CHAPTER X

The incessant noise of the bird beetle was what woke me up that Saturday morning.

The first thing that my eyes were able to recognize was the curly hair of Sarah, who was sleeping on my chest; calm and relaxed not like the now accelerated rhythm of my heart.

"You think too loud Matt" complained Sarah in a muffled babble against my chest.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?" I asked, trying to look at her.

"No, don't worry. It was Tony a while ago. He seems to be a bit clumsy and fell down when trying to leave the tent.

No matter how much of a wolf he was, the clumsiness was something Anthony couldn't get rid of.

"When he was younger it was worse, I think he even tripped over his own shadow."

"Is that possible?" Sarah asked, becoming more comfortable about me.

"With Tony everything is possible Sarah" I answered by placing my hand on his lower back "Does it bother you?"

"Not at all, you can leave it there."

"Did you sleep well then?"

"Sleeping with you is like sleeping with a heater next to you, you always radiate heat."

"Is that good or bad?"

"For me? Very good" replied Sarah standing over me, looking into my eyes "I didn't say good morning to you."

"You just did," I replied, raising a confused eyebrow.

"You didn't understand me."

She bent over me, joining her lips in a kiss that I didn't know I wanted so much.

"Now, good morning" she said smilingly leaving a small kiss on my lips before leaning back on my chest where I held her in a hug.

"I love these good days" she reciprocated by leaving a kiss in her soft hair.

As much as it weighed on me and as it seemed to Sarah too, we couldn't stay inside the tent all day so after giving each other a little privacy, we dressed in the change of clothes we had prepared the day before.

Outside the tent the boys were already preparing what appeared to be our breakfast, fruit, coffee and some special porridge at the hands of my blonde friend.

"Look who deigns to go out and say good morning" exclaimed my best friend when he saw us leave the tent.

"You've already given them to the floor, haven't you?" I asked as I approached him leaving a loving blow on the top of his head, just as I did later with Mike.

"I didn't fall, I gave the floor a hug.

"If that helps you" I answered with a shrug.

"Did you sleep well?" asked Mike as we sat around the small fire, not as big as the one at dinner, which served as a heater.

"Perfectly, with some cold at the beginning but it was to approach Matt and problem solved" answered Sarah while she slowly ate the pieces of fruit on her plate, much smaller than mine "How about you? Did you sleep with these two trains next to you?" she said as she pointed to her brothers who tried to ignore the conversation.

"Going camping with Tony is like going with Mary Poppins, you don't lack anything" replied Mike "And that includes earplugs."

"Don't you complain that my backpack has saved your ass on more than one occasion, Need I remind you of the trouser problem, Mike?" refuted Tony.

"Trouser problem?" asked Sarah curiously.

"A couple of years ago, the three of us came here for a couple or three days I don't know how, but Tony's clumsiness usually showed in me and when we were washing clothes in the stream the current took my trousers down the mountain, all three of them... lucky that Tony always wears extra clothes" explained Mike in a nutshell.

"Really?" asked the Fisher brothers while Jossie and Laura laughed at Mike.

"How do you lose a pair of trousers?" asked Sarah curiously.

"Michael Bright being possessed by Antony Diaz, of course" I replied by leaving the fruit plate, already empty, next to me on the trunk.

Anthony retaliated by throwing me one of the wooden spoons that Mike had used with the porridge.

Blessed wolfish reflexes.

The spoon had almost hit me in the eye but luckily I put my hand in time so that no disaster would occur.

"Damn your reflexes" complained Tony.

"He's the captain of the Lacrosse and Volley team T, what do you expect" said Laura as she ate quietly.

"Is there a lacrosse team at the University?" asked Sarah curiously, looking at me.

"Yes, male and female. Why?"

"I used to play at my old university."

"A couple of our players have retired for academic reasons, it would be talking to the coach, a test and you would be in for sure" said Laura to Sarah.

"And if not, the captain can advocate for his girl" said Tomy in a low tone or so she thought.

"I'm not his girl" "She's not my girl" said Sarah and I at the same time.

"Yet" I added, looking at Sarah who smiled back at me.

"Still" confirmed Sarah looking at me smiling.

"So this is serious" said Lewis looking at us both intermittently "If you do something to my sister I will castrate you, do you understand?"

"Clearly" I said as I passed by.

"Anyway, I'm really happy for you guys," said Tony.

"I'm very happy for you guys too" added Mike looking at us with a smile.

Sarah curled up on my side, leaving her head in the hollow of my shoulder while I wrapped one arm around it and stuck it more to me.

Shortly after that, while Tony and Mike were picking up the food and the boys were escorting the girls to the rubbish dump, Sarah and I picked up the tent.

"Do you have anything to do this afternoon?" asked Mike as we collected the camp that we had set up for the night.

"I...I wanted to ask Sarah if she wanted to go on a date with me" I said quietly as I picked up the tent.

"I'm sure Sarah will say yes."

"What if she says no?" I asked in a panic.

"Matt brother, listen to me well. The bond you have formed with Sarah in the few days since you met I have not seen it anywhere. She is attentive to your movements and you are not able to take your eyes off her. And look at it Matt, you are not even able to stop paying attention to the other" he said while pointing to his back where indeed Sarah was looking at me" You are not able to stop thinking about the other, you are the complement that the other needs and I am sure when I tell you that he will tell you yes."

"Who will say yes to whom?"

"Fuck Laura, you're sneakier than a fucking cat sis" complained Mike.

"Mike's right Matt, she'll say yes" added Laura as she gently rubbed my back.

"Thanks for always being there guys" I thanked my friends.

"Forever and ever, my friend" replied Mike joining in the hug that Laura was giving me, who apart from being Mike's little sister for a year, was one of my best friends ever.

I quickly picked up what was left of the tent fabric and put it away in the designated bag.

"Is it all packed up?" I asked once we had everything in the backpacks.

"Yes" Ryder confirmed "We can go now."

We loaded the backpacks and bags and returned to our respective transports.

The boys left for Mike's house after saying goodbye to us with a hug.

"Are you in a hurry to get home?"I asked the boys.

"I have to finish a project with a colleague, I don't know Ry" answered Lewis.

"I have to study a bit, but I will do it in the village library. Too many box distractions in my room," replied the twin.

"What about you?" I asked Sarah

"None. Why?"

"My father is having a meal with his childhood friends. Would you like to eat at my place ? If you don't mind of course" I said this last one to the boys.

"Why don't we eat at mine? My parents are in Portland and my brothers are leaving."

"Are you going to cook?" I asked a funny question, trying to chop it up.

"And you're going to lick your fingers," she answered.

I made my way to Sarah's house where, after picking up their belongings, there were only two of us left.

I left the car parked in front of her garage door as she had told me to do before I even entered her house.

"Make yourself comfortable Matt."

"I'm a restless ass, let me help you" I asked.

"Okay, get me an onion, a clove of garlic, fresh basil and 4 or 5 tomatoes from the pantry, please."

I did what she asked, giving it all to her immediately while she took what looked like minced meat out of the fridge.

"What's on the menu Chef Fisher?"

"Spaghetti with meatballs Mr. Dunbar"

I followed the guidelines that Sarah gave me and after almost an hour and a half we had spaghetti and meatballs on the table that smelled great.

"This smells amazing Sarah" I said sitting at the table in the backyard of the Fisher house, to Sarah's right who was at the head of that table for six people.2

"I hope it tastes the same, bon appetit."

The spaghetti definitely tasted even better than it smelled.

It was amazing how well she cooked.

"I see you liked it," said Sarah after looking at my already empty plate.

"This was amazing Sarah."

"Come here, you're worse than a little boy eating" she said as I moved closer to her.

Her hand caressed my cheek before her thumb went down in a gentle caress to the corner of my mouth where the pressure became slightly higher as she took something away from me.

Her finger, now stained with tomato, took the direct path to her lips which took care of cleaning it.

"You shouldn't have done that Sarah" I warned.

"Why?"

"Because now it's going to be harder for me to stop myself from kissing you."

"Who said you had to?"

Green light.

I approached her slowly, joining our lips in the same way.

It was a battle that I loved to fight and that I didn't mind losing.

"Come out with me" I said after we separated minimally to breathe.

"What?"

"Let me be with you, let me take you on a date so I can earn the right to call you my girlfriend" I asked after a sigh.

"Matt I... of course I'll let you take me on a date."

You know that moment when the sky opens up and you finally get that thing you've been longing for? Well, this was that moment.

"So if you don't have nothing to do tomorrow…"

"Tomorrow is perfect for me."

"Then don't make plans for the whole day" I said.

"Mm I don't know what you may have in mind but I have a brief suspicion that I will love it."

"I'll do whatever it takes to make it happen."

I leaned gently over her, joining our lips in the first of hundreds of kisses that we ended up giving each other until it was time to go home.