Chapter 115: Hiking with Analise (11)
"Do you want chicken curry with rice, or beef stew with sweat potatoes?" he asked.
"Um, can I have the curry?"
He handed her the packet along with a spoon. Picking up the other packet, he showed her how to gently massage the packet to make sure the water was spread evenly throughout the mixture. He also had several energy dense food bars, and he ate one while he waited for the food to finish soaking up the water.
Then, as they opened the packets, the smell of curry and stew wafted out.
She ate a spoon full, then said, "Mmm, this is good! It’s almost as good as what you can get at a restaurant."
"Yep. I like this brand. Pretty much all their freeze-dried meals are good."
They ate in silence, just enjoying the sun, cool breeze, and birdsong. In the background, they could also hear the faint burble of the brook that was the runoff from the lake.
They’d finished eating, and he was packing the empty, resealed food packets back into his backpack when Analise spoke.
"Um, did you mean it when you said you’re my boyfriend? Does that mean I’m your girlfriend?"
She sounded worried, hopeful, even a little desperate. He was beginning to think that maybe her past experiences had included many cases where guys dumped her after having sex with her once.
"Yes, Analise. I’m not going to push you away just because we had sex. I like you and think we can get along well together. So I see no reason to not consider us boyfriend and girlfriend."