Let's meet the guys

Hiking, Friday morning (continued)

Your anxiety about your bag and phone melts away as you walk with the crowd of boys through the wooded mountain trails. You had been looking forward to spending time with Patrick, of course, but you’re also finding the young college students fun to be around. You’re only a few years older than them, of course, but their youthfulness is apparent especially since they relate to each other the way you’d expect from long-time high school friends.

Trying to be a responsible chaperone, you make a point to get to know each of the guys during the hike. You remember Carlos and Miguel, the polite young men who introduced themselves to you this morning at the school. The twins, you learn, do everything together, and they’re thrilled to be the first generation in their family attending college.

Arnold is tall and muscular; he plays basketball for his college team and is a total goofball. The other boys make fun of him for being the “token Black guy,” which would make you more uncomfortable if Arnold didn’t seem so chill about it.

Simon is the opposite of Arnold. He’s short and quiet, and a couple times, Patrick has to remind him to take his airpods out of his ear. You chat with him about the podcasts he likes to listen to, finally getting him to open up when you ask him about politics, which he’s studying at school.

Alex, like Simon, is more “off-beat” than some of the other young men. During the breakfast break, he instantly pulls out a deck of cards and gets a game going of Egyptian Rat Fuck; and when you end up chatting with him during the hike, he talks for twenty minutes straight about the Dungeons and Dragons campaign he’s playing. You’d never say anything, of course, but the deck of Magic cards you spot in his pack catches your interest in particular.

Thomas seems to be having a hard time with the hike, but he’s taking his strain in stride. Enormously overweight, he’s also a jolly fellow. You learn that he was in all the school plays and is studying theater in college. He’s a wise-cracker, you come to learn, and as the day wears on, you discover that he has a particularly randy sense of humor.

Dennis impresses you by carrying a ukulele during the entire hike. He had led the sunrise service back at the school, and you’re not surprised to learn he volunteers with the church close to his school. He’s got a great voice, and he seems to know the words to any song his friends request.

If these seven young men are all interesting and attractive in their own ways, there is one student who really bugs you. Lawrence won’t shut up about his preppy fraternity, the South African safari his parents are taking him on, and his upcoming study abroad program. You’re not the only person, you can tell, who’s exasperated by his entitlement; but you’re impressed that Patrick treats him as politely as he does all the other boys.

If I had to be stuck without a phone for a weekend, you think to yourself as you set off during a water break to find a secluded spot to pee, this is a pretty good crowd. Checking that no one else is around, you pull your panties off and squat in the bushes. Of course, not having a change of clothes may be a problem, you think as you wipe yourself with some camping TP you had to borrow from Patrick. Oh well, best to make the most of it!

As you return to the group, you see Patrick walking back from having scouted ahead. “Okay guys, just like I thought,” he says with a smile. “The waterfall is just around this bend.”