The Landlord

Chapter 57

Chapter 57

After interrupting the silence so many times, there were periods throughout the day where we just gave up on hunting. We talked, joked around, and simply enjoyed hanging out. For how serious Blake initially was, it was flattering that he was willing to give into to my talkative mood. A few times, we headed outside to stretch our legs too. Once, we even took a short walk through the woods. Those breaks were crucial because the plastic chairs made my ass insanely sore. Seriously: fuck those chairs.

That's why later, when we dug into the food he brought, I literally threw the chairs outside. Sitting on the wooden floor, we leaned against the wall and stretched our legs out. Blake grabbed his pack and pulled out chips, water bottles, and some sandwiches he made. I was trying to ignore just how sweet of him that was.

Below the open windows and closer to the heater, it was immediately warmer. Significantly warmer. "We should have came down here hours ago," I said, taking a bite of my sandwich.

"See? That ancient heater does work good. Don't even need my hat down here," he said, removing it and smoothing his messy hair with his hand.

Looking up to the windows above us, I took in the only thing we could see: a graying and gloomy sky. "Should we head back if it rains?" Over the past hour, storm clouds slowly swallowed the sunshine more and more.

"Naw, we can still hunt in the rain."

"Oh boy. That's a relief," I said sarcastically. "I would hate to leave this excitement."

From where he sat to my left, he arched a humored brow while he chewed. "You know, you can hike back and swim home whenever you would like."

"Right, like I would swim in freezing water for miles."

"Then I think you're stuck here with me until we get a deer."

"Oh yeah? And how much longer is that going to take?"

"With your loud ass here? Years."

Our banter tickled my insides with a giddy excitement. "Maybe if someone didn't pick such a retarded spot to build a blind, we would have seen one by now."

Resting his head against the wall, he grinned. "You know, I am so happy I invited you today."

"You ought to be happy," I laughed, snagging a few chips from the bag between our outstretched legs. "I'm a fucking hunting master and you'd be lost without me."

While we ate (and continued our playful jabs), the passing clouds darkened more. Soon, it produced a few slow taps of raindrops against the roof. The light rhythm was quite relaxing and nice background music while we talked.

"Hey, so how are things with your family? You know, since I fucked it all up a few months ago?" I chuckled, taking the last bite of my sandwich.

"You won't believe this, but it's weird how quickly things have turned around with them."

"Really? Like things are good now?"

"Oh yeah, it's like a night and day difference. They are still, you know, the way they are. But they apologized for how they've always pressured me. Their intentions were only to see me have a good life, but they didn't realize how negative of an impact it had on me. So you causing all that drama was actually a good thing."

I raised my brows and caught his gaze. Though there were more serious things I felt guilty over, freaking out on his folks was not excluded. Hearing that drama was resolved lifted a weight from my shoulders. "I cannot tell you how happy and relieved that makes me, because I know that caused kind of a rift."