There she is. Who? His girl.

Part 17

It had been half an hour before Misha had made her first shot missing the target by a mile. A big frown had covered her features, after putting the safety back on, without a word she pushed the rifle to Zack.

'How about you show me how it is done?' she said. Zack raised his eyebrow at her as she was acting strange but took the gun from her hands.

He positioned himself and with ease shot three of the bottles. He turned to Misha who was smiling at him.

'What is it?' he asked.

'Nothing' she replied with a singsong voice but it seemed she was holding in a smile.

'Spill the beans what's going on.'

'I do not like shooting the rifle.'

Zack frowned 'That much I gathered. What's with wanting me to shoot?'

She looked around and indicated for him to lean in. After he did she moved to his ear and he almost dropped the gun he was holding feeling her teeth graze his earlobe. There was no one near them who could see but the possibility of getting caught was somewhat exciting.

'I like guns but you with a gun is a special treat.'

Zack quickly checked the safety once more and gathered Misha in his arms. She quickly turned serious.

'What if someone sees us?' she asked trying to extract herself.

'What of it?' Zack said as he had made up his mind and brought Misha closer.

She lifted her eyebrows but stopped struggling.

'I was thinking that maybe you would not mind being in a relationship with me?' he said struggling for words and unsure if she even understood what he had said.

'What do you mean, Zack?' she asked and his heart stopped. He had prepared for the possibility that she might say no but somehow the idea that 'she might' is more bearable than the reality of rejection.

'I mean having a relationship where I can hold you and kiss you in public and no one else can do that. As in you know... relationship...' her face did not change but stayed in neutral and it made his chest constrict seeing the distrust in her eyes.

'What brought on the change?'

He started thinking about the possible outcomes of this conversation and realized that this might not be the best time to approach the subject. If she said no, they will be stuck in a close proximity as they were in the middle of the forest and will stay here for the next two nights. Knowing her she probably could make the atmosphere less strained but it would be awkward. He probably just blew their existing relationship just because he wanted more.

He released her and tried to think up a way to back track 'You know what...'

Before he could finish she poked his stomach with an angry glare on her face that startled him.

'No, you do not get to walk away from your words. Explain now! You are making everything awkward not talking things through. What is going on? Talk to me!' she said forcibly pushing a finger at his chest.

He was angry. Not with her but with himself for not thinking. 'I don't want to waste the time trying to hide that something is going on between us. I want to be with you even when there are people around. Is that too much to ask?! I am the one that is making things tense?! You are with your nonchalance about everything!'

'Nonchalance...'

'Yes. It is as if you do not care about anything. Everything you do is just skimming the surface. You are not really passionate about anything and it makes me wonder if you even can be passionate about anything.'

'So we are not going to talk about your fear of commitment? We are going to talk about me and my lack of passion.' she said with her arms crossed over her chest.

'I am offering you relationship while you are questioning me but I am the one who has a fear of commitment?!'

She scoffed, without another word turned around and went back to the house. Luckily nobody had seen their quarrel and Zack turned back to the target shooting not ready to talk with her more.