Lacey

"I'm all about the popcorn," Sophie tells me before plopping next to me on the couch. "The perfect snack for this."

"No, the little shells get stuck in my teeth," I tell her, opting for a bowl of ice cream instead.

"Who cares? Just brush them out or something! Just don't take a selfie and no one will know."

"Oh my gosh, Soph! That's not why! Who cares about how it looks, it fricken hurts!" I laugh.

"True, true, but the buttery goodness is so worth the pain," Sophie says while grabbing a handful and then stuffs it in her mouth.

"Pig..." I tease, then take a huge spoonful of ice cream. "Yum, chocolate."

"Oink, oink, right back at ya!" Sophie laughs. "Haha, let's just get the episode started. I want to see the douche in his natural environment."

"I don't know, Soph. Maybe I shouldn't watch another episode so close to the trip. It might mess things up." Ever since meeting with his production crew, I had a bad feeling about everything I was planning. Worse than I had before the meeting, that is.

"Nah, what can it hurt. You already know the guy's a nut for the outdoors. Come on, let's watch."

"Fine." I concede. She pulls up his first episode, one filmed during the winter so they camped in the snow.

"Oh there is no way I'd ever do that. They must be crazy! It's so cold!" Sophie says.

"Truth. That's just beyond reasonable."

We watch as Travis comes into view at the top of a snow covered hill. He's dressed in full snow gear, goggles and all, and he's standing on a snowboard.

"Two days in the snow, boarding, hiking and freezing our asses off! I'm Travis Black, and this is Camping With Travis!"

He introduces his segment then takes off down the mountain as the camera man pans down the hill, keeping up with every twist and jump.

"It's a good thing you're doing the segment in spring,"  Sophie laughs. "Although, I wonder what crazy sport he'll plan for you!"

I just shake my head.

"I'll be spending the next couple days getting to know Jeff Nocks, YouTuber and fellow outdoor expert."

Travis walks over to the camp site and sits next to Jeff on a log, a campfire in the foreground but both guys look cold.

"Thanks for joining me, Jeff."

"Yeah, man, my pleasure."

"So, what got you started on vlogging about the outdoors?"

"Well, this is boring. No wonder he needed you on, bigger audience for him. Problem is, everyone will fall asleep," Sophie comments as the interview continues.

I almost give the guy the benefit of the doubt, it was his first ever episode after all. Part of me wonders if he's improved. But the other part of me is a little smug at how stiff he seems. I know my stuff is much better.

"Skip to the action scene," I tell Sophie. Travis sets up his show into four segments. Each camping trip becomes four episodes, and each episode focuses on a partial interview and one outdoor activity. This is according to the meeting I had with Mac and Joe.

"Absolutely. This guy is less interesting than peeling paint," Sophie says.

Again, I just shake my head. Yeah he's boring, and way too excited about being outside. And he seems like he's really into himself, a total douche. But Sophie was right about one thing earlier, he is kind of hot. More than I had noticed before.

Crap. This could be more trouble than I realized.

"Bro, you ready to kick things up a notch?"

Travis is seen with a pick ax and he's wearing some kind of spiked boots.

"Oh my God, is that what I think it is?" Sophie says. "They are rock climbing in the snow? That's gotta be dangerous."

"Spikes and a pick ax make it safer, haha," I say with no humor. I hate heights, and snow, and being cold and wet. That would be a nightmare for me.

"Did they say what you guys would be doing?"

I shake my head. "No, but they asked all kinds of questions about my experience."

"Or lack of experience," she adds. "Sounds like they were looking for weak spots they can exploit. This is serious, girl."

I shut off the website. "Well, too late now. Let's just pack up the stuff and go get our lattes. If I have to go two days without Starbucks, I need to load up now."

"Its two nights, babe..."

Crap. "Yeah, don't remind me."

^^^^^
Lacey's already having second and third thoughts about this. I wonder if it will all be worth it...

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