Camping Trip, Part 4

Two young men alone on a camping trip have been exploring more than just the wilderness. In this installment, our young lovers realize that their feelings go beyond sexual ones.

The dawn brought the rain. I awoke at first light to the sound of the steady downpour against the taught nylon tent. We remained warm and dry inside our shell, but I knew my bladder wouldn’t hold out for long. Brian stirred next to me. He lay on his stomach with his arm across my chest, his leg thrown over mine.

I considered my options for going outside. My raingear was handy at my feet, but so was my towel. I opted to step out naked for my morning piss. Gently sliding out from Brian’s warm embrace, I unzipped the tent door as quietly as possible and slipped out into the rain to find it was much colder than I expected. We had pitched our tent close to some massive old-growth white pines and I ducked close to the trunk of one to avoid the stinging raindrops. It wasn’t much help. As I stood shivering, wishing my seemingly endless piss would end, I looked out across the bleak gray landscape. What had been a sparkling array of blue and green and gold, had become a colorless blur. I was soaking wet and freezing cold by the time I dove back into the tent. Snatching up my towel, I noticed Brian was laying on his back, awake and looking at me.

“Good morning. How’s the weather out there?” he asked.

“Shitty!” I said as I quickly toweled off.

“Then you better get over here and let me warm you up.” He reached up, took me by the wrist and pulled me to him. I stretched out against him and pulled both sleeping bags over us. Lying there in his strong arms, drawing heat from him, I was so overcome with love for my best friend that tears began to roll down my cheeks. I felt weak, afraid that someday Brian wouldn’t be right by my side. We didn’t speak as he softly caressed my cold skin back to life. It was still very early in the morning and neither of us was in any hurry. I fell back to sleep while Brian ran his fingers slowly through my wet hair, gently pulling out the tangles.

When I awoke, I was alone. The quality of the light gave no indication as to the time of day, so I had no idea how late I’d slept in. It was still raining and cold. I peeked out the window of the tent and saw my partner and laughed. He was out in the rain, trying to hang a tarp between four trees. That wasn’t the funny part. What was funny was the bright yellow rain suit he wore. It looked more like a haz-mat suits and totally out of place in the forest, like a scene straight out of the X-Files. I dressed and donned my rain gear (black and green by the way) and joined him outside. We got the tarp hung and set out gear beneath it. I lit the propane stove we’d brought for just this occasion and began to make coffee.

Brian asked me what I wanted to do that day. “We could pack