Chapter 39

       "No," Dad said after I asked him a question I was honestly expecting him to say no to anyway, so it wasn't that big of a surprise. I didn't even know why I bothered asking him. It wasn't like he could stop me.

       "Yes?" I asked. "Sweet, thanks, Dad. You're the best."

       "Do you need to clean out your ears?" Dad asked. "I said no. As in no way. Not happening. Never going to happen."

       Mom, thankfully, walked into the kitchen at that time. "What's never going to happen?" she asked.

       "Dad's just being dramatic," I said. "Again. Orchid and I have been bored this entire summer so I thought that we could go camping together. I just wanted to know if I can use the camping equipment."

       Mom sighed before looking at Dad. "Seb, stop being such a baby over this. Your son is happy with his girlfriend. That's all that should matter. Not whatever ridiculous feud you and Grayson still have going on for eighteen years." She looked at me. "Of course you can use the camping equipment. Next time you want to do something, just ask me."

       "I still don't agree with this," Dad said.

       "Yes, and no once cares," Mom said. "Atticus is eighteen. You can't control who he dates. And Orchid is a sweet girl. You shouldn't be mad Atticus is dating her just because her dad hit you in the head with a beachball. Actually, why are we still talking about this? Just get over it."

       "Whatever," Dad said before he walked out of the kitchen.

       "Geez, I'm surprised he's not the one in the family who took up theatre, being a drama king and all," Mom said. "Just ignore him. He'll get over it. One day."

       I didn't even think Dad was still this mad about me dating Orchid. I thought he got over it, even by a tiny bit. I guess not. I just hope he was being dramatic just for the fun of it, thought I doubt that was the case since he didn't even want me to go camping with Orchid.

       Despite not getting an answer from Orchid yet if she was allowed to go camping with me, I went to the garage to get the camping gear out. Orchid was probably smarter than me and would ask her mom first instead of her dad. 

       I almost got all the camping gear out when I got a text from Orchid. Her situation was pretty much the same as mine; her mom was letting her go but her dad was being a little baby about it. Either way, she was going to come camping with me so she was starting to pack right now. I told her I was going to pack soon; I was just getting all the camping gear out.

       We decided to go camping because of how bored we had been during the summer while waiting for university to begin. We just kept doing the same thing every day; going to the beach, going to a cafe, going to each other's house. We needed something else to do, so we were going camping. Probably just for one night but it was still something new.

       Once I got all the gear out and in my car, I went inside to my room to pack the belongings I would need. Orchid was already done packing by the time I finished, so I brought my stuff downstairs, telling my mom I was heading out and I would let her know when I plan to return home.

       I brought my stuff to my car, putting it in the backseat before texting Orchid to let her know that I was on my way to her house. As soon as I pulled into the driveway of her house, she ran out, getting into the passenger seat and throwing her back in the back. "Go, go!"

       I furrowed my eyebrows at her urgency, but I still left the driveway and started heading to our next location; the grocery store. "What was the hurry?" I asked.

       "Oh, my dad was going to try stopping me," Orchid said. "So Alan distracted him by telling him that he thinks we're out of bacon. I ran out before my dad realized it was a ruse. I still can't believe how childish our dads are being over this."

       "You're telling me," I said. "I didn't even know why I asked my dad if I could use the camping gear. I should have asked my mom right away to save some time." Not that there was much of a difference in time since I basically ignored my dad's answer right away.

       We got to the grocery store, needing to pick up some food. It did take a bit of time to decide what we wanted to buy but soon enough, we got everything we needed so we headed back to the car to make our way to the campsite. Since this was a last minute plan, we found a no-reservation campground to go to. We just had to hope there was space for us, otherwise our plans were a no-go.

       Thankfully, there was space for us. I was worried there wouldn't be since this was summer, so a lot of people would probably be camping. But I guess they probably went to campgrounds where you had to make a reservation since those campgrounds probably had better facilities.

       Orchid and I picked the campsite we wanted to camp out before I parked the car there. We got out and started to take the gear out of the car, ready to set all of it up. We didn't even get the tent out of the bag before Orchid asked, "Can we take a break and eat some of the bacon we bought?"

       "We didn't buy any bacon," I said.

       "What?!" Orchid asked. "We didn't? Oh, shoot, I forgot to tell you I wanted some. Great, now this trip is ruined."

       "It's just bacon," I said, then I realized that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say to anyone from the Prince family. "Wait, I take that back. How about when after we're done camping, we stop off at a restaurant or something to get some bacon?"

       "Can we be done camping now?"

       "Orchid."

       "I'm kidding. That sounds like a plan."

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ugh i hate that this chapter is so short, especially since next chapter will be the last one, but i've been struggling with what i should write for this book :( it sucks a lot because i love these two so much.

at least i still have them in other books, especially with all the au's i've been writing lol