Chapter Three

19.7K 974 572
                                    

Aiden dunked himself into the clear water of the steam that fed the mud-pool. He had to find three of the small pools until he submerged himself and didn't make the water black. He used Evie's towel to dry off his face – his jaw felt raw when he dabbed it.

He dragged his feet on the way back to the course. Hugh and Lucas were racing each other, while Evie and Connor were tackling the climbing beams. He sat a point in the middle and checked the time.

The face of his watch was a spiderwebs of cracks. He clenched his jaw as a new surge of anger filled his chest. He held it up to his ear, but the familiar ticking had ceased.

He dried of off with the towel and put it back on his wrist. He'd get it repaired when he went back into town. It had been his moms before she'd passed away, and his dad would kill him if he came home with it broken. Aiden would keep it regardless, but it would be nice for it to be working.

Aiden wondered if Lucas could sense how pissed off he was right now, because he didn't approach him even once during the hours they were there. It was a smart choice, because the longer he sat there shivering the angrier he got.

If he'd been on this trip with anyone else, that wouldn't have happened.

Richard caught his attention from the edge of the woods and raised his hand. That the was 'time to go home' signal. It couldn't have come sooner.

"Okay" Aiden stood up, "Let's head back for dinner."

Hugh was lingering by the switch by the bridge. Aiden leaned against it and crossed his arms. "After you."

Hugh looked annoyed. "Pissy as ever."

"You're not pulling it on anyone." Aiden replied. Unlike Lucas, who interacted with him under the guise of friendship – Hugh was never subtle about his dislike. Aiden had heard enough fat-jokes and gotten enough pinches in the locker room from Hugh to know if the boy had dropped dead, he wouldn't care.

"Hurry up." Connor pushed Hugh towards the bridge, "I'm hungry."

Aiden glared at the back of his head, and only resisted pulling the lever because he didn't want to send Connor into the water as well.

He got permission from Mandy to skip dinner prep and take a shower. They weren't going to let him in while he was dripping wet anyway. He wished there wasn't a ten-minute limit on hot showers because he would have liked to spend at least an hour warming himself up.

His jaw was red, but it mostly just hurt.

He went out of the bathroom to find Lucas lying on his bed, tapping away on his phone.

Aiden leaned against the doorframe. "What are you doing?"

Lucas jumped. His eyes darted to him, and to the red mark. He stood up in jerky movement. "I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't realise what the lever did." He looked at his phone as he said it, and Aiden saw a message popping up on the screen.

A half-assed, lie of an apology was worse then not apologising at all. "Is that all?"

Lucas frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Did you want anything else?" Aiden rubbed his towel through his hair, "I'm going to eat and need to lock up."

"Oh, I'm just going to wait for Connor." Lucas sat back down.

When Aiden didn't move, Lucas had to look up from his phone – whoever he was texting was sending a long steam of messages. "You don't seriously think I'm going to take something do you?"

Camping TripWhere stories live. Discover now