The Prince And The Bad Boy

12. Wet

"Here they are!" Jenna sighs with relief when she spots us approaching towards our camp. Everyone joins us and Tristy wants answers by the look of her face.

"Tent! Now!" Tristy points her finger at the tents.

I get pity glances from Matt while walking towards my tent that I am sharing with Tristy.

After zipping up the tent, Tristy turns around and she's completely changed. It's like she transformed into an enraged hulk but shorter and thinner and not green at all. Though she's also wearing purple shorts. Damn, Katherine!

But suddenly, when she comes near me, her facial expressions changes from furious to caring and she hugs me. What just happened?

"Uh? Tristy, what happened? I thought you were angry?" I ask hugging her back.

She unwraps me. "You cried. I can always tell whenever you cried just by looking at you. Your nose is a little red and there's a single wrinkle at the end of both of your eyes. Why did you cry?"

I look at her blankly and then start laughing. She smiles seeing me laugh.

I stop and explain it to her. "I had a talk with William.  About all the things that happened in the past. Luke also overheard it. And by the way, I met Damien in the morning."

"Holy... Okay wait! You wanna talk about it?"

"No. I just want to sleep."

"We'll talk after reaching home, okay?"

"Yeah." I smile and stuff myself in my sleeping bag.

What happened in morning till night, everything played in my mind like a movie. Every scene. Every dialogue. Damien. William. Luke. Everything happens in slow motion and I analyse every moment of it. It's a bad habit but yeah I do this a lot.

Those piercing, full of emotions, dark eyes of Damien. Looking for an answer. Asking if I am okay or not. Wanting forgiveness. Craving a conversation.
Then that warmth I felt while hugging William and crying in his embrace. The feeling of tranquility and peace I felt with just a touch of his skin with mine. It was simple and beautiful. Calm and soothing. No pain but rather gratifying. I felt comfortable sharing my past with him. Letting him know about from where I come from. I didn't feel exposed as I usually think I do.  

But then that hug from Luke pops in my mind. That hug that made me stronger within myself when I was emotionally exposed in front of two teenage boys. Just one hug. And I was ready to fight it all. The way we escaped from those gangsters. That's when I realised, I care for Luke and that is the reason I went along with those people to save him without a second thought. But we didn't even know each other that well at that time. How can I care for a person who is not close to me at all? But I did.

With thoughts churning in my mind, I drift off to a stressful sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Alright, niggas! Gather around." Everybody finds a spot comfortable enough for them to sit and hear Ben behaving like a camp leader. It's 7 o'clock in the morning and no one had a satisfying sleep last night. Everybody looks worn out and not at all up for the 'thing' Ben spent hours planning for us. Perks of being used to a feathery mattress. But it's not all bad. For the first time in my life, I woke up to birds chirping a melody early morning and that sound of wind blowing while hitting huge trees. The fresh air hit me as soon as I popped my head out of my tent. I didn't feel the need of a shower or a face wash to completely wake me up. 

"So, when this miss here..." Ben points at me. "...was lost in the woods and both her knights in shining armor were ready in her suits to save her. Though they didn't have a sword or an armor or a horse. Still they both were..."