"Deal. If you don't like it, you can punish me any way you see fit. We're leaving early next Monday."
He didn't tell Laura one key bit of information about the trip.
+++++
While walking dogs with Ken at the shelter one day, John mentioned the trip to Ken.
"The problem is that she's not the Girl Scout type. She won't have a good time if we go camping out, even in my small RV. I'd like to spend a few days with her away from everything. I was thinking about maybe getting a remote cabin somewhere."
Ken said, "My company has a cabin near South Lake Tahoe."
"It does?"
"Yeah, they let clients use it sometimes and the executives go there. Let me check but I'm sure you can use it. Just give me the dates."
"Is it nice? Will Laura like it?"
"Oh yeah. It's a big two-story place with two bedrooms and it's miles from anywhere. It's surrounded by forest and has big porches all around. There's a hot tub that overlooks a valley and the lake in the distance. Plus, it has fireplaces in every room. A caretaker stocks the place with food and drink when anyone goes out there. It even has a couple of electric UTVs (Utility Terrain Vehicle) and snowmobiles. I think there's a small clear lake nearby. I've never been out there. I'd forgotten about it, but I've seen pictures. You know, I bet Vicky would like to go out there."
"I bet she would," he said mockingly. "Be sure to tell her that you've been planning a trip there with her for a long time. I'm taking Bo if that matters. When you go out with Vicky, you're welcome to use my RV. It's a small one so it's easy to drive and has plenty of room for crates if you're taking your dogs."
+++++
The trip was all set. They were going to take his old truck on the trip. Laura was relieved to see that his "old truck" turned out to be a 2-year-old top-of-the-line luxury RV. It was small but it had a bathroom, two-fold-out beds, and a crate for Bo.
"Now that I've seen your 'old truck', I'm feeling a little better about the trip."
"Oh, we're not going to stay in the RV," John said. "We'll park it and then hike to a remote campsite. You're going to get the true wilderness experience. We'll sleep under the stars. There's nothing like it."
Laura was back to not wanting to go on this trip. But she did want to share his interests and she trusted him, so like it or not, she was going. It couldn't be that bad for a couple of days. Then John told her that they were going for five days, and she started to consider how to punish John.
"John, I'm a city girl. I don't spend days hiking in the forest."
"That reminds me, we need to get you a good pair of boots so you can break them in. You wouldn't want to get blisters. Oh, do you have a heavy coat? It can get cold at night."
"I have a fur," she said.
"We'll get you a heavy coat too."
John busied himself packing the RV with tents, backpacks, a camp stove, MREs, and sleeping bags. His cheerful whistling was getting on Laura's nerves. Bo was jumping up and down, barking at him. He knew they were going someplace and was looking forward to the trip.
John took Laura out to her favorite restaurant on their last day in civilization. He played up how great it was to snuggle in a two-person sleeping bag in the cold and look at the stars. The weather forecast called for fifty-degree lows in South Lake Tahoe, but John told her where they were going, it would be much colder, which was true. What Laura didn't know was they'd enjoy the chilly weather from a steamy hot tub.
Vickie knew about the cabin and was in on what John was doing. She was sworn to secrecy. John asked her to go into Laura's house and pack stuff that Laura wouldn't take because she thought she was camping out. She picked out some clothes they could go to town in, along with some make-up and shoes that weren't boots. John requested several sexy nightgowns. She packed the stuff into a metal camera case and hid it in the RV.
Laura wanted to find an excuse not to go but at 7:00 am Monday, the three of them piled into the RV and they headed out. It was about a nine-hour drive to the cabin. John wanted to get there before dark to make it easier to find. He packed some sandwiches, snack food, and drinks so they wouldn't have to stop for a big meal.
He told Laura that it was easier to set up camp when it was light. She thought that the RV looked more comfortable than the ground for sleeping.
John made a quick turn onto a dirt road. He said, "I decided on a different place to camp that I think you'll like better."
Before Laura could say anything, she saw the cabin around a curve in the dirt road.
She squinted her eye at John and said, "You've been messing with me all week, haven't you?"
"A little."
"Thank god. I didn't want to sleep on the ground." She took off her seat belt and tried to crawl into his lap so she could give him a big kiss. He had to stop quickly to avoid running into a tree. "This place looks wonderful. How did you find it?"
"It belongs to Ken's company. I told him I was looking for a cabin and he told me to use this. It's nicer than he described."
"And he hasn't brought Vicky out here?"
"He'd had forgotten the company had this. I told him that Vicky would like to go on a trip to a cabin in the woods, and not to tell her that it's been available all along. I suggested that he had been planning the trip for a long time and wanted to surprise her. They'll be out here in a couple of weeks. He's going to take my RV and Vicky is very excited about the trip."
"God, men are stupid sometimes." He couldn't argue.
John got out, opened the door for Bo, and said, "Go check it out." Bo was in heaven. He ran back and forth as if he couldn't decide where to sniff next. He peed on everything.