Camp Where The Hell Are We? | ✓

20

Aiden's knee was bouncing at breakfast the next morning.

Marley watched him eat beside her calmly, stoically, but it was apparent to her that something was gnawing at him. She knew Aiden well enough now to be able to tell when something is wrong with him. He was always chatty, giving her attention and teasing her, but now he was distracted and distant. Marley felt like she'd spent days under the sun only to be deprived of it cold turkey.

"I still taste that mud in my mouth." Kelly licked her lips multiple times with a sour expression on her face.

She was referring to their lab in the marshes yesterday. Even though wading through provided them with solace from the heat, the smell was somewhat unpleasant and the view of the algae and murky water quite unappetizing.

The bad news is that most of her peers could still feel, smell, and even taste the marsh despite hot showers and a full night of sleep. It would haunt everyone for a while.

The table mumbled in agreement to Kelly's comment, hardly focused on her words and instead on Sarah's laptop. They were going shopping for Halloween costumes soon and had to have some game plan. Tristan and Sarah wanted to do a group costume thing between the girls; they had tried to include Leo, Aiden, and Jason, but the guys already had some costume thing going on and were keeping it close to the chest.

Marley tuned out the costume shopping, hardly interested compared to her concern for the person next to her. Aiden was always the more lively one in their friendship so Marley would have to take over that role today. His knee was still bouncing.

She shoved her shoulder with his. He took another scoop of oatmeal and only shot her a sideways glance. She swallowed her disappointment.

"Aiden. Why did the chicken cross the road?" She asked him, a cheeky smile on her face as she nudged him again.

At last, he seemed to focus on her for real, his blue eyes piercing into hers with the slightest interest that she could roll with. He didn't even have his hat today, which was incredibly odd. Marley felt weird without their routine of him putting it on her head.

"To get to the other side?" He asked in a monotone, but his eyes were friendly.

"To cheer Aiden Matthews up!" When he cringed, she felt like she won something, and when he put his arm around her shoulders as everything had normalized again.

"That was the most..." he trailed off, shaking his head, "never say that again."

Marley tried to be discreet about leaning into his embrace. She couldn't lie to herself anymore — she loved being close to him. Aiden's muscles against her comparatively soft body comforted her in a way she never imagined she'd feel again.

"No promises." she joked, but his mind was elsewhere again. His knee went right back to bouncing.

She bit down on her lip, dropping her spoon back into her fruit loops bowl with a lost appetite. When Aiden removed his arm, she felt so cold and defeated her shoulders slumped. But she didn't comment on it, not wanting to seem like some clingy girl.

Marley went into her head trying to decide if a direct approach was the best way to go.

"Our pottery is done." she said instead, "Mrs. Noble had a lot of them to cure, but we can pick them up now. I'm excited to see yours and-"

"Yeah. Me too."

He cut her off. Aiden has never cut Marley off like that before. She was right next to him, and he was treating her like...she couldn't put her finger on it yet. But it stung. It stung more than she expected it would and so much more than she wanted it to.