I woke up in an empty tent. I heard some arguments outside the tent. I wanted to go back to sleep, but the arguments got loud.

“Shut up.” I mumbled into the sheets, to no one in particular but wished that the ones outside could hear what I was saying.

“You should let Ste—”

The bickering got even louder. I groaned; time to kiss the sleep goodbye.

“Morning sleeping beauty,” said Steph with her confident smile while totally ignoring the arguments going behind her back over some food. She was sipping on coffee. No surprise on the fact, it was Clara and Mason with bed hair arguing. We all got so much food and snacks, and it seemed that was not enough.

I grumbled my morning greetings to Steph and noticed Chris trying to now mediate between them. The breakfast was going to be a long struggle, I thought, before Chris somehow managed to calm both parties down.

After we were done with our breakfast, Clara placed a cookie box in front of all of us.

She cleared her throat. “Here are some fortune cookies for you all.”

Mason was about to snack on them, but Clara stopped him. “Have some patience, you giant.”

Mason raised his eyebrows. “I am no-”

Steph spoke up. “We should all hurry if we three want to go to the Halcyon Lake. We are going to be late.” She eyed Mason, “There was certain someone who was the most enthusiastic about visiting the lake.” Then she looked at me and said, “But Michael and Chris stay behind to pack all the camp gear.”

Chris nodded and gave her thumbs up.

Clara perked up, “You can take as many cookies as you want, but..." She raised her finger. “I want you all to announce what your fortune cookies says.”

Steph raised her eyebrows, “Didn’t your grandmother make them? Why do you want to know what’s written in them?”

She sighed, “My granny did not even allow me to have a peek at the chits she put in the cookies.”

“Awwww, quite the unfortunate, is it for you?” Mason said while placing his finger below his chin.

Clara shook her head in approval. “Yup, I requ-” Then she stopped shaking her head when she realized who she was agreeing to. “NO! Just eat the goddamn fortune cookies along with what I asked you all to do.”

She began passing the box to all of us. She said, “And everyone accepts the cookies; no, no to the cookies, that too fortune cookies.” And eyed Chris suspiciously when I gave him the box and he was passing it to Mason without taking any cookies.

Clara held her green eyes firmly on Chris, whose shoulders slouched under her gaze. He took one cookie immediately and passed it to Mason.

Steph clears her throat. “Mine says,…” She eyes Clara with a hint of excitement. “Love, because it is the only true adventure.”

Clara tilts her to one side. “For real? Well that’s…”

Mason shouts out, "Alright, love birds. Sorry to interrupt, but I have my say over here too, from my fortune cookie.”

Clara huffs but then turns to Mason, mouthing, ‘What is it?’

“It says, ‘The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need tomorrow.’ ”

"Huh, it is motivating.” Said Chris while unwrapping his own.

“If you think I am going to sum up your whole life on this tiny piece of paper, you are out of your mind.”

Mason looked at Chris, a smile on his face. “That’s all it says, Chris?”

Chris nodded.

Mason looks at his own chit, “Well, so far we had not discovered any puns from fortune cookies…”

“Well, we can always crack open more.” I suggested.

“YES! More cookies!” Mason said while reaching for more. But Clara snatched the box away and told him to wait.

“Here is mine: Marriage lets you annoy one person for the rest of your life.”

Mason puts his hands over his heart and asks me to do the same. “We both provide condolences to the life partner of Clara, who will be annoyed by her for the rest of her life.”

“WHAT??” Clara looks between me and Mason. Meanwhile, Steph, for some reason, finds the tiny plants growing near her very interesting and is asking Chris about their names.

Chris looks at Steph. She is looking right into Chris eyes as if trying to tell him not to say anything over the chit.

The confused boy said, “Um… we should hurry up as we have to leave today.” He looks somewhere else, pressing his lips together tightly before muttering, “So what’s yours Michael?”

I turned towards my chit, and without reading it in my mind like others did, I straight up read it out loud to the audience of four, specifically towards Chris as he was sitting right next to me, “Words cannot espresso how much you mean to me.”

Chris tilts his head, saying some inaudible words, but I think he was muttering them to himself. The sly photographer and our guide have the heartiest laugh when I feel my face burning up with embarrassment. Clara looks at Chris and me, confused.

Steph lightly ruffles the confused girl’s hair. “Oh sweetie, your grandmother surely wrote some sweet words along with the delicious cookies.”

“Yup, I am afraid this combination can give anyone diabetes.” Mason perked up.

“I will take these words as compliments for my granny.” She says while glancing doubtfully at me and Chris but later shrugs it off and gives ninety percent of cookies to the giant. My body was sweating due nervousness every time she looked at me.

After looking through our not-so-confirmed fortune, Mason and the lovebirds headed towards the lake. They said they would be back in an hour or so, which leaves me with the boy who has not really talked to properly ever since the last night. He did ask me if I had gotten any sleep last night, and that was just it, and now during fortune cookie’s chits opening. We began gathering our stuff together. Chris was gathering some trash we had spread in the campsite last night. While I was putting the sleeping bags together.

I would have never realized that the absence of three members would make our campsite so quiet. I peered over Chris; his eyes looked heavy as if he had a hard time sleeping last night. I mean, I was responsible for it. I slept late throughout the morning today, and I don’t know how this guy was functioning with few hours of sleep. Well, we are in college, but that does not mean one has to get used to fewer hours of sleep like this.

I quickly packed up the sleeping bags and began to fish out something that could help him out.

“Hey, Chris I have something for you!” I called out his name.

He turned his head towards me. “What…?”

I took hold of his hand, knowing well that he could have refused to take it from me, given the interactions I had seen so far with him every time someone tried to offer him something.

He looked at his palm. “Hard candy?”

“It’s coffee-flavored, and it looks like you really need it.”

“Are not those too much?” He asked while staring at the four candies.

I ruffled his hair. “Nah, four candies don’t give diabetes.”

He looked unsure for a moment before unwrapping one and eating it. “Thank you, Michael.”

I felt goose bumps through my body, and before my heart decided to do another flip, I asked him, “So...last night you did not get any sleep?”

I held onto my neck from behind. He began shuffling with his shoes. He said, “I did get some sleep, but it was quite late. I was thinking over what had happened back near the abandoned building.”