Chapter Seven
[Y/N POV]
"We thought it'd be fun
We thought we'd be safe, but...
We didn't realize the... horror waiting for us on the island.
Claws, teeth, screaming...
So much screaming..."
"How much screaming?" Ben cuts Darius' story mid-way in pure fear, clutching onto my arm tightly.
"Shh! He's getting to the good part." Kenji shushes.
"The T. Rex stalked closer. Her jaws opened wide-"
A flash of light interrupts Darius from Brooklyn's camera.
"What? Huh?" Kenji irritatedly turns to the girl.
"It's for the vlog. Just continue and ignore my flash."
Darius sighs.
"Oh, here we go!" Kenji leans forward in anticipation.
"The T. Rex sta-"
"Darn it! Out of space." Brooklyn says, staring at her phone with a frown.
"Ugh!" Kenji groans, leaning on me dramatically. I shrink back, uncomfortable with him being this close, and Ben pushes him off me, glaring deeply.
I give Ben a smile of thanks, and he grins back slightly, his face softening just for me.
"Wait, I'm sorry. Hold on. I just don't want to delete my picture on Everest, you know." Brooklyn says nonchalantly.
"Maybe I should start over." Darius sighs, taking off his hood.
"No! In fact, you can just stop!" Ben cries, his grip tightening painfully.
"Dude, chill. He's not even telling the story right now." Kenji rolls his eyes.
"So the T. Rex stalked--"
"Shouldn't we call Yasmina over?" Sammy cuts in brightly, making Darius groan and lie down on the log he's been sitting on. "I bet she'd love this story."
"Maybe she wants to be alone." I carefully phrase, thinking of the time when I had no friends. That was before I met Ben. And I'm still so happy that he's my best friend, throughout thick and thin, high and low.
"I don't understand." Sammy frowns.
"Sometimes, people just want to be left alone." I explain patiently.
Sammy chuckles. "Y/N, you're hilarious."
"I am?" I mumble to myself and frown.
"I think she's just shy, and doesn't know how to make camp friends." Sammy says brightly.
Thunder crashes loudly, making Ben jump, the top of his head hitting my chin. I yelp in pain and shock, and Ben starts to apologize a million times.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
I sigh, rubbing the sore spot. "It's okay, Ben. It was just an accident." I reassure him, seeing how upset he is. He looks close to tears.
Kenji gives us a disgusted look, muttering, "crybaby." under his breath, and I scowl at him, wanting to hit his smug little face.
Yup, I have temper problems.
"Maybe we should go inside." Sammy suggests, seeing my triggered expression.
I begin to shiver in the cold, my white sweater getting soaked in the rain, and Ben notices this. Along with the shame in his eyes, I see concern flash in them as lightning lights up the sky.
"Come on, Y/N. We gotta get you inside before you catch a cold." He mumbles, worriedly pulling on my arm as we stumble up the stairs.
"Hurry!" Yaz yells
"Aw, man!" Kenji yelps.
"Oh, it's coming down fast." Sammy observes sadly.
"Well that was a waste of time." Brooklyn says with a sigh.
When we reach the dry bunks, Ben sits me on his bed, and wraps a towel around me for warmth.
I smile at him gratefully as his worried eyes meet mine. "Thanks, Ben."
Honestly, I don't know what I'm thinking but I press my lips to his cheek as a sign of gratefulness.
I'm pretty sure that friends don't do that, but I just really want to show him that I'm so thankful for him, and words won't do that very well.
To my slight amusement, Ben's whole face and even his neck turns crimson, and he looks away immediately, touching the spot on his cheek with a careful finger, caressing it in disbelief.
For the rest of the night, Ben doesnt wipe or wash his face, even if it's dirtier than the other days.
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Mostly a filler chapter, but hey! It did have the brilliant campfire story of Darius.
As a little plus, here's a meme I found (credit is not mine)!
PS: Thanks for the 100+ reads and 7 votes!
With love,
-Spikey