Runaways- Runaways 1

Chapter 20: Marcus

I pulled Peyton aside at breakfast the next morning. I'd heard her scream in the middle of the night, but I hadn't had a chance to get to her before Aaliyah did. I hoped she was okay.

"I'm fine," she said when I asked her about it, pushing me away playfully. "Come on, I'm laughing. I swear I'm fine."

I shook my head. That was our secret language, laughter, and since she laughed almost all the time, it was when she wasn't laughing that worried me. And she was certainly pretty bubbly this morning. She'd dragged us all out of bed at 7:30 to a wet forest and a light drizzle coming down, all with a smile on her face. I guess whatever had bothered her last night wasn't bothering her anymore.

"You know you can talk to me if you need anything," I responded. She nodded.

"Believe me, I will. Haven't I been known to do that?"

"And put your foot in your mouth sometimes when you do," I joked. She feigned anger and slapped my shoulder.

"Okay, fine, yes, I tend to put my foot in my mouth more often than not," she agreed reluctantly.

"Breakfast finished?" Eli asked as he came up behind us.

"Oh, yeah. We should probably get going," Peyton stated. I finished my twinkie in two bites and threw the wrapper in the bag with the rest of the trash.

"Let's get going," I said.

Eli nodded. "Full day today. Hopefully, we can make as much progress as we did yesterday."

I went to roll up the tarp we'd shared the night before. We'd woken up wet in the middle of the night, finding that the tarp above us was leaking. I shook out the tarp and then folded it as neatly as I could, stuffing it into the bag.

"Hey, Marcus," Aaliyah called. I looked up to see her in one of the four trees that supported the tarp over our heads. "Help me take this down?"

"Oh, yeah, sure." I'd never been much of a tree climber, but I hoisted myself up the tree adjacent to her with ease. Several of its branches were within reach of my long arms from ground level. I took the rope and started untying the bowline knot. The rope was coarse on my fingers, turning the tips of them red. Eventually, I got it untied. I made the mistake of dropping the corner, dousing Eli, Peyton, and Luke with the water that had pooled on it overnight.

Peyton glared at me, but Luke and Eli seemed indifferent. "Marcus, really?" Aaliyah scolded sarcastically. I shrugged, smirking.

"Sorry."

Luke and Eli had already put on their baseball caps they'd brought, but Peyton hadn't gotten over to hers yet. Aaliyah and I were wearing ours as well.

"Sure, you are," Luke shouted. With the rope in hand I climbed back down and went to the next tree. Aaliyah had already scaled another one as well, and her rope was dangling from her hand. She was just holding the tarp up to make it easier for me to undo it. This one was even easier than the last, only having been tied in a simple square knot. I held the corner of the rope as I climbed down.

After she and I shook out the tarp and put it back in the bag, we set out toward the lake again. "I think we'll have to stop at another creek or river soon," I pointed out.

"Probably," Luke agreed.

"Noted!" Eli said. He was leading us at the front with Peyton and Aaliyah trailing close behind. Luke and I were farther back. My heart skipped a beat when he grabbed my hand and our fingers intertwined. It still made me a little giddy every time, even after nearly two years.

I bit my lip as a thought crossed my head. I hadn't told anyone about it yet. But the truth was, I'd come out to my parents so early. I was barely fifteen when I told them. And because of that, I'd done it the wrong way. A few months after I turned fifteen, I realized that I wasn't bisexual. I was gay. Bisexuality was my cover so that I at least seemed half normal.