Tea - Chapter 23

All Miles knew was that he woke up in his own bed next to Sophie, not feeling bad at all. He thought me must have taken a Tylenol or two the night before, probably at Sophie’s urging. He curled back up next to his girlfriend, which woke her up.
“Hey,” she cooed.
“Hi. Sorry we didn’t get to any of those things you were teasing me with last night.”
“We have lots of time for that. Last night was fun, Even though I am a bit fuzzy.”
“Me too. Do you want to get up and get breakfast before parts of me get ideas?”
“Well, we have to have a shower first. And if parts of you don’t get an idea from that then I would be insulted.”
“Right you are.” Miles made a move to get out of bed but Sophie pinned him to the mattress.
“I love you, Miles. You’re going to spend the rest of your life with me, right?”
“Of- Sophie, what are you talking about? Of course I am.”
“You had better.” The look in Sophie’s eyes was one of desperation and Miles did not care for it at all.
“What are you up too?” Miles asked, genuinely confused.
“Nothing. I guess I’m just being a bird. Don’t pay any attention to me.” Before Miles could utter either a compliment or a burn, Sophie struck her last comment from the record with a knowing smile. “Right. Let’s go get a shower.”

It felt good not really having to worry about anything for a moment. They were as prepared for the wedding as they could possibly be, and they couldn’t worry about the green card situation until they had a marriage certificate to shove through the system.
So they went through their only day off together for who knew how long tiptoeing through the tulips and all that springtime stuff. They were, as usual, the first ones up by a long shot, maybe because whenever one of them woke up the other was bound too. They absently cleaned the lounge and sipped on English Breakfast while some or another morning show rolled across the television in the living room.
“Do you suppose this is what it will be like?” Sophie asked off the cuff.
“What what will be like?” Miles asked, tying up a little black bag of beer cans before putting them into the recycling bin.
“Being married. Just doing stuff like this.”
“Cleaning up after a wild tequila party with four of our closest friends?”
“You know what I mean- getting up in the morning, making tea, putting on the television.”
“You mean getting into a rut? We don’t have to. Unless we find a rut that we like. Although in that case I think it’s called a routine.”
“Miles.”
“Oh, Sophie, I don’t know. I want to say no, I believe that now. I mean, what we started from was not your normal dinner and a movie, making out at Lookout Point kind of scenario. It wasn’t like that because we both put ourselves into a situation that wasn’t like the normal world, and liked the feel of it. We met one another here and figured that we had our minds in the same place. I don’t think we’re ‘rut’ kind of people.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I’m not. This is all conjecture, really. I’m certainly not suggesting we move across the country every six months. All I can tell you is that we didn’t start out humdrum and I certainly don’t plan on living my life that way.” Sophie just sighed.
They sat on a couch once all evidence of the night before had been disposed of. Their tea was still lukewarm so they finished that before coming up with anything else.
“Well, Sophie. I love you. Always will. You’re just going to have to live with that for now.”
Sophie smiled. “Just don’t go getting fat and lazy and stupid on me in five years.”
“Can I pick one, then?”
“Shut it,” she smiled. “Let’s do something.”
“Right, something crazy and spontaneous.”
“So now you’re just going to make fun, is that it?”
“I only pick on you because I love you.”
“That’s no kind of reason and you know it!”
“Do you know how badly I want to kiss you right now?”
“Then do it.” Miles did.
“Ok. Now that that’s out of the way, what shall we do with the rest of the day?”
“Well, it’s barely eleven; not worth sticking around to wait for lunch. So we’ll get that. We’ve been working hours, we can go to Panara or somewhere.”
“It’s warm out. We can do something outside if we wanted to.”
“I’ve got it. Let’s go out for lunch and either come back here or find somewhere to lie in the sun. We’re pasty, Miles. I don’t want to be pasty for my wedding.”
Miles agreed that Sophie’s idea sounded as plausible as any with the exception of one point.
“What do we do when it gets cold in the afternoon and we don’t want to come back here?”
“Well, then, we just won’t, will we?” Miles was appeased. They wasted no time in making preparations for their afternoon. In fact, the air had warmed enough during the time they had spent cleaning the lounge that Miles wore his ‘tanning’ shorts and a t-shirt into town. He could not, however, keep Sophie from covering up her bikini with a tank-top and skirt.
“What it must be like for men,” Sophie laughed.
“You don’t know the half of it.”
“I mean this…” She slowly lifted her top until the bottoms of her breasts were exposed, and then lightly brushed her index finger across one half-moon of flesh. “…Is all it takes, isn’t it? See, that wouldn’t do anything for me.” Miles could not answer her. His eyes were still fixed after Sophie’s shirt was down and she was advancing on his seat on the bed. “Does this do more for you?” She took Miles’ hand and brought it to where hers had been only moments before.
“I thought you wanted to get out of here,” Miles stammered.
“Don’t be silly. I could tell from the moment I put this bikini on that you would be a wreck all day if we didn’t do something about it right now. Besides, it’s our day off.”
“Twice before noon, it must be my birthday as well,” Miles answered.
“I’m in a giving mood. Or horny. Either way I don’t think you’re in any position to protest.” Miles closed his mouth and Sophie fell on top of him.

With business taken care of they set out for lunch. By that time they were thoroughly famished and ready for a break in the warm sun besides. When they did reach Panara even the sandwich Miles ordered barely kept the smirk off his face.
“You’ve been smiling for an hour, Miles.”
“And you’re worried about getting into a rut,” he answered, shaking his head.
“Men.” Sophie once again tried to sound indignant instead of flattered but failed. Miles kept smiling between bites.
They ate much faster than most people would when dining out, partially because of hunger and partially because they were conditioned to eat fast and move on to the next activity at Ontonogan. Miles commented on their ravenous habits on their way out the door.
“That would be a spectacle at the reception, hey?”
“And the rest of life to boot. I suppose that we’ll break ourselves of it when we’re out of New Hampshire.”
“It did buy us more time to soak in the sun.”
“Speaking of that, Gerri told me there was a park with a waterfall between here and camp. I think I’ve seen signs for it. Shall we try to find that?” Sophie nodded and they set off.
Gerri’s approximations turned out to be good enough to get Miles to the state park she had mentioned. After a short hike down an obvious path they came upon the waterfall. After looking up at it from where it’s contents pooled on the forest floor they scaled the boulders making up its trough.
They found themselves in sight of the guardrail that marked the road that had brought them in but knew they were out of view unless someone were to really look for them. Sophie shed her layers once they found a sunny boulder big enough for the both of them. They could see the water rushing downward three stories or so and feel a misty residual spray glancing off of their skin. Sophie laid back and reached for Miles’ hand. They laid supine and staring at the sky through sunglasses and boughs of evergreen needles as the sun did its thing.
“I hope this is what it will be like,” Sophie murmured, squeezing her fiancée’s hand.
“It will be if we make it this way. And like I said before, we’re both far too interesting to slip into mediocrity.” Sophie sighed and turned on her stomach. Miles did the same.
“Well, it’s been fun so far, hasn’t it?”
“Unbelievable.”


Roles switched the next day, meaning Miles worked with the group while Sophie did jobs. Miles had not worked with a group for weeks, but he knew that a three-day, two night stint would knock his rust off quickly. He and Sophie were both looking at forty hour weeks once again. A month ago working that much may have not thrilled them very much, but the light at the end of the tunnel was almost blinding on the last day of May and left them feeling like bank robbers trying to make off with all the dough they could carry before they fled the scene.
Needless to say, Miles was as happy as he could be at work. He and Sergio kicked a soccer ball back and forth while he waited for the busses with the others assigned to the group of fifth graders coming into the camp.
Before too long the sound that Miles could by then pick out from a mile away signaled the student’s eminent arrival.
Things went smoothly all morning as far as Miles was concerned. He worked with his group on the challenge elements in the woods until lunch. Those activities were some of the easiest to run because aside from giving out rules and instructions, there was really nothing for the leader to do but watch their kids figure the tricks out.
“What have they got you doing, my dear?” Miles asked of Sophie at lunch.
“Cleaning up from the work weekend so far. We’re putting tools away and polishing up sloppy jobs and what-not. It’s more mundane than difficult, really. But it’s just me and Kyra so we mostly just walk around and talk.”
“Well, you’ll get a break before UGRR.” Sophie nodded.
“I think Kyra and I are going to go into town for dinner when we get done. I haven’t hung out with only girls for forever. But we’re both on UGRR, so we’ll be back by seven.” Miles nodded. That was strange. Miles was unaware of a time when Sophie had ever done anything without him. Or that he had done anything without her, at least outside of camp. Well, there was the sneakery of getting her engagement ring, but that wasn’t really in the same circle. Miles remembered that he used to run around with random friends all the time doing all sorts of things.
“What are you thinking about?” Sophie asked. Apparently his mental safari was noticeable. Miles told her in a more concise way the thoughts that had him preoccupied.
“Does that bother you?”
“No, that’s the strangest thing. I would expect it to but the truth is, and this is going to sound mushy, so bear with me, I like spending time with you more than anyone else I’ve ever known. You’re my friend, Sophie. I guess my best friend.”
“Aw.”
“Yea, yea. It’s still weird, though, because it’s not as though we share a hobby or sport or anything. I don’t know really why I like spending all my time with you outside of the girlfriend stuff like being pretty and fooling around and pillow talk and what-not. What is it that we do that makes us so inseparable?”
Sophie thought about Miles’ question for a moment before answering. “Maybe we just want to see what the other will do next.”
It was Miles’ turn to mull Sophie’s statement. “Maybe you’re right. That’s as good as anything I can come up with.”
“Well then. I’ll see you tonight?” Miles nodded and they kissed for as long as a mayfly lasts in a millennium.
Even the more involved activities Miles threw his group into weren’t all that nerve-wracking. He had only the slightest idea what he was doing but it was enough to fool his charges. He felt like a high school math teacher learning equations a chapter ahead of his students.
Five hours after he stood up from the lunch table Miles was sitting down to dinner. Same faces, same sights, sounds, and smells except Sophie wasn’t around. Miles felt a pang when he remembered he would have gotten a subtle peck on the cheek or a hand to hold under the table during the meal but batted the thought out of his mind. The only reason it was there was because they did not see one another nearly enough. After a moment to think about that statement, Miles realized that the problem was actually that they did see one another all the time but in a situation where for most of the day they could do almost nothing about it. The unintentional teasing from one another that they received all day was probably a big factor in their Guinness Book-worthy sex life so Miles couldn’t be too bent out of shape about it. He did look forward to the time when every time they were with one another they would be free to do whatever they wanted, even if their activities naturally slowed down to casual conversations and little affections. At least then they would be fully in charge of their own love life.
Soon enough. Miles stopped wool-gathering long enough to eat a meal he knew he would have to make up for when they were back in Chicago. Sugars and starches and empty carbohydrates had a way of creeping up on even the fittest of folks when they were the only options offered. Miles’ longing went from his love life to his diet as he thought about sushi and high-end deli sandwiches and salads that didn’t consist solely of iceberg lettuce and carrot slivers.
After a forty-five minute break in the lounge where along with almost everyone else at the dinner table, Miles allowed the television to suck out his brain cells.
Even though he tried not to, Miles felt like a puppy dog whose owner had just returned from work when he saw Sophie in the meeting room the staff costumed up in. He made a conscious effort not to show his happiness, but his smile gave it all away. Sophie just smiled back. There was nothing else she could do.