2°: Chapter 11

James settled down on the floor.

-I'm tired. - He said looking at the sky.

-Come on, James, it's not over yet! - Luna said trying to lift him up.

He snorted like a little boy and stood up with Luna's help. The tent was done, yes...but everything still needed to be unloaded from the truck. Luna had prepared the take-out food; some sandwiches, some apples, drinks and other things. James had taken care of putting everything else together. She looked at him. He smiled at her.

-Stop it, don't smile and get the stuff out. -She said smiling.

James sighed in amusement and walked to the van. They had chosen a safe forest to go to. Since they didn't want to have any inconveniences. According to James the Parker forest was the best option to spend the night.

- Was there any more food, Luna? -James asked, laying everything on top of the blanket Luna had laid out a few seconds ago.

-No. Oh, the drinks. -She said and walked toward the van.

James sat on the ground and watched as Luna pulled a couple of drinks out of the container in the van. Could she be pregnant? James knew it would take a little time to find out. The craving was eating him up inside, though. He wanted to be a father again. He wanted it, badly. He knew Portia would be more than happy with the news of a new brother or maybe a new sister. And his mother, God, his mother would be happier than ever. Her mother knew perfectly well who Luna was. Not the current one, no, she'd known her before, but James had talked to her a few months ago, confessing to her that Luna was the same Luna he'd told her about when he was in high school.

Her mother chose to be surprised and the second James told her not to say anything about it.

She set the soda bottle down in front of James, and sat down across from him.

- Do you do this often? -I asked, looking at him and then took a sip.

He smiled.

- No. In fact, the last time I went camping was when I was 14.

Luna looked at him in surprise.

-Really? Why?

- You know Luna... Since I was little I've been studying and doing things that maybe kids shouldn't do. After I was 14 it was all study and work, I don't remember anything else. There were only several parties when I was 18, from then on, nothing. -He said and smiled.

Luna looked at him tenderly.

- The last time I went camping was 2 years ago. -She said with a smile and James looked at her. One of my friends had invited me because we had nothing to do and we decided to go for a week. The result was nice, but I ended up with several mosquito bites and she had allergies. -Portia said amusingly. James laughed.

- Allergy? Really? -he said laughing.

Luna gave him a dirty look.

-Don't laugh, we weren't used to going out. -She said looking at him seriously, but then a smile crossed her face.

James looked at her for a moment.

She had changed him, he knew that perfectly well. Maybe it wasn't that she had changed him, just that he was back to his old self. Not the serious, mean, boring businessman. James admitted that he was still half stubborn and a bit grumpy but not as much as before.

He had relaxed enough and without realizing it he had changed quite a bit. He wasn't happy, he wasn't happy before. But of that, he didn't want to think about it again. He knew he had had a bad time, but now everything was different, he was happy and he was sure that Sarah would have wanted it that way.

- What's wrong? -Luna asked, moving to James's side. She sat down next to him and hugged him tenderly.

-Nothing, I, I was thinking about how things have changed. It's happened so fast.

- I know. But I can be sure that I don't regret anything.

- I don't either," he said and smiled.

- I love you. -Luna said looking at him. He lifted his gaze and fixed it on her lips.

- I love you more. -He said and moved closer to her.

Luna breathed a sigh and moved closer to James, kissing him with immense tenderness and passion. She loved him too much and she was sure she wanted to spend the rest of her days with him.

James hugged Luna and gave her a kiss on the jaw. She smiled for a few tickles. He smiled as she did.

They spent the next hour like that, talking about meaningless things, or maybe a memory or two. When the sky darkened. James built a fire and busied himself putting out some marshmallows and Luna was in the tent too sleepy. She hadn't had much rest and was also a little cold. She felt James's hand gently move her shoulder.

- Luna? Do you want me to let you sleep or do you want something to eat? -He said, looking at her.

There wasn't much light but the outline of her face could be seen perfectly. Luna sat up and looked at James for about 2 seconds.

- No, I don't want to eat. -She said smiling.

James helped her up and they went outside. Luna sat down next to him. It was a beautiful night.

-

James laughed as he watched Ella try to get the sleeping bag into its cover. She had been trying for almost 20 minutes, but she was having a hard time.

- Do you want help? -James asked. She looked at him smiling sarcastically.

- No, James, I'm perfectly fine. - She said putting the bag on the ground. James gave a small laugh. He got out of his place and went straight to where the bag was. He picked it up and tried to put it in the holster.

- Before you put it away you have to fold it, so it fits better. -He said, smiling.

- You could have told me earlier, instead of standing there staring at it for 20 minutes straight.

James looked at her seriously. Luna started walking towards the tent while James followed her with his eyes, serious. He was trying to intimidate her or something else. He just couldn't do it.

- Stop looking at me like that, or I'll look at you. -She said seriously.

James looked down and smiled.

- I'm sorry. - He said as he left the bag finally stowed in the van.

She bullied him sometimes.

James finished putting some things away in the van, and then disassembled the tent.

After an hour, he had everything packed up and ready to leave for home. Luna got in the van, put on her seatbelt and got ready to wait for James while she looked at some things on her phone. She logged on to twitter, a few days ago she and James had signed up to see what the social network was like. Luna followed her friends, while James followed a lot of businessmen and important people. James had several followers and a verified account.

Luna had laughed at James the first time, as in his bio he had put " beep beep entrepreneur following.", which was quite funny as James had a "serious" man image. So when he received followers, he decided to change it to "James Yorke official account. Entrepreneur and owner of Yorke Enterprises, inc. beep.". He was quite popular on that social network, while Luna barely had 100 followers.

- Ready? -James asked, walking in.

Luna nodded and gave him a smile. He started driving while she put on a Nirvana cd. James hummed the lyrics to "Oh, me" and smiled. She looked at him smiling, exited the app and opened the camera. James smiled as he hummed and moved his finger to the beat of the song.

Luna slyly held up her cell phone, and snapped a picture of James. He smiled, and turned to look at her.

- I saw you. -She said smiling.

- It's a very nice picture, you have a nice profile. - He smiled.

- Thank you. You have a nice face. Also a nice body, and...everything else.

- You'll make me blush. -He said placing his hands on his cheeks.

James smiled.

- You look cute like that, put your hands out. -She said as she reached out her right hand and removed one of her hands from Luna's face.

- I love you. -She said looking at him. He smiled and Luna noticed how her cheeks colored.

- I love you more. -He said serenely as he continued driving.

After about 10 minutes, Luna had placed another artist. The drive had been quiet, although there was still about 20 minutes to go. The weather was perfect. It was warm, but not too hot, and there was a little wind blowing that alleviated any symptoms of the heat.

- I have to go to a dinner in a week, do you want to come with me? - Luna asked, looking at Luna. Then she turned her gaze back to the front.

- Of course. What about Portia?

- That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Iris called me yesterday, asked if Portia was allowed to go on a few days trip with her. I think she wants a little distraction, what with the baby. They probably need to clear their heads.

Luna nodded. Iris's son had been born premature. He was fine, he was healthy, but it had been a stressful time.

- Oh come on, James. You know Portia would love that.

- I'm just not sure, she's little, plus, she's sick, she's not fully healed.

- Her doctor gave her a clean bill of health.

- I know, but...I don't know, I have to think about it.

- I'll go with her. -Luna said smiling.

- What? You said you would go with me to dinner.

- But you don't want me to go alone, do you?

- Fine, fine. I'll talk to Rose, maybe she'll go with you.

- Okay. - I smile.

- Before the trip she'll go for a check-up. Yes or yes.

- That's fine.

James drove on. Luna felt the car swelter in heat. I look at the windows and notice that you roll down. She sighs tiredly.

- Are you okay? Are you hungry? -James asked.

- No, no. If I eat anything, I'll ruin your car. I'll throw up everything, you can be sure.

After a few minutes, they arrived home. James got out of the car while Luna unloaded the big bag with some things she had taken to the campsite. Then, she went into the house and leaving her bag and everything there, she came back out to help James. They got everything inside and Luna went straight to the shower.

James sat on the couch, he felt tired, but getting out had done him good. He stretched a bit and took control. He settled back in and turned on the TV. He tried to find something good on TV, until he settled on some ridiculous reality show.

I didn't know what I found interesting about those programs, but they were a lot of fun. Especially the bizarre ones. He felt his throat go dry, and the image of a bottle of water popped into his mind. He stood up and trotted to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle.

The doorbell rang and James turned around.

He walked slowly to the door, took a sip and then opened it.

James felt the water he was trying to swallow make him choke.

Her.