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“The survival hike is in two days. I keep it close to the classes, so all the lessons are fresh. Bernie and I will be the guides, and we’ll provide the backpacks and basics you’ll take with you. Remember, no tents or sleeping bags, and no food that you don’t forage.”

It sounded like hell, and Jovian refused to even consider it, but the moment Dixon asked who’d be taking the trip, Alan, the little brown noser, well, his hand shot up eagerly.

“Alan, good. Alaina, Marcy, Troy, good.” When his eyes fell on Jovian, Jovian raised his hand, though it was shivering from the sudden chill…

“Jovian! Well, great.”

Why he sounded surprised wasn’t the problem. The problem was, he had no idea what he was doing. He was sure to make an ass of himself again.

Oh well, might as well drive that last nail in the coffin of his hopes for Dixon’s dick.

They met in the morning, after chores, of course.

Backpacks were lined up and each of them took one, leaving the last one for Jovian, who’d got there a few minutes late.

While they were looking through what they had, Dixon announced, “Okay, each of you have one piece of food, whether it’s an apple, protein bar or cookie.

Remember, you’ll use up your sugar pretty quickly, but it’s great for short bursts, like climbing up a steep slope or hill.

You have a small box of matches but remember the fire danger.

We’re allowed open fires, but only responsible ones. ”

A blanket, some matches, Jovian had one apple, and then there was a map. “What’s this?”

“A…map,” Dixon said, as if it should be obvious.

He’d heard of them, of course, but he’d never laid eyes on one. “To find our way? Why not just use GPS?”

“How’s that service working for you today?”

Jovian pulled out his phone to see no bars. “Oh.”

“And up the mountain, you’ll get even worse reception.

” To the group, Dixon said, “Now, if you get into trouble, we’re going to be close.

Do not take off on your own, away from your designated areas.

Foraging for food means things we’ll leave for you in white paper bags.

They won’t be out in the open, so forage.

Get some food, take it back to your camp, start a fire to keep warm, possibly warm your food, and what else? ”

Jovian had no clue, but all the others said, “to keep away predators,” in unison.

“Great! This is fun, I promise, and if you get in trouble, stay with your buddy and call out for help.”

Jovian saw the others teaming up, and the only one left was Alan. Alan walked over to him and said, “Looks like it’s the two of us.”

Goody, he thought. “Great,” he said, though, with no enthusiasm.

As they started up the trail, Jovian recognized it. It was the trail he’d seen when the day he got so scared. One following the other, they filed up the trail he thought only predators used, and he was winded by the time they got halfway up the mountain.

Dixon was up ahead, leading the way, and Bernie was in the back, keeping track if anyone got hurt or otherwise got left behind. Feeling like whining, Jovian saw his sneakers getting dirtier and dirtier and he couldn’t imagine what sleeping on the ground was going to do to his clothes.

As they sat together on a plateau near the middle of the mountain, Dixon passed out bottles of water. “These are the last ones, so drink them sparingly.”

Jovian was thirsty, and he knew they were just saying that. Just like the food. He imagined there to be little white paper bags all over. They couldn’t starve the campers. Someone would sue them. So, he drank the water down, and still didn’t feel like he’d had enough.

Alan sat by him on the grass and asked, “Are you doing okay?”

Why he asked, Jovian didn’t know. “Why? Don’t I look okay?

” In a panic, he got his travel mirror from his back pocket and looked in it quickly.

So, he didn’t look club-ready, not with his red face and mussed hair, but he’d looked worse after dancing all night.

“I’m not terrible. I could use some lip gloss and a little blush, but… ”

“No, I don’t mean that. I mean, well, you drank all your water.”

“Oh, that. So?”

“That’s all we’re getting for the night. See? Everyone else took a drink and saved the rest.”

“Do you really think they’d let us do without?”

Alan shrugged. “It’s…it’s a survival training thing.”

“Oh, well, it’s only a night, and I’m sure some bags have water, too.”

“Well, anyway, I always see you with Mike and Kathy. I just met her, but I’ve known Mike for a while. We go to the same gym. He’s the one that suggested I come up here.”

“Remind me to thank him,” Jovian said mockingly.

“You’re funny,” Alan said with a laugh. “Listen, when we get up there, if you start the fire, I can go forage for us. You’re probably right. They probably have water in some. If not, I’ll share mine.”

Jovian looked at him like he was crazy. “Why would you do that?”

“Like Coach Dixon said, if you’re lucky enough to be out in the woods with another person, you share the work and the food and water.”

Jovian realized he hadn’t paid attention to a bit of it. “Yeah, sure.”

They started off again, and it was only a few steps before Jovian felt his legs want to give out. Why anyone hiked for the hell of it, Jovian would never understand. Of course, he didn’t understand most of what people did outdoors. The sun damage alone made him cringe.

If he got out of the camp alive, he swore to himself then and there he would never do another outside activity as long as he lived.

“How much farther?” he asked Bernie, who’d been a constant companion for him, being he was behind everyone else.

“Not far, Jovian. Another mile.”

“Another mile? Where the hell are you taking us?”

“Oh, to one of the prettiest places on earth. Once you get up here, you’ll see for miles, and every mile is more beautiful than the next.”

“So, in the middle of nowhere,” Jovian snarked. “Great, nice to know. Do you bury us or just leave us for the animals?”

“Oh, you, Jovian, I’d feed directly to a bear,” he said as he passed him, laughing. “Come on, keep up! My pet bear is hungry.”

“Ha. Ha.”

When they finally arrived, Jovian pulled the blanket from his pack and threw it down haphazardly, then he climbed onto it, staring up through the tall trees at the little slivers of sky he could see. “This is torture.”

“It’s not bad. My thighs are killing me, but this is way better than the gym.”

“How do you figure? There are bugs and animals ready to eat us, and dirt! Ugh, I’d much rather live in a gym than ever do this again.”

“Good to know,” Dixon said as came to them. “You guys doing okay?”

Again. Again, Dixon was seeing him uncute and hearing him saying things Jovian would rather he hadn’t heard. He sat up, blood rushing to his face. “We’re good. Aren’t we, Alan?”

“We’re good, coach. Just a little sore.”

“It’s good for you,” Dixon said, laughing. “If you join the big one, you’ll feel that one for days.”

Jovian heard him that time. Well, at least a few of the words. Big one and feeling it for days. Man, did that get his mind working overtime.

“You like Coach?”

Jovian’s neck hurt with how quickly he turned his head to glare at Alan. “What?”

“Wow, you like him. It’s all over your face.”

“The only thing all over my face is sweat, unfortunately. And you do too!”

“Me? Not me! I have a guy. He’s in France for this work thing, which is why I came here. I thought I’d have fun while he was in Europe.”

The shock of Alan’s words hit him harder than the hike had. “You don’t? I could have sworn. Wait! Why wouldn’t he take you with him? I’d be fucking everything that moved if my boyfriend left me behind to go to Europe!”

Alan chuckled dryly and said, “He wanted to, but his company said he needed no distractions. We’re not married, so I’d be seen as a distraction.”

“As opposed to if you were married? That’s stupid.”

“Yeah,” he said with a chuckle. “I know. I guess they figure married people don’t get busy in the bedroom.”

“Well, can’t say as I disagree. Getting married is stupid.”

Bernie was walking by and heard him, so he stopped and sauntered over to the two of them. “Stupid? Do you know how hard we fought to be able to marry?”

Another lecture. Wonderful . “Sure, I guess. I just can’t understand why. That’s for straight people. We’re not straight people.”

“So, if you had a partner that was in the hospital and you wanted to go see him and they asked if you were family, and you said no, then you’d…be okay with them being ill or dying while you were in the waiting room?”

“Lie! God, how hard is that?”

“If it wasn’t legal, then what? They’d know you weren’t married.”

“Jesus, I swear you people are one track on this stuff. I’d go in anyway. What are they going to do, arrest me for sitting by the bedside of my partner?”

“Yeah,” Alan said, and he got up and walked away from Jovian, murmuring, “I’m going to go look for firewood and forage.”

Bernie squatted in front of him and kept his voice low. “You’re not learning anything yet, are you? Why did you even come here?”

“I was blackmailed, that’s why.”

“Well, if this is all the effort you’re going to give, then go home. No one needs your shit here.”

If he had to write it down, admit it to himself, he’d feel it hard. Words had stung him before, sure, but those…they pierced him deeper than he thought possible. Bernie got up and walked away, but Jovian noticed something else.

Dixon had watched the entire thing.

As his head moved side to side, shaking in disappointment, Jovian felt tears collecting in his eyes and he blinked hard, trying to will them to dry, but it was impossible.

He got up from the blanket, suddenly unfeeling of the strain to his muscles, and he left the area, pretending to go foraging. What he actually did was sit in a stand of trees, alone, like he’d always been.

Well, he had to shake it off, that was all! Shake it from him, and return to the Jovian he knew, not the sniveling wimp he felt he was in that moment.