Deputy Hutton

6

Liam Rawley

Maybe spending some time outside of the town at Roy's cabin wasn't such a bad idea after all. Back home, my father tried to charge Ryan with sexual harassment after what he did to me but the two goons with Ryan claimed that we were lying. Nobody believed them but there were no proof of Ryan being there since Brady and I were the only one there and all of the security cameras couldn't catch Ryan.

"Don't be like that."Roy tried to turn my frown into my smile with his cold hands.

"What are you doing?"Dan asked Roy after placing his bags down.

"What are you doing?"Roy and Tess mocked at the same time. Every time Dan says anything to Roy, Tess would defend him and she is even meaner than Roy when she doesn't even try to be.

"The two of you getting together might be the worst thing to ever happened to me." Dan frowned while Roy and Tessa exchanged high fives.

"Where do you want this?"Brady asked me while carrying my bags inside.

Even though we were out of town, my father still wanted Brady to come because we can't predict how crazy Ryan can get. Based on everything that I've been told, Ryan once did the same thing to another kid in town and I just heard that things ended badly there.

"I don't know, where do I?"I asked Roy.

"I saved you the best room."Roy said excitedly, "The one of the left."He pointed for Brady.

"He's carrying your bags for you now?"Laurel remarked with a grin.

"He offered."I shrugged.

"Hurry up and put your stuff down, we have to go hiking," Roy announced.

"I'm not doing that," Dan said seriously.

"Well boo hoo, Dan."Tess said sarcastically, "You rather stay here and jack off to a rain deer's head hung on the wall?"

"Why is she like this to me?"Dan asked Roy disappointedly:

"I might have told her how mean you are to me."Roy mumbled, "Maybe you should tone it down, babe."Roy whispered to his girlfriend but all of us heard that.

"Hey, Brady, you in?"Laurel asked him after he came back from the bedroom.

"For what?"He asked.

"We're going hiking."I mentioned to him,   "You don't have to if you're not into it."

"No, it sounds fun."He said casually.

&&&&&&

We were already 10 minutes into the hike. Dan and I stopped for a second because we were obviously the least athletic ones in the group and had a hard time catching our breaths. Even Laurel can keep it together with her small legs.

"Just give us one second," Dan said exhaustedly.

"Yeah, we just need some water," I said and Brady took a bottle of water out of his backpack before handing it to me. Dan I were already sitting under the tree and made ourselves comfortable.

"Come on, guys," Roy encourages like a coach, "We still have 20 minutes into this thing."

"Your sweating like a lot."Laurel pointed out to Dan.

"Well thank you, Laurel, for telling me that."Dan said sarcastically, "It's not like I can't feel it."

"You ready now?"Roy asked.

"No," Dan said.

"What about now?"Roy asked again.

"No," I said.

He waited for a second.

"And now?"

"Yeah, we're good now," Dan said and stood up but I was too exhausted to do so.

"Can someone help me get up?"I asked.

Brady was the one that came to me and lend me his hand. I grabbed it and he helps me up.

We then started our hike again.

"You having fun?"I asked Brady and walked next to him.

"Yeah," He said, sounding like he forced himself to say it, "I mean, I rather spend my weekend at home but it's nice spending some time outdoors."

"I'm glad to hear that, "I said with a small smile.

"Watch your steps."He lends me his hand and I grabbed it before he helped me get through some rocky areas. I was shaking climbing up that area because it was kinda slippery.

"Shit," Brady cursed and stumbled on something. Before I knew it, both of us fell to the ground.

Everyone rushed to where we were and I noticed Brady getting up quickly while I just laid there.

"Are you okay?"Brady cupped my face and examined it.

"What are you doing?"Laurel asked him.

"I'm trying to see if he has a concussion. "Brady said and continued, "Do you feel any pain in your head?"

"No-"I tried to sit up straight but I felt some pain in my ankle and couldn't help but wince in pain, "My ankle, it hurts."

Brady them examined that area.

"Does it hurt when I do this?"Brady squeezes a particular area on my ankle.

"Yes."I winced.

"I think he twisted it," Brady said to the group.

"What do we do?"Tess asked.

"You guys can continue your hike, I'll carry him back to the cabin," Brady said.

Brady picked me up and placed me on his shoulder as he rushed me back to the cabin.

&&&&&&

"Here, put some ice on it?"Brady handed me some frozen food from the freezer.

I did so and jumped a little when I felt the cold bag being pressured on my ankle.

"Do you need something to eat?"Brady asked me.

"You don't have to nurse me, "I rolled my eyes.

"Right," He muttered, "I'm just gonna go and wait outside."

He tried to walk out the door, "Wait."I stopped him, "Can you stay?"

"Sure," He sighed, "I can do that."He said with a weak smile.

He sat next to me on the couch as I laid my feet on the table to help with the swelling.

"Is that a piano?"Brady asked me, pointing at the brown piano next to the wall.

"Sure looks like one, "I said.

He then stood up to examine it, "It's antique."He mentioned and wiped the dust away before opening the top,

"Do you play?"I asked.

"Yeah, me and my old man used to do it all the time together but I've never played since..."He suddenly stopped talking, "You know what, it's stupid. I'm probably not as good anymore."He shrugged.

"You won't know until you try."I encourage, "Plus, I might feel better if you do."

He didn't reply and sat down on the chair as he looked at the piano like he was looking at a diamond gem. The thing looked so precious to him even though it was all dusty and seemed very old.

"You owe me for this."He started to press on the keys and the way he played was so soothing that I started to feel myself drifting away to sleep.