Despite having slept late last night, I'm the first on my feet the next morning. I peek out through the unzipped opening of the tent and let the bright sunlight illuminate my face. I breathe in the fresh morning air and smile: nature.
Quick, I wash myself and come back to wake up everyone. "Wake up! Get up! Stop sleeping, you lazy butts! Woohoo!" Both hands at the sides of my face, I start shouting their names. "Will!" I receive a shut up! "Ellie!"
"If Lucy wasn't there I'd say fuck you!" I want to tell her it doesn't make much difference now that she's said it but I realize that is exactly what she had in mind all along.
So I move on. "Yann!" I don't expect an answer and I don't get one. "Yann! Yann! Ya–"
"Fuck you, Graham!" There, more forthright than Ellie, I like that.
"Lucy!" She's the nicest one so far and replies with an I'm up! "James, get up James!"
He as well is nice enough to say he's up instead of using expletives like the others did.
"Waking us up like that, someone would think you would have at least cooked breakfast." That's Will grumbling as he crawls out of his tent.
I place both hands on my hips and glare at him. "I'm not your maid. Get your breakfast yourself."
He rolls his eyes and disappears again in the tent. My eyes skid away to Yann who's sitting at the opening of his own little private tent and is staring at me.
Surprise seizes me as I see him smiling at me; I've been expecting a different attitude from him considering last night but I am glad to see he is the Yann from last night, the Yann I've grown to love – as a friend, of course.
"Where's breakfast?" Ellie whines, soon backed up by a half-sleeping Lucy who mumbles about breakfast as well.
I roll my eyes in defeat and move away to go fetch a frying pan and our camping stove.
Once everyone has gone to get washed, Yann comes out of his tent with clothes in his hand. I smile to myself as I see him holding a toothbrush and a toothpaste like a little boy. I try to calm down my racing heart and turn my back to him as I light our stove, placing the frying pan on the burning flame. I break the eggs, watching as the yolks and whites glide down into a bowl.
When I stand back up, I sense a presence behind me. I don't need to turn around to know that it's him. I take in a deep breath when I suddenly find it hard to breathe. He's standing right behind me and I feel his breath on my neck. Then all of the sudden, one of his hands comes resting on my waist. Again, I suck in a deep breath and try to get my heart to beat at a more reasonable pace. My attempts are futile. If anything, my heart seems to beat even faster.
And the most unexpected thing happens. Yann plants a soft kiss on the back of my neck. It's featherlike, fleeting but I feel it nonetheless. I shiver at the light touch, closing my eyes involuntarily as I relish in the warm feeling that takes over my whole body. His hand squeezes my waist gently as his lips remove from my skin, still brushing ever so slightly, eliciting goosebumps over my flesh.
I feel his breath at my nape as he says, "You're an amazing woman, Graham."
Then he's gone.
***
Today, our little excursion consists in going to a secret place, very beautiful and magic according to what Ellie says. But as Ellie has very poor taste, I know not to expect much of that magic place.
To my surprise, Lucy has decided to walk with me today. Will has replaced James and keeps company to Ellie, and James and Yann are left behind. I keep glancing back to make sure they aren't at each other's throats like two animals but Yann seems to be in another world with a pensive but not worried frown on his face.
"So, what were you and Yann discussing yesterday about me?"
Lucy gives me her best innocent yet guilty face. "Why do you think that?"
She knows by the glare I give her that there is no use in trying to deny. "It was obvious. So, spill the beans."
She shakes her small head at me. "I'm not supposed to tell. I promised him I wouldn't tell."
Mustering up the most conniving and trustworthy face I can, I tell her, "You can trust me, he won't know you told me."
But the little brat shakes her head. "I promised."
I keep giving her the look, the face, but she doesn't give in. "Since when do you keep promises?" I shout in exasperation.
Lucy is the last person I would tell – or should I say the only person I wouldn't tell – my secrets to. It would go from mouth to ear endlessly and it would all be out in the open, no longer a secret.
"Since I know stuff."
And she grabs my hands as she gambols, pointing to what she thinks nature has to offer as beautiful. A bird here, a caterpillar there, an unknown mushroom to her. She forgets my insistence from before and speaks to me as if nothing had happened.
My eyes steal a glance at the guys behind me once more, and I notice that James has left Yann far behind, or that Yann has left James far ahead, I cannot tell. I wonder if they'll ever get over that feud between them.
We soon take a pause after three hours, drinking some water and resting our legs. Lucy eats a little bit of everyone's food, careful not to give any of hers when I ask. She says I've already had mine. As Ellie announces that our march resumes, I reach out for Lucy's hand but she escapes and prefers to go bother Yann again.
"Abandoned?" I turn back to Ellie who's noticed Lucy's betrayal. She smiles at me, "That kid is impossible. You can walk with me if you want."
I gladly accept her offer, looking ahead of me to see Will on the phone. I don't know whether his body is tense from the exertion the climbing requires or from some sort of irritation he feels with his interlocutor. And as this second thought occurs to me, I tell myself it must be Yann's brother, Keven.
"You know Keven as well, don't you?"
I give her a look that says, don't give me any bullshit right now and she knows not to lie to me. "Yes, why?"
I shrug. "Just wanted to know if you knew him."
I'm still trying to piece things together. Yann is hiding. Will, Ellie and Keven don't agree with his decision to hide. They want him to get in touch with his family. And since Yann isn't hiding from mobsters, I wonder why he wouldn't go back to his family. It still makes no sense to me at all. Why is he hiding?
I try not to think too much and keep a light conversation going with Ellie. I ask her how things are going with James and she tells me they're doing fine. She looks genuinely happy and I don't want to take that away from her.
After another set of two hours on foot, Will whines from ahead of us. "How much longer? I'm dead tired."
"Oh, shush, you fag."
"Hey," Will rebukes with a grave expression, "there's a kid with us."
Ellie and I both turn at the same time to check whether Lucy has heard her or not. But Lucy is way too deep and engrossed in her exchange with Yann to have noticed anything.
"Nah," Ellie says, "she's into Yann."
But Will shakes his head at us. "I wasn't talking about Lucy." His eyes stay fixated on me. And I understand.
I spring towards an already running Will. "Come back, you twat!" I toss my burden to Ellie as I run away. "Take care of that for me, Ellie!"
Fortunately for me, I'm freed of any weight slowing me down unlike Will who's racing with a bag on his shoulder. He keeps looking behind, a laughter coming out of his throat every now and then as he screams, "Keep running, Graham, you won't catch me."
And that only stirs my playful anger up and boosts me. "Wait up, Simons."
Feeling the air rush past me is awesome, being able to act this carefree is amazing. A wide grin stretches out my lips as I see Will try to run a little faster since I am getting nearer. It's a path with no curbs, so we're simply running straight ahead. Will glances back a few times, the snarky comments gone as he realizes I am closing in on him.
And when the opportune time comes, I propel my body up and towards Will's back. My legs wrap around his waist and my arms around his neck, keeping a tight grip on him.
"Oh, shit!" Will curses as he stumbles forward. He nosedives and almost hits the ground but reaches out to a nearby tree, flattening his palm on the rough surface of the trunk. "What the hell?" He manages to utter in a shaky breath.
"What the hell?" I mimic as I laugh.
I have no idea how long we stay here, Will catching his breath and I not letting go, for I see the others pass us. Lucy wiggles her eyebrows at me and when I shout Lucy! to her, she simply flashes me a big smile and drags Yann behind her.
Yann, as he walks by, looks at me in a curious manner, one brow raised almost at his hairline. I give him a wide smile, but he only rolls his eyes, always trying to subdue the smile at the corner of his lips.
Long after, as Yann's back disappears behind the trees and we are about to lose the group, I hit Will's stomach with my heels. "Come on, we're late."
Will looks up to me, sending a glare my way but I only kiss his cheek in affection. He shakes his head at me, still glaring, before he begins to walk again. He has to support me, and to lessen his task, I take the bag from him and carry it myself.
"There, next time you'll know better than to mess with me."
"Whatever, Tracy," I hear him grumble as he adjusts me against his body, having both my thighs in his hands.
I keep making fun of him, laughing with him, teasing him as he carries me through the woods, now at the end of our group. As we near Lucy and Yann, I whisper in Will's ear, "Get close to them, I want to hear what they're saying."
Will gives me a look that reads are you serious right now? but I only glare back, hissing unfriendly words to him. He rolls his eyes but obeys nonetheless with complaints I cannot hear. In swift and quiet steps, he approaches Lucy and Yann, far enough to look at an innocent position if they ever turn around but close enough to hear the conversation.
"Yeah, she's definitely like that." Lucy laughs. "She talks a lot and never stops." Yann says something that I don't hear to her that has her thinking for a moment. "She loves me, of course, but I think she loves Daddy more."
Will glances up to me, as if asking, is that all, can I move away now? but I shake my head at him, which earns me another roll of his eyes. I knew they were talking about me, just like yesterday, so I want to know what is said about me.
"You know, Yann?" I hear Lucy ask and Yann asks what. "I knew it before you told me." It? What's it?
"How did you know?"
Lucy shrugs. "You smile when she's there."
"I smile when you're there, too."
And Lucy shakes her head, telling him he's wrong. "No. You smile, like a real nice smile when she's there." And Lucy shrugs, "It's okay. She likes you, too. I saw you guys outside the tent."
"Shouldn't you be talking about Barbies and whatever?"
Lucy scoffs, offended. "I stopped playing Barbies when I was three."
And the topic diverts from me to another one. Will slows down his pace to put some distance between the duo and us. His eyes shoot up to mine, questioning and curious.
"What happened outside the tent?" He at last asks out loud.
"Something," I evade the question, "keep trotting."
Will bears with me for the rest of the climb, grunting several times. I once catch Yann glancing back towards us at me. He looked for two more seconds before he looked away. Will gives me a weird look but doesn't ask any questions this time.
"Almost there!" Ellie shouts in excitement after an hour.
My head hanging on Will's shoulder, I could be mistaken for a dead corpse on his back, the only difference lies in the fact that I breathe. I hear Will grumble a word that sounds like finally as he takes longer strides to arrive sooner.
"No, Will," I complain, "stop walking faster. I don't want to be put down any soon."
"Oh, but you are coming down." He says with much relief.
I don't open my eyes when Ellie announces with a ta-da! that we've arrived. Instead, I remain on Will's back despite his efforts to put me down.
"Guys, can I get a little help with all this fat grease here?" That has me opening my eyes at last and I whack him across the head. He screams in pain and redoubles his effort.
"Come on, get down, Tracy." And James wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me off.
I almost wail in protest but stop when I see Will raising his middle finger at me. "Piss off," the mischievous grin on his face conveys his amusement.
James lets me go and pats my shoulder with a smile. Everyone is standing at the edge of the flat surface we're on. I approach as well, taking listless steps, not really interested in what's underneath us.
Will must have noticed my lethargy because he reaches out to me with a jerk and grabs my wrist. "Come here, you!" And he yanks me to him. "Isn't that beautiful?"
I cast my eyes down to see what's so beautiful. And I lose my breath. Suave, the water runs down beneath us in a thin thread until it disappears far away inside the mountains. Scarce vegetation garnishes the shore, almost like the cadre of a beautiful picture. Far ahead in the distance, the mountains mince, but the promise of more beauty broadens.
"Indeed," I reply to Will at last. "It is breathtaking."
He pulls me to his side, whispering with mischief in my ear. "What if I push you down?"
I scramble away from him, finding refuge in between Ellie and James. I lean my head on her shoulder and say, "At last, there seems to be a semblance of tastefulness from you since I know you. That's a feat!"
"You won't ever stop trifling, will you?" I hear the smile in her voice and don't bother to reply. Just as I love her with her lack of taste, she loves me with my jestful side.
Looking around, I end up with my chin on Ellie's shoulder and my eyes in Yann's. He's staring at me. I avert my gaze as the conversation we had last night wades its way inside my thoughts, possessing them all. Then I risk another glance towards him and he's not stopped looking my way. A smile spreads over his lips as he turns his body as to be fully facing me, his eyes sparkling.
I smile back at him.
•••
Gahh, I'm falling in love with someone whose name starts with a Y. Any of you feeling the same? :) :) :)
Let me know if you liked this chapter :)
Thank you so much for reading❤️