Royal obligations

The camping trip

Ella had worked hard the entire school year and had reaped what she sowed as she graduated top of her class which meant that she would be able to go to the university of her dreams on full scholarship.

    She lived in a small town full of narrow minded people who had looked down on her and her mom her entire life, and she was looking forward to leaving all the bullying and drama behind. She had managed to get a job at the local landscaping company and she was looking forward to working hard the whole summer so she could concentrate on her studies without needing to work during the winter. Getting the job at the local landscaping company meant that even though she would be working all summer she would be getting plenty of sun and wouldn’t miss the summer vacation.

    The first weekend of July her only friend Julia had managed to talk Ella into going camping with her. Ella was actually excited for the camping trip which would be relaxing and a great opportunity to spend some quality time with Julia since they were working at different companies and would probably be going to different universities in the fall.

    They drove up to the campsite on the Friday after work. When they got there the camper they had rented was waiting for them all set up and ready. Since they had no plans except for the next day when they were going floating down the river, they decided to build a fire to roast some marshmallows on. Unfortunately neither of them had any wilderness experience; they had no idea how to make a fire. When they were trying for the umpteenth time and failing yet again, Ella got this weird feeling, all the hair on the back of her neck and on her arms stood up. At that moment two guys approached them offering their help to start the fire. The girls were quick to accept and before they knew the guys had built a big fire for them.

    The girls didn’t want to seem rude so they invited the guys to roast marshmallows with them. The guys were extremely good looking and it was obvious that they were related, one of the guys was really outgoing and seemed to thrive around people while the other was extremely shy and didn’t say much. As the night progressed the shyness seemed to ease a bit and they were all chatting together. All of a sudden the shy guy accidentally brushed his hand against Ella’s and she felt this electrified feeling soaring through her body. She was taken back and snapped her hand away like she had burnt herself. With a shocked face she looked at the guy, who seemed just as shocked as she was, but instead of saying something he just looked away and started talking with Julia and the other guy, ignoring Ella. Being completely ignored she bid them good night and stood up to go into the camper. Julia, knowing Ella better than anybody else, saw something was bothering her, but with one look from Ella she knew not to say anything and let Ella go.

    When Ella woke up the next morning she was looking forward to having Julia all to herself while they would be floating down the river. The best part was that no one could bother them for at least two hours, maybe more if they would stop somewhere on the way down the river.

    While they were having breakfast Julia told her that she had invited the guys from the night before to go floating with them. Ella was disappointed and a bit surprised since even  though Julia usually had plenty of guys pining for her, she never gave them as much a second look, not to mention inviting them into the private club of two.

    Despite being extremely disappointed she tried not to show it, especially since the guys came to their camper before she could say anything,  not that she would say anything because there was no use because she would never be rude to anyone and disinviting the guys seemed rude to Ella.

    When they had changed into their swimsuit and gotten everything ready they headed out to drive to the float renting place. One of the guys, the shy one, insisted on taking his car claiming it would be safer. Ella couldn’t help herself and scoffed at him that she definitely knew a lot more about cars and how to fix them so her car was not unsafe. Ignoring the comment about his lack of mechanical skills he said he didn’t doubt that she knew her way around cars but his would still be safer. Not wanting to argue she let it go and they went all in his car.

    When they arrived at the renting place the guys insisted on paying for the floats. Again not wanting to argue Julia and her accepted. When the guys came back with two big floats Ella just assumed the guys would take one and Julia and her the other. Much to her surprise the guys jumped in separate floats and the shy guy said he would share his with Ella. Without hesitating Julia jumped in the float with the outgoing guy and pushed them away from the riverbank.

    Ella just stood on the bank seriously contemplating whether or not she should go with the guy. Seeing him look at her smiling shyly she mustered up her courage and went in the float. The guy pushed away while Ella apologized to him for being stuck with her. The guy looked at her like she was crazy telling her that she should apologize to Julia and his cousin for being stuck with each other since he was the one who wanted to share a float with her, talking his cousin into being in separate floats.

    ‘Oh' was all Ella could say, for some reason she felt she could trust this guy, but not having trusted anyone except her mom and Julia her entire life, she was still cautious around him. She had been the ridicule of the entire school for so long that her confidence was non-existent.

    After a long time of awkward silence the guy cleared his throat trying to start a conversation but didn’t seem to know how to. Ella, feeling somewhat sorry for him, decided to ask him where he was from to start a conversation. After he had told her he was from a small town near the mountains, the awkward silence returned. After what seemed hours, the guy cleared his throat again. Not wanting to bail him out again Ella decided to wait for him to figure out how to start the conversation.

    After a while he cleared his throat again and then blurted out ‘youfeltittoodidn'tyou?’. Ella looked at him and asked ‘felt what too?’, ‘last night, when we brushed against each other’ he said and grabbed her hand. She snapped her head towards him and whipped her hand away. ‘What are you doing to me?’ she asked. He just smiled and took her hand again, she wasn’t as startled by that so she didn’t take her hand away so she felt this electrified feeling going through her body. He smiled brighter and his shyness seemed to fade a bit.  She took her hand from him slowly and asked again ‘what are you doing to me?’ his shyness came back just as quickly as it had left him. Feeling a little bit sorry for him she asked yet again ‘not wanting to sound like a broken record, but what did you just do to me?’

    Before he could answer her Julia and his cousin called out to them that it was about time they came. They had been waiting for almost an hour for them. His cousin then looked at Julia saying she owed him a meal since he won the bet, Julia just looked annoyed back at him saying she would pay up with dinner that night.

    The ride back to the campsite was quiet but Julia kept looking at Ella with questioning eyes. Ella just looked back at her trying to figure out what the question was that Julia was trying to ask. Back at their camper Ella managed to ask Julia what the bet was that she had made. Julia, looking annoyed again told her that she had told Christopher that there was no way that Ella would go in the float with Christian, Christopher decided to make a bet out of it and so Julia had lost since she went with Christian. ‘Oh, so that’s his name' was all that Ella could say. Julia laughed asking what they had talked about for two hours, since she didn’t even ask his name. Adding that she knew Ella was bad with names but it seemed rude of her not to ask again.

    Before Ella could reply the guys came in their camper telling them everything was ready to cook dinner. Going outside the girls saw that the guys had built a fire again but had added a camping stove on top of it. The girls started prepping dinner and Ella told the guys to relax with Julia while she would cook. Christian commented that it didn’t seem fair that Ella would do all the work since it was Julia who had made the bet and owed Christopher the meal. Julia looked sheepish, while Ella just laughed, saying that they would not want Julia to cook their meal, unless they were daredevils with iron stomachs.  The guys looked taken back by this comment since Ella hadn’t said much to them so Julia explained that she was a terrible cook but Ella was a gourmet chef. Ella felt her face blush so she turned her attention on the food.

    All of a sudden Christian stood beside her asking if he could help with anything. Replying that she had it all under control he just stood there looking like he was trying to find something to say. He looked back at Christopher and Julia and saw that they were busy chatting with each other and paid Ella and him no attention. With that he seemed to make up his mind and tried to pick up their conversation from earlier. ‘So I never got the chance of answering your question about what I did to you’ Ella just looked at him, waiting for him to go on. With that he continued, ‘well the short answer is that I didn’t do anything to you other than holding your hand’ Ella told him that she had had her hand held before and there had never been any feeling like when he had taken her hand. Christan just smiled and said that it was just their chemistry that she had been feeling. He didn’t know how else to explain it to her. He had never felt anything like that before either but it was electrifying. When she didn’t reply he kept on talking saying that it was a feeling he had liked and wanted to get to know her better. She just looked at him like he was an alien and asked if he was sure, because no one had ever wanted to get to know her, especially not a guy.  He looked taken back with that comment and said that he could not believe that; she was so beautiful and had such a nice presence that she must be joking. Ella just shook her head telling him she only had one friend which was Julia and the entire town looked down on her and her mom.

    Hearing that Christian just looked sad. He asked if she would be willing to exchange phone numbers so they could get to know each other and keep in touch after the weekend. For some reason, she agreed to this and told him her phone number, which he saved on his phone. All of a sudden her phone rang and when she turned to check it, Christian took her hand, telling her that now she had his phone number as well. The ringing of Ellas phone seemed to have gotten Julias and Christophers attention because they stood up and walked over to Ella and Christian. Julia smelled the food commenting how delicious it smelled and asked if it was almost ready since she was starving. Christopher seconded that; he was starving too and if the smell was any indicator on how good the food would be, it would be one of the best meals he had ever had. Ella blushed again but managed to tell them it would only be a moment so they could set the table for them.

    The night went by extremely fast with Christian sitting close to Ella the whole time. She was getting used to this feeling he gave her and by the end of the night she admitted to herself that she even liked it. With that she decided to trust this feeling she had that she could trust him, hoping she wasn’t wrong and would end up hurt and regretting this trust.

The next morning the girls woke up with a knock on their door. When Ella went to open it, Christian stood there with a huge grin on his face and told her to get ready, he wanted to surprise her with something. After getting dressed she went out again, Christian took her hand and walked her to his car, every time she asked what he was doing and where he was taking her, he only replied that she would see, it was a surprise. The drive was short and before Ella knew they were there, but there was nothing there except trees and grass. She looked at Christian not sure what this was all about but he only smiled at her and went to the back of his car and fished out a blanket and a basket. It dawned on Ella that the surprise was that they were having a picnic, just the two of them. Taking Ellas hand Christian walked her under one of the trees, setting the blanket and the basket down. They had the most amazing breakfast together and talked non-stop until Ellas phone rang. It was Julia asking if Ella planned on ever coming back, they needed to pack up their stuff and head back home soon, so they would be driving in the dark.

    The weekend ended with the girls saying goodbye to the guys, Christan promised Ella that he would be contacting her again soon.