Perception

LXI

"So, erm, I just wanted to say, right..."
His voice was soft, and he was giving her that slightly coy look again. She looked sideways at him, quietly waiting for his words.
"Yeah. So, erm, I just wanted to tell you, that I obviously have no experience with this sort of thing, dealing with what happened to you. So I guess... I mean, I guess you realise how I feel, from earlier, but I just want you to know I'll never put pressure on you to do anything. Just.... you have space, okay?"

They were walking back to the tent hand in hand, her limbs feeling pleasantly tired now, all the antsyness of the long drive over swum out of them. She nodded into the darkness, because she'd kind of known this anyway, but she still really appreciated him stuttering it out loud.
"I know, Eli, you've shown me nothing but respect."
She put her arm around his waist, which was still cool from the late night swim, and leaned her head towards his shoulder as the gravel of the path crunched underneath her Birkenstocks.
"Thank you for saying."

The tent seemed smaller, somehow, much, much smaller as they approached it and she bent down to find her little sponge bag and a towel, trying her hardest not to lean on any sleeping bags with any wet parts.
What was she actually nervous about, here? They'd spent last night together, hadn't they? But even as she thought it she knew that that was different, because that had kind of been by accident. This was no accident, now. But let's face it, who was she kidding? Because really, was there anywhere she would rather be than next to him, tonight?
She squared her shoulders as her fingers touched the sponge bag in the suitcase and she made her way backwards out of the tent.
"I'll be back soon." she whispered to him, not wanting to wake anyone in the quiet tents around them, and she walked off to the little building in the middle of the field.

So by the time she crawled into the tent, her teeth brushed, her hair dried somewhat on the towel that was now folded under her head in lieu of a pillow, she eyed the yellow canvas dome above her calmly. It was safe, in here, womb-like. And it was nice to be in Eli's space again, a space that he had carried around with him as he backpacked over harsh volcanic terrain. She could just picture him now, climbing agilely over slippery stones in the cold Icelandic rain.
The sound of the zip, loud in the quietude of the night, announced his arrival and she felt him slide into the sleeping bag beside her.
"You good?" he whispered as he settled in, folding some unknown item of clothing to put under his own head.
"Yeah. I'm good." she told him honestly, and she turned onto her left side so she could put her head on his chest in the dark.
There was a slight pattering of rain on the tent roof.
"Wow, we got lucky. We could have been swimming in the rain."
He shrugged into his make-shift pillow.
"Oh well, we got wet anyway."
She chuckled softly. "True. I like rain in tents. As long as they don't leak, at least."
The image of a school camp in cotton tents that started leaking wherever someone had touched the cloth pushed itself into her brain and she smiled as she pulled the sleeping bag a bit higher on her shoulder. Somehow she didn't think that would be happening in this tent.
He moved slightly and kissed the top of her head.
"It won't leak. Is it terrible if I'm having fun?"
"Nope. I'm having fun, too. Good night, Eli."
He settled slightly deeper into his inflatable mat, his arm protectively around her shoulders.
"Good night, Anna."