"This is quite the trek, huh?" you laughed, stopping to catch your breath. He gave you a closed-mouth grin. "What?" you smiled. "Oh, nothing," he replied.
"Hey, if you don't mind me asking, where did you get your garments? I've never seen anything like that." You placed a hand on the pocket of his strange blue slacks.
"Whoa there, Bug... Jeans. Th-They're jeans," he said, his face turning a bright red. You nodded and took your hand away. "Hm. Must be a Kansas thing," you said, continuing the hike.
"You know something funny?" you asked, already out of breath again. "What?" he asked. "We've walked a long way, and you don't seem to be too fatigued," you pointed out.
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess with the line of work I'm in, my dad, brother, and I are running around a lot." "Hm. You call your father 'Dad'?" you mumbled.
"Uh, yeah. Is that..." "No, no. It's just... not many people do. It's usually 'Father' or 'Papa,'" you replied. "Oh," he said, softly.
"So, what do you do?" you ask, changing the topic. "Oh, it's a family business."
The rest of the walk was spent talking and laughing. You've never laughed this much with someone before.
"Race you!" you yelled, throwing off pieces of clothing one at a time until you were left in only your corset and bloomers. "Hey, wait up!" he yelled through laughter. You smirked, giving him a flirtatious wave before diving into the pool at the end of the waterfall.
The water surrounded your body, the cold shocked you, but you didn't care. You moved through the water, flawlessly, leaving a trail of small waves behind you.
Right as you came up for air, Sam hit the water.
With one of your hands, you continued to tread the water, and with the other, you covered your face.
When he came up, you burst into laughter. His hair was matted down, covering his eyes. The only thing you could see was the tip of his nose poking out and his lips, which were spread into a perfect grin.
You pulled against the water and wiped his hair out of his face. He rubbed his eyes and let out a light chuckle, laced with a hum of amusement at the matter before dunking the back of his head back under to take control of his mop.
"There's sand over there, so it must be shallower," you said before leading him that way. You stopped where there was just enough water to cover the top of your hips, but Sam, being as tall as he was, you could see his shirtless torso.
He noticed your staring, and you noticed that he noticed. You blushed, and he went under the water.
"How stupid can I get?" you mumbled to yourself.
A minute had gone by, and Sam hadn't surfaced. You looked around to see if he had gotten out somewhere, but there was no sign of him. "Sam?" you called out. You couldn't see him anywhere.
"Sam?!" you yelled, panic-filled your voice as you started moving further into the water.
You dove under the water and pushed through the stinging pain of the water in your eyes, but you couldn't find him.
You came to the surface again and screamed his name. Still, there was no answer. Your eyes filled with tears, but before you could think of what to do next, you felt a hand on each of your ankles, causing you to squeal.
You fell into the water, air escaping your lungs as you tried to get Sam off of you. He wrapped his arms around you and carried you to the surface.
He laughed as you kicked him over and over again, trying to get him to release you. He finally set you down, and he couldn't contain his laughter. You spit the water that had filled your mouth at his face and splashed him.
"I'm sorry..." he laughed. You tried to be mad at him, but something caught your eye. "Hey, what's that on your wrist?" you asked, grabbing his arm.
It seemed to be a bracelet that was made of some weird rubbery thing. "Oh, that's my watch. It's kinda like a clock that you can wear," he explained. You were so confused. It wasn't like anything you had seen before. It showed what day it was, and the numbers were changing in front of your eyes.
"How about I teach you how to read a watch, and you teach me how to read the... sun?" he suggested. "Okay." You swam to the sandy shore and led him to some tall rocks.
You sat there and shielded your eyes from the sun's rays as you looked to see where it was in the sky.
"When Will and I were younger, we made a sundial out of a log. We stuck the log in the ground and kept track of where the sun was in the sky at each half hour and full hour and wrote it in the ground. I guess I just memorized it, but look where the shadow is on the trees. It's about..." You gasped. "Oh, no. It's nearly twelve. Father's preparing lunch, and Mother will kill me if I don't have the dishes back," you panicked.
You climbed the rocks to the top of the waterfall and found your tattered garments. You pulled them on, Sam did the same.
"I'm a dead man walking. Deadman... deadman, deadman, deadman..." you repeated to yourself as you run up-stream, tying your apron on the way.
"If I lead you to the main road, will you be able to get back?" you asked. "I think so." "Good," you replied, jumping to the other side.
You folded your rag and shoved it in the basket of dishes. "Can I carry that for you?" he asked, placing his hands on it as if to say that he will be carrying it. You blushed and let him.
"Um... We should go," you said shyly as you led him out of the woods.
As the sun began to shine on your face again, you smiled. You led him to the front of the cottage where William sat on the old bench that rested on the front porch.
"Oh... bollocks... Here, let me take that," you said, reaching for the basket. "Y/N," William called as he made his way to you. "Hello, William," you greeted. He held out his hand to Sam.
"Oh, uh, Sam. Sam Win..." he started, reaching his hand out. "Okay, you've met. Will, please don't tell Mother or Father... or... anybody. Please?" you begged. He nodded, giving you a soft smile.
"Thank you," you said, wrapping your arms around him. "No matter, but what are you going to tell them about your clothes? You're soaked," he laughed.
"I'll think of something. Sam, you should probably go. The main road is just ahead. Um... if you get lost... well, just don't." He smiled, taking your hand. The one with the bracelet.
His eyes softened at the sight of it. "Don't worry. See ya, Ladybug." With that, he was off.
You sighed and watched as he got further and further away. "Y/N, can we talk?" William asked, breaking your daze. "Of course. Anything," you said with a troubled tone.
He handed you a towel from the clothing line and led you to the porch. You both sat on the bench. He sighed and shook his head, bringing his thoughts together.
"Will, is everything okay? Oh no! You're not getting cold feet are you? Will, Elizabeth is..." you started, placing a hand on one of his nervous ones that rested on his knee.
"No! No. I was just... You're not... You don't hate me, do you?" he asked. You gave a guffaw, a little too loud for your liking, and cleared your throat. "Why would I... Why would I hate you?" you asked, bewildered.
"It's just, you've been a bit short with me lately, you know?" You took your hand back and looked at the ground. "I don't hate you, Will. I guess I'm just more upset with myself."
"Why would you be upset with yourself?" he asked. "You wouldn't understand. Listen, I've got to bring these into Father and wash up," you said, lifting the basket of dishes.
Just as you were about to enter the house, a voice stopped you. "Excuse me," you turned around to see a man dressed in his finest attire. He was very confident, almost cocky.
"My name is Ethan Snyder. My wife Lila and I just moved in down the road, and I wanted to introduce myself."
You smiled and shook his hand, but something wasn't right about him. He gave you the chills. "Nice to meet you. Um, I'm Y/N, and this is my brother..." "William," he introduced himself.
"Good meeting you. It's nice to know there are some good people here," he smiled a tight, closed mouth grin that made you question him even more. "See you around!" he waved before walking off. "Yeah... see you around..."
*Uh oh... I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you think! Next chapter will be out next Saturday! Have a good rest of your weekend, and if you haven't checked out my other stories... yeah, I got nothing... Anyways! See ya!*