Page 24 of Into the Mountains (Blue Grove Mountain #3)

Once we reach our campsite, Charlotte wastes no time getting out of the truck to stretch her limbs.

I follow suit and start unpacking the truck bed.

The area Sky reserved is large enough for at least four tents and still has enough space to sit chairs around the campfire that is already set up.

A weathered picnic table is positioned off to the side and for some reason, I picture Charlotte sitting there with a white tablecloth covering the top so she doesn’t get splinters, plates set out nicely, with Ethan perched across from her, a hand of cards at the ready.

Hudson and Avery already have their tent halfway set up by the time I make my way around the truck to find mine. Charlotte is attempting to yank hers out of the bag and Jacob and Sky have theirs spread out on the ground, Jacob getting the poles together.

“Alright,” Sky calls. “The first team building exercise is working together to put up your tent.”

That’s a weird one to start with considering I’ll be putting up my own tent and Charlotte will be putting up hers. Clearly Sky didn’t think about that part of the team building exercise.

Or she did.

Because when I get to the bed of the truck, it’s empty besides the coolers packed with food. I know it’s food because one of them I was in charge of.

I catch Sky’s eyes and see a smirk on her face. “There’s no other tent in here, Sky.”

“There’s not?” she asks with a faux innocence that no one is fooled by. “I could have sworn I packed enough for all of us. I guess you’ll have to bunk with Charlotte.”

I look over at my roomie for the weekend to see she’s so focused on getting the tent unstuck that she clearly didn’t hear what Sky just said.

So now I get to be the one to tell her that she doesn’t get a whole tent to herself.

Which I know is going to be disappointing because I was also looking forward to the space.

The closer I get, the faster my heart beats. With the way she’s tugging at the tent and cursing at it, I don’t think it’s the best time to tell her that she’s bunking with one of the few people she hates. Or sort of hates at this point? Hates as a friend?

“You need some help, red?”

“Red, because I have red hair. So original,” she grunts, continuing to struggle with the tent.

The outside of the pack has a pictured label that says it sleeps four people, making me feel a little bit better about being in the same tent as her.

One side for me, one side for her, two imaginary people in between us. It’ll be fine.

“Better than Charlie.”

“Sure.” Her body is scrunched together as she bends and keeps trying to free the tent. While she does that, I take my time inspecting it to see where it’s stuck. It doesn’t take me long to see that it’s snagged on the zipper and her tugging on it has only managed to get it more embedded into it.

“It’s stuck.”

She drops the tent with a thud and places a hand on her hip, the other coming to her hairline to brush away the sweaty strands that fell into her face during her effort. “Seriously? It’s stuck?” She repeats.

I point to the zipper. “Your pulling got it tangled up with the zipper.”

Her shoulders fall and she kneels down to start working on getting it unstuck. Once she frees it, she’s finally able to pull it out with ease. Spreading it out like the other two tents, I get to work on the tent poles.

“Why don’t you go work on your own tent?”

Right, that little piece of information I hadn’t quite gotten to. “I am.”

“You’re what?”

“Working on my own tent?”

“I don’t know if you hit your head on a branch on the way over here, but you’re working on my tent.”

“ Our tent,” I correct her.

“Excuse me? Our what now?” I haphazardly toss the poles down and they land with a rustle on top of our tent.

“Because our little meddler over there,” I start, pointing my thumb over my shoulder toward Sky.

“Didn’t pack enough tents. She only brought three instead of four.

So we have to share this one apparently, but I think it’s big enough that you can take one side and I’ll take the other without any issues. ”

“No.”

“No?”

“There’s enough sleeping bags, right?”

“If Hudson packed them we’re probably short,” Avery calls over to us. Hudson grabs her around the waist and they disappear into the tent they already have set up. The makeshift walls do nothing to silence her giggles.

Stubbornly, Charlotte crosses her arms. I imagine her stomping her foot on the ground for emphasis and by the little crinkle between her eyebrows, it looks like that’s exactly what she wants to do.

“I’ll just sleep by the fire.”

“You’re not going to sleep outside.”

She levels me with a glare. “Why not? Don’t think I can handle myself?”

I put my hands up in surrender. “I never said that. I just think the tent is the safer place. What if it rains?”

“Suddenly worried about my well being, Eli?”

Yes. “No.”

“Give me a sleeping bag and my duffle for a pillow and I’ll be just peachy.

” Her mind made up, she goes to the pile of sleeping bags a few feet away.

Grabbing the purple one on top, she picks a spot relatively close to the fire pit, but far enough away that she wouldn’t get burned on the off chance a spark cracked her way.

It’s also only a few feet away from our tent. My tent now, apparently.

“What if it rains?”

She glances up at the sky where there are no clouds in sight, just an endless blue sky. “I think I’ll survive with all the rain clouds looming in.”

“Don’t expect me to leave an empty space in here as precaution. I take up a lot of room if I have it.”

An eye roll is all I get as she unrolls the sleeping bag, positioning it the way she wants before laying down on top of it for a moment, her head pressed into her duffel bag.

“What are you doing?” Sky looms above her with her clipboard in hand, hanging by her side.

“Laying down,” Charlotte answers, without even bothering to open her eyes. “I don’t have a tent to build, therefore, I’m resting.”

Sky’s lips knot together and I can see the angry sparks from the jammed gears in her head. One thing she didn’t account for with all of this is her friend’s stubbornness.

“You’re going to sleep outside?”

“Well, we’re all sleeping outside technically.

” She’s smirking now and I can’t help but stifle my laughter.

It’s not often Sky lets anything or anyone for that matter get to her, but for some reason, she’s allowing Charlotte to do just that.

A horsefly following you on a run, determined to get a bite wherever he can, making you question your life choices—a true story from my soccer training days and while my teammates would say it was a funny story, for me… not so much.

“You know what I mean.” Her tone is deadpan like she’s already over Charlotte’s antics.

“I’m not sharing a tent with Elias, okay? So I’ll sleep right here.”

“And if it rains?”

“Doesn’t look like it’s going to.” Stubborn.

“Mmmm.” Sky walks back to her tent that’s half set up and helps Jacob with the rest of the poles. Once the tents are done and everyone’s stuff is shoved inside, Hudson gathers the foldable chairs they packed and starts setting them up around the fire pit.

“What now?” he asks, looking in his sister’s direction.

She picks up her clipboard she left on the table. “We are going to go on a walk.”

“To where?” comes from Charlotte’s spot on the ground, eyes still closed.

“You’ll see. Let’s go.”