CHAPTER 26
"Erìhe look!"
Erìhe stumbled backwards slightly as she turned her gaze up, toward the tops of the trees. Neteyam stood on one of the branches as he waved down at her. It was eclipse by now and they had all been at the party for enough time to all be in slightly drunken states.
Or more than slight.
"Neteyam," Erìhe gasped dramatically as she placed a hand on her mouth - as if she had forgotten that he was from a forest clan and could easily climb any tree on this island.
"Oh great mother," Aluva - who sat on the ground by Erìhe's feet - mumbled just as dramatically as she too looked up at Neteyam. "He will die!"
Ao'nung waved her off as he blinked slowly, "He will not die, skxawng." He was not as drunk as the four girls, but he could not hide his tipsiness.
"I'll go save him," Níawi said determinedly as she pushed herself to her feet with the help of her hands. "He will not die today!" She declared while making her way over to the tree with unsteady steps.
"I better go make sure that she does not die today," Riik'o hiccuped as she stumbled after her friend.
Erìhe's hands rested on her hips as she squinted up at Neteyam. He was not that high at all. He stood on one of the branches, smiling and waving at her - only at her.
Unlike all her friends who had been sitting around on the ground, Erìhe refused to do so. She was determined to prove that she was not drunk and that she was in much better condition than all of them.
But this was her first time ever having alcohol and her tolerance was considerably lower than anyone else's. She had drank much less than them too.
"Sit down next to me," Ao'nung said as he lifted his hand to hold onto hers before pulling her down.
With messed up balance, it was no surprise when Erìhe stumbled right on top of Ao'nung. Even as she almost sat on his lap, she only sighed and did not move. "Look what you did," she complained, letting her hands fall limply on her thighs.
Aluva laughed loudly at the two, making Ao'nung blush even more than he had been. The alcohol combined with the fact that Erìhe was so close to him had caused him to turn red - and now the humiliation just added onto that. "Go away," he pushed Aluva, making her fall back while still laughing.
Grinning, she sat back up, "Alright, I'll leave," she winked poorly before holding onto Ao'nung's head to help her to her feet.
Ao'nung groaned as he swatted her hands away from him. As they looked after Aluva, he wrapped an arm around Erìhe's waist as he tiredly rested his chin on her shoulder. The two were sat on the ground - Erìhe just mere inches in front of him, her back brushing against his chest.
They both watched as Aluva walked over to her friends. Neteyam was laughing as he watched Níawi trying to pull herself onto the branch while Riik'o did her darn best to help push her up.
By then Ao'nung had managed to get a hold of Erìhe's hands, and he looked down at them. "Who's this bracelet for?" He asked as he toyed with the bracelet she had made.
Erìhe grinned as she peeked at him from the corner of her eye, "Not for you."
"Ouch," Ao'nung said dramatically, letting go of it, "Who then?" He looked back at her.
Erìhe glanced back at her friends. By now Neteyam had stopped laughing at Níawi's attempts to get onto the branch and had instead helped Aluva onto the branch so they could both make fun of her poor tries. "Me," she told him, "It's mine."
Ao'nung simply hummed as he turned his head to see her face better. It was getting dark so the more sober teenagers had started fires. The flames gave light to the side of her face that Ao'nung was admiring. He lifted a hand to her nose and gently brushed his finger over her scar. He'd never noticed it before - despite it being rather noticeable even in the dark.
"How did you get that?" he asked as he withdrew his hand, placing it on the ground and leaning back to better look at her.
Erìhe nodded her head toward the tree where Neteyam stood. He was not looking over at them just then, as he was too busy making fun of Aluva and Níawi who failed to remain balanced on the branch.
"That idiot pushed me out of a tree as kids," she rolled her eyes. Despite her being quite traumatized about it as a child - it was one of Erìhe's favorite memories. It was the day that her and Neteyam had really grown close. That day they had been crafting necklaces together - or Neteyam had. She'd just watched as she sucked at it so much that Neteyam would not let her touch the necklace.
She had cried, so he'd given it to her.
Then later that same day he'd accidentally or on purpose pushed her down from a tree and she'd never forgiven him. Still - she'd kept the necklace and worn it every day until she was twelve.
After that Neteyam had become annoying to the point that she refused to even look at the necklace he'd made her.
Ao'nung snorted - bringing Erìhe back to the present. "That's awful," he laughed, "Siblings suck. I have a scar from where Tsireya bit me when she was a baby - I was only one at the time then as well." He pointed to a scar on his arm as he grinned. "But it makes me look cool."
Erìhe laughed, but there was something she felt the need to say, "Neteyam is not my brother, though."
Ao'nung nodded, "I know. I just mean it in a different sense - like you consider him as a brother and he-"
"I don't consider him as my brother," she shook her head.
Ao'nung fell silent. He studied her face for a while - wondering what it could mean. Erìhe seemed oblivious to any thoughts that he may have about her and Neteyam, as she kept smiling at him expectantly - as if expecting for him to say something.
Ao'nung brushed off any odd feelings he had about the two as he looked into her eyes. It was probably the alcohol or his tiredness - or just Erìhe herself - that made him cup her cheek and lean in.
Erìhe was surprised when his face suddenly got closer, but she did not stop him or lean away. It had been a while since she'd kissed anyone, and honestly she kind of wanted to know what kissing Ao'nung was like. After all, everyone said he had a lot of dating experience, so that could only mean that he was good at kissing, right?
Her eyes closed when his lips crashed down onto hers. It was not a sweet kiss - actually, Erìhe would not call it a kiss at all. They were making out. That's what they were doing.
Erìhe turned her body to properly face him, her hand traveled upwards to hold onto his chin. All consciousness had completely evaporated from them both as they kissed each other greedily. Neither of them were aware that they were kissing in front of at least forty other teenagers - and they both seemed to forget that their friends were not a long distance away.
Ao'nung's hand rested on her thigh and the other on her cheek as he tilted his head to kiss her deeper.
"What the hell?"
They heard the clatter of a cup on the ground and broke apart to look up at Riik'o staring down at them with her mouth hanging wide open.
Ao'nung grinned as Erìhe scrambled to put distance between them. She covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide and disbelieving. She couldn't not believe she'd just done that. Why did she do that? Why would she kiss Ao'nung?
Her eyes shot to the branch. Oddly enough, she was glad to see that Neteyam was still over there with Aluva. He had not seen her kissing Ao'nung. She was relieved that he was unaware - but also unexplainably guilty.
Looking behind Riik'o, Erìhe could see Níawi standing there - looking just as shocked as her friend in front of her. Then she started laughing, "You kissed Ao'nung?" She snickered.
"Shh!" Erìhe hurried to her feet and covered her friends mouth.
Níawi and Riik'o nodded. "This is a secret?" Níawi asked.
When Erìhe nodded slowly, Riik'o placed a hand on her chest in a formal matter, "I swear to never tell anyone."
Erìhe was glad they wouldn't. And she also knew that they would not remember.
She prayed that Ao'nung would not remember this either. But judging by the smile he gave her, it was going to be difficult for him to forget.
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A/n:
I love Ao'nung. There's no excuses for this chapter.
Also I hate horror movies like I get so scared so easily but I'm still forcing myself to watch all the scream movies because Jack Champion duh - and many of you guys will probably say it's not scary but I am scared SHITLESS
also yes I should instead be studying for exams