PJ had been awake for quite some time before Ella had risen. It was nearing noon, but it had been just as hot all morning, preventing him from sleeping later than eight o’clock. He had quietly exited the tent that he and Slade had occupied, and had spent most of the morning wandering. He knew not to near the public campground, as they weren’t registered and although it was very crowded during this holiday weekend, he didn’t want to take any chances. He was a criminal, after all.
He had come across a clear river on his walk, only about three feet deep and barely rocky. Even if it hadn’t been clean, the sun was scorching his body and he would have drunken the water anyway. In fact, he probably still would have slipped off his white wife-beater and stepped into the river in his freshly stolen American flag swim trunks, if the water was dirty as well. It was just too hot not to, and as PJ allowed himself to slowly slip into the cool water, he knew that he wouldn’t be getting out for a while. This was the first sort of bath he had taken in over a week, and man, it felt good.
After nearly three hours in the water, PJ had pulled his relaxed body away from it and began back towards their campsite. His feet were bare; something that he regretted after stepping on so many sticks and rocks, and even though he hadn’t dried off after stepping out of the water, the sun had still dried him by the time he had spotted the two black tents.
Ella was standing outside of one, along with two of the other girls; Riley and Jaq. He gave Ella a nod as a greeting and didn’t bother looking at the other two as he walked back towards his tent and slipped on the navy blue sandals that lay outside of it. PJ wasn’t normally a sandals guy, as he preferred Vans, but those weren’t going to do him any good if they were heading down to the beach for a relaxation day. He couldn’t help but to smile as he imagined the loads of food being cooked on barbeques, the people too giddy to notice him stealing some. It was going to be great, but Ella was right. They still needed to make sure that their girls kept their mouths shut. They had done a good job so far, but he didn’t trust any of them.
One of the girls spoke, and as PJ glanced in the direction, he saw that it was Riley, the youngest of the bunch. “You can go pull a fish out of the river back there,” he said, pointing into the forest, “cause you aren’t gettin’ anythin’ else for a while.”