"Alright!" Jordan stands up and claps his hands together, "who wants to come gather wood with me?"
The half circle of men sitting in lawn chairs responded with silence, with quiet snickering coming out of James.
"Oh, come on. Remember what I said about the buddy system? If I'm gonna get mauled by a bear, I don't wanna be the only one."
James scoffs, "huh, I don't think anyone would mind if you got mauled..." Ignoring James' comment, Jordan continued, "any volunteers?"
Aleks looked around, shrugged his shoulders and stood up. "I'll come with you, Jordan."
"Good, Aleksandr, c'mon we gotta hurry."
The rest of the guys - James, Dan, and Eddie - all jeer and make crude hand gestures as Jordan and Aleks walk alongside off into the woods. Aleks turns his head and scowls at them.
*****
"I think we're good, Aleks, you ready to head back to the site?" Jordan called out. It was getting dark and he was sure the rest of the guys were getting impatient. "Yeah, let's go." Aleks replied.
They walked side by side along the dirt trail in complete silence, nothing but the sounds of crickets and leaves crunching underneath their shoes as they walked.
Aleks wanted so badly to talk to Jordan. After all, Jordan was one of his biggest influences but Aleks knew no more about him than what you could learn by simply googling his name. This was one of the rare instances where they were completely alone with each other and Aleks didn't want to pass up the chance. Figuring out how to start the conversation was the worst part, his mind went off on a tangent thinking of things to say.
Uh, how are you? Nah - so... how bout this wood? What the fuck no - What ever happened to Tr4pville? Oh god no I shouldn't ask that. God damnit, Aleks —
"It smells so good out here." Jordan's voice startled Aleks out of his thoughts.
He blurted out a "huh?" and looked up at Jordan. He was dumbfounded, but grateful the other had said something lest he make a fool out of himself.
"The air, man! The trees, the dirt, everything. I love it," Jordan said lightheartedly.
Aleks balked and inhaled through his nose, "yeah, I guess... it's alright." Jordan cocked his head, "you don't get out much, do you?" Aleks' first instinct was to use a sarcastic tone as a defense, but decided against it. "Mmm no I don't, to be honest."
"Ah, you're lucky you're out here with me then." Jordan said half-seriously, with a smug tone in his voice.
Aleks laughed, "oh yeah? Why's that?"
Aleks had been so quiet this whole trip, to hear him laugh was a surprise to Jordan.
"I'd protect you! Y'know from a rabbit, a squirrel, a deer... Too dangerous for little ol' Aleksandr," Jordan gave him a big grin.
He couldn't tell if that was a sarcastic tone or a flirtatious one, rather than taking his chances, Aleks shot him a dirty look but that look quickly turned into him busting out laughing, "I can protect myself, you fuck! Who do you think you are, fucking Bear Grylls?"
"Koots Grylls does have a nice ring to it."
*****
They arrived back at the campsite, the guys all there to greet them. James lets out a loud laugh, "Pffft, that'll keep us real warm tonight." obviously referencing the small bundle of wood wrapped in string Aleks was holding under his arm. In comparision to the large bundles Jordan was carrying, Aleks knew he looked lazy but he didn't mind, it had only started bothering him when the other guys were teasing him about it.
Eddie chimed in, "Yeah, what's with the small wood? We're lighting a campfire, motherfucker, not a candle."
"Ha, small wood, I'm sure he's heard that one before," Dan snapped.
Aleks rolled his eyes and kept silent, better to not humor these fucks, he thought. The three guys walked off to the other side of the hill, cackling like hyenas.
Jordan waited until they were fully out of listening distance to say anything, as he knew they could come back to roast Aleks some more.
He leaned towards the shorter man with his head tilted down slightly and spoke under his breath, "It's okay, Aleksandr. We can use that for kindling." Standing so close to him, the bill of his red hat tapped against Aleks' forehead. Aleks' eyes flicked up to meet other's blue ones. Flustered, he tightened his lips but managed to crack a smile sheepishly. Jordan, in all his paternal obliviousness, smiled back at him. "Now do you wanna help chop all this?"
