Camping Curiosity

"Jason, do you have your bag all packed up?" Charlotte called upstairs from the kitchen as she was putting away a few last items of food in the cooler.

"Yes dear," Jason replied.

"Got your toothbrush and deodorant?" Charlotte asked.

"Umm, yeah," Jason lied as he went back to grab them to throw into his bag.

"Well hurry up! Don't forget we have to pick Ben up on the way out to the mountains," Charlotte made no attempt to disguise her exasperation.

Jason and Charlotte were going camping for the first time this year. The spring weather had finally settled in without any lingering winter weather sticking around that made camping too uncomfortable. It still got chilly enough at night to enjoy the company of a partner in the close quarters of a sleeping bag, but otherwise it was the kind of weather they loved to enjoy outdoors. They originally planned this trip with one of Jason's best friends, Ben, and his girlfriend. However, as was usual for Ben, his relationship was as fleeting and temperamental as the weather and the relationship ended unceremoniously about a week before the trip.

Charlotte sort of felt bad for Ben. He never seemed to be able to hold on to good women despite the fact that he was pretty good looking, kind, and easy going. The only thing she could surmise was that it had something to do with commitment issues that Ben might have harbored. He had a pattern of snagging a good girl, things going great for a while, and then around the time when she seemed to want to talk or discuss the nature of their long-term status, Ben seemed to check out and things went south. Ben appeared to have played the same pattern recently with his girlfriend Stacy that just broke up with him before the trip. Now, Charlotte was worried that it would put a damper on their trip.

"I know honey, I'm ready," Jason said to Charlotte as he bumbled down the steps of their home. "See, all packed and ready to head out the door," he smiled.

"Okay, grab this cooler. It's too heavy for me to lift. Then let's hit the road for crying out loud."

Jason happily obliged his young wife's request, grabbing the cooler that was carefully packed and organized by Charlotte to get through a three-day camping trip. Jason threw the cooler in the back of their tan Jeep. The paint had faded a bit from the years of abuse they and the previous owners put it through. Jason and Charlotte bought it solely for recreation and loved having something they didn't worry about roughing up nearly as much as their other cars. Jason got in the driver's seat and smiled over at his young bride sitting in a pair of jean shorts and a green tank top with her hair pulled back. He felt lucky to have such a beautiful wife and was excited for the break from their usual daily grind for the three night camping escape.

"Off we go," said Jason as the Jeep's motor roared to life.

The drive to their friend Ben's house was a short detour into a typical urban jungle. Ben and Jason met in college and were roommates for two of their four years in college. Jason and Charlotte met their junior year, started dating, and then married about a year and a half after college and were now going on three solid years of married life. It went without saying the three of them were close friends.

Jason and Charlotte found good jobs after living in the downtown area of Raleigh for a few years near where Ben lived. They then ended up wanting to move a short distance outside of town and settled in the outskirts of Raleigh but still very much in the research triangle of North Carolina. Ben had continued living the bachelor life and never left downtown and all that it had to offer with regards to nightlife, entertainment, and culture and cuisine. Jason disliked having to spend time in the heat and downtown traffic midday on a Thursday, but knew the inconvenience would be short-lived.

They eventually pulled up alongside Ben's apartment complex and he was already outside waiting with a duffel bag next to him on the steps and with his face buried in his phone as usual. Jason honked the horn when they pulled up in order to get his attention.

"Sorry, didn't see you pull up!" Ben shouted before grabbing his black duffel bag and hopping in the back of the jeep.

"Yeah, that's the problem. You're so involved in your phone all the time you're oblivious to shit around you. That's why you might even need this camping trip worse than we do." Jason knew that Ben wouldn't take his criticism too harshly and would just laugh it off.

"Yeah, especially after things fell apart with my girlfriend, I really need to get out of dodge for a few days. That's why I was so glued to my phone back there. She and I have still been communicating some and everybody and their mother that's a mutual friend of ours is constantly trying to talk to me about what happened and this, that, and the other, so yeah, been spending even more time on my phone than usual even for me which isn't good. Especially when you add the fact that I'm trying some online dating again. Sorry Stacy can't make it by the way, guys. I hope it doesn't make the trip weird for us with me being a third wheel and all." Ben confessed to them. Jason and Charlotte had heard similar things before and none of this was anything new for them.

"You're trying to date again Ben? Didn't you just break up with Stacy on Sunday?" Charlotte asked half-incredulous.

"Well...yeah, but I guess I was getting a little lonely if you know what I mean," Ben responded suddenly unsure of himself in the face of Charlotte's questioning.

Jason just laughed good naturedly at his friend. He knew him long enough to know exactly what Ben was looking for in the current moment since he'd been without a girlfriend for all of four days. As long as Jason knew Ben, he'd never seen someone with a higher libido in his life. Jason found it to be a small miracle he'd never heard of Ben relaying any stories of contracting anything from the various women in his life over the years. Jason had a hard time keeping up with whoever was the latest flavor of the month in Ben's life.

"Okay, well how about this; let's get you away from this phone for the rest of our trip. I think you need to detox from all of this screen time and maybe all of the women too. What if we all agree to just put our phones in the glovebox and just check them once each day to make sure there's no emergencies, and otherwise they stay out of sight and out of mind," Charlotte challenged.

"I'm all for it," Jason said.

"Uhh..." Ben began.

"Oh come on Ben, you can make it at least one camping weekend with two of your best friends without your phone," Charlotte challenged.

"Okay, fine, just let me send something real quick. There's this real hot blonde I'm talking to through this one app I don't want to miss the opportunity to date maybe," Ben replied as he furiously began tapping away at his phone.

"Boooo," Jason and Charlotte simultaneously heckled Ben.

"Fine, done," Ben relinquished his phone up from the backseat towards Charlotte. Charlotte jokingly made an exaggerated motion and effort as she snatched the phone away from him and placed it in their glove compartment. Jason dutifully handed over his own phone and Charlotte locked all the phones away.

"There, isn't that better?" Charlotte asked the group.

"Not exactly. Now I have no shot of seeing a nice rack for the rest of the weekend, you should see how fast these women send nudes over dating apps these days," Ben lamented.

"Oh geez, try thinking with your other head for once, it'll do you some good," Charlotte shot back. "Besides, what happened with Stacy? You really haven't told us much about what went wrong and why things went south so fast."

With the joking and kidding aside, Ben began opening up about his latest failed relationship. It followed a somewhat familiar pattern to what Jason and Charlotte had heard before. Stacy asked about getting serious and then things started getting bad the moment she began expressing an interest in things like meeting his family and proposal talks. Ben had a habit of getting cold feet when women he dated talked about things like moving in and living together or what his thoughts on marriage and raising children were. Jason and Charlotte listened patiently and as any good friends would, they called him out on some of his own stuff and reminded him it was totally reasonable for someone to be looking to settle down at their age now that they were all in their mid-to-late twenties.

"Yeah, but I just get worried because I saw things between my parents not end so well and then I always just wonder about getting a divorce with a woman and what that might do to any children we had," Ben confessed from the back seat.

"Look bro, I love you, but you got get over the fact that you're not either one of your parents, and it's not going to be the same thing when you're in a relationship with someone. I'm not saying it might not be hard, or that it might not work, but so long as you don't want to repeat the same mistakes your parents made, you can probably just avoid them by making sure to keep yourself aware of it."

"Easy for you to say," Ben shot back.

"Look, I went through some similar stuff back in college, it really could help if you try some counseling," Charlotte chimed in.

"Well, I know that. I actually do need to try that, but this camping trip is supposed to be fun and now I'm worried it's getting all serious because I'm just word-vomiting all of my problems out here to you two. So for the rest of the weekend, since I'm giving up my phone, how about we drop the dating problems of mine too and I'll just seek counseling twelve ounces at a time," Ben stated. Charlotte and Jason had a good laugh as they heard the sound of the cooler opening and the sudden unmistakable sound of the tab of a beer can being popped in the back seat. By now they were far enough away from town and heading up into the mountains of western North Carolina and more rural roads they didn't fear getting pulled over.

Once arriving at the campsite, Ben was thoroughly impressed. He had been friends with Charlotte and Jason a long time, but camping and the outdoors weren't his forte. He was pleasantly surprised when after peeling off the side of a few backroads in the mountains that they came upon a campground where there was a nearby lake, easy access to bathroom facilities a short walk from their campsite, and just how peaceful and secluded the place felt. He could practically feel the stress and tension melting away as he breathed in the fresh mountain air when he first stepped out of his friends' old rugged Jeep.

"Damn, no wonder you two like this stuff so much, this place is beautiful," Ben shared.

"Sure beats the hell out of a crammed bar with overpriced drinks doesn't it?" Charlotte asked.

"Well, I don't know. Like I said, my chances of seeing an attractive naked woman around here are shot. At least at the bars in town I might have a chance to see a nice rack this weekend. So the jury is still out on that one," Ben chided.

"Blah blah. Whatever, city boy." Charlotte said before she began unloading the car with the smaller items first as Jason and Ben unloaded the cooler and tent and the larger items.

The three of them leisurely spent their time unpacking, drinking and chatting as they got things set up. The combination of the cold beer and the warm sun was the perfect blend to help them all unwind, and as they did, Ben began forgetting more and more about his relationship problems as Jason and Charlotte similarly became detached from the stresses of their work.

"Damn, it's hot out here," Ben cut in the conversation.

"Who's up for a swim?" Jason asked everyone.

"I'm down," Ben replied.

"Sure," Charlotte said. "I can get changed and ready in the tent if you all don't mind taking a hike down to the bathrooms to change."

"Sounds good to me, come on dickhead, let's get our stuff and take a hike so the lady has some privacy," Jason punched Ben in the arm playfully as he walked past to the tent. Ben motivated himself to get ready as well and pulled himself from out of his chair as he was beginning to feel the effects of the beer a little bit.

Charlotte waited patiently until the two men were gone and then hopped in the tent and closed it behind her. The heat was already causing her to sweat a bit and she was all too happy to get out of her bra. Charlotte was bustier than many of her friends, and with a D cup size, she was all too eager to get out of her bra and relished the feeling when that tension released as she unclasped her bra. Charlotte took a deep breath as that happened and then pulled off her tank top and bra along with it one quick motion. Camping life was always a little bit more awkward than the comforts of home, and since the tent offered a short ceiling, she opted to lie on her back while she shimmied her jean shorts and underwear off before pulling up her swimsuit bottoms on. She had a fairly pale complexion, and so she liked to opt for darker more colorful clothes that helped contrast with her skin tone. Her plum colored two-piece bikini helped do that well, and it was always her favorite because of the way she felt it fit on her. As she stood up and tried to tie the halter ties of the top portion of the suit behind her neck though, she looked down at her body and frowned a bit at what she saw. She felt as though her body had been betraying her and that'd she'd put on a bit of weight in all the wrong places despite her time spent in the gym. Just as she was scanning the under sides of her arm and poking at her midsection, she heard her husband's voice call out and interrupt her thoughts.

"Hey, you almost ready in there?" Jason asked.

"Umm, yeah, almost, can you come in here and help me tie off the top honey?" Charlotte asked.

Jason stepped into the tent and sat behind his wife, automatically beginning to tie the lines of fabric tightly behind her neck and across her back as he had done many times before. Jason could sense something was up.

"Everything okay dear?"

"Yeah, I'm just feeling a bit self-conscious about my body. I guess with Ben around having known us so long I'm especially feeling self-conscious because he's seen me when I've been my most fit and you have too, and I just feel a bit dumpy I guess," Charlotte said as she poked at her stomach and frowned.

"Are you kidding me? You're incredibly hot. You look as good as the day I met you, and trust me, Ben probably knows it too. He's just too polite to comment on anything. He'd give his right arm to have a shot at a girl as hot as you and so would a lot of guys. I'm just lucky enough that you didn't ask for my right arm when we started dating." Jason leaned in and affectionately kissed his wife on the cheek for emphasis.

"Oh please, he gets with all those hot little club girls. I don't look anything like that and men don't notice me anymore," Charlotte sulked.

"Yeah, you're not one of those club chicks. You're better and more attractive. Look, I know you're just as hot as ever and I wish there was a way I could show you how much you still turn heads, but trust me when I tell you it's true. Now come on and let's go jump in the lake," Jason squeezed his wife in a tight hug to console her and then stepped out of the tent. Charlotte took a deep breath, sighing and trying to push the negative thoughts out of her head. Her husband's words did help a bit, and she stepped up and followed him out of the tent, thankful for his kind words.

"Took you two long enough," Ben greeted them with when they stepped out. "I thought I was about to have to go to the lake by myself the way you two were probably getting it on in there.

"Just because sex is always on your mind doesn't mean it's always on everyone else's mind. You need a hobby or something dude," Jason said to his friend. "Grab the beer and let's go."

They all lounged lakeside and swam around with the place entirely to themselves. Despite the weather being nearly ideal, the place was practically abandoned besides the three of them. Jason and Charlotte could only imagine it was because of the fact that it was still a little early in the season and a Thursday afternoon nonetheless, so a lot of people probably hadn't wanted to take the time off of work. The campground they chose was also one they picked on purpose because it was further off the beaten trail, and usually lower traffic than the others closer to the interstate. Still, even they were shocked to see they had the place entirely to themselves. Despite the warm weather, the water was still cold since it was early in the season and they were in the mountains. By July the water would likely feel far warmer. Ben and Jason and Charlotte all splashed around in the water and refilled on cold beer and water whenever they lounged on their towels. They were drinking casually and keeping a good buzz going.

Looking back on it now, Jason still probably couldn't pinpoint exactly why it is the hair brain idea popped into his head at the time, but knew it was likely brought on by the combination of Charlotte's earlier comments, the beer, and great atmosphere. However, somewhere along the way, while hugging and holding his wife in the cool lake water, he saw Ben across the way and got the craziest notion. After kissing her neck a bit, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "watch this".

"Watch wha-", Charlotte was cutoff mid-sentence by the sensation of her swimsuit top being pulled up from the bottom of the cups beneath her full breasts. Charlotte's nipples were fully erect from the contrast of the warm summer air and the cold lake water, but the moment she felt the fabric go up and felt her nipples exposed to the fresh mountain air she let out a shriek. She was so surprised by her husband's actions that she didn't even react as fast as she ordinarily would have for an accidental wardrobe malfunction.

Ben was already close to his friends since they were all swimming around near one another, but he wouldn't have been able to miss Jason flash him Charlotte's breasts if he had tried. Her quick shriek echoed around the nearby mountains loudly and even he thought it was exceptionally lucky there wasn't any nearby campers.

Charlotte finally got a grip on her thoughts after the initial shock and reached up to pull her bathing suit top back down and regain her modesty. "What the hell is wrong with you, you jerk," Charlotte screamed at her husband. "What kind of pervert are you? That's something I'd expect out of Ben with one of his girlfriends, not you, what the hell has gotten in to you?" Charlotte exclaimed.

"Holy shit those are gorgeous, I mean you're gorgeous. Shit, I mean I'll stop talking now, sorry bro, I didn't mean to say that about Charlotte," Ben fumbled over his words.

"It's alright Ben, that's kind of why I did it, I was worried Charlotte isn't feeling as beautiful as she used to, so I thought I'd get a second opinion. It seems you approve," Jason stated.

"You're a fucking idiot is what you are," Charlotte stated feeling flushed and red in the face. She splashed water at her husband relentlessly as he tried to shield his face. He kept grinning and laughing and apologizing to her and Charlotte eventually quit.

"Yeah, I gotta say, Jason is right. You look amazing, not sure how in the world you have any doubts about how good you look. Wow especially with..." Ben stopped mid-sentence as Charlotte shot him a death stare, "...I'll shut up now."

"Good. Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it. As for you," Charlotte began shooting another glare at her husband, "...another stunt like that out of you and you're not getting laid for a month."

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I just feel like you really deserve to know how gorgeous and great you look and if maybe my friend's big dumb mouth helps illustrate that because I know he can't help but blurt out things like that, I figured it might help. I mean you know he's being genuine when he says it."