Aiden dunked himself into the clear water of the steam that fed the mud-pool. He had to find three of the small pools until he submerged himself and didn't make the water black. He used Evie's towel to dry off his face – his jaw felt raw when he dabbed it.
He dragged his feet on the way back to the course. Hugh and Lucas were racing each other, while Evie and Connor were tackling the climbing beams. He sat a point in the middle and checked the time.
The face of his watch was a spiderwebs of cracks. He clenched his jaw as a new surge of anger filled his chest. He held it up to his ear, but the familiar ticking had ceased.
He dried of off with the towel and put it back on his wrist. He'd get it repaired when he went back into town. It had been his moms before she'd passed away, and his dad would kill him if he came home with it broken. Aiden would keep it regardless, but it would be nice for it to be working.
Aiden wondered if Lucas could sense how pissed off he was right now, because he didn't approach him even once during the hours they were there. It was a smart choice, because the longer he sat there shivering the angrier he got.
If he'd been on this trip with anyone else, that wouldn't have happened.
Richard caught his attention from the edge of the woods and raised his hand. That the was 'time to go home' signal. It couldn't have come sooner.
"Okay" Aiden stood up, "Let's head back for dinner."
Hugh was lingering by the switch by the bridge. Aiden leaned against it and crossed his arms. "After you."
Hugh looked annoyed. "Pissy as ever."
"You're not pulling it on anyone." Aiden replied. Unlike Lucas, who interacted with him under the guise of friendship – Hugh was never subtle about his dislike. Aiden had heard enough fat-jokes and gotten enough pinches in the locker room from Hugh to know if the boy had dropped dead, he wouldn't care.
"Hurry up." Connor pushed Hugh towards the bridge, "I'm hungry."
Aiden glared at the back of his head, and only resisted pulling the lever because he didn't want to send Connor into the water as well.
He got permission from Mandy to skip dinner prep and take a shower. They weren't going to let him in while he was dripping wet anyway. He wished there wasn't a ten-minute limit on hot showers because he would have liked to spend at least an hour warming himself up.
His jaw was red, but it mostly just hurt.
He went out of the bathroom to find Lucas lying on his bed, tapping away on his phone.
Aiden leaned against the doorframe. "What are you doing?"
Lucas jumped. His eyes darted to him, and to the red mark. He stood up in jerky movement. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't realise what the lever did." He looked at his phone as he said it, and Aiden saw a message popping up on the screen.
A half-assed, lie of an apology was worse then not apologising at all. "Is that all?"
Lucas frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Did you want anything else?" Aiden rubbed his towel through his hair, "I'm going to eat and need to lock up."
"Oh, I'm just going to wait for Connor." Lucas sat back down.
When Aiden didn't move, Lucas had to look up from his phone – whoever he was texting was sending a long steam of messages. "You don't seriously think I'm going to take something do you?"
"I'm locking the door." Aiden answered, "I'm sure Connor is hanging around somewhere outside."
A muscle in Lucas's tensed. "You know I came here because I was sorry about what I did."
"I could really tell how sorry you were from all that laughing." Aiden replied dryly.
"I didn't mean to."
"You're not stupid," Aiden replied tersely, "You knew what that switch would do and pulled it anyway. Now please, get out."
Lucas's face reddened. He stood up quickly and shot Aiden a glare that made him tense with the expectation of getting hit. "I am sorry." He slammed the door behind him.
Aiden jumped at the loud bang. He bet everyone heard that, and he'd be forced to tell Mandy what happened. He stared at the door a mixture of anger and confusion – mostly anger, but still, a little bit confused. He'd never had someone yell an apology at him before.
A plate of food had been set aside for him in the kitchen. He snuck around Mandy, so he wouldn't have to answer any questions, and found Evie by the fire pit outside.
"Mind if I sit here?" He nodded to the spot next to her.
She smiled and nodded.
"You're jaw's a bit mangled." Ben pointed his beer at him.
"'Mangled'?" Aiden repeated. "It's just red."
"Hm." Evie bent over his lap and looked at it, "It's swollen."
Lucas, roasting marshmallows across from them, glared over. Aiden just shot him the same look back, or his best imitation. Lucas must have been surprised, because he dropped his stick.
Linda, who sat next to Ben with a beer of her own, leaned forwards to see it. "It's bruising too."
"You're exaggerating." Aiden pushed Evie back and took a bite from his chicken. Pain stabbed his cheek. "Ow!"
"'Exaggerating' For sure." Linda laughed, "Do you want one?" She tossed him a bottle without waiting for an answer, "It'll numb it for you."
"I think I'll need more than one." He put the cold bottle against his jaw and held it there while he ate.
Linda and Ben drank and got more and more people to join in as they wondered out from their cabins, freshly showered and drawn to the fire. Aiden nursed his one beer. He wouldn't handle an early start well if he drank too much.
"So Aiden" Linda filled a sudden silence in conversation, "How is Sarah."
"Linda" He groaned, "Stop."
He was happy to do what he wanted last year, but he'd rather not talk about it with classmates around. It would get back home, and everyone would know. That's how it worked, and it wasn't that he had anything to hide – he just didn't think it was anyone else's business.
"Who's Sarah?" Evie questioned.
"His girlfriend."
Kal's head lifted from his phone, and he saw Lucas and Hugh turn their heads towards them. Of course, they were interested in gossip.
"I didn't know you have a girlfriend" Kal said.
"I don't."
"You two broke up?" Linda said, "I mean she was quiet, but a sweet girl."
Boring. Sarah was boring. Being away from home and having lost a lot of weight gave Aiden enough courage to try out new things. After the initial butterflies of trying something new faded, he'd lost all interest in her and realised she wasn't someone he'd have as a friend – never mind girlfriend.
"Who dumped who?" Hugh asked, "I bet she did the dumping."
"Why her?" Linda didn't read anything mean in his words. Aiden did. "She was smitten."
"You got bored." Ben said, "Right? I saw that look. A month in and you were sick of her."
"It was just a summer fling-" Aiden answered as diplomatically as he could.
Linda snorted. "A 'fling', what a boy."
Aiden was prodded by different questions, and by the end it didn't really matter what he said because they were only teasing him.
"Looking for another summer romance?" Connor questioned idly, his eyes flicking to Evie at his side.
"Nope." Aiden answered quickly, "I'll pass on round two, thanks."
"'thanks'?" Connor repeated, "I wasn't propositioning you."
That got a good laugh out of the guides, and pretty much everyone. Lucas scowl stood out among smiling faces. Connor noticed it and flashed a satisfied smile.
Aiden downed the rest of his beer. If one of the others had said it, it would have annoyed him. But Connor didn't seem to have any malice intent in his words.
At midnight Aiden excused himself and went back to his cabin. Connor wasn't long coming after him. He hummed lightly under his breath, and his eyes didn't have the same sharpness as they did yesterday.
"Settling in?" Aiden asked.
"I like the staff here."
"Thanks."
Connor smirked, and tossed himself onto his back on the mattress. "Can you get the light?"
He did.
"Hugh doesn't like you."
"He doesn't like you either." Aiden replied.
"No, but he has to be nice to me because of Lucas." Connor rolled over to face him, "What about Kal? Does he hate you too?"
"We don't get along" He crawled under the covers and took of his broken watch, laying it on the bedside table.
"Do they bully you?"
"Bully? No."
"Seems like they would." Connor said, "I mean, Lucas just behaves like an idiot, but with them it would be intentional."
Aiden wasn't quite sure what that meant. "They're a pain in the neck at school. Their jokes always need to be at someone's expense, sometimes that would be me. Throwing things in class, tripping up – just stupid, childish things."
"That sounds about right." Connor said.
Aiden frowned into the darkness. He worried for a few minutes about whether he should have answered honestly like that or not. It didn't take long to decide it was fine. Connor clearly didn't like them. he wouldn't repeat what he'd said. Hopefully.
The knocking at the door woke him up. It was only a faint tap – and he didn't think it had even woken up Connor. Aiden squinted at the screen of his phone. 3.34 am.
Who would be out this early?
He quietly opened the door and the chill of the night hit his bare legs.
"Lucas?" Aiden stepped outside, and pulled the door softly closed behind him, "It's the middle of the night, what are you still doing up?"
"I-"
"Shh" Aiden hissed, "Connor's sleeping."
Lucas looked at the door, and then at Aiden. "Right." He whispered. With his voice came the acidic scent of beer. "I came to say sorry."
Aiden took in his glowing red cheeks and swaying stance. "You apologised earlier."
"I didn't mean to yell at you." Lucas put his hands over Aiden's shoulders. "And I didn't mean to hurt you, I'm so, so, so, sorry"
"Okay." Aiden caught him as his weight titled dangerously to the side, "Apology accepted. Why don't I walk you back to your cabin?"
"That would be nice." Lucas mumbled, "Why did you break up with Sarah?"
Aiden strained against his weight pushing him to the door.
"Cause she was boring?" Lucas wondered, "Are you going to go out with Connor instead?"
"No?" Aiden needed a few seconds to translate each sentence, given the slur in his words. "I broke up with Sarah because I realised I didn't like her all that much."
"Were you heartbroken?"
"No. Ready to go to your cabin?"
"Is your jaw okay?"
"Lucas" Aiden groaned, "I want to go to sleep." He tried to meet Lucas's eyes, but they were fixed on his jaw. He wasn't even looking at the right side.
"Hey." Aiden caught his chin and forced him to look up. "Let's go to your cabin, okay?"
Lucas's eyes focused on him. "Really?"
"Yes, really" Aiden muttered back annoyed.
"Oh uh, well, the others are there." Lucas said with an overly concerned voice. "Is that okay?"
"Even better." Aiden said. Unless they were as pissed drunk as Lucas and behaved like this too.
"Better... no ... I'd rather stay here." Lucas rubbed Aiden's jaw, finding the exact spot with the bruise.
"Ow" Aiden grabbed his hand.
He wished he hadn't, because Lucas leaned in for another dozen 'sorrys' that bathed Aiden in the scent of beer.
"Can you try support your own weight please?" Aiden's back pressed uncomfortably against the door handle.
Lucas cupped his cheek, asking 'does it hurt' or the slurred equivalent.
"No." Aiden barked out annoyed. His patience had run out.
Lucas brushed his other hand along his neck and raised it to cup Aiden's other cheek.
"What are you doing?" Aiden pulled back but couldn't escape the Lucas's grip.
Lucas leaned down and kissed him.