Camelot High

Six

"Hey, Gwen, wake up," Elyan kicked me awake. I grunted at him in an unimpressed manner, making him laugh and kick me harder.
"Let the poor thing sleep, she looks exhausted. I'll come back," another male voice stated in an amused tone.
"Nah, she needs to get up anyway, else she won't sleep tonight. I don't fancy having her napping through her final mock tomorrow." Elyan said in reply to whoever else was in the room.
I stretched awake as he said that, rubbing my eyes, "I'm awake!"
"Sure you are, sis," Elyan chuckled, patting my shoulder.
I stretched again, forcing my eyes open and looking for the person Elyan was talking with. I near fell off the sofa when I saw that it was Arthur standing against the door post, smirking. "Arthur!" I scrambled up quickly, much to Elyan's amusement, and gave Arthur a tight hug.
"PDA!" Eylan coughed annoyingly.
I felt Arthur's chuckle vibrate against my head, and he pulled away from me to slap Elyan round the head. "Your brother is a git, Gwen!" Arthur grinned, pulling me over to my own sofa.
Elyan pouted at Arthur and I laughing, moodily throwing a cushion at our heads. "I was going to offer you both a drink, but I shan't now that you've been rude."
"Oh please, Elyan!" I begged, pulled my puppy dog eyes on him.
"Nope! You two stay safe. I'm going to my room, you can get your own drinks." He walked out of the room laughing, making Arthur roll his eyes.
"I know he's one of my closest friends, but I do not for the life of me understand your brother," Arthur smiled, sitting half cross legged on the tatty rug covered sofa.
"Sometimes I don't either!" I grinned, leaning forward to give Arthur a quick kiss. "I'm so glad you're okay."
"Because of you," he replied, squeezing my knee.
"You were worrying me. You've been in a bluer mood than normal and Mordred was glaring daggers at you," I explained, not wanting to take responsibility of my apparent heroic actions.
"'Bluer mood than normal'? Have I been that bad," Arthur asked, looking down at his knees guiltily.
"Arthur," I stated seriously, my tone of voice making him look up, a sad expression on his face. "You've lost your mother. And Ygraine was a wonderful woman, I still miss her. No one is looking down on you for being upset about this still."
"I don't like you being worried about me."
"I'm your girlfriend, Arthur. It's in the job description."
"I still should have stopped you from getting involved with Mordred," he said insistently, ignoring the tears running down his face.
"And where you that leave you now, huh? You'd lost so much blood by the time I got to you, any longer and we might have lost you," I argued back gently.
Arthur opened his mouth, obviously to argue back, but instead of words coming out, he just broke down into sobs. "I- I just don't know what to do. I want my Mum back!"
The sight of Arthur letting all his walls tumble down started me off crying too. Part of me, however, was glad he was crying. He was the type to bottle things up inside and not let them out- and if he did, it was usually with his fists. Seeing him let out all six months of grief was a relief to me. Swiping away my own tears, I shuffled up to Arthur and hugged him tightly. He loosely put his own arms about me and rested his head on my shoulder.
I'm not sure how long we sat like that, but it was a long time. For the few minutes before Arthur pulled away, I did start wishing for him to finish crying because my arms were aching and my back killing for being in an awkward position for so long, but managed to battle through that to be there for my boyfriend.
Once he did pull away, he gave me a weak, but sheepish grin. "Sorry," he mumbled, wiping away some stray tears on his cheeks.
"Don't be. We all need a good cry every once in a while," I told him with a gentle smile. For a minute or two, we sat in silence, me watching Arthur who was deep in thought over something. Unconsciously, I reached over to grab his hand, squeezing it gently as he stayed lost in his thoughts.
Quite suddenly, his head shot up and he looked at me, a strange intensity in his eyes, "I love you."
I stared at him blankly in my shock at his sudden revelation, but as I looked at him, I took the chance to really study him, observing all his features. His sand-brown hair was dishevelled and unwashed, he was pale and had bags under his eyes, he was getting to a point of too skinny from lack of appetite in the past six months, but he was still Arthur, my Arthur.
Not trusting my brain to get out something coherent, I leaned in for a kiss, staying close to him with a hand on his arm. He shifted his free arm to sit on my leg and rested his hand on my waist. Staying in that intimate position, I whispered a stuttered, but truthful reply, "I love you too."
I felt a smile grow on Arthur's face so I lifted my head slightly to look at him,  getting a surprise at what I saw; it was a smile I hadn't seen for months. When Arthur smiled this smile, his eyes shone with a certain type of happiness that was difficult to attain, a supernatural sort of ecstasy that was incredibly infectious. It was a smile that made others smile with you. And that was what it was doing to me.
Just then, Father came into the room. Arthur and I sprang apart, as Father was always cautious about us being too close so young; protective father over his little girl and all that!
"Arthur!" Father said in surprise, "how lovely to see you."
"It's very good to see you too, sir." Arthur replied respectfully, standing to shake my father's hand as he always did when seeing Father. "How have you been keeping?"
"I think we should be asking you that! How is the injury?"
"Still a little sore, but much better than it was, sir," Arthur answered, sitting down again next to me, but not as close as we had been.
"Very good. Would you like to stay for supper?" Father offered kindly, smiling warmly at Arthur.
Arthur himself smiled warmly back at Father, "I would love to, sir."