Tuck Sinn

26

Tom kept that in his mind as he walked through the dark air. He needed to see Huck and get back quick.

Cold was in him even though the air was warm. He couldn't keep doing this to Aunt Polly. Tom walked faster. Nerves were in him, buzzing with each step, resonating through his legs to his arms to his heart.

He went to the woods, away from the streetlamps. He needed to know if Huck was avoiding him. If they weren't going to be as good friends as they used to be. Tom remembered the dip in him every time he looked at Huck and Huck didn't look back. He just needed to know that his friendship was still reciprocated.

His hair swayed into his eyes as he walked faster along rough streets. He had to get home before sunrise. He had to. Tom's steps turned quick and got lighter until it was a footstep and a footstep and more between each breath and he was running, and he couldn't see but he could feel how familiar this air was.

He stopped, panting, at the spot Huck usually was.

"Huck?" Tom's breathy voice faded into the trees around him. It was silent around his breaths, or maybe he just couldn't hear around his own pants. "Huck? Oh, tell me you're here!"

Silent. "Huck!" No answer. And still no answer as Tom sat, his legs hardly enough to hold that shaking pounding weight of the rest of him. "Man..." Tom sighed, closed his eyes, laid down.

He could feel twigs poking through his hair and snagging on his clothes, and he settled into the earth. "I came here for nothing." Tom spoke to the forest air. He noticed an ache in his chest-- he had needed to see Huck. Needed to figure out what was going on between them. But... he wasn't here. Tom breathed a sigh, and he smelled the night in the air. Smelled the scent of the forest. Felt a warmth in the air.

"For nothin'?" Huck said from the ground beside him. His voice pierced the rhythm of Tom's breaths. Tom sat up quickly, and a rush came to his head, looking around.

"You're here?" He couldn't see through the black.

"Yeah, if I ain't just a ghost, I am. Been sleeping but you barged in like a stampede." Huck said. Tom smiled, then frowned, then laid back down.

"Sorry." Tom said. He tried to get his eyes to see the branches above him, the floor below. But here there was nothing but dark and then stars. "I... I thought you might have gone to the Widow Douglas' by now."

"Well then why'd ya come here?"

"...On the chance you'd be here, I guess."

"Tom, just tell me whatcha' here for? A sleepover or somethin'?" Huck yawned.

"No, I," Tom let out a quick exhale, a laugh, and shook his head. He could feel the hard ground against the back of him. "I wanted to talk to you, Huck."

"It's the middle a' the night, Tom. We could talk any other time." Huck said, and that brought a hot rush of embarrassment to Tom's body. A hole in his stomach.

"Oh, well, I..." Tom started. Sat up, feeling a cold breeze come past him. "Huck, I... Sorry for waking you. I can go." Tom said, shifting his weight to get up on his nervous legs. He felt a soft pull-- Huck's warm grip against his hand, bringing him back to the ground beside him.

"Just tell me, Tom. I don't want ya' to go back and still stay up all night."

"Oh." Tom said. Huck let go and Tom felt the lack of warmth in his hand. Tom messed his own hair nervously. "Just... feels like you're avoiding me or something?" Tom waited for a response in the dark.

He felt it with just the silence it brought. An agreement in the quietness of their settling breaths, of their warm bodies next to each other, separated by a cold feeling. But Huck spoke.

"I ain't avoiding you, Tom." Huck said quietly. "It's..." Huck sighed. Tom could hear a rustle as Huck laid back down. "Everything's kind of different since I been back. I'm just trying to get my bearings again."

"What do you mean? I... It seems like with everyone else, you're still close. Like you're back in the swing of it. But with me, it..." Tom sighed. A hotness came to his face at saying all this. He felt a weightiness at saying all this. Like he was unsupported, in a lake without any air in his lungs to pull him back up. "It feels like we hardly talk."

"Tom, we got the woods on nights like these! We're talkin' right now."

"But it's different, Huck. This is like... Like things get too big and I can't sleep, and... This ain't talking. I haven't learned anything about you. I wanna know how you've been and what you're like now." Tom sighed.

"Alright..." Huck said. "But at the river, we all talk all the time, right?"

"But at the river and at school and stuff," Tom shook his head and breathed in, "I look at you or say something and you don't look back, and it seems like you ain't wanting to be friends again, is all."

"Tom," Huck's warm voice brought him from his thoughts. "You're reading too into this."

"Oh."

"You're all my friends. I'm just trying to get caught up with life back in town. My trip," Huck paused, and Tom could hear a rustle and a rough sliding of Huck's hands rubbing together. "It brought on a lot of change, and so... It ain't gonna be the same as before. I'm different, and so are you, and..." Huck sighed. "And you's got Becky."

"...We're still friends?" Tom asked quietly. Huck gave a quiet laugh.

"Yessir, Tom. We're still gonna be friends." Huck said. He stopped wringing his hands.

"Okay. Thank you, Huck." Tom said. The air was silent, and Tom couldn't hear the motion of Huck nodding, or moving. Just their breaths. "Sorry if I'm being irrational."

"It's aight. I, uh... I have been kinda distant. You wanna go someplace together?" Huck asked.

"I... Yeah." Tom said quick, and a smile came to his words and came to his face.

"After school tomorrow, you wanna come down to the woods?"

"Yes. Yeah, that sounds good. I been wanting to hang out for so long." Tom said, running a hand through his hair, feeling warmth through his arms and his face.

"Alright, Tom. It's a plan. Now," Huck yawned. "Go to bed? I'll see you tomorrow." Huck said.

"Thank you, Huck. Okay, I'll see you tomorrow." Tom said, getting up. "Sorry for waking you up!" Tom said, making his way through the trees, a lift in his body and his steps.

"It's all good, Tom." Through the forest, he could hear Huck's warm, dark voice laugh gently.

Tom made his way back home through the woods and through lit-up streets. A smile was on his face and a softness grew in his chest at settling that. And now he could go to bed and wake up early enough to beat Sid to school.