The Great Outdoors

Twenty-five minutes came and went as each of the teens made their way to the kitchen, grabbing simple snacks, coffee, or juice for breakfast. Erstwhile, Devin, and Nicole had been looking at Kenny, the former in contempt and the latter with dreamy glee. Kenny did his best to pretend he couldn't feel their eyes on him, or rather at least Devin's, while he and Mindy made a short conversation every couple of minutes. Unfortunately for him, his best friend was still dead tired and was more interested in guzzling coffee to wake herself. Avery was also of no use for conversation as the geeky teen was too focused on his phone when he wasn't shoveling his breakfast in his face to have a real conversation. Then, on the far side of the table, Brian and Anna ate in mostly silence, choosing to share an occasional smile that he couldn't decipher as flirtatious or friendly.

Eventually, the mundane chatter was thankfully broken by Juliet, “So...anyone got an idea for what we could do today?”

“Whatever you guys want, I'm good with whatever,” Brian replied with a tired voice, perfectly content in his current situation,

“Thanks, that was helpful,” Juliet replied with a scoff,

Brian tilted his head, "Should I have said nothing?" He rhetorically replied.

“How about a hike through the woods.” Anna quickly pipped in,

"Oh good, you guys can all have fun in the trees and maybe I can go back to bed," Mindy yawned while brushing a few loose black hairs from her face,

Avery smirked, "Same over here. I'll crash inside,"

“Oh no, no, no, what you need is some clean fresh air," Juliet immediately denied the duo, "Figure there has to be a lot of trails around up here, right Brian?”

"Well, sorta kinda, I mean they are still marked but no one has used the trails around here in years, not since this whole side of the mountain went private," Brian explained,

"So your dad bought this side of the mountain and told everyone to fuck off?" Juliet frowned, "I don't see what it would hurt to have people hiking around on land you don't even use,"

"Easy, my father made it private for now while works on restoring the mines, then he's going to open everything back up as a tourist trap. Don't worry, in a year or so everyone will be able to hike up and down Kaster Mountain as much as they please," Brian quickly defended which thankfully did defuse Juliet's initial anger,

"Anyway, billionaire plans aside, you said the old paths were still tagged and we'd be able to follow them?" Avery asked with some surprisingly genuine interest, "Do they lead to any interesting areas? There is a lot of history on this mountain..."

"Yeah we can...you know what, it's easier if I just show you guys, follow me," Brian said as he hopped out of his seat and headed out of the kitchen. The group followed out after him and made their way through the first floor, passing by the rec room and library, until reaching a set of solid spruce doors, "Everyone just...be cool and don't touch shit in here, we're not really supposed to go into my dad's office,"

"Ooh, criminal," Nicole jokingly replied as Brian opened the doors and stepped inside. With a flick of a switch, the room lit up revealing a pristine, and luxurious office fitted with a large desk and comfy office chair, dozens of cabinets, a computer, a small meeting area in the center, and on the far wall a detailed map of Kaster Mountain, "Fuck..." Nicole whispered under her breath in surprise,

"You said it," Kenny agreed as he looked around the room slowly, "I'd live in my office if this were mine,"

"He basically does," Brian chuckled as he moved to the map, "Anyway, here's the map, see these colored lines here? They are the old hiking trails, or well, at least the old travel paths. The red one is the old fire watch pathway, green kinda does a simple loop through the woods and back. Orange takes you along the old cave systems until you reach the mines and blue will take you up the mountain and towards the peak...that one is kinda intense,"

"But imagine the view," Juliet gleamed,

"I imagine Simon Kaster and his men were thinking the same all those years ago," Avery thoughtfully added.

"Kinda dangerous to be hiking on this mountain without a real guide right? What if someone gets hurt or something?" Mindy pointed out,

"That's why for starters no one hikes alone, second we all are taking hiking packs with us. My dad has stocked up on plenty of things here for just this reason. We have rope, flares, fire starters, and most importantly some phones that connect. If anyone gets in trouble they can call one of us and then we can go get them or at least go call for some rangers to come up," Brian easily replied, his tone rather firm and serious, "Usually I know I'm relaxed about rules and shit, but seriously, we do this we're doing it as safe as possible,"

"I agree completely, I'm glad you've thought this all through, Brian," Anna warmly replied,

"Guess we should finish eating and pack up, huh?" Kenny suggested,

"Yeah, no rush, the start of these trails is only a fifteen or so walk from the lodge, I'll take us right to it," Brian agreed as he ushered his friends out of his father's office.

Another thirty minutes passed as everyone finished breakfast they then returned to their rooms to change into some hiking clothes, as well as fixing a few hiking packs. As soon as they were all prepared they left the cabin and hiked up toward the woods, Brian brought them all to the start of a few hiking trails that they could follow. As they reached the start of each of the trails, everyone began to gather up into a group, Nicole however took Kenny by the hand and took off heading towards the trail that led to the fire watch tower without a word to the others. Kenny nearly wanted to protest, but the single glance back from the redhead, her blue eyes squarely landed on Devin fading away from them was enough of a reason for him to stay silent and just go along with it.

Over the next twenty minutes, Kenny and Nicole walked down their trail in silence. Despite being on good terms things did feel a bit awkward, not only was the Devin situation making things uncomfortable for Nicole, but Kenny felt unsure where they stood since the kiss earlier. In all the years he had known her their relationship never advanced from friendship, just the thought would have made him bust out laughing a few days ago. Now, however, he was curious to see what would become of them.

Suddenly Nicole spoke up, “You know, I’m glad it’s just you and me on this trail, no one to mess with us, just peace and quiet so we can talk and chill out,” She said while glancing over to him with a smile,

Kenny returned the smile and nodded, “Totally, after everything that happened this morning I’m glad me and Devin have some distance.”

"Hmm, I didn't take you for a tough guy Clark," Nicole smirked, "Planning on teaching him a lesson?"

Kenny’s eyes widened, “Me? Fight him? Hell no, I don’t want to fight anyone. I would like nothing more than to keep the peace.”

Nicole easily took Kenny's hand in hers, "Good, because if there is one thing I do hate, it's assholes who think they can solve everything with a fist. Don't get me wrong, if some dickhead needs to get checked, then that's all good with me, hit the fucker. But the guys who think they can impress by showing how much they can make someone bleed have the smallest brains, fragile egos, and usually the tiniest cocks," Nicole said with a small laugh, "So thanks for not being a fuckhead,"

He glanced down at their interlocked hands, “Thanks, I think?” Kenny replied with a little chuckle,

Nicole let out a giggle and rolled her eyes, “That was a compliment Clark, I promise. It's weird now that I'm away from Devin and can think about him. Like, you are exactly who you are, I know you and I know that's not changing. Devin, I never really knew him, I think. Everyone knows him as the easygoing rock star but he was selfish, he was self-pitying and he got jealous a lot. I mean, yeah, we both fucked around with other people before going official which probably didn't help but -- ” Nicole explained before taking a slow breath and she let go of Kenny's hand, “Fuck, sorry, I shouldn't keep talking about Devin this whole time,”

Kenny shook his head lightly, “No, no, it’s fine. I really don’t mind, you have to get it off your chest,” He said with a warm smile,

Nicole smiled widely at him and tightened her grip on his hand, “Thanks but no, I’m not gonna spend the rest of our hike talking about Devin.”

"Alright, well what do you want to talk about?" Kenny asked back,

"You," Nicole easily replied, "I don't feel like I know enough about you, I know your name, and I know you put up with girls like me who drag you to parties you don't want to be at. But, who is the real Kenny Clark? Consider this your chance to wow me!" She teasingly joked,

Kenny let out a short chuckle, "Okay first, I've gotten better with the parties thing, they aren't my favorite but I don't hate it and second I don't put up with you, Nikki, I like hanging out with you,"

"Suck up," Nicole sarcastically replied before the pair shared a laugh, and then as naturally as taking a breath, Kenny's arm lifted and draped over the girl's shoulder. Nicole fluidly let herself get pulled in until her body bumped against Kenny's and the pair continued along their way laughing and talking all the while.