Hi! This story is still alive and written by me, so here comes chapter number 3. I hope you will enjoy it and have fun while reading ;-)

On the day that, according to their invitation tickets, their camping trip was supposted to begin, Sam got up early enough to pack and get to the bus stop at the agreed time, where he was to meet his friends to ride together to Newtown, where they would get more information than what was written on their tickets. From what Sam had learned so far, from Newtown they still had to take a train to Oldtown, and only from there they would walk to the beginning of the path that would lead them from one campsite to the next until they turned around and finished their vacation.

Repeating the plan of the trip to himself, he blindly walked all the way to the bus stop. The sun was just rising, although he realized that it was still relatively dark around him when he managed to sit down on a bus stop bench that was wet with dew. Without thinking, he reached into the side pocket of his backpack and pulled out a torch. He silently thanked himself that it hadn't occurred to him to put it inside his backpack among the rest of his things. Then he would definitely be sitting in the dark.

With the light on, he immediately felt more confident. He had never been afraid of the dark, but he couldn't remember ever sitting at a bus stop at such an hour with his backpack packed to the brim. In order not to fall asleep, he began to shift the flashlight from hand to hand without thinking, at least until someone's loud protest stopped him in his tracks.

"Sam, don't shine it in my eyes," Penny groaned, covering her eyes with her hand.

"Sorry," Sam replied immediately, ashamed, lowering the flashlight so that its beam of light now illuminated the pavement beneath his feet. "We're alone for now," he informed simply as Penny sat down on the bench next to him.

"Did you get the time wrong, as usual?" Penny asked him teasingly, showing him the screen of her phone.

"Oh no!" Sam sighed, covering his face with his hand in embarrassment when Penny couldn't hold back her laughter any longer.

"I thought I'd be the first to come, since I live the furthest out of all of us. You're the closest," she explained, but the cheeky smile didn't leave her face.

"You mean I could have slept in at least another half hour?" Sam, pausing, looked at her in surprise, only now realizing he had miscalculated.

"We both know that wouldn't happen, Sam," Penny patted his shoulder comfortingly. "You couldn't sleep, because being ready for action would successfully keep you awake."

"How do you know me so well?" Sam asked curiously.

"You can't sleep a wink on the night shifts, no matter how long you're up on your feet," Penny explained briefly.

"You're watching me?" Sam asked, surprised.

"No," Penny replied with no less surprise, gently backing away. "It's just... It's hard not to notice the light on when you choose nights to finish up your backlog of reports."

"Sorry if I wake you, but, you know best that on the day shifts there's usually no time to deal with things like that," Sam tried to explain.

"I understand. I prefer to take most of my reports home and finish them there on my days off," Penny admitted.

"But you know that days off are for rest," Sam reminded teasingly.

"I know, smartass," she laughed dryly. "I was supposed to bring another folder of reports today too, but... they didn't fit in my backpack."

"What do you mean they didn't fit?" Sam asked, astonished. "Yours looks like it's half empty compared to mine," he joked, pointing to the two backpacks that were now standing next to each other.

"You only feel that way now because everything is organized and I put the softest things on top," she explained.

She was about to add something when they both froze as a shout reached their ears.

"Did you forget something?!" Ellie yelled teasingly at them before she even got close enough to talk to her friends.

"We happened to have everything, Ellie," Penny replied calmly. "You, Sam?"

"Everything checked three times," Sam replied, patting his backpack gently.

"You may have everything, but I wouldn't be surprised if Elvis forgot something," Ellie joked teasingly.

"I guess you have a chance to ask him yourself," Sam chuckled. "He's on his way over with Arnold."

The three of them turned their heads to wave cheerfully at their two friends who had just joined them.

"Hey guys!" Elvis called out excitedly before he even reached the bench.

"Did you get everything, Elvis?" Ellie asked him teasingly.

"Yes," he replied, confused. "You can check."

"I don't see you have a tent attached to the bottom of your backpack," Ellie pointed out.

"Indeed," Elvis mumbled to himself.

He began to rummage anxiously inside his backpack, still hoping that maybe he had hidden the tent there, but just as he was about to start pulling some of his stuff out of desperation, everyone heard the sound of the bus approaching.

"Sam... I guess I really forgot to bring a tent," Elvis admitted, tugging on Sam's hand to gain his attention.

"Oh, Elvis," Sam sighed, shaking his head weakly. "Oh well, we'll have to share. There's room for everyone," he consoled Elvis as they boarded the bus last. "Right, Arnold?" he asked, turning in his seat to look at the last of them meaningfully.

"No way, Sam," Arnold denied, emphasizing his disagreement with a wave of his hand. "Elvis hums his songs in his sleep. I can't stand it," he complained.

"There's no other way, Arnold," Sam sighed. "Our tents connected together will give us enough room. If it makes you feel any better, Elvis can take the place on my side," he suggested.

"If that's any consolation..." Ellie repeated after him. "I've got earplugs. I brought them in case I have to sleep in the same tent as Penny," she whispered, but quickly earned herself an elbow in her ribs from her best friend who happened to sit right beside Ellie.

"And why do we have to squeeze into the same tent and you don't?" Sam asked teasingly, smiling cheekily.

"We... have one tent and you have two," Ellie tried to defend herself, but it was obvious that Sam's idea made her nervous. Penny, on the other hand, was clearly not going to help her, because she was having a hard time holding back her own laughter. "You could help me Penny," Ellie gave her friend a nervous look.

"How?" Penny replied innocently, shrugging as she finally managed to control her laughter.

"Penny's right," Sam immediately got back on topic. "There are three of us, so it makes sense that we won't fit in one tent. There are only two of you, so one tent should be enough for you," he stated.

"But... mine is small," Ellie thought in her nervousness.

"But Penny has a big one. I know because I lent it to her," he explained, crossing his arms. He winked at Penny, which finally annoyed Ellie.

"You planned this ahead of time, didn't you?" She glared at them.

"How were we supposed to know that Elvis would forget his tent?" Penny asked, defending herself and Sam.

"That wasn't hard to predict," Ellie complained. "Elvis always forgets things."

"Hey, I'm still here," Elvis admonished her.

"Ellie, whether you like it or not, the situation is what it is," Penny said calmly, shifting almost imperceptibly to get in the line between Ellie and Elvis. "Sam and Arnold have to share their tents with Elvis, so we have to deal with it," she explained. "Unless you'd rather I give mine to you and Arnold?" She added teasingly.

"What?" Ellie looked at her with horror in her eyes. "I guess I'd rather have you repeating the name of a certain someone in your sleep," she gave in, but she couldn't resist teasing Penny.

"Ellie," Penny hissed in warning, but Sam's question made her freeze.

"I wonder who?"

"Actually..." Ellie began, wanting to seize the opportunity that was forming, but Penny managed to snap out of her shock just in time.

"Nobody," she responded, firmly pressing Ellie's foot, so she hopefully understood that it was none of her business. "Did anyone take the map?" she asked, changing the subject.

"I have one, and I gave Sam the other," Arnold assured. "Did you take it, Sam?"

"Yes, yes," Sam replied thoughtfully, but he didn't turn his head to confirm his words with a look.

He continued to stare out the window, trying to control his emotions. It had been a long time since he realized that what he felt for Penny was much deeper than just a friendly friendship. Penny had always understood him without words, but he couldn't understand why he was never able to open up in her presence. And situations like this, when he had to pretend to be indifferent when Penny was clearly hiding something from him, only made his fear of failure grow. So he closed himself off even more, now staring out the window and trying to see the answers he so desperately needed.

They spent the rest of the ride exchanging observations about the instructions they had received before leaving the fire station last time, the equipment they had packed, but when they started joking, Penny also broke away from them. Like Sam before, she leaned her head against the window and looked out into the darkness. She couldn't see anything, but she had a feeling that even that calmed her down. In moments like this, she regretted not delving deeper into psychology and ways of reading people. She hadn't had the courage to open up to Sam before, but seeing him so lost in thought made her wonder if maybe Ellie was right. After all, she had been telling her for years that they both looked like the time they had spent together meant a lot to them, but at the same time, they couldn't talk to each other openly. And only Penny knew how true that was. She was afraid to tell Sam how she really felt about him, and not knowing what he thought about her made her not want to risk it. Lost in these thoughts, she began to stare even more closely at the lights of Newtown, which they were approaching.