Tea - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

“Sophie. It came.”

“Oh my God. Open it. Wait!” Sophie kissed him the way a damsel would kiss a knight before he set off to slay a dragon. Miles ripped open the manila envelope sent from the state of New Hampshire that would declare their future. After far too many words Miles found the meat of the letter.

“Your application for an I-129-F form has been approved.” Miles was going to read the sentence again to be sure but Sophie crushed his lips with hers before they had their second chance.

“We did it! I told you we would!” Sophie kissed her official fiancée again and again.

“I should have never doubted you. Shall we get out of here to celebrate?”

“Of course!” Before Miles could make a move Sophie jumped into his arms and began kissing him again. Miles was amazed by Sophie, to take the cliché out of a word. They were comfortable enough with one another that Sophie had, on numerous occasions, stuffed his errant member back inside his boxers as they watched movies together. Miles had nonchalantly unhooked Sophie’s bra to massage her. They had held one another in such a sexual stare that it was broken only because they had to touch. Such extremes and everything in between drove Miles’ love for Sophie even deeper into…wherever love like that dives into.

After basking for a moment they realized that they did not want to be in camp for their celebration.

“Let’s get a room. Just you and I. We can do anything. Window shop, have a nice dinner, split a bottle of wine, taxi around, whatever. This is something we should remember.” Sophie nodded.

“Okay. Miles, We’re getting married.”

“I know we are, sweetheart. It’s…I can’t even say anything right now without it sounding cheesy.”

“I know. You don’t have to have an answer all the time.”

“Remember you said that. I don’t know why, off the top of my head, but-I’m running at the mouth. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You’re just in love. I thought you would be used to it by now. It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“I don’t think I could live without it now that I know what it’s about.”

“Let’s go somewhere fun, Lover.” Miles agreed and they nearly ran to his Jeep after throwing enough clothes in a pair of suitcases.

“You and I have spent a lot of time hiding out in this old girl,” Miles waxed.

“We’ll have to keep it forever.” Miles laughed. “You know what? I’m going to have to take a whole new driving test. You should let me drive sometime to get used to the opposite way of doing things.”

“Fair enough. We’ll find some country road and-“

“I know how to drive, you bloody arse.”

“Ok, ok. Where are we going?”

They ended up back at the Borders where they had wiled away so many hours before. The time they spent inside the bookstore was almost choreographed. The two split inside the doors and swished through opposite sections for a while before rejoining in the middle to check in. They would separate and regroup three or four times over the coarse of the afternoon; ending their trip to the shopping plaza outside of the Starbucks sipping four-dollar macchiatos.

“I guess ‘fun’ is just being out, hey?” Sophie commented, about a quarter of the way through her drink.

“Sure. I mean, I’d like to go to a bunch of great places with you, but the ‘with you’ part is the most important.”

“We have all kinds of time.”

“We’ll have a fantastic honeymoon. Maybe not right away, but we’ll do it.”

“I’ll be sure to hold you to that.” Sophie curled her foot around Miles’ shin under the see-through table.

“I heard a quote once about finding something magical in the everyday. Maybe Walt Disney or someone like that. But I can see what they were getting at when we spend our afternoons like this. It’s still fun, isn’t it? We may not think much of it right now, but maybe one day we’ll smile at the thought of sitting outside a coffee shop and talking about all our great plans.”

“I think it has definitely become one of our ‘things’. Maybe picking Starbucks was a good thing. Stir up some good times in Chicago or anywhere else.”

“I’ll go along with that.”

Sophie rubbed her wring slowly. “This may sound strange, but I’m really glad that I’ve never done this sort of thing before.” She continued rubbing the ring as she visibly gathered her thoughts. “I’m glad we have something that’s just ours. I’ll never feel quite this way again. And when I feel something else it will be with you, too. I don’t have to worry about anyone but you for the rest of my life.”

“Sophie, you don’t have to worry about me at all. I’m so enthralled with you I wouldn’t notice if you were an axe murderer.”

“So morbid!”

“Well, my point is don’t care what anyone thinks. I’ve already decided what I think of you,” He closed his hand over hers, stilling her rubbing finger. “And that conclusion should be pretty obvious, I hope.”

“God, look at you! You can still make me blush. And in a public place!” Miles let go of Sophie’s hand and she tried to make her face calm down.

“You are something else. That’s why I love you.”

“So I’m weird, hey?”

“Goodness, yes. You’re the queerest person I’ve ever met! You fascinate me!”

“I don’t quite know how I feel about that.”

“Good. It’s my job to keep you guessing. I’ve already given up so many secrets.”

“And there’s nothing else I couldn’t get out of you after a night of really good sex.”

“It’s the truth. And I love it when you talk dirty in public.”

“I know.”

“I know you know.”

“This is getting bloody ridiculous!” Sophie leaned over the table and like two bookends on an empty shelf moved by the same hand Miles was there kissing her. “We’re both ridiculous,” she sighed when they were finished and slumping back to their own sides of the table.

“That’s how we got matched up. Come on, we’ve been over this.” Miles grinned daringly at Sophie. She just closed her eyes and shook her head smiling.

“Let’s take these and walk around a bit more. I’m getting jittery. It may not just be the coffee, but it’s too early to tell.”

Miles smiled at the innuendo. “If you say anything else I may not be able to get up and walk.”

“I didn’t even do anything!” Sophie feigned. They stood up and Sophie took Miles’ free hand in hers. She swung them casually as they walked with separate but equally fitting songs stuck in their heads to provide a soundtrack for the afternoon.

When they found themselves at the Jeep daylight was fading. They drove back under and orange sky in a sleepy satisfied silence.

“Miles?” Sophie asked as he pulled into the camp’s parking lot.

“Yeah, Sophie?”

“You’re right. I will miss these coffee shop days.”

“Nothing says they have to end, Love. Let’s go make some tea. They shuffled down staff row arm in arm like two merry drunks.

“We have got to do something about the wedding, Miles,” Sophie said over breakfast the next morning.

“Let’s. One less thing to worry about. Do you want to have it around here?”

“How much of your family lives in Chicago?”

“Just my parents. My dad’s family is in Southern Ohio, about twelve hours away, and my mom’s family is from southern Illinois, maybe six hours away. They met at UIC.”

“Maybe we should keep it around there, like we said before. We’ll be living there, anyways, right? One less trip and worry.”

“I suppose. I really want at least Scott and Kyra to come, though.”

“Emma will be gone by then. Jabari is in Michigan. That’s not too far away. We’ll invite everyone we think might come, at least.”

“I think we’ll get at least Scott and Kyra. Maybe Jabari. That’s pretty much who we want anyway, right?”

“Yeah, I mean, the overseas guys will be gone. Gerri would be fun, but Texas is a long ways away.”

“And of course my Best Man Paul will be there.”

“Do not even joke about that, Miles Drake.”

“Sorry. I guess that covers everyone.”

“We’ll send an announcement to the office and everything.”

“Sure, sure. Um, church, or?”

“I’d love to do it outdoors, actually. Where do we get a priest?”

“I don’t know. Neither of us are particularly religious. How about I ask my parents? They’ll want to here any updates, and my mom would probably be thrilled to help out. She could find someone, as long as you don’t care.”

“I just want to be legal. There’s no time for romance.” She tried to curl her lip with stubbornness but Miles had to laugh when she wound up looking like a naïve coed auditioning for a dirty magazine.

“Right, then. I’ll call the Drakes, and then I’ll try some venues. There are a couple of nice parks with terraces around my neighborhood.”

“That sounds perfect.”

“I can rent a tux the day of. What do you want to do for a dress?”

“I don’t know.”

“Sorry, I’m not implying you have to-“

“I’m sure you would rather we get married in what we’re wearing right now. But I wouldn’t mind a simple dress. You’re not buying it, that’s for sure.” She curled her left hand into a fist on the table to make sure Miles saw the glint of what he had already given her.

“Fair enough. You’re on your own.” Miles went to the phone desk to call his parents. Sophie soon moved her chair to sit beside him. She was not particularly listening to the conversation, she just didn’t like sitting at the other table by herself. She put her head on Miles’ shoulder where it had rested countless times before and her cheek felt his voice vibrate through his body.

“Well that was easy enough,” Miles said, hanging up the phone. “My mom’s going to take care of the minister and the location, told her what we wanted of course, so that leaves us in charge og getting dressed and getting there.”

“And a reception.”

“Oh. I guess I could have had my parents take care of that, too. I’ll call once mom gets a location. God, this is complicated.”

“We’ll call a caterer with how many people we’re serving, and get a price. Although, I have no idea how much something like that costs. Five dollars a person, maybe a hundred people, maybe. Five hundred dollars for food…”

“No, no, no. My family knows how to cook. We could do that bit in-house. Renting a hall might cost a couple of hundred, but we could definitely pull the whole thing off for five or less.” Miles looked at Sophie and frowned. “I’m sorry. That was probably the most unromantic thing I’ve ever said. What do you want to do?”

“Oh, Miles, I know what you’re saying. We’re in this together. I know money’s a big thing. We’ll probably be destitute by the time we get through with this. But we’ll start again, free and clear. That’s what’s important.”

“If I hadn’t already asked you to marry me that would have done it,” Miles said, and then kissed her sweetly.”

“So now we wait some more.”

“Actually, I should probably call my parents back and propose the food part to them.” He turned and called Chicago again, using a made up excuse of important errands to keep the conversation short. “That worked splendidly,” Miles marveled. “What do you want to do now?”

“We should stay here today, I think.”

“Sophie Martin! You never say something like that. What’s come over you?”

“You’ve come over me.” She smiled to herself.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“No, no ‘nothings’ allowed.”

“Right…right after you said that, I imagined that you called me Sophie Drake.”

“I could start,” Miles ventured.

“No, not until it’s official. It was just nice to think about.” Since Sophie’s arms were already slung across Miles’ waist she gave him a squeeze. “Soon enough.”

Miles shook his head with the smile he had caught from Sophie. “When you say things like that it just makes me want to curl up in bed with you and tell you every sweet thing I can think to say.”
“So what’s stopping you?”

Tea- Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Camp was abuzz with excitement on Monday. A few universities had released their students with more to follow suit and in four days there would be two new people in camp. Rocky and John had shown up on the newest schedule out of nowhere. When further inquiries were made it was discovered that Rocky had been a counselor for a couple of years and was trying out a role as a village director that year, which meant he would oversee all the six to eight year old counselors. It also meant that he would be living in a staff cabin once the year-round men moved out. John was a brand-new counselor who had just finished his freshman year of college at the University of Florida. He would be with the youngest kids under Rocky for the summer.

The newcomers also signified the beginning of the end. Summer camp was beginning in a month and within a matter of weeks the dynamic of Ontanogan would change forever, as far as the current staff was concerned. The dusting of culture they had built up over five months would be blown away in a matter of days.

“Well, it’ll be a nice way to break the new guys in,” Jabari concluded after most of the old-timers had regrouped in the lounge after a day of team-building sessions with middle-schoolers. He was talking about the farewell bonfire they were planning on having the weekend after the one coming up.

“Yeah, and if they’re not cool, what are they going to do, get us fired?” Gerri asked. A smattering of laughter answered her question.

“Let’s get out of here,” Sophie asked Miles with a whisper. Miles started moving without an answer. Sophie led Miles to the stairs behind his cabin. “Do you remember this?”

Miles nodded. “We shared a bottle of Merlot back here the first day we met.”

“And then we talked all night about…everything. I knew you for one day and I wasn’t afraid to tell you anything. Why was that? I should have known back then what would come of it all.”

“I remember hearing you and being scared someone would find me with contraband, like it was prison or something, and then seeing you. You were who I was hoping for.”

“You see? I knew you had something romantic to say.”

“Sophie, for as terrified as I’ve been about all of this, I’ve never had a doubt that it’s been worth it. Every time I look into your eyes-“

“Oh Miles, quit.”

“Sorry. It’s your fault. I was never like this until you came along.”

“I think that you’ve always been like this. You just didn’t notice it.” Miles nodded ad noticed that some things stayed the same. The peeling brown paint on the stairs and walls as well as the mosquito-burned lamplight was as static as the first time he had snuck a bottle onto the back ‘porch’.

“Yet another place we’ll miss,” Miles said, more to himself than Sophie. She sighed just the same. They would have said something more but anything they could have uttered to one another had been said a hundred times before.

“Miles, are we crazy?” Sophie asked eventually.

“Of course, Sophie. We’re out of our minds. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to be?”

“If you say so.” They stared out into the woods silently for what seemed like hours.

“It’s so funny. We’re both from cities but we met one another in the woods. I never thought trees would represent so much, but here we are.”

“Would you have married me if you didn’t have to?”

Miles’ sober buzz was stopped short. “Um, well, probably not so soon, in all honesty,”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Sophie reaffirmed her position with a possessive kiss.

“I would have wanted you to come with me, though, as much as I want you to come with me now. So I guess it doesn’t really matter how it came to be. I never thought I’d be marrying someone when I came out here, that’s for sure. And I hope you won’t hate me for sounding really clichéd, but now I couldn’t imagine not marrying you.”

“I forgive you. Clichés exist because they’re true most of the time.”

“No one but you.”

“What?”

“Nothing. This is why I’m marrying you.”

“Right here?” Sophie leaned into Miles.

“Sophie?”

“Miles?”

“I wish there was something else I could say other than what I’ve already promised you.”

“I know. Shut up.” He did. They sat on the back steps of Miles’ cabin for a while longer, both realizing that it would probably be the last time they would set together at the first place they had really met, until cold and exhaustion got the best of them.

Tuesday, May 9

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Miles?”

“Yeah, Sophie?”

“I love you. Let’s run away together.” She giggled herself awake.

“You are ridiculous,” Miles answered after Sophie had regained her composure. “But for the record I love you too, and I think running away together would be a splendid idea.”

“We should call our parents today and tell them we haven’t planned a bloody thing yet.”

“I’m sure that they would love to here that. Shall we go to work first?”

“Do we have too?”

“How else are we going to pay for our extravagant life together?”

“Good point. You’re going to have to get a better job so I can bask in luxury.”

“There’s no question that’s what you deserve. But you picked me instead. So get up and hide those curves with a staff shirt.”

“Miles, you flatter me.”

“Just pointing out the obvious. You’re sexy, and you’re going to have to come to terms with that eventually.”

“Oh my God, you’re re ridiculous.” Sophie glided off the bed nonetheless with Miles close behind.

They made it to the dining hall with well over three minutes to spare. The routine they had become so very accustomed to was slipped into unconsciously. Another day of team-building and faux-outdoor education was on the agenda. It was a different school, but the faces and activities all seemed the same by the first week of May.

“Don’t you worry, Sophie. We’re going to do sensational things together. I can feel it. We’re too fun.” She smiled and nudged his shoulders with hers.

“Let’s have fun with this, man,” Miles said as he and Jabari stood waiting for their group in the dining hall after breakfast. “Let’s do this like we don’t give a shit. Have fun.”

“Yeah,” Jabari chuckled. “What are they going to do? Fire us?”

“Exactly. I want to be laughing the whole damn day.”

“That sounds like a fucking plan, man. I’m with you. Let’s get these kids out there.” The duo’s group amassed in front of them just after the last of their plan was formulated.

The cohorts led their group out onto the challenge course to begin the activities. The first element of the day was called ‘whale watch’. The object was to get everyone on a deck straddling a fulcrum. The challenge would be bested when the group was all on the ‘ship’ and it was balanced with neither side touching the ground. Miles and Jabari eschewed the textbook story and spun a yarn to the effect of a James-Bond type sensor pad that had to be turned off before they could move on to the next top-secret spy thingy. It felt so good to both of them to ad-lib bullshit after so much repetition that they could not help but smile.

As a result of their shenanigans the morning disappeared faster than they had ever seen and they were the only ones smiling and jabbering as they walked into the dining hall for lunch.

“What the hell has gotten into you two?” Sophie asked, smiling contagiously.

Miles kissed her on the cheek. “We had a blast this morning.”

“What did you do?”

“I don’t even know.”

“Some James Bond Shit!” Jabari laughed and slapped hands with Miles.

“We told the kids everything was a top secret spy mission. We were doing barrel rolls and ninja-creeping and shit all morning. Stuff I haven’t done since I was a kid. They loved it!”

“Wow. I haven’t seen you this excited about a group since…I’ve never seen you this excited about a group.”

“We decided this morning that we just didn’t care anymore. Not in a bad way, I suppose, but we just wanted to have fun.”

“Oh. That’s good. I’m glad you’re in a good mood.”

“I am in a great mood. If there weren’t so many people around I’d take my extra energy out on you right now.”

“Miles!” Jabari laughed behind her and punched the back of Miles’ shoulder.

“Ah, enough of that. Let’s get some lunch.”

Jabari and Miles settled down a bit during lunch but the cool spy tricks they made up with their kids on the low-ropes activities were nothing compared to what they came up with when they were doing the giant swing and the zip-line after lunch.

“We even made up a handshake,” Miles said to Sophie in the buffet line. “Watch this.” He had spotted one of his kids making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at a cart-island diagonally ahead of them. “Hey James!” The kid ran over. Miles held his hand out and he and James started into a series of choreographed grasps. After a quick ninja-bow James went back to slathering grape jelly on his bread. Sophie nodded and shook her head, smiling with confusion.

“So is this the new Miles?” Sophie asked once they had set down at the staff table with full plates.

“I don’t know. You know how we decided that we’re the most important thing to one another?”

“Yeah, the whole marriage thing, right?”

Miles smiled. “Right. Well, when I’m with you I don’t care about anything but you. Every time I look in you eyes, and I’m so sorry if this sounds like something out of a movie, but every time I look into your eyes or see you smile or feel your skin, I don’t care about anything else but what would make you happy because that makes me happy. But I only do that with you. So, this morning I decided to feel like that with something else. Makes me feel guilty, actually. But it worked. I just gave myself to this crazy adventure fantasy and I was thrilled with it the whole day. It was great.”

“Wow. That’s…that’s really amazing. I like seeing you this way. I was getting worried.”

“Well, it’s a work in progress. But maybe I found out I like this stuff, doing it by the seat of my pants, anyways. Maybe you made me feel so good that I wanted to start feeling that way all the time. I don’t know.”

“That’s sweet.” And in an unprecedented move, Sophie initiated an open-mouthed kiss in public.

Weariness set in during the evening campfire but even as Miles walked with Sophie to their bed a spring could still be found in his step.

Miles stared at Sophie without moving until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He waited until he could see either the moon or a street lamp in her eyes before he spoke.

“I love you, Sophie.”

“I love you, Miles.”