"Are we almost there, Tim?" I asked. "Gosh, I feel like we've been driving forever."
"We're basically around the corner, Laura," Tim told me. "Maybe five more minutes."
I could hardly wait until we arrived at our camp site for the weekend. We'd been driving for six hours to get to the Adirondacks where Tim and I had gone when we were kids with our families. Our parents were good friends for years before me and Tim were even born, and so we spent a lot of time together growing up, and every year in the summer we'd spend a week out in the wilderness together. My fondest memories were with Tim, swimming in the lake, trying to catch fireflies at night, building forts in the woods, practicing lacrosse. The summer before we entered high school though, his dad found a new job across the state, and we haven't been back here since.
"I can't wait, Tim!" I said, gripping his shoulder. "I'm so happy we get to hang out like we used to!"
"I know!" Tim said. "I mean, it's been years since I've even seen you. This is going to be so much fun! I'm excited for you to meet my friends from college, too!"
Even though Tim moved hours away, we still talked all the time, over the phone or through skype, but I haven't actually seen him in person since 10th grade; a few years ago. Since then we've both graduated and gotten a year of college under our belts. I was afraid at first we might have changed too much and grown apart, but the moment I got in his car I knew we were just as good of friends as we used to be, talking the entire six hours we were stuck in the car.
Although, there was one big change I noticed about Tim right away. He got SO cute! When we were in middle school, Tim was always super skinny and lanky and had terrible acne. Over the years of skyping I noticed he was maturing, but now seeing him in person, I saw he really grew into a handsome young man. Years of lacrosse made him really fit, and he told me once he got to college he found some friends on the team to start working out with, and it really started to show. Tim wasn't lanky anymore. He was tall with broad shoulders and really muscular legs. I swear half the car ride I was trying to check him out without him noticing.
"Here we are!" Tim proclaimed as we pulled into our camping spot. It seemed Tim's friends were all there already, as several tents were pitched and a campfire had already been started. We stepped out of the car, and Tim was immediately met with hugs and high fives from three other boys, and a girl.
"Guys, guys, this is my longtime friend, Laura," Tim said, introducing me. "Laura, this is Alex, James, John, and Ashley."
Right away I was a little overwhelmed by meeting a group of new people, trying to remember names, worrying about first impressions. They all welcomed me warmly though, reintroducing themselves individually. Tim and I unpacked our things and began pitching our tents. Tim had his up in what seemed like no time at all and took a seat next to his buddies around the fire, while I struggled a bit getting all my poles organized. Ashley must have noticed I was struggling, and got up and walked over to me.
"Hey Laura, you need a hand?" she asked.
"God yes," I told her laughing. "I haven't put one of these up in like, six years."
Ashley smiled and knelt down next to me, moving some of the poles around into groups.
Ashley was a little taller than me, which wasn't saying much as I was only 5'4", with straight blonde hair that perfectly clashed with my dark auburn curls. We both looked to be about the same body type though, and so I wondered if she played any sports like me and Tim.
"Hey, Ashley, do you play lacrosse as well?"
"Yeah!" she said. "Do you play too?"
"Yup. Me and Tim were on the same co-ed team growing up in middle school."
"Oh that's so cool!" Ashley said in a way that made her seem very sincere, looking up to me and making eye contact. "That's actually how me and Tim met. I was already friends with Alex and James, and then we all met Tim and John at a lacrosse event before our first match earlier in the year."
"Oh, so we all play lacrosse then? That's pretty cool!" I said.
"Yeah, I guess so!" Laura said, again taking the time to look up to me when she spoke.
"We're going to have a great weekend exploring this place," she added.
"Yeah, Tim and I used to come here all the time. I can show you all the best trails," I told her. "And there's a secret lake just a minute or two from here. It's tucked away in the woods so no one really knows about it. Tim and I didn't even know about it until after a few years of coming here."
"Oh nice! Tim told us all to make sure we brought our bathing suits, but he didn't say we'd have a whole lake to ourselves!"
"Yeah, it's pretty great," I agreed.
Ashley and I were quiet for a bit after that, except for the occasional, "No, I think that goes here," or a "can you pass me that?" We ended up working really well together and the tent was up in no time.
"Phew!" I exhaled when it was all done.
"Good job, Laura!" Ashley said, walking over to me and giving me a high five. She really made me feel part of the group already. "Let's grab a drink and relax by the fire with the boys," she said.
"Wait, hang on," I told her. "Ashley, could you just point out the other boys and remind me who's who? I already forgot," I admitted.
"Of course!" she said. "That one is Alex," she said pointing to the shortest boy, although still taller than me and Ashley. Alex looked like a lumberjack. Really strong forearms, full but nicely trimmed beard, wide shoulders, just really rugged and powerful, like he could really run people over playing lacrosse, or like, chop down a tree with an axe for fun or something.
"And that's James," she said pointing to the boy in between Tim and Alex. James was in good shape, not too bulky, and similar in build to Tim. Short dark hair neatly gelled and combed to the side.
"And that one's John," Ashley said. "John is really shy and quiet, but he's also really smart, and super sweet," she told me. John was not as muscular as the other boys, but not in bad shape, either. He was probably the opposite of Alex in terms of looks: taller, clean shaven, and skinny with thick, black rimmed glasses.
"I looked them all over and recalled their names out loud to Ashley in order. "Tim, obviously, John, Alex, and James."
"There you go, you got it down already," Ashley said. There was a brief pause, and Ashley replied, "God, aren't they all really hot?"
I looked over to her, and Ashley grinned back, her eyes wide.
"Honestly?" I answered, a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I could spend all weekend checking these boys out!"
Ashley winked at me, then walked over to the cooler, grabbed two beers, and tossed me a can. "Come on," she said, "let's catch up with the guys."
With that, we cracked open our cans and walked over, sitting with the boys around the fire.
We all joked for a while, talking about college life and lacrosse, trading stories about the stupid kids we've met doing drunken things in the dorms. John, James, Alex and Tim were all familiar with each other and the people they talked about, but they all made me feel right at home, explaining inside jokes so I didn't feel left out. Eventually, the sun began to fall behind the tree line and we were all laughing and drinking together.
"Guys!" Tim said after what I think was probably his 4th or 5th beer. "I have an idea. Let's go out to the lake!"
"Hell yes!" John and James were the first to exclaim.
Alex stood up. "I'm down too! Ashley? Laura? You two coming as well?"
Ashley and I looked at each other, already knowing what the other was thinking. We looked to the boys and at the same time, said, "Hell yeah!"
We all tipsily ran to our tents and changed into our bathing suits. I put on my blue bikini top and bottoms and raced out to find everyone was already changed and waiting, the boys with bathing suits and shirts on, while me and Ashley both threw on a shirt and cutoff shorts over our bikinis.
"How in the hell did everyone change so fast?" I asked laughing.
They all looked at each other, not knowing why everyone had raced to put their bathing suits on so quickly, and laughed.
"We're all just excited to go for a swim, I guess," James said smiling.
"All right, Tim, Laura, you two lead the way!" John said.
Tim and I started, walking side by side, with the others following.
"Isn't it crazy," I started to tell Tim, "How natural this feels after all this time? I swear it feels like we were walking down this trail together last week."
"I know!" Tim said. "I was just thinking the same thing. It looks exactly the same. The thin dirt road, all the little bumps and turns. Everything."
"Do you remember the first time we found this trail, when we thought we knew what poison ivy was, and we were scared to touch anything green?" I asked Tim, laughing.
"Oh my god!" Tim said. "I forgot about that! Your dad told us he had gotten it and pointed it out to us by our cabin, but we both thought he was just pointing to the grass! And we wondered off trying to find more of it, but we didn't really understand what we were looking for." Tim started to laugh. "And then. This trail gets even thinner right here," he said, passing by the very point we were remembering from years ago. "And the grass grazed my leg and I got scared I would get poison ivy, so then I started chasing you trying to touch you with my 'infected' leg!"
Tim and I stopped talking for a moment to let our laughter out as we continued down the trail.
"Oh my god, is that the story how you guys found the lake?" James asked from behind us.
"Yup!" I turned back to answer, still smiling. "The trail gets so bare at this point we never thought to keep going. We just, thought it ended, I guess. But that time I was running for my life - away from Tim's "infected" leg - and we ran right through to the lake."
"Did Tim end up catching you?" Ashley asked me.
"You know," I started, "the second me and Tim saw how amazing the lake was, we completely forgot about the poison ivy."
"Yeah," Tim agreed. "We came to a dead stop, looked at each other for a second, and just jumped right in." Tim looked over to me. "We came back to our tents hours later, soaking wet."
"Yup!" I said looking back at Tim. "Our parents were so mad!"
