Hotbox

by Delia Delaney

  The look on Shawn’s face was priceless.

  I glanced at Jayden as everyone was slowly leaving the scene, and she was smiling at me.

  “Oh, welcome to a normal morning at one of our campouts.”

  “This is normal? People getting locked in tents and stuff?”

  She shrugged and waved the tent off. “Ah, that’s nothing.”

  “So what’s he going to do to you? Am I gonna have to stand guard through the night, to make sure nothing happens to our tent?”

  She shook her head. “Nah, he wouldn’t dare.”

  I looked at her warily. “Are you sure? Is he going to poison our food?”

  With a laugh she said, “Maybe.”

  I was a little nervous for breakfast, with Shawn casting evil looks at all of us while he prepared the food. Jayden assured me he was just a great actor and loved being overdramatic. I believed her, but I was still grateful when she handed me a plate of food that she had prepared herself.

  The plan for the day was motorcycles in the morning, and boating in the afternoon. Matt and Shawn both had their bikes, and Matt unloaded Joe’s pair of YZF’s. He also brought another one of Jayden’s that I hadn’t seen before—a KTM EXC450. Apparently it was Jayden’s ‘baby.’ I was slightly impressed.

  Chris sometimes went with them, but he wasn’t interested in going this time. Jayden wanted me to ride her YZF, but I couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated. I could ride just fine, but I knew her ability far out-skilled my own and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was relieved when the other guys claimed the same about themselves.

  “Her dad put her on a motorcycle when she was six years old,” Chris told me. “We were at my uncle’s house and all the boys were riding around on these little 50’s, racing around the property. Jayden insisted on doing it too, so Joe put her on one. After five minutes, she was riding better than the older kids. When she was eight she wanted to do motocross. Joe really didn’t like the idea of that, but he let her do it. I think she did it for seven or eight years. She’s a pro and she’s better than all of us, so don’t feel intimidated.” I was pretty grateful for his encouragement, and I laughed when he added, “She’s the only girl I know that had to rush from a motocross race to make it to a ballet recital.”

  We took off on the bikes up a trail just past the cabin. I actually did have a good time and Jayden was a lot of fun to ride with. For some reason—probably because she’s so sassy—I thought she might be a little competitive with me, but she wasn’t at all. Shawn, however, tried his luck at competing with her and it was funny to hear the two of them go round and round with each other.

  “Shawn knows she’s better, but he likes to mess around with her,” Matt said when we were parked at the top of a canyon later that morning. We were watching Jayden and Shawn take on some obstacles just below us. “He can be pretty scary sometimes, though. I don’t always know if he’s really that ballsy, or he’s just stupid,” he chuckled. “Check this out.”

  He motioned to where they were and I watch them both climb a fairly steep bluff. It wasn’t really too high up, but it wasn’t something I would climb. When they were at the top, I saw them circle around until they were facing the edge.

  “They’re not gonna jump off that, are they?” I asked with my mouth open. I certainly hoped not.

  Matt laughed. “Oh, yeah.”

  I watched Shawn signal that he was going to go first and Jayden’s motion indicated she was saying, “Be my guest.” Shawn revved his bike and took off over the edge, coasting a little bit in the air before roughly landing at the bottom. He spun around and pulled off to the side to watch Jayden.

  “Don’t look so freaked out,” Matt told me with a smile. “If Shawn can do it, Jayden can do it even better.”

  I slightly relaxed, but instead of taking the same route Shawn did, Jayden turned her bike around and climbed it another level up the bluff. She took herself as deep as she could and faced out.

  Matt was laughing again. “Oh, no way!”

  Shawn took his helmet off as he sat on his bike, and shook his head.

  She revved her bike and I almost had a heart attack. She jumped it off the first bluff onto the lower one, and took off from there into the air. She went higher and further than Shawn, and added a tail wag in the process. Her landing was way smoother, and at the end of it, she stopped abruptly onto her front wheel, lifting the back one into the air.

  When she dropped it down I heard Shawn yell, “You’re such a showoff!”

  Matt was hollering “Whoo-hoo!” from where we were, and I finally released the breath I was holding.

  Jayden peeled in a circle before taking off onto the trail that climbed to where we were. Shawn put his helmet back on and followed her up.

  “You are insane!” Matt told her when she arrived. “I think you need to apologize to Ty for stopping his heart.”

  She flipped her helmet open and looked at me with surprise. “I’m sorry! What’s the matter?” She was absolutely beautiful with her bright eyes showing her concern.

  I shook my head. “Matt’s right; you’re insane.”

  She laughed and said, “I’ve done that one before. It’s actually pretty easy.”

  “When?” Matt asked.

  “Last summer. But I made sure Chris was with me, just in case I needed put back together,” she grinned. “That’s the one I wanna try,” she pointed. The bluff was about the same height, but there was also another bluff she wanted to jump to. “Maybe tomorrow, when Chris comes with me.”

  I shook my head at her as Shawn pulled up and flipped his helmet open. He was reaching into his pants and said, “Here, let me give you my balls. I don’t think I need them anymore.”

  “Gross!” she exclaimed as he laughed. She pulled the face back down on her helmet and took off the way we had come up.

  Matt was laughing as Shawn was shaking his head at him.

  “You see that junk?” Shawn asked. “That’s just crazy.” He looked at me and added, “You two ever get married, you’d better get some pretty good life insurance on that girl.”

  He flipped his helmet closed and left after Jayden, so Matt and I did the same.

  Cali and Stacie had lunch started when we came back at noon, and Shawn had to tell the entire camp how crazy my girlfriend was. None of them seemed surprised, but Chris looked at her with a tiny smile and shook his head. Then he looked at me, and I got the impression he probably felt the same way I did when he watched her do it. I’d heard a few stories here and there about how much Jayden loved riding, but to actually witness it firsthand was a little different.

  Josh and Silvia had been there for about an hour, so I took the fuel filter and went to work putting it into the line. When it was ready, Matt and Chris launched it into the water and took it for a run. Chris thanked me profusely, happy that it was running great again. His gratitude added a tiny little bit of hope to my desire that we might be friends someday.

  There was plenty of room on the boat for all of us to go out, so we loaded on and Matt drove it out into the middle of the lake. All the guys were just in swim shorts since it was already pretty hot out, but it was interesting to me to compare all the girls. Stacie and Silvia were both in bikinis lounged out to sunbathe; Cali was also in a bikini, but it covered a little more and she had shorts on; and I couldn’t even tell what Jayden had on because it was covered with board shorts and a t-shirt.

  “Wow, Ty, Jayden was right,” Stacie said to me. “You really do have a hot body.”

  All the girls laughed and Jayden tossed a towel at Stacie’s face. Matt scowled at her too, but then he said, “Hey, baby, if you want me to have a six-pack like Ty, then just say so. I’ll stop hiding my perfect abs just to make Shawn feel better.”

  Shawn wasn’t offended and replied, “My strength is in here, man—” he pounded his chest with a fist. “My heart and soul will outlast your superficial brawn.”

  Matt chuckled. “Well at least I know my girlfriend isn’t attr
acted to your heart and soul.”

  “Yeah, so she ogles over Ty’s body instead. Nice.”

  With a laugh Stacie said, “Well, Matt always wanted me to stop staring at Chris’s body… So now he’s got his wish.”

  As everyone laughed, I leaned closer to Jayden and asked, “Should I put my shirt back on?”

  She gasped. “Heck no! You’re my eye candy. If I have to share the view then I guess that’s what I’ll have to do.”

  “Jay, you wanna go out first since you didn’t go yesterday?” Chris asked her.

  She shook her head. “Nah, I’ll wait.”

  Matt unloaded a wakeboard and got into the water while Shawn hooked up a rope and threw him the handle. The next couple of hours consisted of the guys wakeboarding (minus me and Josh) and Stacie going out on a tube. Silvia went with Josh on the tube, but she would only do it if Jayden drove the boat. She didn’t trust any of the guys, especially Shawn, which seemed to be a common theme among them. Cali was the same way, but she decided she wasn’t going to go in the water at all.

  After a while, Jayden pulled me up and told me I was going tubing with her. She also tossed a second tube in for Matt and Shawn. She stripped off her clothes to reveal a bright blue two-piece bathing suit, but the upper half was one that was more like a tank top. She had the best body out there and covered it the most.

  “Where’s your bikini?” I teased her when we were lying across the tube.

  She laughed. “You think I want to lose my top out here?”

  “Through your life jacket?”

  She laughed again. “You’d better hold on tight, sport. This is the tough group, and Chris has no mercy on us.” She looked across at Matt and he had the biggest smirk I ever saw.

  “You’re going down,” he told her.

  With that, the boat took off.

  After about ten seconds I realized that my life was in danger. When both tubes were whipped around the first turn and Matt and Shawn were close enough to us, Matt stuck his foot out trying to flip us over. Jayden fought him off but we were separated again, being thrown into the wake like we were white-water rafting—triple speed. It was probably the wildest ride I had ever been on, and if I was having a hard time hanging on, I didn’t know how Jayden was hanging on. I concluded that she was probably just tougher than me.

  After several minutes of battling back and forth each time the tubes came close enough, Shawn and Matt’s tube rose up on a wake right next to us. Jayden took advantage of the opportunity and flipped them over with her foot.

  It was a pretty brutal crash.

  I could hear everyone on the boat cheering and our tube began slowing down to circle back to them. I looked from the guys in the water to Jayden’s smiling face and it was one of the funniest things I ever saw. She began laughing when she heard groaning in the water. She sat up on her knees and asked if they were okay.

  “Nice timing,” Matt scoffed with a smile, as he pulled himself onto their tube when it got close enough. “I think that one beats the last time you and I crashed because of Chris.”

  “Seriously? Ouch! I’m sorry!” she laughed. “You were halfway in the air—I couldn’t resist!”

  “Yeah, I’m sure you’re really sorry,” Shawn playfully accused. “At least I don’t have a concussion this time. I pretty much lost my shorts though,” he added, seeming to be pulling them up in the water as he grabbed the inner tube.

  Jayden scowled and said, “Just get ‘em up before you—”

  He was mostly covered up when he pulled himself onto the tube, except six inches of his crack.

  “Oh, jeez,” Jayden scoffed, rolling her eyes.

  Shawn laughed and tugged his shorts up all the way and retied them.

  We went again for a few more minutes, but apparently the second time around warranted just a ride and no battle between the tubes. It was still a wild ride though, and I think we even lifted off the water a few times. We bumped tubes, but no one tried flipping anyone over.

  When Jayden gave the signal to call it quits, Josh pulled us in and he and Chris each took a tube to themselves. The battle between the two of them looked pretty harsh, so I was sure ours had looked just as bad.

  I couldn’t believe Jayden did this stuff all the time.

  Chris finally sent Josh into the water and they came in after that. Shawn wanted to battle Jayden one more time but she told him she was through for the day.

  “You’re chicken,” he smiled at her.

  “Yep, you know me.”

  “You wanna board?” Chris asked her.

  She shook her head and said, “Nah, that’s okay.”

  “You sure?” he pressed. He seemed a little surprised.

  “Maybe tomorrow.”

  Everyone was done with the water activities, so Chris drove the boat to the dock and unloaded us. Jayden took my hand and we walked back to the campsite. It was almost five o’clock and it was our night to do dinner, so she began unloading what she needed from the cooler. When the meat was grilling in the pan, I kept an eye on it while she took a shower and changed her clothes. When she returned, she cut up bell peppers and an onion and tossed them in with the meat. I just enjoyed staring at her, so I really wasn’t much help, and then I curiously watched her prepare a peach cobbler in a cast iron cooker.

  “Is that a cherished camping recipe?” I asked.

  With a smile she replied, “Nah. I do this on the back porch sometimes. It’s pretty easy. It’s just cake mix and canned peaches.”

  “Do you guys always bring a grill with you?”

  “Yeah, usually. It’s the easiest way to make the best meals. I’m not really into ‘roughing it’ too much when it comes to food,” she smiled.

  “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever had fajitas while I was camping.”

  She laughed and said, “I dare to be different.”

  “I’m sure you do,” I replied, moving to where she was standing. I took her into my arms and kissed her for quite a while. Everyone else was busy doing various things within the area, so it was nice to have her to myself for a bit. “Are you feeling okay?” I eventually asked her. “Chris seemed pretty shocked that you didn’t want to go wakeboarding. Is that something you usually do?”

  “Yeah it is, but I am really tired,” she laughed. “I wasn’t sure if I was feeling up to it. I might actually sleep more than just a few hours tonight.”

  And she did. She was out five minutes after her head hit the pillow that night.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Sunday finished up our camping weekend. Everyone did more of the same, and by four o’clock we were all packed up and headed for home. I helped Jayden unload all of her gear we had come home with—tents and such that Matt had taken up for us on Friday—and Matt arrived around the same time to unload the bikes. Joe pulled them back into the garage while he asked Jayden about her weekend. He particularly asked about the motorcycle riding, and Matt couldn’t help but share all of Jayden’s little antics on the trails—especially the new one from that morning. Jayden was determined to try that jump when Chris came with us. I was very worried when Chris also tried convincing her not to do it, but she did it anyway.

  Joe looked at me with a stern eye. “And you let her do it?”

  I thought he was pretty mad at me, but Jayden and Matt just started laughing.

  Finally Joe smiled and said, “I’m kidding. It’s not like any of us have been able to stop her.” He cast a playful scowl at his daughter and entered the house from the garage.

  I hadn’t seen much of Joe lately, and I still felt slightly guilty for Jayden being gone so much, but he had actually become pretty cordial to me within the past few weeks. I didn’t exactly feel that he approved of the idea of marriage, but it was still kind of soon and I could understand his reservation.

  I spent the rest of the evening at their house. I think Joe was glad to have his daughter around as we talked about other parts of our camping trip; he seemed to enjoy hearing about it. Jayden boasted
about sending Matt and Shawn into the water and her dad gave her a high five. It seemed to be a long-standing competition.

  “Who do you battle next?” her dad asked.

  She thought for a second before replying, “I think Chris.”

  “Ooh, that will be interesting,” Joe said. “What about doubles?”

  “Uh, I think it’s me and Josh versus Shawn and Chris.”

  He nodded his head and then looked at me. “What do you think of their little tubing competitions?”

  “I think they’re all crazy,” I admitted. “Especially this one here,” I added, nudging Jayden.

  Joe chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll agree with you on that one.”

  “Hey!” she protested, pointing a finger at her dad. “This guy’s the crazy one,” she told me. “He’s the one that taught me all my madness.”

  Joe smiled. “Yes, but you seem to test limits. You’d think I’d be used to having a daredevil for a daughter. I think Max Calloway and myself need to start a support group for single dads that have crazy daughters. You and Camryn are gonna do us in.”

  Jayden ended up making us dinner, and while she was in the kitchen, Joe and I talked about something other than just sports for once. We talked about Jayden. He told me what she was like as a kid and all the activities she’d been in. He particularly discussed her musical abilities, and how gifted she was. I was most surprised when he talked about the woman that walked out on them, and how he felt it had affected his daughter. He still seemed a little bitter, even though he admitted it was a blessing in his life since he got Jayden from the whole mess.

  “Good people aren’t exempt from tribulation, I guess,” I offered. “I think Jayden’s strong enough to take on anything.”

  He slowly nodded, seeming to contemplate. “What about you?” he asked. “What has your life been like?”

  I was caught a little off guard, so it took me a few seconds to respond. “Well, uh, probably not the best,” I admitted. “But since Jayden, things have improved immensely,” I added with a smile.