"Found them!"
"Where the hell have you been?"
"We were so scared."
"What were you thinking to disappear like that?"
As soon as we arrive to the camp, we are bombard with questions, insults, and really colourful names. You can see a large variety of expressions, some have worry and relief written on their faces, others are looking incredulously at me and Nathan and then are the neutral ones.
Worry and relief is the best way to describe the girls at this moment, Dylan is the one that is looking at us like we are some experience from a lab, and Ed doesn't have a single reaction towards us.
Neutral. Blank.
His eyes are boring into mine and you can see how cold and deadly they are right now. His facial expression may not show a thing but his eyes, they show how angry and furious he is.
He scans me and Nathan up and down as if searching for something.
"Sorry, we lost track of time." I eventually say breaking my eye contact with Ed Furious Bull.
"Yeah, we were sort of... busy." Nathan says by my side, I can see the corner of his lip twitching and I know that he is teasing me because of what happened.
So much for being discrete and smooth.
"Busy!" Dylan scoffs, "I've used that excuse a lot of times with my ex's."
"Your busy meant that you were going to ditch them from some other chick that you wanted to fuck, that's why they're now your ex's, you dumbass. Our busy means that we went searching for supplies which we're in need of."
"Mate, you know that I'm a charmer, girls can't handl--"
"Supplies?" Ed asks interrupting Dylan.
On our way back, me and Nathan decided that we needed a backup plan, something that we could play with and the others would fall for it. A great excuse that the others would obviously understand. So, what a better one than supplies?
We, being the good Samaritans that we are, went to the woods to find food since it's running out. It's the best excuse we could think of because we are indeed lacking food.
We gave them something to worry about instead of focusing their attention on what Nathan and I could have made in the woods.
A big problem requires big solutions.
"Have you checked your backpacks lately? How much food do you have Ed?"
A frown appears on Ed's face "Uhmm, not sure but maybe a few bars a--"
"What else?" I interrupt.
He fixes his eyes on mine for a minute longer than necessary making me chill from head to toe, but I try to remain as calm and unaffected as possible.
"I don't know for sure, it isn't clear." He replies me, crossing his arms over his puffed out chest.
"Well, I know. It's almost empty of food."
"Have you been messing with my things?" He accuses me and takes a threatening step in my direction, and then another. However, my vision of him is blocked when Nathan stands in from of me making a barrier between me and Ed.
"No, she hasn't. She only knows because we're in the same condition. In fact, we're all running out of food." He speaks the last part to everyone, but his eyes remain locked with Ed, if I knew them better I could say that they are having a conversation with their eyes, or are probably eye fighting, but I only saw Ed interact with Nathan the first weeks that I met him.
The first weeks that I thought that Ed was a cute guy, Nathan was a cheap manwhore, the trip to Ireland was going to be the best time of my life, and not to forget, that I wouldn't have imagined that I would be in this place and I would see what I saw.
I'm once again lost in my own thoughts when I notice that someone is talking to me. I shake my head to try and clear my mind and focus on my surroundings. Nathan has taken a slightly step to the side so I'm now able to see Ed again, everyone has their eyes on me.
"So?" Ed questions.
I look back and forth between Nathan and Ed, trying to come up with something. What were they talking about? What happened? Did I say something out loud?
"This girl is as stupid as a door, she only opens and closes her legs."
"What the fuck did you just say?" Next moment, everything is happening too quickly for me to have a reaction. Nathan launches to Ed and punches him straight in the face, making Ed fall in the process from the power of the punch.
Ed lets out a small chuckle before spitting a mix of blood and saliva to the floor. I turn my eyes from him to Nathan, he is standing not too far away from me yet it's like I can't reach him. His back muscles are super tense, his hands are fisted making his biceps almost rip his shirt, his jaw is closed tightly shut and his eyes are sending daggers to Ed.
"This is a warning, so listen carefully. Be careful with your mouth Ed, especially when it concerns Kate because I won't hesitate to beat your ass."
***
We have been walking for hours for what I can tell, and you don't hear a sound. Besides the noise from the forest, like the animals, the leaves and the wind, there is no sound. We have been quiet since Nathan and Ed had the fight, I guess that it got everyone on alert.
I, on the other side am trying to think of what gave origin to that bloody end. I know that Ed's insult was what made Nathan snap out and lose his calm, but it was because of me not being listening to their conversation that made Ed say that.
I'm obviously not happy with what he said, but maybe if I was listening, I could have prevented it from happening. Nathan and Ed are mates and they are getting farther apart because of me.
"Pshh." I call out.
"Nathan." I try again, but he doesn't acknowledge me. As softly as I can I poke him on the rib, making him let out a puff of warm breath while he crunches his face in hurt, I think.
"Sorry! It wasn't supposed to hurt." In instinct I rub my hand over the place that I injured him.
"It's okay. What was it that you wanted?" He inquiries me.
I bite my lip contemplating if it's really a good idea to bring the subject, I start playing with the hem of his T-shirt to try to distract myself. Maybe I should be quiet?
"Kate?"
I gulp and take a deep breath, I have a feeling that this isn't going to end up well.
"What were you and Ed talking about, before you punched him?" I say carefully and think twice before saying these words.
I immediately see Nathan's jaw tense and his eyes focus ahead of him, "Food." is his simple response.
"Food?" I say again.
"He was questioning the reason why we went there alone, he wasn't really buying our excuse. So, he asked for the food and I said that you had it."
I start to put the pieces together, slowly first and then all at once. I bring my hands to the pockets of my jacket and touch the nuts that we found on our way back to the camp to make our lie more reliable.
"I'm sorry." Only now it's sinking that I could have had prevented all of this from happening, I just needed to show the nuts, acorns and dried fruits that we found.
"Why would you apologize? You didn't make anything wrong." His eyes narrow and look intently at me.
"If I was listening, Ed wouldn't have said that, and you wouldn't have punched him."
"You know just as well as me that he would keep sending you insults, it wouldn't make any difference if you talked or not. However, it was good that this occurred so now he can think twice before opening his mouth."
I lower my eyes to the ground not really knowing what to say. Nathan is right, Ed never liked me, and this is only getting worse.
I feel Nathan's arm come around my waist and nudging me closer to him, he turns my face to him and by the corner of his eye looks to see if the others noticed our stop.
"I told you that I would do anything to keep you safe, even if that means keeping insults and stupid guys away from you. I'll do everything in my power to see a smile on your face and to be the reason why your heart skips a beat. I'll protect you cupcake, don't ever doubt it."
To say that I'm touched with his words, is saying little.
To say that I'm surprised with his speech, would be an understatement.
To say that this boy is insignificant to me, would be a lie.
He nuzzles his face in my neck, gives me a wet kiss there, and then another on my earlobe, and one on my cheek. His eyes look to my lips and then shift to the others that are getting away from us. He focuses on my pink lips once again and I can read the question in his mind.
"Soon..." He whispers, he grabs my hand and tugs me along with him. We walk in a fast pace so we can reach the others without them noticing that we were left behind by our choice. We don't want more problems.
When we approached them, I was expecting to be received with the silence that has been with us since the fight but that wasn't what we got faced with. You hear whispered words being spoken to one another, I would say that it's completely normal, the peaceful silence would be broken if we spoke aloud but the worried expressions on everyone's face changes it.
I leave Nathan's side and stood behind Beth and Sarah, right in the middle of them, "Why all this murmur?" I ask them
"Jezz, don't do that again you scared me." Sarah says with her hand on her chest to empathize her words.
"Sorry, but care to explain?"
"The pines, they aren't so thick and there is more space, less trees and more open sight. Last time we saw this was a--"
"At the verge of the woods." Is it possible? Can it actually be it? Are we out of the woods?
"Do you think that we made it?" Sarah asks us.
"I would love to say yes, but we don't have that much luck." Beth replies to Sarah.
"We must be positive and have faith. Maybe this is our way out and we are going h--"
"The trees end over there, keep together and don't leave each other's side." Dylan's voice vibrates ending our conversation.
Instantly I feel a pair of hands on my hips and I immediately know that it's Nathan. You can see the line of trees that separate the deep woods from whatever it's on the other side.
This is it.
We are steps ahead to discover if our journey is over, if this nightmare has come to an end.
Light.
Light is all I see when I step out of the safety of the trees, I close my eyes and try to adjust to the bright sunlight. Now without the trees there isn't any barrier between us and the sun.
I try to open my eyes, I rub them and flutter them, I feel like a vampire.
Eventually, I end up opening them fully and I'm able to look at the surroundings.
"Bloody hell."
What the fuck is this?