OakLeaves Chapter 7
I awoke with a start, I don’t know why; I was just scared of something.
Must have been a dream or something, a dream that I cannot remember. My
eyes shot open and at that instant I saw something that calmed my nerves.
Noah lay there, peaceful, facing me. I smiled, a small smile. Maybe a
happy smile.
I slowly arose and left the tent in silence. In my boxers and bare
feet, I strolled down to the shore and looked out over the water. The sun
was just peaking over the trees. It was spectacular.
"Enjoying the view?" I heard that angelic voice say. Noah came up
behind me, thread his fingers with mine, then pressed himself close against
my back wrapping both our arms around me. There he laid his head on my
shoulder and I allowed mine to fall back onto his shoulder. He kissed me
in the crook of my neck. I giggled.
"Ohh, I think that I found a ticklish spot."
"Yep, but there are more where that came from."
"Really, well, sometime you will have to allow me to find them all."
"Anytime you want, and place," I said. Then added, "Except here of
course."
"Of course. Speaking of which we better get dressed before they all
wake up."
"Speaking of which, I really wouldn’t care if they found out."
As we were walking back to the tent Noah suddenly stopped and grabbed my
arm. His face was one of fear. "Garrett?"
"What is it sweetie?"
"I am afraid."
I gathered him in my arms as he nearly collapsed. I started to mist up,
"What is it?"
"I…uh…ummm"
"Come on babe. Please, your scaring me." This seemed to snap his
attention to the present. He too started to mist up.
"Garrett, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you."
"What is it?"
"My would never accept me. They hate fags…I mean gays. They
wouldn’t."
"Things may change when they know it is their son. Besides you don’t
need tell them. Some day maybe, but you don’t need to tell today, the day
we get back, or in years. Take things at your own pace."
"I’m still scared."
"I know, but know that I am always here for you and that I love you.
Forever." He smiled when I said that, which brought one to my face.
"When did you become so smart?"
"I was never smart, just in love." He blushed.
We both sighed then looked back towards the tent. Although well masked,
I could tell that this still bothered him. Then he perked up,
surprisingly. "I have something for you," he announced.
"Really," I responded with interest.
"Yep!" He seemed real excited about this. "You were saying last night
about that vows?"
"Yea, I was just playin’ around."
"You were?" He stopped in his tracks and looked at me with a confused
look.
I turned around and looked at him. "Come on, were still in Highschool."
His face turned to hurt. "What? What did I say?" I covered the short
distance between us in two bounds, yet when I came up to him, he backed
away.
"I thought you were serious, I thought that was real."
Attempting to recover the situation, "I mean, it was, but we cannot make
it official."
"So, you really think we are soulmates?"
"Time will only tell. I feel it, but Sometimes…"
"I don’t want to even think about the rest of that sentence, but I
understand what you are saying. I don’t want to believe it, but I
understand it. You are right, I feel it too. Maybe I am ready to take
that steep and call us soulmates. I feel it, strongly."
‘This coming from Noah? It is so unlike him.’ "Wow! Such conviction,
such strength," I said as I slunk around him. He just smiled.
"Damn straight."
I was behind him now, yet he still remained looking forward. I jumped
up from behind him and clasped my arms around his neck. "Did I ever tell
you that I love you?"
"Yea," he merely whispered, "Just a few times."
"Not enough."
"Really?"
"Yea, I love you."
He turned around in my grasp and put his forehead against mine. "I love
you too, and I have something for you."
My brow furled a bit. "Really, what?"
"Come here." And he walked backward holding my hands, dragging me back
to the tent. He kneeled at the entrance and reached into one of the side
pockets. Before retrieving it he said, "Close your eyes." I obliged with
much curiosity.
I felt something land in my hand. I didn’t move, nor did I open my
eyes. For a few seconds I tried to think what it could be. I felt a kiss
on my temple, then a whisper in my ear. "You can open your eyes silly."
I did just that. It was beautiful. Marvelous. The weaving was
beautiful. "Its…"
"Its not much, I know, but…" he tried to interrupt me.
But I stopped him with a kiss. "Its beautiful. Thank you." And I put
it on my finger. It fit. It fit, it just looked good there. He just
smiled. I noticed that he had the same type on. "Matching?"
"Yep," he said with enthusiasm.
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It was quite early and we both went back into the tent holding hands and
rings on our fingers. It really did look good there. I knew what I had to
do.
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"Hello!! You decent?" I heard brooks voice. The tent suddenly
began to violently shake. "HELLO?"
"YEA! Were fine," I yelled out to her. She unzipped and crawled in.
I felt like a practical Joke was coming on, but she beat me to it, "
Come on you guys, put those away!!"
"Dude, you two! GOD!!" I heard Alex yell from outside. I, along with
Noah, and Brook started to laugh.
We all got out of the tent to be meted with crying birds. It was truly
a beautiful day. As both Noah and I walked out to the shore to take the
morning breath of lake air. I saw a canoe pull up with Brook’s in
it.
"How was your morning paddle dad?" Brook said.
"Great. It is great to get out in the morning, isn’t it Garrett?" His
stare bore into me.
"Yes, it is."
"And Noah?"
"Yep," Noah responded. All the while, I wondered, ‘Where was this
leading to. What was he implying.’
"Everyone getting along?" he asked.
"Yes," came the chorus response, but Alex just had to add, "Some of us
too well."
"Right then, here is breakfast," Mrs. Chambers said as she tossed a zip
lock bag of batter. "Cook and be happy."
And cook we did. That batter turned into some awesome looking pancakes.
I myself adding, much to the dismay of everyone else, peanut butter.
"You are actually eating that?"
"Yes," came my short reply, after which I took another bite.
After breakfast there were still a few left over. I peanut buttered
these and wrapped them in aluminum foil. "What are we doing today?" I
asked while attending to my task.
"We are going down the lakes a bit. There is a small rock Island down
the way, and hopefully we can find fish there, then I figure we can visit
the last camping spot we had last time we were here." He said. Then
turning to his wife, "Won’t that be nice?"
"I didn’t think of that."
So that is what we did, we piled into our canoes, before we left, I
tossed a wrapped Peanut butter pancake sandwich in with each person. "I am
not eating this," Alex said in defiance.
"Whatever." And we were off. We set a standard pace toward the small
mouth to Thursday Bay.
Once in the small river, sure enough there was a small rock island.
When I say small I mean it. It was, at its widest point, three people.
And as long as a canoe and a half. Six people on that thing was a bit
cramped. And further more. We didn’t catch a single fish. We fished
there for a good two hours before someone gave up. Soon followed by some
others. I won’t say who started it, but before long we were back in the
canoes and were continuing up the small river.
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