From England, With Love

Relief

"What do you mean you 'know'," I demand, my tone sharper than normal. I feel like I've been exposed for doing something wrong when no crime has been committed.

Tabitha takes her hands out her pockets and puts them in front of her in a 'calm down' sort of way.

"Don't panic. I'm not going to tell anyone you're together." She says calmly, her eyes flicking between the both of us. I don't know whether to believe her. Still on high alert from being interrupted part of me doesn't trust her sincerity.

"How did you know?" I ask, shifting my weight to lean closer to Pete, who was looking fixatedly at the floor.

"I'm not blind," she says, almost in disbelief. "I see how you two look at each other." Pete looks up now, and I get the sense that he trusts her. Pete is a soft person, and I trust his judgement of others, so I step back from the tree ad allow myself to relax a bit.

"I see," I say, "it was that obvious?" A sense of embarrassment washes over me. I thought we had concealed ourselves well, that our world was in its own little bubble and safe from prying eyes. But I guess it's hard to truly hide how you feel about someone.

"I wouldn't say obvious," she smiles, "but I figured it out pretty quickly."

"And you're not going to tell anyone?" Pete speaks, finally, not shifting his eyes from the floor.

"Of course not, it's not my business to tell anyone anything. I only came over here to warn you that some of the boys are awake, and I didn't want you to get caught doing... whatever you're doing." She looks slightly embarrassed, and I cringe.

"Please don't tell me you heard." I say, running a hand through my hair.

"I didn't," she says quickly, "not until the end." She raises her eyes toward the sky before adding, "I was already awake because Paige was sleeping half on top of me and I couldn't breathe. Our tent is next to Brandon and Ben's and I could hear them talking."

"What about?" I begin to panic that maybe they had heard as well.

"Oh, just video games or something, but I was worried when I heard you get out the tent that maybe they would follow you if they knew someone else was awake... which is why I'm now here." She waits for me to respond, and her continually relaxed body language and calm tone of voice has convinced me she's telling the truth.

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Thank you for not telling anyone. We're not ready for other people to know..." I wrap my arm around Pete's waist, no longer feeling under threat. "I guess it just sucks to be all the girls at school who have an eye on him. He's mine." I joke, and Pete looks up at me in horror.

"Ae! Don't say things like that around other people." He turns to Tabitha, a scowl on his face. "Isn't he annoying?"

She just laughs. "I'm going to go back to sleep, we need to be packed up and walking by 8am and it's about 5am now. Again, don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

She waves before turning around, but stops after a couple of seconds and faces us again.

"Maybe avoid getting too touchy-feely in public places, yeah?" She walks back to her tent.

Pete looks to me, laughter in his eyes, "yeah, maybe we should."

I was about to protest, as I felt guilty that he didn't get a turn at... well you know what, but then he yawns. I feel my heart melt a bit and ruffle his hair.

"Sleepy?" I ask, softly, and he nods.

We head back to the tent and make something that resembles a duvet by fully opening each sleeping bag and connecting them by opposite zips in the middle. Pete falls asleep almost instantly, using my upper arm as a pillow while I lean against a bundled up hoodie. I too must have been tired, as the next thing I know, Brandon is shaking my arm.