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Sunday, The Next Day
Ohmygod,this is absolutely the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, June thought to herself as she parked her car in the camp parking lot. She took a sip from her water bottle, then took a follow up gulp of her second coffee of the day. She should probably back off on the liquid consumption unless she wanted to pee her pants during this grand gesture. I mean, he’s already been there when you shit your brains out, came the thought through her brain and June couldn’t help but laugh alone in her car. Three weeks ago, she never would have done this. She never would have made this type of bold choice, cut things off without a definitive next step.
Her shoes crunched the gravel as she walked the short path around the lake to Colin’s house. Was she even allowed to be on camp property on the weekend? She’d worry about the logistics later and apologize if she broke the rules or if Colin got angry with her.
Oh shit. The last 48 hours had been a flurry of packing, of list making, of ripping up the lists, of applications, of getting in the car to drive up to camp. She hadn’t stopped to think if she was doing the right thing. Would Colin welcome her back, accept her declaration of love? Or would he shut the door in her face?
“Too late now,” she whispered to herself as she swung open the gate that led to Colin’s tiny cabin. There were no lights on that she could notice. Shit. That didn’t bode well.
Steeling herself and remembering the “you are a badass” playlist she had blasted on the drive up, June walked to the door and knocked, and waited for a minute, listening for movement inside. She decided that she probably didn’t knock loud enough, so she rapped again, making sure that the noise echoed through the tiny cabin. Still nothing. Shit shit shit.
“Colin?” she called, her voice coming out pathetic and warbling. She knocked again, then again, and grew frustrated.
“This is bullshit,” she said to the door. “I finally get my shit together in some capacity, and drive up this damn mountain to tell you that I love you and I’m ready to do this and you’re not here! I’ve got the worst fucking timing in the world and what am I supposed to do now? Drive back down? Try again tomorrow? I’m not the FedEx of love, I can’t just leave a post-it that says I’ll be back another day!”
“You could just wait a bit longer.” Startled, June whirled around to find Colin coming up the driveway. He wore dark gray work pants that were covered in dirt and mud and a worn t-shirt, this one a faded blue one reading “Trails Never Fails”. A shovel was slung over one shoulder, his work boots caked with mud. There were streaks of dirt all over his face and his hair was sweaty, tied back with a red bandana. June had never seen anyone look sexier in her entire life.
“Hi Colin,” she said lamely, waving a hand in a pathetic gesture.
“Hi, June.” He stopped a few feet from her, adjusted the shovel so he balanced it over his both shoulders, hooking his arms over the handle. “What are you doing at my house?”
“I quit.” Two words. Simple. To the point.
“You quit?”
“I quit.” She took a deep breath, took in the cool air seeping into her lungs, trying to ignore how much it felt like coming home. “I told the school I wasn’t coming back next year. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t pour from an empty cup.”
“You can’t,” Colin repeated, still standing where he was, looking at June intensely.
“I’ll figure something out,” June kept babbling on, needing to fill the space between them. What had she been thinking, driving up here? Who was he to care? “I have been in overdrive, filling out all these applications for remote work. Things like curriculum design or instructional design or all of these tech jargony jobs that I’ve never heard of that I figured I could probably figure out.”
“You applied for jobs where you can work remotely?” Colin said, a hint of disbelief trickling into his voice.
“Yeah, because I want to move from the city. I want to move up here, to the aspens and the fresh air and the open space and the clear night sky. I know this is an imposition, or an assumption, or some other word I should know after teaching English for god knows how many years, but I thought that when my lease runs out in July, I could spend time up here, or move up here. And we could figure things out between us, or we could be roommates…” June trailed off, terrified.
She waited for Colin to say something, but he continued to look at her, his mouth slightly open. She felt a pit open up on her stomach.
“Or I could sign up for the French Foreign Legion and ride a camel and do laudanum or join the Peace Corps or become a flight attendant or -” Colin cut her off by dropping his shovel and taking three powerful strides towards her, then smashing his lips against her own. Her mouth was open when his pressed against hers, in the middle of a word, and June breathed in sharply with the familiar press of his lips against hers. With the hot slide of his tongue against her lips. With the scrape of teeth as he pressed against her harder.
“You are not going to the French Foreign Legion,” he mumbled against her lips. His hands slid down her back and cupped her ass, pulling her closer to his body. “You’re not going anywhere if I have any say in it.” He caught himself for a moment and pulled back, looking shocked. “I mean, you have the only say over your life, but I got caught up in the moment and -”
“The sentiment is appreciated,” June laughed, kissing him again. Colin picked her up with a quick motion, eliciting a yelp from June.
“I like that noise,” he grumbled as she wrapped her legs around his slim torso. “I want to make you make it again.” He shifted, sliding his forearms underneath June’s hips, then bent so he could lift her up further and press her against the doorframe. June flailed a hand behind her, scrambled for the doorknob, and managed to open the door as Colin walked her into the cabin, then immediately pressed her back against the entranceway, kissing her savagely, hungrily, like she was water and he had just hiked a mountain.
“Colin!” she gasped, as he bit and licked a trail down her neck, sucking hard at the space between her shirt collar and her shoulder.
“You’re here,” he muttered in a dazed way, in between scrapes of his teeth. “You’re here and I’m touching you.”
“Yes,” she panted, rolling her hips against Colin’s stomach, earning a growl from him. He reluctantly let her go, and she slid down the wall, slid down his body, her breasts against his chest as her feet settled to the floor.
Colin placed his hands on her shoulders and held himself at arm’s length, looking at June up and down, his breath coming in ragged pants. “I haven’t been able to focus since you left,” he admitted. “I’ve been spending more time on the mountain, doing trail crew shit, just to get my mind off of your brain and your body.” June grew damp at the admission and felt her heartbeat rocket into the atmosphere. “You’re here and all I want to do is devour you and I am so disgusting,” he let out a terse laugh. Gripping her shoulders, he gritted out, “I am going to shower, and you’re going to stay here, and then we are going to continue this.” He turned away abruptly, but June followed.
“Do not leave me by the MurderCouch,” she said, whipping off her shirt. Colin’s eyes expanded, his pupils blown out to almost all black. “Can I join you?”
“God, yes,” Colin said, reaching out and grabbing June’s wrist and dragging her into the bathroom. June snuck a hand into the shower to turn on the water, then joined Colin in tugging off her clothes, dumping them into a pile in the corner.
“You remembered?” Colin asked, stark naked and staring at June. Steam began to enter the room as the water gradually warmed.
