The car ride on the way to Alice’s house was a rather frustrating experience for Lucas, since both of them were too distracted by their conversation—Alice forgot to give directions, and Lucas forgot to make turns. Despite their occasional breaks in chatter to give directions or to let out swear words, their conversation was much more lively than their last one. When Alice asked about joining another sports team to fill in the time, Lucas shook his head.

“Nah,” he said, making the turn she instructed him to do. “I was gonna join some rec football team, but I’m kinda enjoying all this free time. I am gonna try out for basketball in the winter though.”

“Volleyball players are super hot,” Lucas added when Alice had brought that topic up. He pulled a quick illegal U-turn in order to return to the intersection. “And I don’t really know why people get so worked up with sports…” he said, keeping his eyes on the road. “I mean, I get worked up, yeah, but I’m not sure why… I guess it’s a pride thing?” In reality, Lucas wasn’t sure, but he could understand why the negativity would affect Alice.

When they finally got to Alice’s rather fancy house, he hopped out of the driver’s seat and followed inside. The foyer smelled like some kind of pine, giving it a relaxing, outdoorsy vibe. 
Immediately, Alice beckoned for him to follow her into a storage room whose walls were lined with shelves. Lucas was still very curious about what Alice had planned, and he watched her reach up for a yellow bag on the top shelf.

[i]“I thought...if you want, we might stay out there. Go camping. I told Dad a bunch of people are going so he won't miss the supplies, but...we could go by ourselves. Get some hot dogs, you could use my dad's sleeping bag…” The brunette bit her lip and shrugged. ”Is it a good surprise? I swear, don't feel bad if you don't want to. I know we're technically not allowed to camp out there expect in specified areas.”[/i]

Lucas raised an eyebrow at her, intrigued. That was certainly a surprise. He was expecting her to take him to a party or something, but Lucas realized that probably wasn’t like her at all. The thought of camping in the woods while it was warm out did seem pretty cool… Plus, he’d be alone with her. The thought sent a small burst of epinephrine “butterflies” into his stomach. That night would prove to be very interesting.

“That sounds really cool,” Lucas replied rather enthusiastically. “I’ve never gone camping with people other than my extended family before,” he laughed. Before saying another word, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed in his mom’s number.

He held it up to his ear as it rang, looked to Alice, and gave her a smirk with a wink.

“Mom?” he said, returning his eyes to a neutral position. “It’s Lucas… Oh, you know, it was boring as usual… What?… No, it’s fine really. We’re probably gonna suck this season anyway. Yeah. Yeah, I think I’m gonna try out for basketball. Yeah, in the winter… What? Oh, yeah, can I go spend that night at Ryder’s house? Ryder Capello. Yes you know him, he’s been to our house before! Blond hair? Tall? Yeah, his dad’s the surgeon. Yeah, yeah. I’m going to his house tonight… Oh, just with some friends. We might see a movie or something… Yeah, I know, I know, I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? All right, thanks Mom. Tell Dad I say hi. All right. Peace.”

He pulled his phone away from his ear and tapped ‘End call.’

“We’re all good to go,” he told Alice with a smile. “I guess I don’t really need to bring anything, do I?”