As soon as they woke up the next morning, Michael and Ari decided to leave the cabin and head to the village. Ari's words had been echoing through Michael's mind all morning as they had packed their things and headed back to the truck. "Well...it worked."
What had she meant by that? She hadn't spoken of the kiss since she had said that, and she seemed to have chosen to pretend it had never happened. Had she simply meant exactly what she had said: his kiss had cheered her up, maybe because it was nice to know someone cared about her?
Or was there something more?
"I love this weather." Ari said from the drivers seat, causing Michael's train of thought to suddenly derail.
He promptly blushed at the sound of her voice and rested his cheek against the window in an attempt to hide it's redness.
"Um...what weather?" He said obtusely.
"The weather outside, doofus." Ari laughed, gesturing to the windshield.
The day was hot and dry, and all the tree's colours seemed to pop and stand out against the deep blue sky. That morning, as they had walked down the path towards the truck, everything had crunched underfoot, as if it had been roasted to a crisp by the heat.
"Yeah, it's nice." Michael nodded distractedly.
Ari's brow furrowed in thought, but she said nothing. The car was silent except for the sound of the wheels spinning on the road and the engine whirring softly along.
Finally, Ari took a hand off of the wheel to run it through her hair. "So. I told you mine. Now will you tell me yours?"
"My what?" Michael asked, even though he knew what she was talking about.
"Your story," Ari took her eyes off the road for a moment to glance at him. "I know something happened to you Michael. Something..." She paused, perhaps searching for an adjective to describe this "something", but she must not have been able to come up with one, because she fell silent.
"What?" Michael's default instinct was to play dumb. "Nothing happened to me."
Ari gave him a look that clearly said "liar".
Michael opened his mouth to continue his denial routine, but then he realized that Ari could obviously tell he was lying. There was no point in lying to Ari. She could always see through him. He wouldn't tell her the truth yet, but he'd at least stop lying.
"I...I can't," he swallowed. "Not yet. Okay?"
"I'm sorry," Ari swallowed, suddenly looking guilty. "I shouldn't have-"
"It's okay." Michael assured her, turning to face the window as a signal that the conversation was over.
He felt pressure on his thigh, and glanced down to see Ari's hand there. He looked over at her to see her eyes firmly on the road, her lips in a straight, unreadable line.
He slowly slid his hand from his lap and gripped Ari's with it, keeping his eyes on the scenery outside the window. At first, it seemed like Ari might pull her hand away, but then he felt her fingers lace with his as she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.
Michael couldn't help but smile and, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ari smile too.
I know you guys are probably all like, "UG they've kissed twice and seen each other in their underwear! Why don't they just date already?!" But it really bugs me when, in books, people kiss once and then in the next chapter they're automatically dating. Life is actually a whole lot more complicated than that.
And sometimes people have a hard time talking about things, or bringing them up. Michael might be too nervous to ask if the kiss meant anything to Ari. I sort of wanted to show that side of things.
Loser_Luke
