The Multitudes Within Me (Sequel to The Sound of Ice)

Bonus Chapter - Summer

Sam's POV

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On the highway, Cameron rolls the windows down a little, warm air circulating the old car. The music is up loud,  a summery, catchy song on the radio, and I find myself nodding along to the beat. Cam reaches over and rests a hand on my thigh. "What exit does it say again?"

I'm on GPS duty. "Fifty-four."

"We're almost there!"

I smile at him — he's sitting in the driver's seat, a deep green baseball hat pulled over his mess of hair, almost casually sprawled out across the seat with one hand on the steering wheel. He glances sideways at me, and the deep bend of smile lines around his eyes crinkle. 

"You'll love it," he says. "It's the perfect day for a hike."

"I hope it's not too strenuous. I'm not quite in professional hockey player shape."

"Nonsense," he says, and he squeezes my thigh, and I turn towards the window so he can't see me blush. 

We're hiking at a lake about an hour from St. Anne today, with a picnic blanket and a late lunch packed in his backpack. I was in charge of the food (sandwiches with roast beef and pepper jack, his favorite) and peaches. He's been busy a lot with training lately, and me with summer classes, so we wanted to go somewhere when we both had a day off. 

"This next exit," I say, and he pulls off. And soon we are surrounded by forest as the car tires crunch over gravel, and we park underneath the thick shade of the foliage. He gets our bag from the backseat as I tighten my shoelaces, and when I look up, he almost looks like a little kid, waiting at the start of the hiking trail — thumbs hooked under the loops of his backpack, beaming at me. 

"You ready?" he says. 

"We can't forget sunscreen."

"Oh, of course not." He swings the bag around and grabs the lotion from the front pocket. "Here, let me do it for you." And he swats the sunscreen at my face, a glob of lotion on my nose, and I laugh and try to smear it back on his cheek. We're almost wrestling until Cameron scoops me up and carries me over his shoulder, and we start down the trail.

"I would've won," I say. "Although I don't hate this. Will you carry me the whole hike?"

"If I get to throw you in the lake at the end," he says, but he puts me down, and he takes my hand. 

The hike is long and peaceful — I see so many types of mushrooms (amethyst laccarias, oyster mushrooms, chanterelles, pine mushrooms), to which Cameron keeps replying, "Let's eat it." Colorful beetles, too, and two pale blue butterflies which keep dancing around my head, darting in and out from the trees during the whole hike. 

We stop, once, to take a picture of wildflowers for Hailey, and once again for Cameron to take a picture of me. "You look so pretty," he says. And then, grinning — "You're blushing. Sammy!"

"I'm not. It's the heat." 

He laughs. Eventually, we make it to the far end of the loop, where the trail meets the lake — a calm, deep shade of blue surrounded by pine trees. The water laps gently against the small, pebbly shore, and we lay out the picnic blanket on the grass.

"I love the lake," says Cameron as he unwraps our sandwiches. "I'd like to live by a lake, one day. Or not far from it."

"I'd like that, too. In a really cozy home."

"Yeah. With a dock, and a boat." 

"And I can garden in the yard. Grow our own fruits and vegetables."

"Sure, yeah, I guess. When you come to visit me." 

I roll my eyes and smack his shoulder. "Cameron!" But I'm smiling, and he starts laughing.

"I'm kidding. Of course there's no one else I would want gardening in my yard."

"Stop it." 

He swoops his arm behind my back and pulls me up against him in one swift motion. "Fine, you can live with me," he says quieter in my ear.

"You'd be so lucky," I say, and I kiss him — he smells like sunscreen and summer, and I tuck a stray curl behind his ear as he places a hand on the soft of my back, then tugs my shirt off, and he lifts me up — wait, what? — and throws me over his shoulder again as he heads for the water. "Cam!" 

The lake is freezing, and I come up gasping for air. Cameron is laughing hysterically on the shore, and I splash water towards his feet. "You're the worst!" I say, and watch as he pulls his own shirt off and jumps in beside me. 

He comes up beside me and shapes his hair, water flicking everywhere. "I had to, Sammy!" 

"I'll never forgive you," I say, but I kiss him anyway, as the lazy afternoon sun begins to slink down towards the horizon, and cicadas chirp rhythmically in the distance. 

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A/N happy summerrrr <3 hope you liked!