Runaways- Runaways 1

Chapter 25: Luke

We'd gone nearly fifteen miles since we'd gotten up this morning. Everyone was strangely quiet. Even Marcus didn't seem to be in the mood to talk. I didn't really mind. I liked being able to observe our surroundings. We were making our way through a more populated area.

Aaliyah had said earlier that the population of Orange Springs, Florida was just over 7,000. Walking through the town though, you may have thought it was much less. Everything seemed old and rundown. We hadn't been through an area yet that seemed to have avoided the depression. It was a little crazy to think that this was actually worse than the Great Depression, especially since it seemed more widespread. Throughout Florida, at least.

"Any idea how much farther until we reach Lake Apopka?" I asked tentatively. The silence was fragile and tense, and I hated to be the one to break it.

Eli shook his head. "Not sure exactly, but somewhere around a three-day walk at the rate we've been going." I nodded and the silence returned.

I wiped the sweat from my brow. It was ninety-one degrees, but the humidity had soared to almost 100%. I was tempted to take off my shirt since I was wearing jeans. I didn't though. Something told me that doing so would break the silence again and not in a good way. Instead I just rolled the short sleeves up so that it looked like I was wearing a tank top.

We weren't walking in single file this time. We were more spread out, but not in a line. It was more of a scattered clump. I was near the back as usual with Eli to my left and Marcus just in front of me. Peyton was leading and Aaliyah was to her right. It was strange.

"Hey," Eli said quietly, turning toward me. He slowed his pace so that we drifted apart from the group a little bit. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

I was taken aback by the question. I tended to keep to myself most of the time. We didn't have a close relationship like what had been developed between me and some of the others. "Uh, sure."

"Is Marcus your first, um, relationship?" he asked.

"Yeah," I replied. I was still confused. "Why?"

"Oh, I was just wondering. I mean, Peyton is my first real one and we've only been together for a little over a week, but I feel like we've spent more time together than I ever spent with any of my friends back home. And I'm in love with her, but she—something was—gosh, I don't know." He kicked the dirt, frustrated.

"What's up? Is there something going on?" I questioned.

"Have you ever been cheated on? Oh wait, who am I kidding, you and Marcus are crazy for each other and if you were never with anyone else then I would think not. Shoot, I don't know where I'm going with this. Never mind."

I was shocked. I knew what he was getting at. I just didn't see Peyton as that kind of person. I knew she'd been a little mean to Marcus back at the very end of their little thing, but I thought she was a good person for the most part. Maybe he was mistaken. From what I'd seen, Peyton was pretty smitten over Eli for the time being.

"I see what you're getting at," was all I said. "What happened?"

"God, I don't know. I don't know what I'm talking about. It was cloudy last night. I didn't know what I was seeing. And I was exhausted. I don't know. I just needed to tell someone about it. Sorry. Because if it did happen then that would mean she wasn't only a cheater but a flat-out liar too. To all of us."

He had to be drawing irrational conclusions. I didn't think she would do anything like that. And for him to say she was lying to all of us? Perhaps that was a little extreme. I just nodded though. I understood the need to tell someone something like that.