Dead Dreams

Twenty-four

I've been thinking about my conversation with Ashlyn for a while. I really shouldn't be taking her words seriously, but for some reason I'm caught up on them, even on the brink of exhaustion. Iris made us walk a lot, even after our short break. I know he wants to help us but he doesn't seem to understand what our limits are....

No, that's not true. He knew I was hurt earlier. I'm sure he can tell how much walking we are able to do without completely exhausting us. He's good at reading people.

How, though?

I flinch back as one of the tent stakes comes flying up, nearly missing my cheek. It wiggles in the air, unsteady but straight now that the tension has been released.

"Be careful will you? If you get hurt I don't want the blame to fall on me dammit." Ashlynn chastises me from the other side of the tent. I don't even know how she can see what just happened.

"You okay?" Jenny calls out to me, but I don't know why because she's close. A few feet away at most. She runs over to me, squishing my face in the same way she did the first time we met.

"Fine..." I managed to get out. I expect her to let go of my face, but she doesn't. She seems distracted, scanning my face for a mark or something.

"Stop doing that Jen. It's creepy and you're crushing her jaw." Ashlyn comes from the other side of the tent, to my rescue thankfully. My cheeks were starting to hurt.

Jenny's mouth falls into an O shape, like she had no clue what she was doing. Her hands drop immediately.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry! That's a pretty bad habit of mine. My grandma used to do it to me all the time ya know? Guess I picked it up after a while." Jenny explains with very animated gestures. I find myself struggling to pay attention to her words at all. "But you know....we should be friends to make it un-creepy!" Suddenly her hand thrusts forward towards me, and I barely restrain myself from jumping back. "Call me Jen!"

I take her hand in a hesitant handshake. At least on my part. She shakes my hand up and down like it's a rattle.

"Ok..."

Jen smiles and takes her hand back. "That sure took a while didn't it? I would've done it earlier but I've just been so focused on..." Her mood dampers slightly, something I find painfully obvious from the way she frowns. "Other stuff...."

"Yeah." It's not hard to guess what she's talking about. A lot has happened.

"Anyway..." She starts slowly, like she's recovering the atmosphere. "This is Ashy!"

Ashlyn's head snaps to Jen in a second as she glares at the smaller girl. I almost think that Jen might disintegrate.

"I told you not to call me that!" Ashlyn's tone is snippy, and I suddenly feel like shrinking away from the conversation.

Jen pouts. "Well why not? You let me call you that when we were younger, what's wrong with it now?"

Ashlyn seems seconds from boiling over, and I hold my breath. "I. Just. Don't. Like it. Okay?"

"Ladies!" I turn and see Iris, walking over to us from the woods. My savior. Unfortunately now Ashlyn's wrath is pinned on him immediately.

"I thought we agreed that there would be no boys over in this section of the woods. Can you not just wait to see your girlfriend in the morning?" The second part seems to be more of a jab towards Iris, but I still feel myself flush.

"Hm, well I just wanted to see what all the commotion was about. I can't help but be nervous when you're yelling right?" Iris talks calmly, but he seems...just slightly irritated. Is it because she suggested that we... "Don't worry, I won't be coming back over here once you get settled." He brings his wrist into his view, where his watch is. "I suggest you do that soon actually. It might help with your fervent mood swings."