Max and Megan Ch. 05

He chuckled at her. "What? Just because I'm old doesn't mean I forgot what it was like to be young. And besides, I didn't mean that, I just meant to celebrate."

"Oh."

"Me and Lou were thinking of going on a special trip. We'd have to have a special boy to go with us because we would look entirely odd going to a theme park by ourselves." Hal leaned in.

"Papa! Really? Can we? Can I? Please Mom, I'll clean my room!" Christian nearly bounced off his seat.

"For a week. California." He added.

Megan grimaced. "He can't afford to miss any more school. That's a week out of school."

"He can take his work with him." Max chimed in. "School is almost out for the summer anyway."

Megan looked at him as if she didn't know whether to agree or slap him. "That's a long time. He's never been away from me that long."

"Please, Mom? I'll be with Papa. I'm a big boy." He walked over and began hugging her. Laying on the Roberts charm no less. He made Max secretly proud.

She hugged him back. "That's the problem. You're growing up too fast."

"It's settled then." Hal pushed his chair back from the table. He gathered his dirty dishes up. "We'll leave in two days."

"Dad!"

***

The two days flew by so fast. Or so Megan had told him. Soon Hal and LouLou came to pick up Christian to go on their RV trip.

As they left, Max came to stand in behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "It'll be ok. He'll be back before you know it." They watched them drive out of sight.

"I know that. It doesn't mean I don't want him to come right back and not go." She muttered.

"I had an idea last night while you were sawing down the house, I mean sleeping." He laughed. "Let's go camping. We haven't gone in forever."

"Camping?" She turned to face him. "Why would we go camping?"

"For something fun to do. Get away from home." He shrugged.

The last time they had gone camping was way back before they were out of high school. They had gone up to the Grand Mesa in western Colorado. It had been cold, she got a sunburn, and they came back with fifteen million bug bites.

"Why, so we can come back looking like we caught the mumps?" She giggled.

"No." He cringed. "I had to get a blood transfusion because of all the mosquitoes. I was thinking somewhere else."

"You're such a liar." She grinned at him. She yanked on his shirt collar to bring him closer. She gave him a light kiss. "But, I still love you."

"I love you, too." He scooped her up and pulled her back inside the apartment.

***

Megan reluctantly agreed to go camping with Max. He somehow managed to procure vacation days on a whim, so they could go camping for the whole week.

After the car was loaded with all the camping gear, they began heading west. Max had an idea of where to take her, somewhere she'd never been.

"Where are we going?" She asked as she watched out the window.

"Somewhere." He replied simply.

"Well, I'm not an expert but we are running out of Colorado to camp in. Grand Junction is only like thirty miles from the border."

"Who said we were going to camp in Colorado? Where is the fun in that?" He winked at her.

Megan crossed her arms in front of herself. "You better not be taking me all the way to California to camp."

"I'm not. But, you will see." He glanced at her. "You look cute pouting."

The car ride seemed to stretch on and on. Sure enough, Max drove right out of Colorado and into Utah. Megan again asked where he was taking her. He refused to say, so she was forced to just stare out the window at the barren landscape.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Max steered the car onto an exit ramp.

"Um, there is nothing here." She commented as she noticed there were no buildings, save for one or two abandoned looking houses.

"We're not there yet, silly." He reached over and messed up her hair.

He continued to take them along a stretch of a narrow road. Finally they came upon a turn on the left. Max slowed down and signaled.

The ride soon changed from a flat wasteland to rolling hills. The rolling hills soon led way to red rocky terrain, boulders strewn all over the reddish orange land.

"Wow, it changed so much from the highway. Those rocks look familiar." Megan commented as they made their way.

"See that big funny rock with three tower looking things?" He pointed at it. "That's Fisher Towers. You can hike up to it, but that isn't where we are going. Onion Creek and all that area is the famous red rocks they show on TV. This stretch of road is in a ton of movies and commercials."

Soon they were weaving their way beside the Colorado River. It was green and lush by the river, but on the other side of the road, it was an angry red rock wall. She mentioned it made her slightly nervous, as the road was narrow. But as nervous as she was, it was still so beautiful.

The air was hot and dry outside, but the shade from the rock wall and coolness of the river helped. Soon they reached an intersection.

"Moab." Megan read the sign.

"Yep. Moab, Utah." Max signaled and then turned into the small town. It was a small, but bustling place. There were lots of souped up vehicles parked along Main Street as they drove past. The air seemed to be hotter, as the river had taken a different direction.

Max pulled off of Main and onto a side street. Kane Creek Road.

"Where are we going?" She asked again. There were more houses and apartment complexes on the road.

"You'll see." He grinned. "I know the perfect spot. That is, if it isn't taken already."

The river appeared again, this time the road had potholes and cracks, not the nicely paved highway. They crept along the two lane road, following the river and rocky walls again.

"Look, Meg." He pointed up towards her window.

"What are you- wow." She looked and finally saw what he was pointing at. "An arch in a rock. That's neat." High above the river in the red plateau an arch had formed. "Too bad it's so small you can't see it very well."

"You can, but you'd have to get up on the Poison Spider trail to see it." He told her. "There are lots of them around here."

"Poison Spider? I really hope you aren't planning on driving me up some cliff with spiders." She looked at him, concerned.

"Maybe." He smirked.

The road soon branched away from the river, and soon they were driving in a canyon on a dirt road, with red and brown cracked walls on either side of them. They rounded a bend and a giant cliff appeared on Megan's side. "There's no guardrail."

"Of course there are no guardrails. You're in the back country, Hun."

Max watched as she tried not to look down. The dirt road was awful narrow. It was a five hundred foot drop on her side.

They drove around yet another bend, and the scariest 'S' curve she had ever seen in her life lay ahead of them. It was on a slope, and they had paved it. For pavement to be in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road, well, it was darn scary.

"Please be careful." She closed her eyes as they made their way down the curves. It was only big enough for one car, and she could hear the tires slipping on the pavement.

"You'll be fine." He just laughed at her. She looked green.

They drove down further into the canyon, and came upon a creek bed. In the middle of the road. Max stopped to wait for a few passing vehicles that appeared from the trailhead near the creek bed.

"I hope where you were taking me wasn't on the other side. It looks flooded."

"It's not. That's a creek. Kane Creek, actually." He began edging toward the water.

"Max, you can't be serious. Don't drive through that, don't you watch the news?" She shrieked.

He mashed the gas, sending water flying from under the car. Megan's face went from pale to red in five seconds.

"You are an idiot."

"Maybe. That's always there unless it's dry out." He laughed. "We just have to go around this rock and the camping area will be on your side."

He pulled over next to a sign and pointed down a little further. "See that tree and bare patch over there? That's where we'll stay. It'll be nice and cool during the day."

There was a tall tree with red sand all around it. A rock wall lay not even ten feet away, that was so tall she couldn't even see the top by looking up. There was a small creek that trickled nearby. Across the road, another rock wall protruded from the ground to the sky.

"It's pretty." She agreed.

Max paid the camping site fee and pulled the car closer to the path they would have to walk down to get to the spot. He opened the trunk and pulled out the gear.

"It looks like we'll have to walk across the creek." Megan said as they made their way down the sandy embankment.

"Yeah, there should be rocks to step across it." He followed her down to the edge of the crystal clear water. Sure enough, there were large rocks to step across.

Reaching the spot where they would camp, Max tossed the tent and sleeping bags on the ground. "I'll set up the tent. I brought some burgers in the cooler, I'll start a fire so you can cook them."

***

The sun was setting, casting a red glow against the vast canyon. Max stoked the fire and threw another log on it. It was cooling off and the air had gotten a bit chilly.

Megan was sitting on a log watching the fire.

"Come sit over here." Max gestured to himself in a folding camp chair he had brought.

She walked over and settled in his lap. She placed her arm behind him.

They said nothing, both staring into the fire, enjoying the closeness. Their thoughts wandered in different directions, but both felt that it was exactly what they needed. A chance to get away and become more bonded.

"You've lost weight." Max broke the silence.

"Have I? Must be from all the stress of the last few months."

"Well, that is all over. You have me. I'm not going to hurt you like that." He squeezed her. "Or in any way. I've realized what I've done wrong with you. So much time lost."

In the months following her moving in with him, he'd said that many times. He hoped she could tell he was genuine when he said it. He tried hard to prove it to her each and every day.

Yawning Megan stood up. "I'm tired, I think I'm going to go in the tent and lay down."

"I'll be in there in a minute, I just have to put out the fire." Max stretched and got up. He grabbed a bucket and walked down towards the creek.

***

They awoke the next morning bright and early. The sun was already up, blindingly so.

Max groaned and put his face in his sleeping bag. "It should be outlawed that it be that bright out this early."

"I have to use the ladies room. Don't suppose there is one around here, right?"

"Yeah, it's called a bush. Watch out for snakes."

Megan smacked him with her pillow.

"What? There are snakes here. You are in a desert, Honey." Max peeked out from under his sleeping bag. "Not to mention spiders, scorpions, and lizards."

"Max!" She smacked him again.

"Keep that up and you'll have to worry about me attacking you." He grinned.

"Men." She muttered under her breath as she unzipped the tent and stepped out.

***

--12 miles southwest of Moab, Utah - Canyonlands (Hwy 191)--

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Megan asked. She was standing in front of a huge red rock.

"It's fine. Just climb up it. You'll stick like glue." He grabbed her hand and began pulling her up the slickrock. True to his word, she did not slip, but was able to climb up the steep surface.

"This is weird." She commented.

Max continued up the rock until he reached the top. "You'll get used to it."

"Where are we going? It feels like we've been hiking for hours."

"We have." He put down the backpack he had put water bottles and snacks in for them on their hike. He grabbed a water and tossed Megan one.

They soon got back to hiking. They walked up an outcrop of rocks, weaving their way around boulders. Soon the rocks gave way to a low plain, with red dirt as its base. The brown grasses waved in the breeze that was blowing from the west. Max could picture bank robbers and outlaws hiding behind every rock.

Little lizards ran from them, hiding in between the rocks. "I really hope there are no snakes in these rocks."

"Snake!" He yelled.

She nearly screamed and jumped in his arms, until she saw the big ass grin on his face. "You are a jerk." She marched past him.

"But you love me?"

"Unfortunately." She stuck her tongue out at him, and continued to climb another hill.

Max ran up to her and grabbed her. He threw her over his shoulder. She squealed. "I'm going to find the nearest snake pit and toss you in." He zigzagged through the rocks, pretending to search for a nest.

"Put me down." She giggled.

He set her down, but before she could get away, grabbed her shirt collar. He gave her a quick kiss. "As you wish."

She smiled at him, then bolted towards the top of the hill.

"Hey, get back here!" He called after her, feinting not being able to keep up. He watched as she reached the top. He stopped for a moment. She was gorgeous against the bright blue sky. He climbed up after her and captured her.

She looked up at him and smiled that old smile he was used to. He lowered his head and gently kissed her. His arms wrapped around her, holding him to her. He deepened the kiss, playing lightly with her tongue.

His right hand drifted down, skimming over the front of Megan's jeans. He rubbed it lightly, teasing, then slid his hand inside them. He found her warm and wet. He grinned against her lips, and rubbed her in short strokes. Megan moaned into him, pushing her hips up into his hand.

Max nipped at her neck while he undid the zipper on her jeans. He ran his hand over her pale pink panties, while resuming his deep kiss. His free hand cupped her breast. Megan reached her hand inside his boxers once she had his jeans undone, wrapping her small hands around his hard member.

He groaned into her mouth and pulled her closer.

His hand prodded her nether lips until they parted and allowed him to push two fingers into her hot center. She leaned heavily against him, panting in his ear. When he began moving them with quick, small thrusts, her head tipped back. He grazed her neck with his teeth.

He let her go for a quick moment to adjust his pants, then he scooped her up in his arms. Instinctively she wrapped her legs around him. He moved her panties to the side and rubbed his cock against her clit. She moaned and pushed her hips towards him, causing his head to sink into her center.

Max grunted as he began furiously thrusting up into her. His legs and arms were burning, but he didn't care. He moved as fast as he could, reveling in the feeling. He hadn't slept with anyone since they had been together so long ago. It felt like coming home.

Max laughed at the thought. It earned him a strange look from Megan.

"What is so funny?" She panted.

He shook his head and kissed her. She protested when he pulled out of her. He moved her to stand in front of him with her back to him. He lifted her up and yanked her pants down to her knees, and buried himself in her.

With one hand on her covered breast, and one hand furiously rubbing her clit, he began pumping into her with all his might. He felt like he couldn't get close enough to this girl in his arms. Like he would wake up and she would have been just a dream.

His dream seemed to be having multiple orgasms on his throbbing rod. Her pussy rippled on him each time, causing more pleasure for him. His quick pace began to falter. He thrust up into her, yanking her towards him by her hips, and buried himself deep inside her. Pulse after pulse, his semen gushed from him.

After what seemed like forever, he pulled out and collapsed to the rock. Megan followed him, curling into his arms. He hugged her and gave her a tender kiss.

"Hey Megan?" He questioned.

She looked up at him with those satisfied green eyes.

"I know I don't have a ring or anything, but will you marry me?"

She hesitated and Max was sure that she was going to say no. He knew he shouldn't have asked. It was all too soon. He didn't even know where the question had come from. It came out on its own. But in his heart, it was what he wanted. A life with Megan.

She finally broke the silence after what felt like an eternity. "Yes!"