Needle and Thread

19

The forest smells damp after the previous night's rainfall, which is ideal for Harry's biology homework, but not for Mina's new shoes.

"I didn't expect it to be so muddy," She complains, pouting at the thick layer of muck caked to her once shiny Mary Janes.

"What did you expect?" Jj laughs. His grey school trousers are tucked into a sensible pair of wellington boots, and a branded anorak hides the school crest stitched onto the pocket of his blazer.

"Obviously not this," Mina huffs. "Otherwise, I would've borrowed my mum's hiking boots. Why didn't you warn me, Harry?"

Surprised at being addressed so directly, Harry hasn't the chance to produce an answer more intelligent than a muttered "Sorry." His own shoes are his regular school ones, but they've been on their last legs since winter so he doesn't mind the mud as much as Mina does.

It doesn't take them long to find the plot for their pitfall traps, the bank of the creek and the composition of the trees having become familiar to Harry over the last handful of years.

"Do you think we'll have caught worms?" Mina wonders aloud, visibly shivering.

"Possibly," Harry says, rolling up his sleeves in preparation for digging out their makeshift traps.

"Ew," Mina whines, crouching down to inspect their findings. "Ew, ew, ew!"

"Mina, you haven't even lifted the lid off yours yet," Jj points out, smiling wryly.

She pouts, elbowing Jj in the ribs. "Leave me alone! It's gross and slimy and there's probably a whole settlement of beetles living in there!"

"That is the general idea," Harry mumbles, just loud enough for Jj to hear, who laughs under his breath, shoulders shuddering discreetly.

"Look, just go and sit on that rock over there, and Harry and I will dig these up," Jj suggests kindly.

Mina's perfectly groomed eyebrows raise in surprise. "Are you sure?" She sounds rather pleased by the prospect, but it's obvious she's attempting to be subtle about it, so Harry opts to humour her.

"Yeah, I think we'll manage."

Finally content with her position in the group, Mina skips over to the rock by the creek and perches daintily on its mossy surface, immediately slipping her phone out of the candyfloss pink messenger bag strapped across her torso.

"She has a massive crush on you, you know."

Harry eyes Jj warily. What an odd way to start a conversation, especially after the way their last one ended. Sometimes, Harry thinks he can still taste Jj's lips. "I know."

"Do you, uh," Jj pauses, awkwardly clearing his throat. "Do you have a crush on her?"

"Nope," Harry replies, unbuttoning his shirt cuffs, readying himself for the grubby task at hand.

"Oh, okay. Does she know that?"

Harry merely shrugs. If Jj wants to know something, all he needs to do is ask, and Harry is nothing if not patient. He can wait. "I'm not sure. Probably."

"You should tell her," Jj continues. "Just to be safe. You wouldn't want to lead her on or anything."

"No, I wouldn't," Harry agrees, biting back a smile.

Jj shuffles on his haunches, fidgeting with the lid of his pitfall trap. A question sizzles within him, Harry can tell, but there's something stopping Jj from asking it. Something only Jj can name.

"Okay, well, I'm glad."

A pause.

"I mean, you could always do it now-"

"Jide, just spit it out," Harry groans, abandoning his patience once his curiosity makes an unwarranted appearance.

"Spit what out?"

"Whatever it is you really want to say."

Jj lets out a long, deep exhale. He looks at Harry with renewed determination.

"You don't have a crush on Mina, and in the past two weeks we've kissed twice."

Okay. So they're talking about it. About the unspoken thing between them. About all the things Harry has been keeping to himself since that afternoon in Jj's kitchen.

Before now, they've almost been acting like it never happened. They kiss, and then they don't talk about it. It's similar to how they treated the end of their friendship when they were thirteen. Suddenly and without notice, they were no longer friends. They didn't talk about it. In fact, they barely even acknowledged that it ever actually happened.

Strangely, Harry is glad for this sudden change in pace. It means things are getting better. It means that he might have a chance at being happy.

"That's true," Harry nods, lifting the lid off of his trap. He breathes a sigh of relief upon finding it void of any spiders. There's plenty else in there Harry isn't exactly thrilled to find, but for once, luck is actually on his side.

"Well, I'd like to know why," Jj presses. It's the most frantic Harry has ever seen him.

"You'd like to know why I don't have a crush on Mina? I mean-"

"No, I'd like to know why you kissed me. Twice. And don't tell me it's 'because you wanted to'. That's a tired and cliched excuse."

"Okay, well..." Harry trails off, quickly glancing towards Mina before deeming their secrecy intact. "I kissed you because I wanted to know if my dreams were right."

Jj's mouth drops open, pink as a rosebud.
"You're telling the truth?"

"I'm telling the truth."

"What does that mean for us?" Jj asks, earnest eyes fixed on Harry. He looks especially pretty amongst the rich, green foliage of the forest. Harry wants to pick the wildflowers twisted into the roots of the trees and sit them atop Jj's dark hair.

Harry brushes a stray grain of grit from his trouser leg, awkwardly. "What do you want it to mean?"

"No, don't do that," Jj says, voice sharper, bolder. "Don't answer my question with a question. I know what I want, Harry. Do you?"