Lyra-
My eyes fluttered open. The ground underneath me was hard and cold but I didn't feel the chill. When my vision adjusted, I found myself nose to chest with Nathan. I groaned, how many times was this going to happen?
I was totally curled up against him, pressed against his chest for warmth. It got chilly last night but not as cold as it usually was. Both of his arms were wrapped around me tightly and my legs were firmly intertwined with his.
I put my hand on his chest, privately enjoying the warmth and muscle, and pushed myself back as far as he would allow. Nathan's eyes blinked open and a cocky smirk played on his lips.
"This is becoming a habit," he grinned lazily at me.
"I know," I sighed.
"Well I like it," he confessed with a shrug. I did too, but I'd never admit that.
I rolled my eyes, "Well you can let go now. We have traps to check and furs to tan."
"You're going to work so hard you'll run yourself into the ground. Just sit still for a minute and relax. Enjoy. Indulge. Of all people, you deserve it," Nathan leaned down, making us nose to nose. I blushed stupidly at our proximity.
"I did say I hate sitting around, didn't I?" I smirked and pulled away, sitting up and trying to fix my unfixable hair. Baine yawned a few feet away and disappeared to do his business.
Nathan exaggerated a sigh and rolled into a sitting position, "Yes you did"
"Good, now let's go see if we have any-"
"No no, you should stay here."
I stopped walking to the cave and looked over my shoulder "Um, why?"
"You just got over that...flu or whatever that was. Just take one more day to rest," Nathan stood up and stood in front of me.
"That was hardly the flu," I said skeptically.
"It still knocked you down. Relax today and build yourself back up. I'll even stay away for a bit so you can take another shower or whatever," he chuckled.
"Nate I've been sitting on my butt long enough. I'm fine now," I said while holding back a cough. Seriously, I was fine. I felt perfect.
"Lyra-... Lyra....what's your middle name?" He pointed at me. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Jay. Lyra Jay Kellie," I crossed my arms.
"Jay, wow, that's pretty. Lyra Jay Kellie, I'm telling you that you need rest! Please? You don't have to sit in the cave all day but just don't exhaust yourself," he pleaded. I couldn't tell if he was ordering or begging me.
Did he forget who he was talking to? I prepared myself for a sassy argument I knew I would win but stopped when I looked him in the eye. His soft green eyes gazed down at me, reminding me of a kicked puppy. I pursed my lips and tried to look away.
Sadly, he caught on and widened his big green eyes, cartoonishly sticking out his bottom lip.
I bit my lip and tried to tear my gaze away but I was absolutely locked with his gaze.
I groaned and Nathan pumped his fist in the air, "Yes!"
"Fine. I'll stick around here but I'm not doing just nothing, okay?" I mumbled.
"Deal. Now I'm gonna go check the traps and get some wood. I'll be right back," he saluted me, snatched up his jacket, knife, boots, and the hatchet before triumphantly walking out of the valley.
I laughed at him before ambling to the river to retrieve the pelts. Carefully poking holes around the edges of each, I strung them up on their frames tightly to dry and scrape later. I changed into new clothes, wearing only a T-shirt and jeans because it was nice outside. I stayed barefoot, because I love it and because the moss, grass, and dirt felt good to run across.
Since it was still warm, I got out my fishing stuff and jumped onto my favorite rock after tying the bright red feather to the hook. The trout raced with each other and enjoyed scooping up unsuspecting minnows.
I quickly caught their attention with the feather and soon had about four strung through the gills beside me.
"Honey I'm hooommeee!!" Nathan laughed, a very large log on his shoulder and some animals hanging from his belt.
I laughed and looked over my shoulder, "How'd we do?"
"No rabbits. But hey, I got two minks and a squirrel. And I saw a fox," he shrugged, dumping the log effortlessly by the rotting tree trunk we used as a platform to split wood. A fox huh? Finally another predator spotted.
"Well I've got breakfast," I smirked and pulled in yet another fish.
"I'll start up the fire, I'm starving!" He grinned and poked at our little fire on the ground from last night.
I brought over the fish and grabbed the pan from the cave. Nathan quickly filleted them, tossed the scraps to Baine and threw them into the pan. Baine got two fish to himself, as did I and Nathan got three.
We happily munched on our breakfast and listened to the birds sing.
"Say Jay, didn't you say something about tanning some skins?" Nathan grinned.
"Jay?" I giggled and raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah Lyra is too formal now. We're besties! Besties gotta have nicknames. Nate, and Jay. The best wilderness team ever," he exclaimed boyishly, waving a fish bone around.
I laughed, "Besties?"
"We are besties aren't we?" He suddenly pouted.
"Sure Nate," I grinned and he smiled back. I haven't had a best friend in a while. My old ones were forgotten.
He turned and stuck his tongue out at Baine, "Ha!"
I rolled my eyes at his immaturity and ate the last bit of my fish. Licking my fingers, I got up and started to drag the frames over to our little camp fire.
Tossing the smallest to Nathan, I grabbed two rocks that I'd fashioned for scraping the thickest layer of skin and fat away.
They were oval shaped, large at the top and slowly got skinner to form a flat edge, forming a perfect scraping tool. This wouldn't take long today at all.
I handed one to Nathan, "Know how to tan a hide?"
"No.." He grinned sheepishly.
I sighed, "Okay here, I'll teach you. So we need to scrape the first layer off. Be gentle but firm."
I started at the top of the deer skin and pulled it down with pressure, uprooting little flecks of skin and was soon almost done.
Nathan copied me, but with a little too much pressure.
"Whoa, not so rough," I laughed, "Easy"
He gave me a skeptical look. I rolled my eyes and scooted over to him. Putting my hand over his, I helped him scrape with the right pressure so he didn't put a hole through the hide.
"See it's not that hard," I smirked and turned to look at him. I didn't exactly realize how close we were, but I sure do now.
Nathan smiled at me, his green eyes burning into mine. Hyper aware that we'd stopped tanning and I was just sitting there with my hand on his like an idiot, I smiled timidly and pulled away.
"I think you've got it now..." I mumbled, looking back to my board.
Nathan blinked and shook his head, he nodded and started to scrape again.
"How long does this usually take?" He sighed.
"Three days if you work constantly. It takes time," explained.
He groaned, "That's like, forever!"
"So impatient," I chuckled and pulled my scraped skin off the frame to dunk back into the water.
Nathan groaned again behind me and I looked over my shoulder, "Scrape!"
He pouted but continued to finish tanning. I turned back to my pelt and bent over to situate it under some heavy rocks so it wouldn't float away.
I felt eyes staring at me, but ignored them and still scooted rocks over one end of the fur.
-------------
Nathan-
Jeans, of all things to wear today, it had to be jeans and she just had to bend over to mess around in the river.
I am such a perv, I thought, mentally kicking myself.
I really hoped my cheeks weren't red. Of course I wasn't really paying attention to what Lyra was saying when she was teaching me how to tan, I was more focused on her hand that was on mine.
I felt like a damn middle schooler. What happened to the suave, confident guy I used to be around pretty girls? Dunno, I guess I left him at my parents, I thought with a scowl.
I couldn't help but smile when she looked up at me so brightly. Even if there was a few stray hairs in her face or a smear of dirt on her nose, that just made her cute. And now here I am, shamelessly staring at her ass while she works. My mother did not raise me that way...
She stood upright to observe her work and wiped her hands on her pants, leaving a wet hand print on her left cheek.
Thoughts I didn't like flitted across my mind and I quickly tried to shove them away.
I couldn't think of her like that!
We were survival partners, not high school friends, although she was very easy to be around. For some reason, I quickly dubbed her a friend and, like a dumbass, I declared that we were best friends.
Good thing she laughed because I was about to die.
Lyra was...different. A friendly attitude and charm wasn't going to get me anywhere. But why did I want to leave the zone she'd placed me in?
Oh because she's funny, pretty, strong, determined, hard headed, cute, a damn good hunter- basically an amazing girl you thought you'd never find and now you want her because she's out of your league? My subconscious spat.
Was she out of my league? I looked back at her turned back, my eyes floating over her curves. She bent over again to adjust something. Yep, she's way out of my league....
I sagged at the thought. This girl was as rare as lightning in a bottle and I was about as common as the dirt I was sitting on. I was out in the middle of no where with a dynamite girl, alone, for a very long time, and I still had no game.
But I wouldn't dare, Lyra deserves respect.
All I needed to be here for would be to hug her when she needs me and protect her from anything that wants to harm her.
The thought of her getting hurt made my blood simmer. I'd already let her get sick. Who knows, maybe that could've killed her. What if it had been worse? It would've been all my fault because I was the one who let her out in the cold rain.
Then if she got hurt and I wasn't there?
Someone cleared their throat and I blinked. My eyes focused on whatever was in front of me, of course it had to be Lyra. And of course I had to be daydreaming while gazing into her cleavage.
"Wha?" I mumbled and forced myself to look up.Way out of your league son. Way, way out there.
"I asked if you wanted to take a walk?" Lyra giggled, "Or are you too busy daydreaming."
"Uh no, I've got game-er..I mean I'm game," I stammered and stood up quickly.
"Cool. It's getting too boring around here," she grinned. She called Baine and stuck her knife in the holster.
She threw her boots on before she grabbed my hand and started pulling me out of the valley. I was again baffled to why she was holding my hand, and damn near tripped. Picking up my pace so I wasn't lagging, I matched Lyra's speed as we darted through the crack. For a while, we jogged through the woods before we slowed down to walk.
"Where are we going?" I wondered out loud.
"Anywhere," she shrugged carelessly.
Comfortable silence stretched as we walked, listening to the birds chirping and the sounds of the forest. I have no clue how long we've been walking. I kept watching Lyra out of the corner of my eye. Her face was absolutely beautiful when she was taking everything in.
She looked at home and peaceful.
"Careful."
She pulled me back and I was knocked out of the haze. Looking around, I realized I'd almost walked straight into the ravine.
"Oops," I chuckled nervously.
"How far down do you think it goes?" Lyra wondered.
"Two hundred feet?" I shrugged.
She chuckled and pulled me along the side of the edge. We walked the length of the ravine before the woods cleared and we found ourselves sitting on a cliff. Lyra sat down, tugging me with her and inched to the edge to let her feet dangle off.
"Don't fall.." I said anxiously.
"Please, you wouldn't let me fall," she laughed as I scooted my legs over the edge.
Of course I wouldn't.
We looked down and saw the trees below. A creek cut through them from the mountains a long ways off.
"This is what I love about traveling," Lyra sighed wistfully.
I became aware that she was still holding my hand and had it in her lap, absentmindedly running her thumb over the top of my hand. I left it there, realizing she didn't even know what she was doing.
"Seeing all this?" I asked.
"Yeah. It's so beautiful. I've seen other mountains and sat on other cliffs but no two places are the same," She said as Baine snuffled around behind us.
"What if the geography is similar?" I asked. A cliff is a cliff right?
"Geography is just a word. The places may look the same but what makes them different is how each of them make you feel."
"Are you going to travel all your life?" I asked.
"No."
I was surprised by her answer to say the least.
"What? But it's like all you know, why would you ever stop?"
"Because I want a real home. I've been traveling for too long. All I've seen is people in their beautiful homes, " Lyra smiled, glancing up at me.
"What about-"
"My place in California is where my mother died. I'm never really there anyway. You would think that, with all the places I've been, I would have found a place I like by now. But nothing really sticks out to me. I'm waiting on something to stick out," Lyra shrugged.
Have you ever been to Texas? I wondered.
"I think you'll find a place eventually," I said truthfully.
"Yeah I hope so. I'm pretty done with traveling with just dad. I'm ready to move on but I can't just leave him. Maybe I'll go to college. I dunno. I'll take trips and have vacations but I don't know if I want traveling for a job like my father," She sighed, sounding stressed.
"You said it's all about what you feel right?"
She nodded and looked at me with her big doe eyes.
"Well...how do you feel right now?" I asked curiously.
She looked at me briefly before smiling and looking back over the forest.
"On top of the world, happy, safe, just awesome. I'm not as scared as I should be for a girl lost in the woods," she said casually.
"We're sitting the edge of a cliff and you feel safe?" I chuckled.
She shrugged again, "Just feel safe, dunno how and I don't really care."
"That's what's awesome about you," I blurted before I knew it. I need a filter.
"What?" She turned to me.
I wanted to punch myself in the face.
"Well....I mean think about it. We are stuck out in the middle of the Montana Rockies because our planes crashed. No ones going to be looking for either of us for a while. We're all alone and you're still happy. You smile everyday, you never looked worried, you just go with it, you laugh...you make me laugh, and when no one comes, you say, 'I'll take care of myself until they do.' I think that's really awesome for a girl alone in the Rockies," I grinned, hoping my cheeks didn't heat up.
Lyra laughed beautifully, "I'm not alone. I have you."
I think my cheeks are going to split if I smile any bigger.
Baine plopped down beside Lyra and she rubbed his head, "And you, of course."