I had dirt up my crack. I dusted my hands off on my black leggings as I trekked back up the hill. I had no reason being out in the middle of the forest with a bunch of outdoorsy buffoons but here I was—walking up the side of a mountain after taking a tumble.

Of course my feet slipped. I was hiking in my white Air Force 1’s because that’s the closest shoe I owned that was halfway suitable for being outside.

I thought we would be sitting on logs around a fire. No one said anything about a damn hike. When I reached the top, their snickering and giggling grew louder.

If I wasn’t so comfortable with my stupid friends I would have been considerably more upset at their lack of concern for their friend who just fell down the side of a mountain.

I gave my friends a stern look that slowly morphed into an eye roll. “You guys are idiots. I could have died”, I muttered. Maggie looked at me and a bubble of laughter erupted from her mouth. “Ferris, you fell like two feet”, she said in between giggles.

I looked down at where I came from. It was a dried up river bed that could have passed for a manhole or a trench. Ravine or mountain—it didn’t matter because the degree of embarrassment from the fall would have been the same.

Jeanie snorted in response to Maggie’s statement. They were both avid hikers and obnoxious outdoorsy snobs.

They are the type to post pictures of themselves in front of large bodies of water whenever they have the chance—extending their arms to the sky with their back to the camera with a caption like ‘Outside’ or something basic like that.

But they love it and I guess I love that about them, which is why I felt obligated to join them on one of their monthly one-night camping adventures.

I’m certain I won’t feel obligated to do this ever again.

Maggie and Jeanie are used to hanging out without me anyways since they share a love for the outdoors. I am more of an, ‘oh my god is that a bug’ type of girl and somehow we still make a balanced, perfect trio.

We made our way back to the campsite, where we had one puny green tent set up. Maggie and Jeanie bought it from a consignment store for 50% off and I’m pretty sure the stain in the middle of the nylon floor is old, dried blood.

They shrug it off everytime I bring it up.

As nightfall approached, we were finishing up dinner—chicken noodle soup over the fire with roasted marshmallows for dessert. It was a simple delicacy that they always enjoyed on their camp nights.

I wasn’t mad at that. Food is always a delicacy.

We sat around the campfire in silence, taking in all of natures songs. The crickets were crying, the owls were hooting and the rustling of leaves in the forest filled the silence as the animals scuttled by.

There was always the possibility that we could be eaten by a bear, but as I lowered my face from the stars and stared at my friends, I realized that this moment with them might be worth dying for.