Not Your Damsel in Distress

6

After Auberon and Charlene left the village they continued walking for nearly an hour before they finally felt it was safe for them to stop. Charlene felt bad because those were her people who were under supervision. She felt bad after talking to fairies, but seeing her people suffer and be supervised the way they were made her feel even more down. Auberon on the other hand felt... empty. People were staring at him, but... he felt nothing. He used to get stares of admiration, but these stars were different. He hated it.

"May I..." he said with a hoarse voice. After clearing his throat he began again, "May I have my coat back?" He looked at Charlene, whose head was turned in the direction of a hood. "Are you... smelling it?" he asked with a smirk on his face. It had been a while since that happened.

"No," said Charlene and threw the hood off her face quickly. Blush was clear on her face though. "That would be ridiculous."

"You like bakery?"

"So that's what it smells like," mumbled Charlene and blushed even further as she had just outed herself to have smelled the coat. "I shall keep it, thank you."

"No, you won't," said Auberon, his smirk turning into a small smile.

"But it's so soft!" exclaimed Charlene and wrapped her arms around herself.

Auberon laughed and grabbed onto the blue fabric. "I know! That's why I want it back!"

Charlene laughed and ran. "If you catch me," she yelled over her shoulder. She saw his reaction and decided both of them needed something to relax.

Aberon ran after her, sliding through the trees. "How old are you?"

"I have already told you!" yelled Charlene and jumped over a boosh.

"How can you run so fast?!" yelled Auberon and jumped over the same bush.

"I..." began Charlene and turned around to look at him, but he was gone. "Ronno?" she asked and stopped. She looked around, still with a smile on her face. "If you jump at me, I will scream!" Like on cue something pulled on her leg and tripped her so she landed on the floor, that was fairly soft because of the dry leaves covering it, yet she still felt the impact of the fall quite harshly.

Auberon climbed up and pinned her to the ground with one of his hands. "Got you." Charlene didn't respond and he panicked. He was supposed to save her, not hurt her! "Lenny?" he asked and let go of her hands.

At that moment Charlene opened her eyes and used her hands and leverage of her arms to roll them over so she was on top of him, pinning him down. "Rule of combat number 4: never let go of your opponent until you are sure they can't get you," she mumbled.

Auberon grunted but was unable to cover his laughter at the same time. "I won."

"You won?" asked Charlene with an unimpressed tone of voice and one of her eyebrows raised. "That must be why you are the one who is holding me down and not the other way around," she said sarcastically.

Auberon gave her a wide grin and his best bedroom eyes. "That's why I won."

Charlene realised what position the two were in and her face instantly turned red. She quickly picked herself up and helped him get up as well. "I apologise, that wasn't proper." She fixed a string of hair that fell on her face behind her ear and took off the coat. "Here. Thank you for landing it to me," she said with a forced smile.

Auberon hesitated and took it back. "My pleasure," he said with a wink.

"You just thrive in my embarrassment," mumbled Charlene, making him laugh again.