It was nice out today, not too hot and just the right amount of wind to give someone that gust of fresh air. The sky is bright and the perfect shade of blue with just a few powdery white clouds drifting across it, too bad the surrounding evergreens were blocking half the view. Everything was off to a great start. Pete followed Joe's van, keeping his eye out for the 'RUBY' vanity plate in case he needed a guide but it was hardly ever necessary. Everything was a-okay.

Until Pete's car broke down on the side of the road.

Pete groaned, punched the steering wheel, and swore like a sailor for the better part of five minutes before leaning his head back against the headrest, closing his eyes, and allowing himself to calm down. In the meantime Patrick called Josh to tell him what was going on and that they'll catch up with them as soon as they can. Josh agreed to pass the message along to the others and said to be careful then Patrick heard Brendon shout, "Don't die!" right before the call ended.

"Pete?" Patrick clicked his seatbelt off so he could turn to face Pete properly. "Are you okay?"

The other boy let out a heavy sigh, finally opening his eyes but staring out the front windshield. He doesn't speak right away, probably trying to figure out whether or not he was actually okay first.

This isn't the first time his car has broken down and he's sure it won't be the last. It's not that he doesn't take care of his good ol' Licorice or anything, it's just the fact that the car is really old and fixing it wasn't always the easiest thing to do. Especially if parts needed to be replaced. But Licorice is all he has really, and it reminds him to be happy sometimes. Some of his best memories revolved around this car.

"Pete?" Patrick repeats, this time in a quieter tone. He cautiously places his hand on Pete's shoulder, hoping it would get his attention since his voice didn't seem to do the trick.

"I'm fine." Pete says finally. "Just gotta check under the hood and hope it's nothing major." He's mostly just thinking to himself out loud, trying to start the car in the process and hoping to hear the engine rumble. He sighs in defeat when nothing happens. "This thing's a piece of shit."

"But it's your piece of shit." Patrick stated, getting a slight chuckle out of the other boy. "I don't really know that much about cars, but I can at least try to help."

"You sure about that?"

Patrick nodded, getting out of the car and going over to the hood of it. He looks at Pete expectantly through the windshield. "Are you gonna get out or what?"

Pete sighs for like the millionth time in ten minutes before he reluctantly gets out of his car, standing beside Patrick then lifting the hood to expose all the parts. He takes a quick look to see if he could easily diagnose it, but couldn't immediately find anything wrong. His expression changes, and he's starting to look a bit more focused as he starts to search some more.

"Sooo..." Patrick drags out the word as his eyes searched the unfamiliar parts, settling on the biggest one there. "What's this thing do?"

Pete glanced in Patrick's direction as he got close to poking at it but not wanting to get dirty. Pete shook his head and chuckled. "That's the engine, dude."

"Oh. I knew that." He muttered to himself before finding something else to almost poke at. "What about this?"

"Battery."

"Hm." Patrick hums, looking at all of the other foreign objects and not having the slightest clue as to what they are. He didn't even know what the engine was. Trying to help would be nearly impossible for him. "I'm not gonna be much help out here, am I?"

"Probably not." Pete answered honestly.

"Well... is there a way for me to help from inside the car?"

"No, I don't think-" Pete looks over to the other boy and gently grabs him by the shoulders. "Actually, yes. Could you get behind the wheel and try to start it up when I ask you to?"

"That I can do." He smiled.

"Awesome! Keys are still in the ignition."

Patrick then walks over to the driver's side and gets behind the wheel like Pete asked, ready to start the car up when the time came.

This was going to take a bit of time since Pete didn't exactly know what was wrong with his car, just that it wasn't starting properly. Usually it's an issue with the alternator but who's to say it's not something else? So he does a few routine things to check for damages and out of place parts, trial and error was the only way he was going to figure this shit out.

Every time he tries one thing he asks Patrick to try starting the car up, when nothing happens he moves on to trying something else. The car seemed to be fine, he had just replaced the battery a few days prior, the engine was... an engine, the alternator was fine, he just couldn't figure out what the problem was.

Pete was really close to just giving up and calling a tow or something, he was sweaty and greasy and just wanted to get to Cedar Field before the sun went down. He decides to try one last thing before moping back into his car and calling for help, hoping it'll work because he's all out of options here. He moves a few things around and taps on something with a wrench he luckily found in his trunk, when he feels like he's done the job right he asks Patrick one last time to try cranking it again.

He closes his eyes and waits for the silence but hopes to hear the engine start up. Just as he's taking off his shirt and using it as a makeshift towel, the engine starts rumbling back at him and he lets out a sigh of relief. He wipes his face and hands with his shirt then gets back into the car with Patrick, who's already scooted himself to the passenger side and clicked his seatbelt on.

"Fucking finally." Pete says as he tosses his filthy shirt into the backseat, putting his own seatbelt on and getting ready to pull back out onto the road. "Ready?"

"Yeah. But... do you want, uh," Patrick clears his throat. "A shirt?"

"Shirt? Um," He checks around for some spare clothing, there's usually something lying around under one of the seats but he came up with nothing except for his hoodie, and it was way too hot to have that on right now. "All my shit's in the trunk."

"Hang on." Patrick readjusts himself slightly then starts unbuttoning the grey short-sleeved shirt he had on. Pete watches with unblinking eyes as Patrick's fingers work the buttons all the way to the last one before yanking the shirt off and holding it out for Pete to take. He uses his free hand to adjust the plain white t-shirt he's been wearing underneath. "Here."

Pete takes his seatbelt off then takes the shirt and shrugs it on, buttoning only a few buttons in the middle then buckling himself in again. "Thanks, man."

"Sure, just don't use it to wipe your sweat."

"I can't guarantee-"

"Pete, I swear-"

"I won't! I promise." Pete laughed as he put the car in drive and continued out on the road to Cedar Field.

***

It's been about an hour or so since the two were back on their way. The sun was beginning to set and the stars were starting to show. Patrick answered messages from Joe asking about their whereabouts and promising that they weren't too far off, maybe another twenty minutes and they'll be there. By the time they arrive the guys will probably have gotten the fire started and gathered around it, hopefully not eating s'mores yet because Patrick fucking loves those things and Pete for some reason has never had them.

"What do you mean you've never had s'mores? How have you never had s'mores?"

"I don't know! I've just never had them before, I thought people only ate them on camping trips. Which I've also never done."

"First thing you're doing when we get there is eating s'mores or else you're sleeping outside."

"Aren't we all sleeping outside?"

"No, we're sleeping on a bus."

"Right, so is this bus like a tiny house or something?"

"Not really. I mean, it doesn't have a bathroom or a kitchen. But we've got a cooler and the wilderness if we need to pee."

"Like camping?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Patrick glances out the window, watching the scenery pass by as he looked for the turn off for the field. There's a speed sign with a crudely spray painted dick on it, --courtesy of Ryan-- which was supposed to be anything else but that. Pete laughs when he spots it and Patrick just tells him to turn right behind it, which led them to a bumpy trail surrounded by trees. The trail was about fifty feet long and in the distance an orange light could be seen, the boys seemed to have already gotten the fire started.

Pete keeps driving until he reaches a clearing, spotting their friends sitting around a flickering fire a few feet away from the bus Patrick had mentioned earlier. Pete parks beside Joe's van and cuts the engine before he and Patrick exit and unload their things from the trunk.

They greet the other guys as they pass by them and walk onto the bus, Pete takes a look around and he had to admit, it was nothing super spectacular but it was pretty fucking cool if you asked him.

There were couches on each side right behind the driver's seat --nothing fancy, probably from Goodwill or something-- and a couple of stacked crates beside each one that were used as makeshift end tables. A battery powered stereo sat atop one of them and a couple of flash lights since they didn't exactly have any electricity running through the place. And in the back were two bunk beds, one on each side, and beside them were some of the other boys' things along with all the snacks they'd brought.

"Hang on," Pete starts. "You guys set all this shit up? And the beds, too?"

"Yeah, it took a while, almost two summers. Josh's dad owns a hardware store and he said we could use whatever we needed as long as we brought the tools and spare pieces back. Josh, Ryan, and Joe did most of the work since they all have shop class together, and the rest of us just kinda... handed them stuff."

"Dude, this is probably the coolest thing I have ever seen."

"Thanks." Patrick smiled, he takes his things to the back and sets it down on the floor before scooting it with his foot beneath the bottom bunk on the right. "Oh and before I forget, it's two to a bed."

Pete's standing beside Patrick, doing the same thing he's just done, not really sure why but it seemed appropriate. Then-

"Wait. Two to a bed?"

Patrick looks to the other boy, Pete's brow furrowed in confusion like he'd heard him wrong. "Yeah, two to a bed." Patrick repeated. "Josh shares with Tyler and Ryan shares with Brendon. Joe and I had our own bed but now you and Andy are here so, yeah, gotta share. And I get the feeling Joe will want to share with Andy so... guess you're stuck with me." Then he pats Pete on the shoulder and walks out of the bus, taking a seat on a log by the fire. Turns out he's just in time for s'mores.

"Fuck." Pete mutters to himself. It's camping, since when does camping not involve sharing space with someone? Maybe if Pete paid more attention to certain movies, he'd know that there's always some sharing going on. But that's not the issue, Pete has no problem with sharing anything, he just sleeps in the nude ninety percent of the time and he definitely won't be able to if he's going to be sleeping with Patrick for the entire spring break. And not to mention the whole 'morning wood' thing that happens more often than not. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

Too late now. Have fun with the early boners, Pete.