My head slammed into the window as we drove down the road to Beaver Lake. Having taken the maximum dose of motion sickness pills, I didn’t feel nauseous, but, the massive bruise forming on the side of my head was making up for it. Looking out the window, I potted the specks of blue between the trees.

“Thank god,” I breathed.

“I thought you said you were feeling alright?”

“I am, besides being thrown into the windshield.”

My dad flashed me a smile and continued down the hole ridden road. He pulled up next to the shed. I hopped out and walked around to his side.

He handed me the keys through the window. “I’ll be back at four. Same thing as last time.”

“Sounds good.” I took a deep breath.

“Alright, be careful Aden.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll stay away from the dogs.”

“That’s my boy,” he teased, before putting the truck in reverse and driving away.

I walked to the shed and unlocked the door. Grabbing my regular cleaning tools, I headed for the water pump. After filling my bucket, I went to the first bathroom and pull back the door. I stood there for a moment and stared at the clean floor. Even the used toilet rolls had been removed.

“You’re here!”

I didn’t even have time to respond before being attacked from behind. The absence of a shirt told me exactly who had me trapped in a bear hug.

“Titus, we went over this.” I tugged on his arms.

He finally let go, but kept an arm around my shoulders. “Don’t you like it? I cleaned it for you.”

Staring at the floor, I tried to hide that my face was red. I didn’t quite understand why I was blushing. Maybe because I judged Titus so quickly. He just needed a friend, and for the summer, I guess, I’d be the friend.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I muttered.

“I wanted to, so we’d have more time to hang out.” He took the bucket from me and dumped the water on the ground. “I even walked around and picked up all the garbage.”

“I still need to fill the toilet paper containers and check the fire pits,” I replied, unlocking the box.

“I already did the fire pits.” He smiled. “And I can hurry and do all the other restrooms if you want?”

“That’s alright. I feel bad enough that I’m getting paid for something you did.”

“Than you’re just going to have to make it up to me.” He raised an eyebrow with a smirk on his face.

I laughed hesitantly. “I guess so.” I looped the rolls on the metal bar.

“You’re taking forever.” His hand slipped into my back pocket. Snatching my keys, he grabbed the bag of toilet paper and ran off.

“Titus!”

He was long gone. I didn’t know whether I was more mad about him stealing my keys or violating me. Either way, I wasn’t happy. After clicking the lock shut, I sat down outside to wait for him to come back.

About fifteen minutes later, Titus came jogging toward me with that smug grin on his face. “See, I’m a lot faster than you.”

“Whatever.” I yanked the keys out of his hand. “Give me that.” Taking the rest of the toilet paper from him, I marched back to the shed and tossed it inside. “So.” I turned to face him. “Since you’ve done all my jobs for me, we can do whatever you have planned.”

“You’re going to love this.” Titus’s smile got even bigger. Grabbing my wrist, he dragged me into the forest.

***

I couldn’t breath. I swear I was going to pass out if I had to take another step. We reached a fence, and Titus stopped.

“Thank god.” Collapsing, I laid out across the ground and gasped for air. It had been confirmed, I needed to workout more. “This was fun.” I wiped the sweat off my forehead. “But I’m ready to go back.”

“We’re not there yet.” Titus walked over to the fence.

Sitting up, I glared at him. “What?”

“It’s about another mile before we get there.”

“Sorry to tell you, I’m done and ready for the downhill portion.” I glanced toward the trail we had just walked up.

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re tired from that.”

I really wanted to the throw a rock at his head. Unlike him, I wasn’t part mountain goat. “Well sorry to disappoint you, but the sign says no trespassing.” I pointed to it. “To bad.”

“It’s my territory. I can go where I want.” He helped me up. “And since you’re with me, it doesn’t apply to you either.”

He’s family must be either super rich or proud of their land to have fenced off the whole area. Going off the facts he didn’t have a shirt or shoes, I decided it was the second one.

“Come here, and I’ll help you over.” He grabbed my hips.

I panic. “Titus stop!” My limbs flailed as I tried to escape.

“Calm down and lift your legs up. It’s not that big of a deal.”

I did, and he easily set me on the other side. Folding my arms, I didn’t turned back to look at him. My face was burning red, and that was the last thing I wanted him to see.

“Is this one of those personal boundary things?” asked Titus, using one of the post to aid him as he jumped over.

I clenched my jaw and shook my head. “Let’s just go. I’d rather not talk about it.”

Titus leaned down to my level. “Aden?”

I pushed him back. “Knock it off.”

He laughed. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“I said I didn’t want to talk about it.” I started marching down the mountain.

“Aden,” Titus called.

“What!”

“It’s this way.” He pointed to the nearby trees.

I spun around and hurried off to where he had pointed. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

Laughing, Titus took the lead. I didn’t say anything more than an occasional I’m fine as we walked along the mountainside. The sun was getting higher in the sky, and I was feeling the heat. When I thought of doing something fun today, it didn’t involve being dragged through the mountains. We skidded down a small embankment. I slipped and ended up sliding down on my butt.

“We’re here!” announced Titus.