UNDECIDED {On Hold😅}

CHAPTER 19 {HIKING}

TESSA
I roll over to feel a cold empty space I open my eyes slightly to notice that Ezio’s space is empty. I begin to hear shoving noises at the foot of the bed. I sit upright and rub my eyes groggily as I yawn and stretch my body.
“Good morning.” Ezio greets.
“Morning.” I reply then I notice him shoving mints, cookies, water bottles, and two packs of marshmallows into a bag pack.
“Uh what are you doing?” I ask confused and curious.
“We’re going out.” He states zipping up the bag and stands up.
“Where are we going exactly?”
“We’re going hiking. I think you should wear shorts again.” He suggested
“No I don’t think I can bear mosquitoes and bugs around me.” I tell him.
He shrugs “Alright then you should go shower now. I would leave so you can have your privacy.” He says and heads out. I head to the bathroom to have a quick shower, immediately I’m done, I step into the room with my towel wrapped around my body, I quickly change into a blue skinny jeans and a gray tank top then I hear a knock on the door.
“Come in.” I yell as I put on a pair of gray sketchers then the door swings open and Josh enters into the room then I stand.
“Hey Tess.” He says and gives me a bear hug.
I let out a little giggle as his breath tickles my neck. “Hello to you too.” I tell him as I pull away from him then I ruffle his hair playfully which he rewards me with a playful scowl. “How was your sleep?”
“Not well enough.” He says returning the gesture but I swat his hand away.
“I put time to this hair.” I say gesturing to my simple pony tail.
His lips quirk a little in a smile. “No matter what condition your hair is in its still beautiful.” He tells me which I roll my eyes at, “Anyways how was your night?”
“Pretty warm actually.” I say remembering the felling of Ezio’s arms around my waist pulling me closer me to his chest, which makes me to blush unconsciously.
“Might I ask why?” he asks.
“Well have you ever heard that curiosity kills the cat?” I say raising a brow at him.
  “Touché.” He says brushing down his invisible mustache with his fingers.
I chuckle shaking my head. “I think we should get going.” I tell him.
“Yea that’s mainly the reason why I came here.” he said gesturing around the room. “Shall we?”
“Sure.” I say then we leave the room and head to the dining room.
“I told you I should have gone to get her.” I hear Ezio say faintly.
“Just calm down Ez they should be here any moment now.” I hear Jane say.
“I should calm down?” Ezio asks raising his voice. “And why should I, huh?”
“Because they are already here.” Jane says firmly as we enter the dining room. Ezio turns to look at us. He gives Josh a hard stare, but his eyes soften up when he glances at me.
“Let’s head out before it gets late.” Ezio says grabbing the back pack from the floor and swings it on his back. He leaves us in silence for a few moments then Jane follows behind him. Brad and Kevin put on their own back packs and head out.
“Why was he mad?” I ask Josh who was still staring at Ezio’s spot. He looks over at me and gives me a tight smile as he shrugs.
“We should join the others before they go too far.” He says and leads me out of the house through the back door past the swimming pool and finally through the short wooden fence door. I see a lot of trees and bushes up the hill and around the area.
We walk in silence so we can catch up with the others, when we do he moves over to talk with Brad. The both of them walk in quicker paces and talk in hushed tones.
“Hey.” Ezio says coming up beside me.
“Hi.” I reply curtly.
“I’m sorry you had to see me that way today.” He says gently.
“It’s okay. Everyone has the right to be mad, but with good cause.” I say then look up at him expectantly. “Do you mind telling me why you were mad?” 
“It’s nothing you should worry about.” He says with a reassuring smile.
“Okay.” I rely shrugging it off.
Few moments later we were both laughing at one of Ezio’s childhood misadventures. Jane began to whine to Kevin that she’s tired.
“This is why we never go far.” Kevin says rubbing his forehead.
“Oh c’mon, can’t you carry me?” She asks while pouting.
“Then who’s gonna take my bag?” He asks her.
“Josh can.” She says, then calls Josh over to take the bag and hops on his back.
“You’re lucky you’re not heavy.” Kev mutters.
“And you love me.” She adds.
“In some ways yea.” he replied with a smirk which earns him a smack on his shoulder.
Ezio looks at them and back at me. “Do you want me to carry you?”
I look at him with shock. “What! No!” I reply as I feel my cheeks flush. “-and besides I’m too heavy for you.” I add shyly as I turn my face away from him.
He lets out a snort “Oh really? Well are gonna see how strong I am.” He says coming to grab my waist.
“Wait if you carry me then who would hold your bag?” I ask trying to find an excuse so that he sees the logic in his actions.
“I would.” He said with a ‘duh’ expression and scoops me off my feet bridal style as I scream at him to put me down.
“Nope no can do, besides you are even lighter than Emjane.” He replies then Jane yells an ‘I heard that.’ After that he just continues walking like my weight is equivalent to a paper.
“Aren’t you tired?” I asked after a while.
“I’ve carried heavier things, besides I would give anything to have a beautiful girl in my arms.” He murmurs looking straight ahead. I blush a little but roll my eyes when I see him smirk.
“Guys!” Brad whines. “Aren’t you hungry? Or are you too busy trying to please your girls?”
“Finally, someone else is hungry too.” Kevin says as he puts Emjane on her feet.
“Do you still want me to drop you?” he murmurs into my ear as I feel a shiver run down my spine, why is this question suddenly hard maybe its cause I ‘m already liking his arms around me, but who am I kidding? I can’t say that.
“Yes please.” I say but it came out as a squeak.
“Alright,” Jane says with a clap of her hands for attention. “This is where we divide the labor. Josh and Kevin would get us the logs as seats, Brad and Ez would go get sticks for the fire, while I and Tess would stay back and set everything up for our little camp fire.”
Brad and Ez gave her a mock salute then everyone left in different directions while they left the bags behind. I and Jane set out to work which is very little, so we had enough time to talk about random stuff.
“Hey, do you why Ezio was mad earlier today.” I ask
She blinks as though she didn’t expect the question then she bites her lip. “Because he wanted to be the one to escort you to the meet everyone in the dining room.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense. We all stay under the same roof.”  I say with confusion.
“Well you see Ez can be really overprotective sometimes.” She says while rubbing her exposed arms for friction.
“Overprotective? Of what? I’m not even his-”
“The wood picker boy scouts have returned.” Brad says announcing their presence and goes over to set the sticks down beside the make shift fire place Jane made. Ezio does the same but arranges the woods and some dead leaves together then strikes two stones until fire comes up.
“Would you look at that so you were a boy scout.” I tease. “How come you never told me that?”
He shakes his head and chuckle a bit, “because it didn’t look important information.” He replies.
Moments later Josh and Kevin return with two long logs, we all get into comfortable positions on the logs and begin to roast marshmallow and cookies together as we share past experiences.
Kev announces that it’s getting late and we should pack up and head back down. I walk down with Josh who tells me some of his mischievous deeds with some college girls when he was in high school and I laugh at the punishments he was given.
Immediately I step into the room, I head to the showers for a quick shower, when I’m done I step out and pull on my sweat pants and huge t-shirt. I climb on the bed and lay on my side. I quickly say a goodnight to Ezio before the sweet abyss of sleep consumes me.