The Adventures of Michael & Lauren: Should Have Took the Jeep

One summer evening, Michael invited Lauren to his Apartment in the beautiful city of Denver. "What do you wanna do," Lauren texted after the invitation was given. They always seemed to have a great time together. Michael often exposed Lauren to new experiences, which she absolutely loved. "Listen to rap," Michel texted back. They had realized early on that they had lots of common interests, rap just happened to be one of them. Upon arriving, Michael asked Lauren to join him on an errand to the store across the street. The store was overly stocked and poorly lit. It was not Lauren's favorite place to go, but she knew they'd only be a few minutes. "Will you buy me a pack of Reds? I forgot my ID. Today's my 21st birthday!" Lauren tried to ignore the young gentleman, which didn't phase him. He turned to Michael and repeated his question. Michael, being the understanding and kind person he is, didn't hesitate at all to help out the "birthday boy." Upon exiting the store the young man gave his sincere thanks and introduced himself as Zach. He proceeded to share his birthday plans with Michael and Lauren. The three of them continued to walk and get acquianted with one another. They reached Michael's apartment complex, a large, gated community on the outskits of downtown Denver. Michael polietly invites Zach up to have a drink with them to celebrate. Zach quickly accepts and follows the other two to the elevator and up to the 6th floor. Once in the kitchen the three toast to Zach's birthday and take a drink in unison. They sit and chat on the balcony for a while before Lauren makes a statement that would change the whole night. "Ugh, we should be camping." "Wanna go?" Michael replies sincerely. The two establish that, yes, it would be a great night for camping and begin to gather the necessary equipment. Zach watches and continues to make small talk. Michael checks over the pile once more before stating that they are ready to leave. The three head back to the elevator and outside. Michael and Lauren both state, "It was good meeting you. Have a great birthday!" Zach thanks them as he throw up dueces as he walks away into the darkness. Michael begins emptying equipment out of his red Jeep Cherokee. Lauren had agreed earlier that she would drive, but they two had both considered it Michael's Jeep would be a better option. As Lauren watches Michael carefully unload she begins to think and says another statement that would change the evenings events completely. "I don't mind taking my car. I mean, you know where we are going. Would my car make it? We aren't gonna be off roading or anything are we?" "It's a dirt road, but your car should be fine." "Let's take my car then, no problem." They loaded Lauren's two door, low riding, silver Dodge Stratus with all their gear. Michael asks to drive, to which Lauren has no objections; she would rather be the passenger any day. As they drive towards Golden to grab Lauren's sleeping bag, tennis shoes, and pillow Lauren reiterates how excited she is to finally be going "Colorado Camping." She requests that Michael stop by the store for some beverages, he grants her request. Gus, Lauren's overly hairy, sometimes cranky, cat greets them at the door. Lauren quickly gathers her things as Michael teases the cat. The teasing is short lived once Gus bites Michael's arm and runs away. Lauren apologizes, as she always does when her cat does something of this kind. The two flee out the door and pile back into the car. Finally, they are on their way. Michael enjoys driving Lauren's car. He takes the mountain turns gracefully and smoothly, however somewhat quickly at times. "This car handles really well. It likes sticks to the ground. I like it." Between testing the car's handling and messing with the Itrip, Michael misses a turn. The mistake isn't realized till they cross into the town of Estes Park. The two both begin messing with the GPS and their phones to figure out where they had gone wrong. After catching their bearing, they pull through the "Golden Arches" for some food to tide them over till morning. The CD player continues to blare Eminem while occasionally skipping, which neither Michael or Lauren let bother them. Michael raps along, and Lauren just smiles, admiring his skill. Once turning onto the proper street, Michael's speed increases. Lauren thinks to herself, "well he must know where he is now." Sure enough, he did. Michael turns the car into a small subdivision with a dirt road. Lauren remebers Michel explaining these directions to her before when they had spoke about camping. The houses begin to taper off until they pass the last house. The dirt road continues winding through the woods. Michael points out previous campsites he has used as they pass. They pass many decent campsites that they could easily have enjoyed. Michael politely asks if he can keep driving to see where the road goes. Due to Lauren's love of being spontaneous, occasionally, she quickly replies, "sure!" It's dark besides the bright moon overhead. They continue to drive deeper into the woods. They pass a large pick-up with guys gathering wood for a fire. The driver hangs out of the window and yells, "you brought that thing up here?" Lauren had found this odd, because despite some lage humps where they had to reduce their speed, the road really hadn't been that bad. They brush off the guy's comment and press on. As the car comes around an uphill curve, they two both agree that it is time to turn around and pick a spot. Rocks jut out of the road like an obstacle course. "Shoulda brought the jeep," Michael half chuckles to himself. A large thud comes from under the car. Michael and Lauren look at each other and know that they may have gone too far. Michael tries to turn the vehicle around, and they both hear another thud. All of a sudden the car stops moving even though Michael's foot is pressed on the gas. Dirt and dust begins to fly up in back of the small car. The tires spin and squeal. It is obvious to them both that they were stuck. Twenty minutes of pushing and trying to "rock it," the two throw up their hands and think about a plan B. They begin to walk in hopes of finding a kind person who may still be awake and willing to help them. As they walk, Lauren glances over her shoulder every once in a while. She's never been in the wilderness of Colorado at night. She tries to recall what she read about what you should do when you encounter a mountain lion. Michael notices her worried look and says, "you're fine. They are more scared of you than you are of them. Plus, I have my gun." Lauren had noticed it clipped to Michael's pant waist and felt somewhat more at ease but not completely. The moonlight was playing tricks with her eyes. Tree stumps looked like night creatures waiting to pounce them as they walked by. On a few occasions she sweared she saw eyes in the dark woods. After about 20 minutes she began to relax and her and Michael engaged themselves in good conversation like they always do. "Let's see what's over this ridge, and if we don't see anyone we'll turn back. Ok?" Michael had said this four times over the course of their walk. However, the last time he said it they came to the bottom of a hill and there was a lit campsite. Lauren was thankful he made her keep walking. Michael walked up to the campsite that was set back off the road. Soft rock, the kind your parents enjoy, was blaring on a radio. A fire was steadily burning despite the fire ban that was posted. Lauren could hear talking but couldn't make out what was being said. "No worries," Michael called out as he walked back to where Lauren was standing in the road. "Well," she asked. "They were half naked. I mean like I saw a full breast shot. The guy said he couldn't help us." On they walked. About 50 yards away there was another lit campsite. Lauren secretly crossed her fingers. "Hello, hello," Michael exclaimed as he walked up to a couple sitting around a decently sized fire. He explained their predicament. The couple listened and said that they knew we had probably gotten stuck, they had "called it." The woman, Stacy they came to find out, was very willing to help us. She had a look of sympathy and understanding on her face. James, on the other hand, took more convincing which Michael happened to be very good at. Michael was a good sales person and people seemed to easily relate to him and always give him a chance to state his case. Once the couple was persuaded to help they piled in the SUV and headed back towards the lodged car. On the way, the following exchange happened between James and Michael. "How far is it," James asked. "About 1/2 mile," Michel replied. "How far did you all walk?" "Probably about 3/4 of a mile." "Dude, it's been like a mile." "Yeah we definitely walked a mile." As they came around the last curve, the headlights catch the silver Stratus in their path. Lauren realizes how bad it really is when the lights provide her a better glimpse of the car. Michael and Lauren quickly hop out while James goes to the back of his vehicle to find a rope. Stacy eventually gets out too and offers to hold a flash light she found. Michael already has his head under the car, looking for a place to hook the rope. Lauren sits down in the driver seat and begins to notice how the road had coated her interior with a layer of dirt. She quickly shakes the thought from her head and focuses back on the boys trying to connect the two cars somehow. There is no tow spot, which comes as no surprise to Lauren. It seems like there is something new she dislikes about her car on a weekly basis. The guys get the rope and hook connected to the frame. James goes back to the driver seat of his vehicle and gives directions Lauren only half hears. She places the car in drive nervously and waits. James backs up his car, and Laure eases her foot off the break. The loud grind coming from under her car makes her cringe. She notices Michael in the headlights and sees that he too is cringing. The car jerks and the rope flings back onto the dirt road. Michael yells, "Again! Hold on," and quickly reconnects the rope to the frame of Lauren's car. Again, she eases her foot off the break as James moves in reverse. His wheels kick up dirt and rocks. The grind coming from Lauren's car is louder than before. She thinks about closing her eyes, but realizes that it wouldn't make the sound go away. With the second pull, the car comes free from the rock it had been stuck on. A sigh of releif comes from both Michael and Lauren. A grin comes over her face though she knows they are not out of the clear yet. Lauren is standing over the rock that put them in this situation. It is half covered with a black liquid. Michael joins, standing behind Lauren. "What do you think it is? Oil," Lauren asks. "I don't know. I'll have to check it out in the morning. Get in. Let's find some place to camp." They wave goodbye and yell thank you to Stacy and James as they pull away. They ease their way back down the road, with more caution than previously. The first spot they come to they stop and begin setting up. As they pull the tent out of it's small, too small Lauren thinks, bag Michael realizes something. "Where are the poles?" As he says it, Lauren, at this point, can only laugh. Michael frantically checks the bag again even though he knows they aren't there. He checks the inside of the tent, where they also could not be. He finally checks the trunk and comes to the realization that the tent poles had never made it. As they stuff the tent back into the bag Michael says, "let's find another spot so we don't have to be so quiet." Lauren notices that there is an occupied campsite fairly close to them across the road. They toss everything back into the car and drive further back down the road. The next site they stop at isn't really a site at all. Regardless, the two begin to unload, yet again. Lauren sees Michael spread the "pole-less" tent out on the ground. She must have shown her puzzlement on her face because Michael says, "We are going to lay on it." "Ok... wait you mean under the stars? No tent?" she sounded worried. "Yeah, we're going to sleep under the stars," he says with excitement. Lauren was excited too, however her fear was getting the better of her. She reminds herself to trust Michael. She calms herself with the thought of how romantic it would be. "Alright, let's do it," she replies as a grin sneaks across her face. Setting up couldn't have been any easier. Before 5 minutes had even passed they were sitting in camp chairs with everything set up. Michael began to pile sticks and pine needles on the ground in front of Lauren. He pulls out his lighter and attempts to get the debre lit. After a handfull of attempts there is a small flame which he begins to feed with larger sticks and pieces of bark. The smell of a campfire is one that everyone knows and ties certain memories to. This night, Lauren and Michael would be able to tie a new memory to a campfire. The evening had been an adventure for them. Before long, Michael had a small fire going. The wind picked up for a moment and with it brought a feeling of anxiety to Lauren. "That's good," she said timidly. Michael made a comment about being the voice of reason as he smiled at her. He promised her that he wouldn't make the fire any bigger and asked that she enjoy it and relax. She did, but not completely. They made an inapporpriate joke about waking up and all the forest around them being burnt down. Inappropriate because the forest fires that had been a huge part of this Colorado summer. Campfires can be mezmorizing. They realized how late it was, and they let the fire die down before putting it out with the water Michael had gotten from Lauren's apartment. They rose from their chairs and headed over to their "bed." As they laid down both of them let out a groan. Not because they were exhausted or simply relieved to be finally laying down, but rather because they had chosen a spot that was lumpy with sticks and stumps. It was unlikely that anywhere around them was going to be any different so they didn't bother moving the tent. They tossed and turned, and adjusted until they were semi comfortable. Lauren found herself looking over her shoulder and scanning the trees for beasts of the night. She slid herself closer to Michael. He noticed her move because he then put his arm around her and pulled her in closer and drapped his leg over hers. This was how they usually slept; legs entertwined. It comforted Lauren immediately. She felt safe and content being in Michael's presence. Lauren was disappointed about them not dating anymore. She was so fond of Michael and she always enjoyed being around him. They could be sitting in an empty room just looking at each other talking and she would probably still be completely content. She shook the thoughts from her head and tried to enjoy the moment that she was currently in. She ran her fingers across Michael's head and he let out a sigh. Michael loved being touched like that, and Lauren knew it. She felt Michael's fingers softly brush across the back of her other hand, sending chills through her. Both were breathing deep in each other's ears with an occasional sigh. She wasn't completely sure she should, but Lauren ran her hand down Michael's side and down to the waist of his boxers. There she lingered and teased as she ran her finger across his hips. Michael shuddered a little as she did this; she grinned. He kissed her forehead gently and sweetly. They both knew there was going to be romance under the stars. Lauren awoke as the sun was peaking through the trees. Above her were birds flying and singing their songs. They almost seemed to dance as they flew across the bright blue sky. Lauren pulled her phone out of her pocket, trying not to wake Michael in the process. She took a picture of the brilliant view. Michael was still sleeping, and Lauren was still tired so she nestled herself back in against him. The sun continued to rise and warm the two campers. Awakened again, this time by the heat of the sun, Lauren kicks off her sleeping bag. Michael stirs, rubs his eyes, and stretches. He smiles at Lauren and she can't keep herself from smilling back. They begin gathering up the gear and loading it into the back of the car. Lauren does one more walk around the site to make sure nothing was forgotten. Michael plops into the driver seat as Lauren heads to the passenger seat. Again, she is glad not to be driving. "I'm going to check to see how much oil we lost last night," Michael says as he pulls the car forward and jumps out to inspect. At this point it doesn't really matter how much oil they've lost, it doesn't change the fact that they need to get back to civilization to do anything about it. The venture down the dirt road. The day was beautiful in Lauren's eyes. She finds herself, despite the car trouble, appreciating where she is and what she is doing. As opposed to last night, she can see the mountains standing tall all around them. She quickly gets out her camera to snap pictures from every angle. Michael drives carefully and mutters to himself, "should have took the jeep. Should have stopped back here." Lauren turns to him and says, "but we don't need to say that anymore, it's over. It's fine." She really doesn't want Michael to beat himself up about what happened because it could just have easily happened if she had been driving. It was hardly the end of the world, and Lauren had enjoyed herself emensely. She had an appreciation for a good story, and this was truly a good story. It seemed to take forever to reach a gas station and of course the first one they reached was a zoo. Lauren went in for the oil as Michael checked out the engine. All she needed was two items, however nothing could ever be simple. The line for both the cashier and bath room winded through the small store. After finding the cheapest motor oil she could, Lauren looked for the second item on her list, chapstick. Her lips had been burning and peeling for hours now. She scanned the small section of health care products. She spotted chapstick, but kept scanning in hopes there would be more than one option, for the option she found was Dill Pickle flavored. She would never be that desperate. Somehow she wasn't surprised about her discovery of this chapstick. She got in line and waited. Michael entered the store. "It's transmission fluid. But you still need oil." He looked near the automobile products for the fluid but there was no luck. He exited and Lauren was left in line with nothing to do but wait and replay the evenings events in her head one more time. The oil had been poured into the car and they were on their way once again. The sun had gotten extremely hot, and Lauren was beginning to regret her decision to wear sweatpants, black sweatpants at that. Michael drove steadily through the countryside until they reached his old stomping grounds of Boulder. "Want subway," he asked as he looked towards the passenger side of the car. Lauren had kind of been craving breakfast, however with it being 11:30 she thought lunch was a better choice. "Sure." Once back in the car yet another time, they continued to drive past farms and barns. They were headed back towards Denver where they would find an auto parts store to buy some transmission fluid. Autozone had suggested, what seemed at the time to be a great idea, getting a sealing compound and some thicker transmission fluid. The two thought that maybe this wouldn't be such a difficult fix after all. They were both hoping for at least something to tide Lauren over till she could get the car in on Tuesday after work. After unloading the car, Michael instantly tried to fix Lauren's car. Lauren offered her assistance, but she knew Michael had it covered. She watched him lay on a scrap piece of carpet and begin to work. She liked this "handyman mechanic" look for Michael. He popped his head back out. "Well, I can't get it to stop leaking long enough for the seal to hold. This isn't going to work." They sat on the curb and considered their alternatives. Draining the transmission completely and allowing the seal to take before they filled it back up was the leading option. However, Lauren knew that Michael had important things to work on for his business, and didn't want to be the reason for him not getting things done. Not to mention, neither of them were sure that this option would even work. It was inevitable that Lauren would have to take the car in, so why spend more money before then. She nixed the idea and instead just asked Michael to put in the transmission fluid they had already purchased. Being the gentleman that he is, Michael obliged. They sat on the curb a long while just talking and enjoying being outdoors. Lauren didn't want to leave Michael's company. Both were content doing just what they were doing. After Michael could procrastinate no longer, he said he would have to get to work. The two shared a long hug, looked at each other, and smiled. "I'm sorry," Michael said for what seemed like the 50th time. "Im not worried about it," Lauren reassured. "It's not the end of the world." "You never know," Michael said with a smirk. "Right, I don't. My car may control the world and have the power to end it just like that." She giggled. "But really I'm not worried about it, it'll work out. We'll have to get out off-roading! Don't forget! "I won't, sounds good," Michael replied with a big grin this time. Lauren plopped down in her car and watched him walk away. She let out a deep sigh, turned on the car and drove away. On her drive home she thought to heself about the good time they had. She loved having an adventure to call their own. She got excited with anticipation about the next one... off-roading.