The rest of the week went rather quick. We worked hard in the club and Chang pushed me even harder on our one on one time. By the end of the week, we were pumped for our trip and trying to finish club time as fast as we could. I’m in the middle of a match with Chang; He’s working me really hard, throwing combo kicks and punches at me. I threw a kick at him and he caught my foot pulling it out from under me and putting me on my back. He jumped on me landing with his knees on either side of my hips.
“Kaya.” He yelled and stopped his punch right in front of my face. We stayed like that for a moment, our breathing in sync. My chest brushed agents his inner thighs. My heart was beating fast and hard and it wasn’t because of the fight. He got up from me and held out a hand to help me up. “Good you’re improving.” I bowed to him and he bowed back. I smiled at him, happy to know that all this extra work was paying off. We all ran to the showers so we could hurry and leave on our trip. I was really lucky when it came to the men’s locker room. Not only did they have some stall toilets but they also had stall showers. So it was really easy for me to go into the guy’s locker room to shower and change. Though I wonder if Chang thinks it’s weird that I don’t change in our room. I shrugged. He’s a guy I doubt he’s noticed.
I finished my shower and changed in the stall putting on khaki cargo pants and a green polo. I bought my clothes big so it wouldn’t show my body’s shape, but lately, I’ve felt like it’s getting harder to hide my chest. I wonder how long I can keep this up for. When everyone was ready we all went back to the club room and each grabbed things to carry down to the van. After everything was packed as tightly as possible we piled in and buckled up. The drive up there was fun, we sang to songs on the radio, cracked jokes and played games that I have never played before. With everyone having a good time, the long drive felt really short. I was too busy having fun with the guys to notice the woods getting deeper and thicker. When we arrived at the campsite I was amazed at how beautiful it was, it’s a large space surrounded by trees and wildflowers, up in the mountain the air smelled rich and clean. We’re alone up here and that makes me feel safe. I think it’s because of the people that I’m with, but I also love the serenity of it. We would have to go miles in any direction before we would see any other people. I felt like we were the only people in the world.
“Okay everyone, you will be set up in groups of two. You will be doing everything with this person, setting up your tent, cooking, starting a fire, practicing your skills. So when I call your names get with your partner and start setting up.” Our teacher said and started calling out names. He was a few groups in when I heard my name get called. “Ping and Chang.” Chang walked over and clapped me on the shoulder.
“Looks like were tent mates.” He grabbed our tent and we set it up in a nice spot close to the trees. It only took a few minutes to slide all the metal rods into their right slots. Once we had it set up I realized how small it was. We could only fit our packs and two sleeping bags in it. Will practically be sleeping on top of each other. Oh jeez, I’ll have to sleep as close to the wall as I can get. After we were all set up we were given chores to do. Chang and I had to collect firewood and cook dinner.
“Do you know how to start a fire?” I asked Chang, hoping he would because I have no idea how to even attempt to start one.
“Yep. My father used to take me camping in the summer when he was on leave. So he taught me a lot. Do you know how to?”
“No, I grew up on a farm but my only jobs were to feed and care for the animals. My mother and grandmother split the house chores while my father took care of the fields. They wanted me to work hard in school so I could get off the farm.”
“My dad pushes me too. He wants me to do well in school and in my training so I can be an amazing soldier like him.”
“He wants you to join the military?”
“Yeah.” He said with a sigh. “I don’t know if I really want to though. I spent my whole life moving from base to base with my father. I think I just want to go to college, get a nice job, meet a good girl and settle down. I just want a place to call home. I’ve never had that before.” We got quiet as I watched him place the starter log on top of some rolled up newspapers and build the wood we collected in a cage around it. He lit the papers and carefully blew the flames until they were taking over the starter log. Chang sat back on his feet and smiled at his work. It’s times like these that I feel really close to him… Sometimes I want to tell him the truth so bad it hurts. But I never do. I don’t want things between us to change and I know that if I told him the truth everything would change.
We got dinner started, deciding that something easy would be best for our first night. Chang roasted hot dogs while I put out things like veggies, cheese, chips, dips, and drinks at the table. It wasn’t long before everyone was seated around the fire cracking jokes and telling ghost stories. It was getting late and I knew that Chang would want to start early so I quietly got up from my seat and went over to my tent to grab my shower stuff. I started walking down the dirt path to the showers when someone grabbed my shoulder. My first instinct was to pivot and kick knocking the predator to the ground. As my leg whipped around I was stopped mid kick.
“What the heck! Why are you trying to take my head off!?”
“Chang?”
“Yeah!”
“You scared me. What are you doing?”
“I saw you walk off. You shouldn’t go off on your own it’s dangerous.”
“Oh. Alright then. Do you want to come with me?”
“That’s what I was planning on doing.”
“Okay, then let’s go.” We stood there looking at each other for a moment. “Ah, Chang.”
“Yeah.”
“Can I have my foot back?”
“Ah yeah.” Chang dropped my foot and I started laughing as we walked to the showers. The showers are a small building with a sink, toilet stall, urinal and a large area with two drains in the floor and two shower heads coming from the wall. A single shower curtain hung dividing the showers. I chose one side and Chang went into the other.
A little hook was screwed into the brick wall, so I hung my stuff up and started to strip. The cement flooring was cold against my feet as I walked over to the shower head to turn it on. The water was flowing strong and felt good agents my back. I swear the only time I feel like a woman is when I’m in the shower. I dipped my head back letting the hot water soak my hair until it’s heavy. I love the feel of the hot water running over my body. I feel it loosening my sore muscles, making my cold skin heat up and turn pink.
“Hey, Ping can I borrow your soap?” Chang yelled through the sound of the water, breaking the trance I had put myself in.
“Ah...yeah. Hold on.” I went over to my bag to get my soap. I didn’t notice the curtain move back into place as I turned towards it. I slid my hand through the small slit between the curtain and the wall.
“Here.”
“Thanks.”
“No, problem.” When he was finished and handed it back I washed and dressed in my favorite t-shirt and boxers before slipping into my tennis shoes and walking out of the shower. Chang stood at the sink shirtless brushing his teeth.
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