Natural Chemistry

Chapter 14: Stories Unraveled

"Sorry." I murmured, rather embarrassed by my earlier actions. At that moment it seemed like letting him go would kill me but now with the tears all gone and nerves calmed down, in retrospect not one of my best decisions.

He didn't say anything but just gathered the wood and put it where I had left space for it.

I worked beside him arranging the wood together to form a pile. Our hands brushed from time to time and I could feel a spark between us.

"Fire?" I spoke out loud. Realising that though I had watched enough man vs wild, I never paid any attention to the way he started the fire.
"Positives of smoking, I guess. Always have a lighter." He smirked, taking out his silver lighter and putting a log on fire, he threw it in the pile and the fire blazed.

I had set both our sleeping bags opposite to each other with the fire in between but when I was alone I couldn't handle being vulnerable, so I using his backpack as a barrier. I was sitting between both bags with my legs pulled together and a scared hand resting on a flash light.
As the fire continued, I took my seat in my sleeping bag.

"Vince, I kept your sleeping bag on that side." I called out, taking his backpack in my hand and pushing it his way.
He came towards me, took the backpack from my hand and put it beside mine as he sat.

I had assumed he would like to sit opposite to me, but I guess he could feel my inner fears and had been a gentleman to lend me a shoulder.
He sat down beside me, pulling his legs to his chest too, joining our shoulders, a gesture which quite surprised me. I was aware of every place our body touched, and call it teenage hormones or the sudden attraction I felt for the boy beside me alone in a forest but I haven't felt this way with anyone before.

"I'm sorry, I took so long. I might have taken a small cigarette break in between." He said in an guilty voice bringing me out of my thoughts.
"It's okay." I didn't blame him, I've heard how hard it is to let go of your addiction once you start though starting it in the first place seemed like a dumb idea, never judge that's what they say.

He rolled his sleeves up and peeled the cover of a bag of packed food.

"What does that mean?" I asked, looking at the clock drawn on his inner forearm, the art so beautiful, the ink merging with his skin in the utmost artistic manner. Both the hands of the clock were pointing to infinity.

He rolled the sleeves up even more. And small birds could be seen emerging from the clock and leading to two words-'Carpe Diem'.

"Time is endless but it never stops, not for you, not for me, noone. Always ticking, always passing on. One must seize the day. Right now, sitting here in the cold with the fire infront of us, it's beautiful. I want to live every moment in my life." He was looking into my eyes, the entire time he spoke, his eyes shining with deep meaning. I could see his icy blue eyes melt a little, the pain in them a tiny bit visible. The depth in his words shook my entire being,I was mesmerized by it all.

Everything about him was so unique and meaningful.

"What about this?" I asked, still looking in his eyes, tracing yet another tattoo on his body. My heart was beating frantically in it's cage, looking forward to finding out more about this different being infront of it.
He looked down, staring at the tattoo having an anchor with the words, 'Sink or swim' written over them.

"One tattoo at a time, Jinx. I can't let you unravel me in one night." He spoke in a husky voice, still looking into my eyes. He was right, each tattoo on his body spoke about him, none wasted pieces of art.

They all were placed and thought of, his body expressed his life, his emotions, his past- everything.

"Okay." I accepted, still processing all of him.