A War of Guns and Roses

Chapter 22

In the morning, I felt well-rested as I woke up. My mood dimmed a little when I saw that the person beside me was missing, but so were half of the members in this tent.

I stretched and yawned as I lay back down and just stared up at the ceiling of the tent, pondering over life.

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Ivan greeted as he entered the tent. I grinned back at him. "C'mon. Everyone is out."

I reluctantly dragged myself away from the sleeping bag, where the warmth and scent of Xavier's body still lingered.

Walking out, I squinted in the sudden sunlight and looked around. Eva waved me over to where they were all gathered around and as I took a seat, I realized one person was missing.

"Where's Xavier?" I asked.

"First thing in the morning and that's what she asks," Eva laughed. "Don't worry, Elaine. He hasn't rushed for the hills yet. He excused himself to take a call."

I scowled at her and grumbled incoherent things under my breath.

Eva mockingly cupped a hand to her ear, "I can't hear you sweetie."

I stuck my tongue out at her, just as I felt someone take a seat beside me. I looked to my right and sure enough, I was met with Xavier's gorgeous face.

"Hey." I smiled at him.

He nodded back silently.

He was wearing a navy blue skin-tight shirt today, pairing it off with his signature black leather jacket and light colored slacks. His eyes were a lighter blue today, with grey at the edges.

Food was sent around and we all had our breakfast.

"Gather up kids!" Mr Collins called. "So today we planned on having a relaxing day so all of you can do whatever you want and yes, you can go exploring but come back before sunset. And you can have a dip in the stream nearby."

"Yay!" Cheers erupted.

"So what are we doing today?" I asked the group.

"We'll go swimming and then, we can maybe walk around for a bit. I don't know," Eva shrugged.

"I'm game with anything," Blake and Ivan said together and then glared at each other.

Rebecca laughed and said, "Yah, we can spend the day swimming and decide what we want to do later."

Xavier was the only one in the group who didn't contribute in the conversation in any way.

"Hey Elaine!" A voice said from behind me.

I turned around and grinned at the newcomer. "Hey Drewy." I teased.

He flicked my hair playfully and I scowled at him, fixing my hair again. "Oh, you did not just do that!" I shouted and started chasing him around the campsite, laughing.

"They look so cute together, don't they?" Eva cooed and everyone turned to give her a weird look but her gaze was focused on Xavier, an evil look in her eyes.

"Don't you think so, Rebecca?" She asked, analyzing Xavier's expression.

Rebecca went with the flow. "Oh yah! Andrew is going to win her heart over, that is if someone doesn't do anything about it." She said, cunningly.