Hurricane Love

Twenty Six

'Oh, good morning,' Abbie said, as she rolled over in her sleeping bag and squinted at me. 'What time is it?'

'Good morning to you too,' I replied, as I threw my bottled water and my camera into my backpack and closed it up. 'It's 8am.'

'Why are you up and ready at 8am?' she asked.

'I'm just going for a walk,' I replied. 'Take some pictures of the forest.'

'Okay, Amelia,' she said, as she sat up and looked at me. 'Don't go all cold and distant now. You were upset last night and it's okay to be upset.'

'Abbie, I was drunk,' I replied, rolling my eyes. 'Yes, it's...annoying that things are like this but I was honestly just drunk and being over dramatic.'

'You cried yourself to sleep, Amelia,' she said, giving me a sympathetic stare.

'Because I was drunk!' I exclaimed. 'God, lay off, alright; I'm not in the mood.'

'Okay, okay,' Abbie said, raising her hands defensively. 'Fine, you do whatever you need to to deal with it.'

'See you soon,' I mumbled, crawling forward and climbing out of the tent.

I zipped it up and sighed as I got to my feet, feeling irritated at myself for crying like an idiot the night before over my conversation with Ryker. The beers had gotten to me and so had his words but today I felt a little better and a little stronger; it was time to just deal with the reality of it all and get over it.

'Morning.' No second after I gave myself that small pep talk did Ryker's low and husky morning voice instantly make me flinch as I turned around.

I studied him, standing by his tent with a cigarette in his hand. He was wearing jeans but was completely shirtless and my mouth dropped open ever so slightly as I froze at the very sight of him. His body was slim but I could see the tone of his faint six pack, however, the thin gold chain around his neck was what really got me and I stuttered as I stared at it, lost for words.

'M-m-umm...yeah, morning,' I mumbled, suddenly trying to gather myself as my face turned red.

'You alright?' he asked.

'Yeah,' I replied, looking back up to his face and the second my eyes met his it brought back the dull ache I'd been feeling all night, rendering me back into my sorrowful mood.

'Where are you off to?' he asked.

'Nowhere,' I said, slowly making tracks away from him.

'Somewhere to flash that camera of yours about?' he asked.

'Something like that,' I said. 'Well, see you.'

I continued across the grass, past the burnt out campfire towards the trees on the opposite side. Everybody was obviously still sleeping after a night full of drinks and drama and as I moved between the tents towards the opening in the trees, Ryker's voice stopped me in my tracks.

'Maybe I'll join you,' he said, from behind me, and I turned around to see him now wearing a t-shirt and heading my way. 'If you don't mind, of course.'

'It's going to be pretty boring for you,' I told him.

'I don't mind,' he said, shrugging softly.

'Yeah, but...' I struggled to find an excuse for him to not come with me. The whole purpose of getting over it and moving on was so that I could be around him without feeling so flustered but I was never going to get there if I didn't keep my distance.

'If you don't want me to come, it's fine,' he said, laughing softly. 'I don't get offended too easily.'

'Well, it's just...' I scrunched up my nose as I realised how badly I was struggling to say no to him and it didn't take much for me to cave into the dark green eyes flickering across my face. 'No, it's cool actually; you can come.'