La Douleur Exquise

Fourteen

Owen and Ritchie inevitably thought it was hilarious that I'd be sharing a double room with Darcie for the duration of camp, but I didn't find it funny at all. In part, I was cursing whatever I'd done wrong in a past life that I was now being punished like this, and also wondering if Darcie had packed any weapons. I wouldn't put it past her to bring an axe or something with her. Murdering me and then dismembering my body would be at the top of Darcie Scott's Bucket List.

Cackling over my predicament, my two friends began to make their way over to where Darcie was stood with Harlan. They'd stopped arguing now and were speaking in hushed tones, their eyes scanning the crowd every few seconds, almost as if they were hyper-aware of their surroundings. When Darcie's eyes caught mine, she stilled momentarily before snapping her head back to Harlan. Her lips moved, almost like she was speaking, but as I neared, I heard nothing come from her mouth.

"Have you heard?" I asked, not caring enough to greet my new roommate politely. 

"Heard what?"

"Guess not, then," Ritchie sniggered, earning himself the stink eye from the She-Devil herself. Despite wanting to come across as an Ice Queen, Ritchie was one of the few that really didn't care about Darcie and her attitude. If she looked at anyone else the same way she was looking at Ritchie- even Owen- they'd be crapping their pants by now. Ritchie, however, gave zero fucks about standing up to Darcie. "Let me enlighten you, sweetheart. Guess who you're stuck on a bus with for the next few hours?"

"The whole asylum?" Darcie's sarcastic tone bit back at Ritchie.

"True, but more specifically, who do you have to sit next to?"

I could sense from the way Darcie stood up straighter, her shoulders pulled back and a scowl on her face that she had tired rather quickly of Ritchie's teasing. If he wasn't careful, Darcie was about to raise Hell with him and that was not a scene I wanted to be witness to. "Ritchie, just tell me already before I decide to break your legs," Darcie hissed.

"Ew, no, broken limbs are so last year," Ritchie guffawed, swatting his hands through the air. Suddenly, he reached back to pat my shoulder while simultaneously pulling me forward and shoving me towards Darcie. "Congratulations, you've won yourself an all-expenses paid holiday with Nixon. Honeymoon room included. Yep, that's right- you two are bunking together. Enjoy the double bed, kids. And don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Groaning, I chance a look at Darcie, but to my surprise, she isn't looking at me with a murderous glint in her eyes. No, instead, she's looking at Harlan with a panicked look in her green eyes. I wasn't sure what was up with these two, but while we were all going to be at camp together, I was determined to find out what their deal with one another was. I knew that their relationship wasn't romantic in nature but for the life of me, I didn't know what was going on. 

Eventually, Darcie sighed and turned to me. "If you snore, I'll carve your eyes out with a twig."

Oh, yeah. Number One on Darcie Scott's Bucket List was definitely about to be ticked off.