Eden and Bea (LGBT+)

🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳

I was convinced that the only thing I really wanted to do was stay home from the camping trip, but I managed a smile regardless. 

"You're probably right, Owen," I told him, hoping that it wouldn't feed into his ego too much. 

"So, I'm going to guess that you didn't have a lot of luck with Mr. King then?" he asked me. 

I felt my expression become a little more crestfallen, as I gave a shake of my head in answer. 

"No, unfortunately not," I replied. "Anyway...here's my stop," I said, as I saw through the window that we were approaching the little yellow sign. "I'll see you tomorrow, Owen," I added, with a kind smile. 

"See you soon, Bea," he replied. 

I then pressed the little red button and the driver began to stop. 

I thanked him for the journey and apologised, on Eden's behalf, for the coffee stain. 

His eyes flickered with gratitude for that and he wished me a good evening before I hopped off the bus and made my way inside. 

I doubted that I would see much of my parents, for they were usually busy with work. 

Furthermore, I was an only child, so I had to grow comfortable and happy with spending time by myself. 

It wasn't so bad. I knew that Axel was only a face call away, most of the time, anyway. 

Grovelling about having to spend the camping trip with Eden wasn't going to do me any favours, so the second I stepped into my jade-green painted bedroom, I decided to get to work on packing for the trip. 

At least then I would get it out of the way and have the peace of mind that I was ready and organised. 

No matter what Eden put me through, I was going to make sure it was the best camping trip possible. 

Realistically, the chances of us both making it out of the camping trip alive were pretty high. 

However, that wasn't to say that we weren't going to go through our usual bout of arguments and irritations. 

Eden was the source of most, if not all, of my perturbations. 

As I continued to move things into a holdall bag, I tried to push any thoughts of her out of my mind. 

Fortunately, I was soon distracted by the doorbell, so I went to open the little red door of our house to find that Axel was stood upon the doorstep. 

"Hey," he said. "You didn't come to football practice." 

He walked into the house without an invite, knowing that he was mostly welcome there anyway. 

My mother essentially considered him family, and she was always asking when the two of us were going to get together. 

I had to remind her, once again, that the two of us were just friends. 

I closed the door behind him and then turned to give him a well-deserved apology. 

"I'm sorry, Axel. I had so much on my mind that I guess it...slipped my mind," I admitted. 

Oh no, we really had entered a bad timeline if my forgetfulness was beginning to match that of Mr. King's. 

He gave a little shake of his head, as if he didn't mind, but I could tell that he did mind. Axel just had the tendency to not be entirely open with his feelings. 

"It's alright, plenty of people showed up and we didn't win, so you didn't miss much," he told me. 

I felt my heart drop into my stomach, then. 

"I should have been there to support you, Axel. I really am sorry," I told him, making sure my voice sounded as sincere as I felt. 

"It's alright. We're definitely going to win next time. I'll make sure of it," he said, as the sparks of determination flickered in his gaze. 

I really hoped that his team would. I couldn't help but feel incredibly bad about missing his football game! 

What sort of a friend even was I? 

Axel caught onto my anxious expression and reassured me once again that it was fine. 

"There's always the next game," he said, now seeming determined to try to remove the guilt from my shoulders. 

I managed a small smile. 

"You're right," I managed to say, "There is always the next game." 

My pet cat Butterball then walked into the room and jumped onto the table, before he curled up at the end of it. 

Axel watched it for a moment, as his eyes reflected his subtle amusement. 

"The cat's still alive, then," he said. 

I nudged him slightly. 

"Axel!" I said in a scolding tone. 

"What? It's true. I'm pretty sure your cat might be immortal," he said. 

I exhaled with some anxiety. If only that was true. If anything ever happened to Butterball, then I wasn't sure quite what I would do. 

He had been my companion for years. To be without him was essentially unfathomable. 

"Anyway, make sure that you bring your rain coat for the camping trip," he said and then frowned slightly, as he realised that he had mentioned the one and only thing that I had been trying to avoid thinking about. "You know how unpredictable the British weather is." 

The same thing could be said about most places in the north of Europe, for that matter. 

"Hey, I happen to like England and the unpredictable nature of the weather here. Every day is an adventure," I said. 

He rolled his eyes at me, but smiled right after, seemingly amused by my statement. 

"Besides, there are much worse things to consider. For instance, we could live in the Sahara Desert," I said. 

He rose an eyebrow at me. 

"Or the Arctic," he added. 

It was my turn to smirk, now. 

"At least there's penguins," I said. 

"That much is true," Axel said in agreement. 

I wished that I had been paired with him, so so much. It would have made my life a thousand times easier, though I suppose that things that are truly fun are never quite so easy, are they?