Bad Decisions

Chapter Three

-Devin-

The next morning, his alarm went off at 7:30am. He promptly pressed snooze. He never got up this early, and he didn't understand why they couldn't start later in the day. When he finally stopped pressing snooze and rolled out of bed, it was 7:52. He took his time getting dressed and brushing his teeth and then wandered outside. He saw Avery waiting by the white pickup truck they'd been in the other day.

"Hey, Devin," Avery said, giving him the smile he seemed to have constantly plastered on his face. "Are you ready to go? It's important for us to be out of here by eight."

Avery said it cheerfully, but Devin could see that his smile was tense. He glanced at his phone. It was 8:17, hardly anything to get worked up about.

"What's for breakfast?"

"There are some muffins that Sam made still sitting on the counter. Go grab one and come back to the truck."

"Okay, boss."

When he came back outside, Avery was already in the truck with it running. He climbed into the passenger seat, stuffing the muffin in his mouth, and then they were off.

After a few minutes of silence, Avery spoke up. "How was your first night? Was everything okay with your cabin?"

"Other than it sucks? Nah, I was just bored."

Avery seemed to flinch at his words. The dude really needed to lighten up and stop being offended that he wasn't giving the place glowing reviews. It's not like he had chosen to be here.

"We didn't see you at dinner," Avery said. "I was hoping you'd join us."

"I came by later and found some food. Hope it wasn't someone's lunch."

"Was it in a Tupperware container? That's what we do with leftovers, so most things in the fridge are up for grabs."

He nodded, and then stared out the window. It was just trees. And then more trees. Never ending trees. He sighed, knowing it was going to be a long day.

-

Several hours later, they had finished up their work at the first site. It was a lot of dumb forest shit that he didn't care about knowing. Avery had enthusiastically explained how to do a few tasks, but he had barely been listening. He was starting to get hungry after only having a muffin for breakfast.

"When's lunch?"

"We can stop and take a break now if you want."

"We're not going back to get food?"

"No, we're usually too far away for that. Since I wasn't sure if you were going to bring anything, I made you a sandwich."

Avery opened the tailgate of the truck and sat on it, his feet dangling off the back. He took two sandwiches out of a small cooler in the back and handed one to Devin. "I hope you aren't a vegetarian. I should have asked."

"Nope, I'll eat anything."

The sandwich wasn't anything special, but he wolfed it down anyway. Avery had also packed some water and Gatorade in the cooler. At least he was prepared, but he seemed like the type to be prepared for everything. He was annoyingly cheerful and way too smiley, and it was starting to get on Devin's nerves.

At their next work site, they walked out to a stream. The water murmured as it ran over the rocks in the stream, and there was bright green moss growing along the edges. "It's gorgeous, isn't it?" Avery said wistfully.

Devin had to admit that it was pretty, and the sound of the water was soothing. He stood next to Avery for a couple minutes just watching the stream.