"Jason, do you have your bag all packed up?" Charlotte called upstairs from the kitchen as she was putting away a few last items of food in the cooler.
"Yes dear," Jason replied.
"Got your toothbrush and deodorant?" Charlotte asked.
"Umm, yeah," Jason lied as he went back to grab them to throw into his bag.
"Well hurry up! Don't forget we have to pick Ben up on the way out to the mountains," Charlotte made no attempt to disguise her exasperation.
Jason and Charlotte were going camping for the first time this year. The spring weather had finally settled in without any lingering winter weather sticking around that made camping too uncomfortable. It still got chilly enough at night to enjoy the company of a partner in the close quarters of a sleeping bag, but otherwise it was the kind of weather they loved to enjoy outdoors. They originally planned this trip with one of Jason's best friends, Ben, and his girlfriend. However, as was usual for Ben, his relationship was as fleeting and temperamental as the weather and the relationship ended unceremoniously about a week before the trip.
Charlotte sort of felt bad for Ben. He never seemed to be able to hold on to good women despite the fact that he was pretty good looking, kind, and easy going. The only thing she could surmise was that it had something to do with commitment issues that Ben might have harbored. He had a pattern of snagging a good girl, things going great for a while, and then around the time when she seemed to want to talk or discuss the nature of their long-term status, Ben seemed to check out and things went south. Ben appeared to have played the same pattern recently with his girlfriend Stacy that just broke up with him before the trip. Now, Charlotte was worried that it would put a damper on their trip.
"I know honey, I'm ready," Jason said to Charlotte as he bumbled down the steps of their home. "See, all packed and ready to head out the door," he smiled.
"Okay, grab this cooler. It's too heavy for me to lift. Then let's hit the road for crying out loud."
Jason happily obliged his young wife's request, grabbing the cooler that was carefully packed and organized by Charlotte to get through a three-day camping trip. Jason threw the cooler in the back of their tan Jeep. The paint had faded a bit from the years of abuse they and the previous owners put it through. Jason and Charlotte bought it solely for recreation and loved having something they didn't worry about roughing up nearly as much as their other cars. Jason got in the driver's seat and smiled over at his young bride sitting in a pair of jean shorts and a green tank top with her hair pulled back. He felt lucky to have such a beautiful wife and was excited for the break from their usual daily grind for the three night camping escape.
"Off we go," said Jason as the Jeep's motor roared to life.
The drive to their friend Ben's house was a short detour into a typical urban jungle. Ben and Jason met in college and were roommates for two of their four years in college. Jason and Charlotte met their junior year, started dating, and then married about a year and a half after college and were now going on three solid years of married life. It went without saying the three of them were close friends.
Jason and Charlotte found good jobs after living in the downtown area of Raleigh for a few years near where Ben lived. They then ended up wanting to move a short distance outside of town and settled in the outskirts of Raleigh but still very much in the research triangle of North Carolina. Ben had continued living the bachelor life and never left downtown and all that it had to offer with regards to nightlife, entertainment, and culture and cuisine. Jason disliked having to spend time in the heat and downtown traffic midday on a Thursday, but knew the inconvenience would be short-lived.
They eventually pulled up alongside Ben's apartment complex and he was already outside waiting with a duffel bag next to him on the steps and with his face buried in his phone as usual. Jason honked the horn when they pulled up in order to get his attention.
"Sorry, didn't see you pull up!" Ben shouted before grabbing his black duffel bag and hopping in the back of the jeep.
"Yeah, that's the problem. You're so involved in your phone all the time you're oblivious to shit around you. That's why you might even need this camping trip worse than we do." Jason knew that Ben wouldn't take his criticism too harshly and would just laugh it off.
"Yeah, especially after things fell apart with my girlfriend, I really need to get out of dodge for a few days. That's why I was so glued to my phone back there. She and I have still been communicating some and everybody and their mother that's a mutual friend of ours is constantly trying to talk to me about what happened and this, that, and the other, so yeah, been spending even more time on my phone than usual even for me which isn't good. Especially when you add the fact that I'm trying some online dating again. Sorry Stacy can't make it by the way, guys. I hope it doesn't make the trip weird for us with me being a third wheel and all." Ben confessed to them. Jason and Charlotte had heard similar things before and none of this was anything new for them.
"You're trying to date again Ben? Didn't you just break up with Stacy on Sunday?" Charlotte asked half-incredulous.
"Well...yeah, but I guess I was getting a little lonely if you know what I mean," Ben responded suddenly unsure of himself in the face of Charlotte's questioning.
Jason just laughed good naturedly at his friend. He knew him long enough to know exactly what Ben was looking for in the current moment since he'd been without a girlfriend for all of four days. As long as Jason knew Ben, he'd never seen someone with a higher libido in his life. Jason found it to be a small miracle he'd never heard of Ben relaying any stories of contracting anything from the various women in his life over the years. Jason had a hard time keeping up with whoever was the latest flavor of the month in Ben's life.
"Okay, well how about this; let's get you away from this phone for the rest of our trip. I think you need to detox from all of this screen time and maybe all of the women too. What if we all agree to just put our phones in the glovebox and just check them once each day to make sure there's no emergencies, and otherwise they stay out of sight and out of mind," Charlotte challenged.
"I'm all for it," Jason said.
"Uhh..." Ben began.
