Holiday Hearts (Vi x Reader)

Chapter 6 - Into The Woods

Walking to the forest took no time at all. This was mainly due to Vi's incredible walking speed. A walking speed that left me half jogging to keep up with her. However, Vi noticed my struggle to keep up with her, quickly apologising and slowing her pace to a more manageable one. An action my poor, unexercised legs were thankful for.

The forest itself was beautiful. All different shades of oranges, yellows and reds littered the tree's leaves as well as the floor below them. With the addition of green pines here and there.

My brand new boots did little to nothing in stopping me from losing my balance more than a handful of times. After the fifth time I nearly ended up on my backside, Vi laughed and said: "Didn't you say you grew up on a farm?" Her teasing smile gracing her lopsided lips.

At Vi's playful and sudden break in silence, my words get trapped in the back of my throat. A creeping feeling to hide away crawled its way into my hands, telling them to pull my hood up and hide. Embarrassment had always been a... friend of mine. With one thick swallow, I pray Vi didn't notice, I recompose myself. Swatting away the voice telling me to hide my face away.

"Just because I partly grew up on a farm, does not mean I have good balance." Vi looks at me as if to say, yeah, I can believe that. "Besides, I was never allowed to go to the woods on my own or with my friend."

"Wait. Really?" Vi says, eye brows knitting together and forming a crease just above the bridge of her nose. "Why not?"

"Because." I said while shrugging. "I was a girl. Girls aren't allowed to explore in the woods like boys are. Or so I was told." Vi's face quickly turns to disgust before a scoff makes its way into the fresh, cold air between us.

"Bull-shit. Who even told you that anyway?" Agitation and disbelief line Vi's every word. Two emotions we share on this particular matter.

"My dad, mainly. Although I don't think my mum would have been too happy about the idea either." I say, looking down at my feet and then kicking away a small stone. I watch as the stone rolls and bounces across the cluttered path. Eventually bouncing off the trail into a ditch.

"I guess it's a good thing they aren't here right now." My hard stare at the floor quickly turns upwards and to the woman next to me.

"What do you mean?" Vi, hands still in her pockets, gestures with one of them between me and the trees. The pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

"You're in the woods right now and unless I missed something, you still look like a girl to me." I look away from Vi and her stupidly charming smile to mull over what she's just said.

An amused puff of air flies out of my nose. "I suppose you have a point." I triumphantly say while looking back at her, a giddy smile accompanying my gaze. Yet, as I go to pull my eyes away, something stops me. Whatever it is stops Vi too. The two of us lingering a little longer than we should. Eyes studying the features of the other. That was until the sound of bushes rustling behind me alerts us both. Effectitly snapping us out of our trance. Heat crawls its way up the back of my neck.

Ignoring the heat coursing through my neck, I whirl around to face the sound. Vi does this same. However she takes a few steps closer to the bushes, placing herself between me and the mysterious noise. Her eyes are narrowed and her mouth is casted downward.

If I weren't too busy being worried over the possibility of some wild animal launching itself at us; I'd probably be a gushing mess over how protective Vi's being. At the thought of Vi trying to protect me the heat from my neck starts to rise towards my cheeks.

"Uh, shall we?" I quickly say, one hand gesturing towards the path ahead of us. It's a good thing I got those words out before they got glued to my tongue. Or my cheeks started to burn a deeper red than Vi's jacket.