treacherous • alan bosley

getting nowhere

alan and maisie stood at the vending machines, watching as their snickers bar hit the glass and refused to fall.

"of course," maisie shook her head, looking over at the boy with disappointment, "if you had let me hit the buttons, this never would have happened."

alan rolled his eyes, staring at the machine, "well, excuse for me bein' a gentlemen."

without offering a response, maisie began to bang on the machine with the strength of a thousand men. the sounds echoed through the halls, causing alan to look around with concern. she was definitely disturbing the peace, and it was only a matter of time before someone came out.

"are you trying to break the glass?" he asked incredulously, reaching over and grabbing her wrists.

at that moment, gerry turned the corner. he was trying to see what all the ruckus was about, but instead came up to a much more interesting sight than he had first imagined.

"oh, what do we have here?" gerry asked, causing the pair to create a bigger distance between themselves.

maisie, not wanting it to seem like she was at all interested in the boy, began to insult him, "lady arms here won't help me get my snickers bar."

gerry looked between the pair suspiciously, knowing what it looked like when alan liked a girl. he liked to keep to himself, but he wouldn't voluntarily spend time with another person if he wasn't truly looking for anything. a small, amused smile appeared on gerry's face as he began to understand exactly what his friend was doing.

"i bought the damn thing," alan threw his arms up, "little miss difficult wants me to do all the work."

gerry scrunched his nose, seeing the boy's game all too well. he couldn't stand the outward flirting, mostly because sappy things were to be left completely in private. at least, that's how he felt about his own relationship.

"okay, just let me do it," gerry said pushing past the pair, "don't wanna intrude any longer, after all."

maisie gave gerry a wide eyed look, hoping that didn't mean what she thought it did. those words threatened to expose her in a way she wasn't ready for yet. she didn't like it one bit, especially if there was a chance of alan catching on. she couldn't stand the humiliation of rejection, especially cause he wasn't sure that he reciprocated her interest.

gerry managed to get the candy bar to fall down the machine, and even grabbed it out for the pair. it was about the nicest thing he had done since he got to the camp.

"here," he slapped it into alan's hand, before leaning in close and whispering, "have fun."

alan rolled his eyes, pushing the boy away from him. maybe he was flirting with maisie, but he didn't need everyone to know about it. gerry chuckled at the boy's childish reaction, but nevertheless left it alone. if alan was going to continue his shy nature, gerry found no need to correct it.

maisie watched the athlete walk away, before returning her attention back to the boy in front of her.

"thanks." she smiled, as he handed her the treat. truth be told, she had been thinking of getting a candy bar all day. she wasn't exactly hungry, but she had always had the sweet tooth of a five-year-old child. it was her kryptonite, really.

"no problem." the boy replied, taking a sip of the coke he had purchased moments earlier.

the girl ripped open the wrapper, snapping the bar in half and offering it to alan. she figured it was the right thing to do, seeing as he was the one who bought it.

he graciously accepted the half, offering her a sip of coke in return.

"wow, you're too kind." the girl spoke sarcastically, grabbing the bottle from his hands. their fingers brushed, a fact neither party tried to think about too much.