Lorelai stepped over a particularly thick tree root growing across the hiking path. Dirt was caked under her fingernails and the bug spray she had applied at the beginning of the day was starting to feel sticky and uncomfortable. She checked the GPS on her phone to gauge how close to the campground she was.

SimsFeed had rented her a space for her to camp out in a tent for three days. She was supposed to keep a vlog going throughout the trip and they would post it on the YouTube channel for the company. They get a good sponsorship from the company that made the camping equipment she rented, so she had to have at least a little fun.

Lorelai thought that a few days away from everything sounded nice. She had tried to talk to J right before she left, but he was still dodging her calls. She figured by the time she go back from this trip, her relationship would be effectively over.

Maybe it’s for the best, she thought. It wasn’t going anywhere, Dev was right.

Fish started barking and ran ahead of her into a clearing. Lorelai breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her campsite. She started pitching her tent and getting the campfire going. She’d been reading up on the finer points of camping to get ready for the trip. She didn’t want to look totally dumb in the vlog.

She smiled at the camera sitting up on the tripod. “See? It’s so easy, even I could do it!.”

A peg snapped out of the ground and hit her in the face.

“Mother fu-“

“Hey there! You need any help?” A chipper voice interrupted her frustration.

Lorelai looked up at the woman walking toward her. She was wearing a park ranger hat and a forced smile that made it seem like she had been helping people like her all day. “God, yes, I don’t know if you can tell, but I’ve never done this before.”

“You’re pitching like a professional.” She laughed. “I’m Tanvi, the local park ranger. Let me see your tent.”

She took the peg and hammer out of Lorelai’s hands and effortlessly pounded them into the ground.

“Thanks so much, I would have taken at least another twenty minutes.”

“No problem at all.” She waved goodbye. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

The sun had started to set, so Lorelai dug through the cooler and grabbed two hotdogs. She grabbed the camera and pointed it at the setup, showing off the final product.

“No problem, guys, these few days are going to be awesome.”

She stuck the hotdogs on the skewer and started roasting them. It was another first, but she was pretty sure she could handle it. It took two minutes for both wieners to burst into flames and get fed to Fish. Lorelai sighed and resigned herself to granola for dinner.

“This gets easier, right?” she asked Fish. “I’m not going to suck at camping for the whole three days.”

Fish looked up at her and wagged her tail.

“Thanks.”

She cleaned up the site and put out the fire before she headed into the tent. She slipped into the sleeping bag and tried to get comfortable. She was pretty sure that there was a rock under her and she could hear rustling from outside.

When she woke up, Lorelai could hear Fish barking outside. She jumped up and ran outside, worried that a bear had wandered into the campsite. She was sort of right, because when she got out of the tent, she saw what looked like some guy in a bear costume petting her dog.

“Uh, what are you doing?” She startled the costume guy.

“Sorry, I thought you went on a hike or something.” The voice in the costume was deep, with a slight hint of an accent. “This pretty girl looked like she wanted some company.”

“She is very friendly.” Lorelai laughed. “But seriously, man, what’s with the suit?”

“It’s part of the park’s bear awareness program.” His paws picked at the belly of the costume. “It’s embarrassing, but it keeps kids from running off into the woods.”

“Ah, okay, so it’s not like a… fetish thing?”

“No! No, of course not.”

“Well, that’s a relief. I wouldn’t want a weirdo being a bad influence on my dog.”

Fish started running around them and barking.

Lorelai bent down and scratched behind her ears. “I should feed her before she starts getting pushy, but it was nice to meet you, bear-man.” She winked.

“It’s actually Arnov,” he stammered. “I could swing by when my shift is over – suit less – and I could take you to my favorite part of the national forest. It’s a great place to pick herbs and see the local wildlife and stuff.”

“That sounds awesome.” She lied. “I’m Lorelai, by the way.”

Fish ran over to her bowl and started barking. Arnov waved and backed away toward the ranger station. Lorelai waved back and filled the bowl with the dry food that she had brought.

Then, she walked over to the grill, not bothering with the fire this morning. She had bought some fruit to grill for breakfast so she could balance out the s’mores she intended to scarf down tonight for dinner. Luckily, the fruit went better than the hotdogs and she scarfed down two plates before she was full.

She pulled out her camera and spun it around to film herself. “So, I woke up this morning with a guy named Arnov playing with my dog outside my tent. It wouldn’t have been noteworthy, except that he was wearing a full bear costume! Like head-to-toe bear.” She laughed, remembering the sight. “Granite Falls has a whole bear-awareness program to keep kids from getting eaten or something, but turns out that he’s nice. He offered to take me to do some outdoors-y stuff, so that could be really cool. So… yeah.”

She put the camera down, feeling a little silly. Lorelai didn’t feel totally comfortable vlogging herself yet, but hopefully it would start to come more naturally.

She played horseshoes until Arnov came back by the campsite, in normal clothes. Fish ran up to greet him, barking and wagging her tail excitedly. He took them on a small hike to a cabin in the Granite Falls Forest. They spent the day together, fishing, gardening, and cloud gazing. Arnov even taught her how to make an all-natural insect repellent. By the end of the day, Lorelai was having more fun than she had ever had in the wilderness.

“Thanks for that, it was fun.” She said as they walked back to the tent. “I would never have been able to do any of that without you.”

“It was my pleasure, you’re great company.” He looked like he was going to say something else, but something caught his eye. “Um, there’s someone standing by your tent.”

Lorelai glanced over an saw a familiar figure standing in her campsite. “Oh, come on,” she groaned. “I’m sorry about this, I have to talk to him, but I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” He walked off in the other direction, casting glances back toward the man waiting for Lorelai.

“J what the hell are you doing here?” Lorelai demanded. “Why would you just show up here after ignoring me for a week?”

He looked relieved to see her. “I wanted to apologize, but your phone was off.”

“Yeah, I’m in the forest, there’s probably no reception here.”

Fish sat in front of Lorelai, staring down J.

“I’ve been thinking about it – about us,” J said, “and I realized I don’t want to lose you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I was a jerk, and I hope you can forgive me.”

“Look, I just don’t think we’re going the same way in life. I like you, but you don’t want a future with me.”

J’s eyes filled with tears and his voice cracked, “I’m going to be better. Please, give me another chance. I love you.”

Her voice caught in her throat. She never thought that she would hear that from J, and now he was standing in front of her in the middle of the forest proclaiming his love.

Lorelai stared at him for a second, then she grabbed him and pulled him into a kiss. Her whole body flushed and she smiled.

“Want to take this to the tent?” J whispered over Fish’s barking.

Lorelai nodded. “But I don’t have anything… you know… protection.”

J swept her into a bridal carry. “It’ll be okay, I can’t have kids.”

She was shocked, but she let herself be carried to the tent.

When the sun came up, Lorelai was woken up by the shrill ringing of her phone. She fumbled around trying not to wake up J until she found her phone. Bella’s name glared at her from the screen. She slipped out of the tent to answer it.

“Bella?” she answered, her voice thick with sleep.

“I’m sorry to wake you, Lor,” she sounded panicked, “but I need to tell you something. It’s about J.”