181 Out of Breath (1/2)

Amelia got a call from her friends early Friday morning. Some of the other girls in their friend group had arranged an overnight camping trip and they had invited Amelia to come along.

Since the filming had just started, and it had started with some of the smaller scenes first, her schedule left Amelia quite free. She was tempted to ask if Adam would be coming but she knew better. It was a Friday but it was still a working day. Even on the weekends Adam was often found in his office. It wasn't likely that he'd leave work to join in on their group's shenanigans.

At first she felt disappointment but after considering it for a while Amelia decided that it might do her some good to just be with her friends even if Adam wouldn't be there. She had been wound up too tight in recent days, so she happily agreed to go.

It was later that afternoon that Amelia pulled into the parking lot where they had all agreed to meet. The spot was at the base of a large, rocky hill that they would hike up. At the top was a flattened area with the camping grounds they would stay at for the night.

Amelia glanced around at the friends who had gathered so far. As she suspected Adam wasn't amongst the crowd.

”I hope I'm not late.” Amelia said as she joined the others.

”Not at all. We're still waiting on a few.”

It was only a minute or two later that Amelia watched in surprise as Adam's car pulled up. It was still too early for him to have left work and yet there he was, stepping out of his car looking handsome in his casual wear.

For a selfish moment Amelia hoped that he had come alone. How nice it would have been to spend an evening under the stars with just themselves and their closest friends. But sure enough Adam crossed around the car, opened the passenger side door, and extended his hand to help Elle out of the car.

”You made it!” Marcus said excitedly. ”We're all here now, shall we head up?”

Adam glanced at the steep incline of the path up the hill. ”Are you sure you're not too tired?” Adam whispered to Elle, his fingers brushing down her lower back.

Elle did her best to not to react despite the flush she felt. ”I'm fine.” She said calmly. ”Let's go.”

The group began their ascent up the rugged path, casually talking and joking around with each other as they went.

Elle walked a bit slower then the rest. After a while she began to lag behind the rest of the group. Adam had been matching his pace to hers the entire way. Noticing that she was slowing down he called out to the rest of the group, ”You guys go on ahead, we'll catch up later.”

”Are you sure?”

”It's not that much further to the top, we'll be fine.” Adam reassured. So the rest of the group went on ahead, leaving the two stragglers behind.

”Are you okay?” Adam asked once the others were out of sight.

Adam sat down next to her. ”You're right. If we were facing the other side I think we could see our home from here.”

'Our home.' Elle smiled to herself. She could have never guessed before how happy those words would make her feel one day.

”It's our home but I still haven't moved my things out of my condo.” Elle sighed.

”We've been too busy to bring everything over.” Adam agreed. ”We should do it soon, if not we might end up not doing it until the production of your novel is over.”

”Mhmm.” Elle hummed her agreement.