The rest of our first day on the Camping trip went on slowly. Kevin had wanted us to go downstream with the canoes but somehow Brian managed to talk him into us staying another night. How? I had no idea but I had eavesdropped from the inside of the tent since I had gone in there for a short nap after dinner. All the commotion that the day had brought on had given me a headache. I heard how he told Kevin that I had a pretty rough day and that it was better if I took it easy.
Good old Frick sticking once again up for his Frack!
Brian also went on and said that it was pretty late and that it was better we left tomorrow since it would be dark before we arrived at our camp and that could be dangerous since it could be a heavy stream. To my sheer and utter surprise Kevin had agreed and told his cousin that we would leave early in the morning instead. Very early he emphasized on the word very. I groaned but I guess you can’t get everything can you? I think that part of why he decided to push the canoeing back was that he was still pretty beat after the long journey. As a matter of fact we were all rather beat and needed all the rest we could get. Management had a habit of running us hard back home and we’d been touring non stop for several months so we could certainly use some free time, even if Camping in Norway was not what we had in mind.
After that little nap I felt refreshed as Howie would call it and went out to join the others. Me and Bone were sitting and talking about this and that, more specific gi..Nah just kidding video games. I was a bit surprised that he showed so much interest in that issue but didn’t press on since I guess he was just as bored as I was and wanted to kill some time.
"Last into the water is a chicken!" Brian yelled as he challenged me to jump into the sea.
Me, never being one not to take up a challenge no matter the odds, jumped up from the rock I was sitting on and took after my friend running or maybe I should say more likely limping and hobbling in a mixed combination. I was determined to win this race. What I didn’t count on, as usual, was at first that B never took up a challenge if he wasn’t set to win especially something like this since he had tried out for track in high school and was a good runner. The other thing was that my ankle hurt like a bitch...pardon the expression but I tell you running with a sprained ankle isn’t one of the smartest things you can do.
AJ cheered me on. "Come on Nick. Go faster. Go faster. Rok will win!"
I don’t know what it is with someone urging you to do something but whenever the guys challenge me into something I feel like I have to do what they say and win too. This has lead me to many stupid games such as who ate the most hotdogs, note I did not, but I got the worst stomach ache if that counts. Two, who can run the fastest to who can belch the loudest, where I have been the champion many times and I think that even D is impressed even if he is mostly disgusted with my bad habits. We also compete in other things such as who can get hit with a spoon in the head without cussing out loud and many other stupid and mature..Yeah right, games. You know being on the road can be pretty boring and competing against each other is another way to make the time go.
Oh I almost forgot. We often compete in sports and then usually the winner is the Kentucky cousins. Howie is the one that never plays but AJ can do a game or two if he feels like it. Bone is not bad at sports he just isn’t interested. Howie on the other hand...sucks!
The fact that I was winning for once made me run faster even tough it felt like I couldn’t run another step. Howie and Kevin yelled something for me but I didn’t listen.
I was in the lead!
Turning my head around I saw that Brian had stopped which is pretty unnatural for being him, but then I thought nothing of it since I was so close at winning. With a loud victory shout I threw myself into the water only to fly up again like I’d been shot out of a canon.
"Ohhhhhhh Sshhhhhhiiiiiiitttttttt!!!!" I yelled. Man it was freezing. It had to be below zero! From the shore I could see the others laughing, even Brian who stood in the sea only with water to his knees. Bastards! They had tricked me into jumping into the sea. Such nice friends huh?
"It’s coooold!!!" I desperately tried to get back to the shore again. My legs were numb from the coldness and I was shivering like crazy.
"Way to go Kaos!" AJ laughed at me.
Ignoring him I tried to get out as fast as I could but it wasn’t easy since the water was so cold that I swear I’d stopped breathing for a moment. This was the worst I ever felt before, if you don’t count that time when the guys, I think it was AJ and B that time, had me rolling in snow out on the hotel balcony when we were in Sweden last time. They said it was good for my upcoming sex life. Which one I might ask? And also as a note it was NOT good for any kind of sex life or life for that matter. The reason why I know this is because that little bugger shrank so fast that I almost became a girl after that incident..
Howie told them to stop doing that to me since I could go into identity crises. I so wanted to ask him if that was what happened to him but I kept my mouth shut since D actually showed me some compassion and got me inside again. But that was then, today he showed no mercy.
"What do you expect Nicky?" "Howie shook his head and pointed like a school professor to a mountain far away. "It’s that snow that has melted from that mountain and then mixed itself with the water down here. So of course it’s going to be cold," he lectured.
I glared at him before turning to Brian who just stood there with a sad expression in his eyes. "Why did you do this? I thought you were my friend!" I was going for the guilt trip again.
The look Brian gave me made my heart ache. B can be kind of bad to me at times, you know teasing and stuff, but whatever he does I always forgive him for it. He is a very kind person at heart even if he sometimes can be lead away by like AJ. He is my best friend and it doesn’t matter that he likes teasing me and sometimes is the one behind some of the pranks I pull. You know he is that person that I would take a bullet for if it came to that even if I wonder at times if he would do the same for me?"
"I’m sorry Frack," he said standing there, looking mostly lost and ashamed.
˜Yeah right! ˜ I thought miserable. It’s a bit too late to be that since I’m standing here clattering my teeth away already as well as turning blue from exposure. "
"I just wanted to see your reaction." Brian smiled palely which only served that I felt ready to blow a fuse.
"My react..reaction?" I yelled. "What’s so fun with that? You get off by wanting me to see me dead or what?" I know I can be such a drama queen, I told you before didn´t I?
Brian didn’t have time to answer since Howie cut in to our conversation like he always does when he can tell a fighting is nearby. "Calm down Nick no harm was being done and get up now or you’ll freeze to death!"
I snorted. Like you’d care, beside wasn´t that what you all was aiming for?
"Of course you had to go and take it without even knowing what you were in for." Kevin scowled at me standing there on the shore. He gave Brian a towel,”Here make sure that Nick gets this."
Brian nodded and then started to walk up to me. This was the worst he could do. You don’t insult a Carter or make fun of them and then act like nothing has happened or show that you are nice to them. Nope no way, not without consequences. Usually this applied to everyone but Brian only today it was changed terms. I was so pissed at him for leading me into jumping into the water. Ok I wouldn’t agree that it had mainly been my doing since I was the one that had the urge to compete. That was however not something I was going to say.
Ignoring the towel a devious plan crept up into my mind and as Brian came closer to me I took a hold of his leg and Splash we both fell into the water.
Brian’s first reaction was shock. Then he yelled at me in not so nice words, not cuss words but close enough, and then at last he started to laugh. There were so many reactions that I was all confused. Then we splashed water onto each other and as we kept swimming into the sea we noticed that it wasn’t THAT cold and therefore we stayed on much to Kevin’s disgust.
"What are you two doing?" he yelled angrily. "Get up now or you’re going to catch pneumonia."
Not caring what daddy Kevin was telling us, then do we ever? we started a water fight. Brian pressed my head under the ice cold water for a few seconds. When I came up to the surface again I was sputtering like crazy and did my best to get a grab at him to sink him down too, but I did not succeed. Even if B is so much shorter than me he is pretty strong. Despite the discomfort the water was giving us, have you ever had frozen nuts?
We were having a fun time. The guys however did not!
Kevin and now Howie were yelling to us to get up or we would get sick. AJ only laughed at us and called us crazy. I know that staying in was a very immature thing to do but I blame it on the cold water since I’ve heard that if you swim in water that's below zero your body gets into shock and you can also freeze your brain. I think that is what we had done. Got frostbite on our brains.
After a while this was starting to get pretty boring, and cold, and also I think that my dick had fallen off that was how small it was by now. Catching a look at my main man I noticed that Brian looked like a girl too and then we decided to call it quits. AJ and also Howie had been laughing at us playing around in the water but after a while they got tired of it. Especially Jay whose attention span seems to get tired so easily.
I was shivering so bad that there was no end to me when I came up from the ice pound. My legs had no feelings and when it felt like my hair was one giant ice tap I decided that maybe this hadn’t been one of my smarter moves. Brian on the other hand was just as cold as me. It didn’t help that the sun was rather warm and I was dying to get a dry towel to wipe my blue body with. The towel Kev so kindly had fetched for me was as wet as we were since Brian the klutz dropped it in the ocean when he fell in. Ok I might have had something to do with it but there is no use in telling everything is there?
My vision of the rest of the guys standing there ready to towel us up was nothing but pure imagination. Kevin no doubt pissed over our little stunt was nowhere to be seen. AJ just laughed. Looking at each other, me and Bri made a run for the tent.
"Itsss..I´mmmm so..so..co..coo..ccooolddd." I shivered while desperately trying to get some warmth into my stiff body. Crawling into the sleeping bag I shivered so much that I was sure that my fillings would clapper out of my teeth. Brian was cold too.
"Yeah what do you expect dumbasses." AJ said as he too crawled in with us. He was sitting their telling us about how pissed Kevin and Howie were and how they had decided to show us no pity. I snorted. Like they would ever do that anyways? AJ also called us a bunch of loonies for jumping into the water. I snorted again since that was all I could do. Talking was too strenuous and I needed all my energy to get some heat. Not a big surprise there that "Mr I’m afraid, I get sick and I hate water" had felled that comment.. AJ is not a big fan of water and neither is Howie. They get seasick if they as much as set there foot in a boat so how this canoe trip would end I can only speculate. Messy.
Urgh!
AJ is the worst coward when it comes to taking a swim in the ocean. Next to D that is who is an even worse, but the difference is that Howie is mostly afraid that he would mess up his hair if it got wet. AJ is more afraid that it would mess up something else, if you get my point.
After what felt like a decade we were finally getting some warmth into our bodies. The sleeping bags had done wonders as well as the fun talk we had made inside the tent. Me, Brian and AJ talked about all kinds of things and B told us how a fish bit him on his toe. . Ok it doesn’t sound very funny at all when I tell it but I can assure you that B has a knack in turning everything into one big joke. I might be the prankster in the group but Brian is the natural. Even Kevin can laugh at his comments.
"Dinner time!" Howie yelled, sticking his face inside the tent. After eating one delicious meal of chilli con carne, Cowboy grub, I was so full that I could burst. You have no idea how hungry one gets when they have been taken a swim in water as cold as Antarctica!! I also think that the guys felt a bit bad for me since they didn’t once press on for me to do the dishes. It could have something to do with my hands which were still so numb for being exposed too long and if I was to hold a plate I would drop it and we all know how Kevin and Howie feels about littering so therefore I think they ruled me out for this one!
If the day had been rocky the evening was as calm as could be. AJ, being the romantic person in the group, yup you hear right Jay is the most romantic of all of us, had made a fire and we spent the evening sitting there talking about this and that. It ended up past midnight before we hit the sack but I didn’t care. It felt so good being brothers again even if they never ceased to make fun of their little brother, alias me!
