the cost of staying in a hotel for a long period was too high for any of us we went camping.
Those summer camping trips were some of the best times in my entire life. It might have stretched my budget to take a few weeks off of my summer job to go and camp out, but the memories I have from those trips are worth every moment of worry about money that I had before and after the trip. It was like the rest of the world fell away and the twins became my entire world again. I'd listen to them talk about the research they had done the year before, and try to follow their conversations as best as I could. I might not have understood everything that they were saying but their enthusiasm was infectious. They were doing their best to change the world through innovation and from the sounds of things I really believe that they would have done just that if they hadn't disappeared.
My crush on Tommy would still peak it's head out now and again on those trips, and for the first three summers nothing came of it. I'd catch myself stealing glances at his increasingly stunning physique and immediately try and squash any romantic feelings that started popping up in my head. He was still just so damn caring, caring and beyond sexy. Every time I'd finally get back to normal around him he'd have to go and do something innocuously sexy like outlining his toned muscles with sweat as he chopped firewood, or recreating my old teenage fantasies as he came out of the lake shirtless. Just when I'd think that I couldn't take it anymore the trip would end and we'd leave each other for another year. Then on our last camping trip before we would graduate my whole world changed again.
Chapter two
The last hoorah
Like most years I was the first one to arrive at the camp site. I was always the punctual one in our little group, and this time was no exception. Walt had gotten caught up researching some new coding language or gizmo and the two of them ended up leaving about two hours late. By the time Tommy and Walt finally arrived I had already managed to set up a pretty decent camp site. The sun was setting and I had already set up a couple of tents and got a decent campfire started.
“Damn Alice!”, Walt said with an impressed look on his face before continuing. “You really did a great job out here. I'm sorry that we got here late... But you really didn't have to do all the work while you were waiting. Half the fun of camping is getting everything ready... I guess we'll just have to make sure and actually leave on time next time.”
“Really, it's fine. I got bored waiting for you two, so I figured that I might as well make myself useful and get everything ready. Besides I know better than to plan on you getting anywhere on time. It's so good to see you guys though! How has the research grind been treating you?” I asked.
Tommy replied first this time, obviously eager to get into the specifics of his most recent project, “Well you know how I was telling you about my new algorithm based....”
Tommy and Walt did their usual excited song and dance, and even though the subject matter was downright boring to me, I couldn't help but share their excitement for life. I think the biggest difference between myself and the twins were the questions we wanted answers to, they were always excited about finding the why's and how's and I wanted to know about the who's and what's of the world. I spent my time on the facts, and the twins went down the path or theoretical whozits and what nots. We may have diverged in our livelihoods, but after puzzling out each other’s passions we all still fell back into our old childhood roles. Walt doing his best to make us laugh, Tommy going out of his way to make sure we are all safe, and me taking care of both of them.
On the third