Chapter 69

Claire

I had absolutely no desire to go camping; it was going to be muddy, cold and boring. We only get two weeks off for Easter break, and my parents were stealing one from me. This is cruelty, forcing your children to give up their precious holiday time to dump them in a bug-infested tent for a week and expecting them to be happy about it is just mean. I don't care that it's some family tradition that my mother and aunt did when they were teenagers, because I'm willing to bet that they hated it back then, too.

I'll admit, I never really cared about having to go camping before, but this year I have a very good reason for wanting to not go, and my mother was being completely unreasonable in ignoring my request to stay home. Doesn't she realise that an entire week away from Andy was going to kill me? Not to mention that there will be no way to contact him either because the stupid camping site was out in the middle of East Jesus, nowhere. I don't understand how anyone can survive without mobile reception, as if this is 1999.

One silver lining, on my very dark cloud of depression, was that Andy had stayed over last night. He was so incredibly sweet, rubbing my back and making me feel like a princess, even though I was bloated from the monthly murder party that my uterus was having. He even held me all night, and it was magical, being able to wake up in his arms and spend time with him before I went. That memory will hopefully get me through the next week.

When we sat down to eat breakfast with my family, I felt a pang of sadness because I knew that once we were done eating, Andy would go home. I angrily stabbed at my bacon, imagining it was the camping ground and I was destroying it.

"Do I have to sit next to Claire in the car? She's got PMS and I'm fearful for my life." Heath whines to Mum as he watches me tear apart the bacon on my plate.

"You don't even know what PMS stands for, so how can you claim I have it?" I ask him, pointing my knife in his direction.

"It stands for problematic monster syndrome." Heath answers me confidently. "It comes from the demon that takes over your body each month, making us all suffer through your bitchy mood swings."

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I pity the girl who has to date you one day." I sneer at him from across the table. I swear, health class is wasted on him because he hasn't learnt a damn thing.

"Claire, did you pack mosquito repellent?" Dad asks me as a way of trying to defuse the fight that's brewing between Heath and me.

"No, but I will," I promise him, mentally adding it to my list of items that I'm yet to pack.

"Mosquitos love sucking blood, Claire." Heath teases me, making a slurping sound to emphasise his jeer.

"Heath, you better have packed a fresh set of batteries because I'm not driving you an hour into the city, just so you can buy more for your game device when the old ones go flat," Mum warns Heath, which makes him run from the table so fast to check if he did pack them.

"I'm happy to collect your mail while you're away." Andy offers to Mum and Dad.

"Thanks, Andrew, I'll leave you the key for the house too, if you don't mind, just in case anything goes wrong," Dad says, taking his keys out of his pocket and separating the house key from the rest, he then passes it down to Andy.

"You know, I could just stay here and keep an eye on the house," I suggest, but Mum shakes her head.

"Claire, you may not think so now, but one day, when you're older, you'll look back on these family trips and realise how precious the time spent together was." She says sadly.

There's a knock at the door, and I run to open it, hoping it's someone who has been sent here to save me from forced fun. I open the door and am surprised to see my cousin Samantha.

"Hey Claire Bear, I'm taking my own car this year and I wanted to see if you wanted to travel up with me?" She asks, her flame red hair pulled back into a loose bun, and she's wearing track pants and a sweater, but she still manages to make it look stylish somehow.

"Yes." I squeal, this may not have been the out that I was hoping for, but going with Samantha will be so much more fun than being cramped into the backseat with Heath and his toxic, bodily explosions and Dad's tragic golden oldies music.

"We should probably ask your parents, though, they might have plans to stop somewhere along the way," Samantha suggests, stepping inside.

"Morning, Samantha." Mum calls out from the dining room when she sees my cousin. "All packed?"

"Sure am, Aunty Roni, I packed last night so I could get a head start on the road this morning, just to avoid the holiday traffic," Samantha tells my parents. "I just popped over to see if Claire wanted to come with me, keep each other company."

Mum and Dad exchange looks, as if silently conferencing before they make the final decision on my fate.

"If it means she won't be squabbling with her brother the entire ride, then I don't see a problem with it," Dad says, giving me the green light.

I race upstairs and zip up my suitcase. I'm sure I've probably forgotten something but I know I have the essentials, such as underwear and clothing, so I'm not too worried. Andy comes into my room and carries my case down the stairs for me and out to Samantha's jeep, which is parked on the street.

I know that choosing to go in Samantha's car is cutting my time with Andy even shorter, but it's an opportunity that I can't pass up.

"Before you go, can you take a picture of us?" Andy asks Samantha, handing her his phone.

Andy and I cuddle up close, and he presses his lips to my cheek for the photo. Samantha takes a few pictures before handing Andy back his phone, and we look through them.

"Can you send those to me too, so I can use one as my socials profile picture?" I ask Andy. He's not usually one to pose for pictures, which is why, up until now, we had none of us together as a couple, and I want to show them off proudly, to tell the world that he's mine.

"I will." He promises me, cocooning me in his arms, and I wrap mine around his neck, drawing him in closer to me. He waits until he sees my parents are busy, talking to Samantha and leans in, kissing me tenderly as if time has frozen for us. His tongue sweeps against mine, and I feel a rush of pure lust jolt through my body.

"Sorry, love birds, but we've got to go," Samantha says, putting a hand on my arm and dragging me away from Andy, towards her car.

"Always," I tell Andy as I climb into the passenger seat, and he runs up to the window.

"Always." He repeats back to me.

Samantha starts the car up, and I buckle myself in. She pulls away from the curb, and I watch Andy shrink down as we drive further away from him. Music begins filling the car and Samantha starts singing loudly to the song, taking my mind off what I'm leaving behind and focusing on what fun we'll be having for the five-hour car ride. I guess this camping trip won't be all doom and gloom, not when I have my cousin to hang out with.

"That boy is mad about you, Claire," Samantha comments as she turns the corner and leaves our street. "I wouldn't be surprised if I found him hiding in the back because he can't stand the thought of you being away from him for a week."

"Is that a bad thing?" I ask her? Not wanting to admit that I am kind of hoping he is hiding in here.

"No, it just shows how much he loves you, which I like." She says, turning the music down so we can easily hear each other. "In my experience, a relationship should be a healthy balance of time spent together and apart, so that you have a chance to miss them."

"I tried so hard to get out of coming this year because I wanted to stay home with Andy, but my mum wouldn't allow that to happen; she kept going on about precious family time." I scoff and roll my eyes. "What's so important about these camping trips anyway? We sit around a fire, trying to keep warm and sleep on blow-up air mattresses that go flat by the morning."

"I think for your mum and my mum, this trip is a way of feeling connected to Grandpa Kreslin." She tells me, speaking about our grandfather who died long before we were born. "Mum says that's why they always pick the same spot, his spot, and they both go off up the mountain and talk to him privately."

"I didn't know that" I never thought of camping as a way for my mum to talk to her father, but it makes sense because whenever she and Aunty Bridget come back down the mountain, you can tell they've both been crying.

"We're lucky, Claire, we have our parents, but my mum lost her dad when she was only 19, and my ma lost both her parents young, too." There's a sadness that creeps into Samantha's voice when she talks about both her mother's losses. I take my parents for granted so often, assuming they'll always be with me. I wanted nothing more than to give my mum a huge hug and tell her how much I loved her, because I know she needed it more now.