Steel: The Transformation

Chapter 35

Chapter 35 

Cleo POV

The first rays of the morning stroked my face, I felt the added warmth from them across the sleeping bag. I kept my eyes closed and smelled the musk from the woods, the air was heavy with humidity and it felt like the scents of the woods were seeping into my pores. I had fallen asleep next to the fire last night, the air had been warm and there hadn't been any need for the tent. I slowly opened my eyes and stared straight into Alec's brown ones. I been came instantly aware of how close we were, I noticed that my head was resting on his arm.

"Sorry," I said and sat up.

"You don't have to be sorry," Alec said and sitting up too with a small smile playing across his face.

"So last night was pretty intense," I said softly.

He nodded before looking over to the pile of ash that had been our fire.

"Yes, it was. I just felt like you needed to know," he cocked his head to one side and looked at me.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I think so. Thank you for telling me."

Alec got up and started rolling up his sleeping bag, "No worries."

I started to fold up my sleeping bag too.

"So what do we do now?"

"We pack up and go home. We need to send the photos to Central."

The trek back had been long and warm, the sun had been beaming down on us through the trees and we had both worked up a sweat. I welcomed the sight of the back of my house. I stuck the key in the back door and walked into the kitchen, dumping my rug sack on the floor.

"Want a glass of water?" I asked Alec as I got the tap running.

"Yes, please," he replied and dumped his backpack next to mine.

"Here," I handed him a cold glass of water.

"Ah," Alec took big gulps of his glass.

I felt the water run down my throat and I realised how much I had needed it. The trek back had been a lot harder because the weather had turned sunnier and the warmth combined with the heavy woodland walk had been exhausting.

Alec place the empty glass on the counter, "I'm going to run over to my house and have a shower and change clothes."

He smiled at me, "I'll be back over later."

I waved at him as he headed for the front door, still drinking big gulps of water.

I was just about the leave the kitchen and go have a shower myself when my phone flashed.

"Hello," I answered.

"Hi Cleo," Jake's warm voice carried through the phone to me.

"What's up?" I said while I was filling up the glass with water again.

"Not much, just wanted to check where you were?"

"Actually, I'm back in town," I admitted.

"Cool. I'll come over and we'll hang out?" Jake posed it as a question but we both knew that it was not really needed.

"Sure," I replied.

I curled up on the couch, my damp hair was pulled up in a messy bun and I pulled the big sweater closer around me.

"So how are things with you?" I asked and took a sip from my cup of tea.

"It's all good," Jake said.