Among the Vinca

Chapter 24: Eric

"OW! Dangit all!" I yelled. I heard a long string of colorful curses from Ryan, and Blake was muttering constantly under her breath. Whynne's eyes were round as saucers as she hurried her mound of dirt away as fast as she could. We were trying to dig the bug's nests out of our shelter. Unfortunately, we had to use our hands. Which was really painful, considering they were biting us the whole time. I rushed as fast as I could to the tree we had decided to dump them at. It was pretty far from the camp, but not so far that we couldn't find them if we were looking. Blake wanted to eat them if we got too desperate. I was praying that we never had to do that. We'd gotten pretty lucky so far. We were still hungry, but we found food on occasion. Blake was the one who found it the most often, because of her gathering, but Whynne had a pretty good eye for the edible plants that Blake couldn't see. I fished with Ryan. I had improved a lot, and Ryan finally caught on a few days after he started. And we had constant water, which was amazing. We filled the canteens and hung them over the fire with a little hanging thing that Blake had made with Whynne's rope. It boiled pretty quickly. It was a good thing I had brought that towel, or we would have had to wait for the canteens to be touchable before we put them in the river to cool them down. Thankfully, all our canteens had little carrying holes that the rope could hang from.

Ryan and I went gathering that particular day, since Blake was purifying the water and wanted to teach Whynne about various edible plants. Ryan chattered along as we wandered, but my mind was occupied with Blake. I had no idea what was wrong with me, but I didn't really care. I'd at least accepted the fact that I liked her. Or, as Whynne put it, was obsessed with her. Well, if I was obsessed, I had plenty of reason. She was smart, honest, resourceful, and a natural leader on top of it all. And to add to the package, beautiful. I had no idea what Whynne saw when she looked at her. Unless she lied because she was jealous. Sure, Whynne was beautiful, but it was the kind of beauty that seemed almost unreal. Plastic, I guess. A Barbie doll. And I was willing to bet a pack of jerky that Whynne was no stranger to pampering and beauty treatments.

Blake, however... She was all natural. The kind of effortless beauty that Whynne would never have. The soft curls, framing her sharp features so well. The sudden edges in her face that somehow worked with the curves of her cheeks. Her eyes... Those beautiful eyes that I finally got to see. She squinted constantly so she could see, of course. But I had never really seen her eyes before. But when she came to look at the fish, she stopped squinting. Gorgeous. The long eyelashes around the most intelligent and curious eyes I had ever seen. And the most complicated emotions, if her eyes really were an emotional detector. But that just made me all the more fascinated. She was so puzzling, so complex, so intriguing. For everything I learned about her, thousands more that I wanted to know popped to replace them. The way she brushed her stray hairs behind her ear, every facial expression, every realization that dawned on her face... I wanted to know more. I wanted to know everything about her.

Good grief, I really am obsessed. But that didn't matter. My feelings would only scare her. And worse, she'd probably avoid me. I couldn't let that happen. So I tried to act normal to her, no matter how much I wanted to treat her different. I had had crushes before, but this was so different. Those were just fleeting attractions that faded quickly. It was not something that was built to last. I'd only liked those girls because they were pretty, or because they didn't laugh at me like everyone else. But this... This would last...

"Dude, did you hear me?" Ryan asked me, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. What's up again?" He shook his head in amusement.

"You've really been lost in your own little world lately. Anything you want to share with the rest of the class?"

"Nope." I replied, shaking my head quickly. The sun came out from behind a cloud, and I closed my eyes and smiled at the unexpected warmth. It had been uncharastically cool while we were scavenging for food.