Cabin Fever | ✓

(42) Hooters. 2014.

Double update: chapters 41&42!

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They were decorating the trees up the driveway with twinkly lights and little plastic ornaments. Given that there were 180 students, there had to be some semblance of separation to get something done. The large tree in the clearing was only one of many that were being decorated.

So Marley and her friends got into groups at three o'clock that Sunday, and are now decorating two trees on the long expanse of driveway leading up to camp. A bunch of their peers were decorating nearby too, conversing and laughing as they attached the string lights around the evergreens with teamwork and effort.

And since Aiden - being the ridiculous caveman he is - won't allow her to climb a ladder and knew that she wasn't budging on decorating, his solution was to sit her on his shoulders, legs on either side of his head with his hands on her knees to hold her in place.

"I don't understand how you're not in pain right now, Aiden," Marley stated dryly as Jason handed her the rope of lights to insert into her space on the tree.

"Do I have to reiterate this every time? Marley carrying you strains me as much as-"

"Carrying a football does. I know." She rolled her eyes, "Mr. Incredible."

His body rumbled as he laughed, "If I'm Mr. Incredible, will you be my Elastigirl?"

She grinned, ruffling his soft hair, "So romantic."

"I try."

"But really though," Marley waved a hand over his general frame below her own, "what's with this obsession with protecting me from the ladders of the world?"

Aiden's grip on her knees tightened instinctively, "Ian fell off of one last year. Sprained his ankle."

She scoffed, "That's why?! Aiden just because Ian fell off a ladder once doesn't mean I'm going to."

"Exactly. Especially because you know how clumsy I am."

Marley gasped and spun her body around at the sound of the soft, masculine voice chirping in from behind her and Aiden.

Her boyfriend probably would've been able to steady the both of them if he wasn't as thrown off as she was. Her sudden shift of weight set them both off balance, and Marley's gasp turned into a shriek as she slipped off his back.

Everything happened quickly then, Aiden's buff arms closing around her torso as her eyes squeezed shut and she prepared for impact with the cold, hard ground. Instead, Marley landed on something hard but warm, a small groan causing her eyes to fly open.

Aiden had grabbed onto her to take the brunt of the fall, his expression scrunched up in discomfort, "Aiden!" she gasped worriedly, scanning him over with her palms flat against his chest.

"You okay?" he asked from below her, his hands squeezing her hips, scanning her over, "Any aching anywhere?"

"I landed on you, and you're asking me if I'm okay?"

"My brother is a martyr through and through, Marley. Do you still not know him at all?"

She gasped, again, "Ian!"