Between the Cross and the Flame

Chapter 7: Mavet

Fallen leaves crunched under Mavet's shoes as he walked between the rows of apple trees. The crisp, cool wind of late September fluttered the zipper of his windbreaker. The promising scent of sugary-sweet apples hung in the air, and faint chuckling echoed over the orchard. Mavet stepped onto the roots of a tall tree, determining its height, then placed his hand on the rough bark and began to climb. He was at least fifteen feet off the ground before he stopped, straddling a sizable branch. He picked an apple and chucked it at Del.

"Think fast!"

"What– Mavet!" Del whipped around just in time to catch it. "I told you to give me a warning!"

"I did, you weren't paying attention!"

Del rolled her eyes. "Just don't break yourself when you fall, okay? I don't feel like taking you to the emergency room."

Mavet smirked and tossed another gala at her. She surprised him by throwing it back so hard that it nearly knocked him off the branch. He hung by a single hand, still several feet from a safe jump. He pretended that he didn't have a miniature heart attack and pulled himself back onto the trunk, slowly shimmying his way down. Del and Irvin were waiting for him at the bottom.

"Still think tree climbing is easy?" Del teased.

"I'd like to see you dodge an apple while trying to climb for the first time!" Mavet exclaimed.

"Can we avoid breaking each other? Please and thank you?" Irvin said.

Del sighed dramatically. "Fine, I'll refrain from knocking my friends out of trees– until they're six feet off the ground. They're fair game then."

Irvin groaned. "I swear, if you break yourself before homecoming..."

Del shot Mavet an exaggerated wink as they followed Irvin farther into the orchard. Haniel and Chaya were racing each other from tree to tree at least a hundred feet in front of them. Their feet barely skimmed the ground as they scrambled up branch after branch, knocking down apples all the while. Eventually, Chaya gave up, and he hung upside down from his feet on a high branch. Mavet clearly heard their laughter from where he was walking. He couldn't help but smile at how adorable the pair was.

It was nice to see Haniel having fun after spending all day Thursday worrying he'd punch a hole through the wall. Mavet had woken up yesterday morning to see Haniel making them breakfast, though rather aggressively. Even a full day afterwards, Mavet could see the bags under Haniel's eyes, and at a distance to boot. Del was right; the soccer player didn't deal with emotional trauma. Haniel pretended it never happened, but it was so obvious that something was bothering him, like his heart was gushing on his sleeve.

Mavet would have told him to confront it, but that would make him a hypocrite.

So, here they were, strolling through MacQueen's orchard on a lovely Friday afternoon, during the peak of apple season. Mavet was able to forget how worried he was for his friend, his fear for the future, and his anxiety for asking Del to homecoming. He breathed in the fragrant air and enjoyed marching through the mud. His group caught up with Haniel and Chaya, and they picked another bucket full of gala apples before moving onto the green kind. They split up into two groups to scour as many trees as possible, which – of course, by Irvin's doing – resulted in Mavet and Del being paired up together. She shot him a questioning look.

"Race you to the end of the row?"

"Good luck!"

Mavet streaked along the orchard, Del close behind. The trees passed by in a blur as they sprinted with all their might toward the sunlight at the edge of the treeline. Mavet couldn't believe how fast Del was; even against his strong legs, she was keeping up no problem. She made a ridiculous face that nearly caused Mavet to keel over with laughter. He was barely pulling ahead with fifteen feet left to go, and he was beginning to plan a victory dance when his foot got caught in a deep patch of mud and he face-planted into the ground.