38. HUNT

It was a day before we were leaving. Our last day at camp. I was sulking by a little creek in the woods. None of my friends would find me here. It was just so motherfucking depressing that T had absolutely no feelings for me. Why not? Sure, I wasn't the most sensitive motherfucker but I was nice to him. I was strong. I was attractive. I could get fucking anyone I wanted yet I'd chosen him and he didn't even notice.

I'd sharpened a rock into a knife. I was cutting wood sticks with it for no particular reason.

"Fuck you, Timothy." I mumbled.

"Woah."

I looked up. Allie smirked as she struggled to walk through sticks and exposed tree roots. She almost fell.

I got up and grabbed her hand.

"Thanks."

I helped her cross to my side. She sat next to me on a thick tree root that could easily function as a bench.

"'Fuck you, Timothy?' What's with that?" Allie chuckled.

"Uh.." I played with my rock and sticks. "He ticked me off this morning. He.. Never mind, he just pissed me off."

"Yeah, T tells me you've been in a bad mood lately."

"Well, have you heard the bullshit rumors about us? You know, last I heard you were pregnant."

Allie began to laugh. "Ha! As if!"

"What? You don't have sex?"

"I do, I just don't want kids. I'd never let that happen."

I sighed. "Then you haven't seen my thunder cock. A little piece of rubber would never protect you from my seed."

Allie laughed again. "You're so disgusting!"

"I'm just being real."

"Uh-huh." Allie shook her head with a big grin on her face.

I smirked a little. Then I thought of Timmy again and felt shitty.

I started making cuts into the tree.

"Those rumors.." Allie began.

I looked up.

"They're not that crazy, are they?" She asked.

I was confused. "You are pregnant?"

"No! I mean.. The slightly less ridiculous rumors. You know.. about us dating."

I frowned. Then I remembered Timothy telling me Allie is in to me. He was right about that? How? Allie, of all people.

"No, I'd say that's still pretty crazy."

"I mean, I.." Allie fumbled with her fingers. "I do.. Do you like me?" She asked.

Allie's hopeful eyes bore into my skin.

"No." I said honestly. It sounded a lot harsher than I intended.

Allie looked away and nodded.

"Okay, I didn't mean to sound that harsh-"

"No, it doesn't matter." Allie said quickly. "I mean, it's not like I like you either, so.."

I nodded. I knew she was probably lying. But either way she got the message. Maybe now those godawful rumors could be obliterated.

"I'm gonna go." Allie got up.

I rose to help her.

"No, I'll be fine." Allie said quickly. She speedily stepped over the branches and walked away back to the campsite.

✪

"Alright, beautiful creations!" Mr. Hammock began.

I heard several annoyed ughs from the crowd. We were all collected in the middle of the circle of tents around nighttime.

"We have one last activity planned for this final day at camp.." Hammock paused for a moment. I was sure he was waiting for us to complain about this being the last one but most people hated our lame teachers' stupid camp activities.

Hammock sighed disappointed. "Alright, well, it's a scavenger hunt. We are going to be going into the woods right at nightfall! We have separated you all into groups of six! The first group to collect all 3 special items scattered around the woods will win!"

"Win what?" Taylor groaned.

"You will win -And this is exciting- a.. You know what? I'll keep it a secret for now but trust me, you won't want to miss this!" Hammock squealed. I rolled my eyes.

The teachers led the way into the forest. It was up a little hill. It looked pretty nice up there although by the time we'd reached the heart of it, it was too dark out to see.

"Ooh! Spooky!" Dave laughed, scaring one of the geeks as he pushed him aside.

"Alright then, now for the groups!" Mr. Hammock said excitedly. He turned on a flashlight and began to read the teams off a piece of paper.

I was honestly hoping to be with my boys on this one. I didn't want to talk to Allie and I sure as hell didn't wanna look into T's clueless eyes. It was fucking embarrassing, alright?

"And lastly, group Hedgehogs: Josh, Wallace, Kingsley, Tiffany, Mia and Timothy."

For fucks sake!

Everyone began to complain and chatter. I was considering rolling myself down the hill hoping I'd land into a tree and die.

Wow. I sounded so emo. Dairy Queer was rubbing off on me.

"Each group has their own original card of items to find! Come collect them from me!"

I sighed and looked for my teammates. Wallace and Kingsley were super tight and pretty gay so they were easy to spot. And Mia and Tiffany were underrated hot girls I could hardly miss.

Annoyed, I joined their side. T found his way to us in the end as well.

"Okay, here's the deal, Hedgehogs," Wallace began. He turned on the flashlight he'd picked up from Mr. Hammock and shone it on himself. "I just heard someone say the prize is going to be immunity on Hammock's next test."

"Holy shit!" Tiffany shrieked.

"That's amazing." Mia agreed.

"Exactly. I'm doing terrible in English so that means we HAVE to win!"

"Agreed." Kingsley said.

"Timothy? Is he even here?" Wallace asked.

"Uh- I'm here."

Wallace shone the flashlight in T's face. It was pretty damn bright. He blinked a few times. "And yeah, I agree." T spoke quietly.

"Josh?" The light flashed into my eyes.

"Whatever! Just turn that shit off!" I snapped.

"Alright great." Wallace pointed the flashlight on himself again. "I took a look at the map. There are like three potential locations. I say we split into groups of two and check them all out at once. There's quite a bit of ground to cover but if we do it this way we'll be sure to win!"

Everyone agreed. T and I just kind of silently stood there. I honestly just wanted to go to bed.

"Alright, I'm obvy going with Kingsley, Mia you go with Tiff and Josh, you go with Timothy."

Are you fucking kidding me?! Really?

I could complain but T would probably take it personally and before we knew it he could be the one throwing himself down the hill. I sighed.

Wallace held up the map. It showed three items: a blue crow, a black heart and a golden hammer.

The three locations were written on the back.

"Alright, we only have one map but two out of these locations should be findable even without one." Wallace explained. "There's a cabin, a tree with a white flag and a creek. Kingsley and I will take the map and look for the tree. Josh and Timothy can go find the cabin and Mia and Tiff can find the creek. Just use your eyes and ears and you'll be fine. According to the map the cabin is somewhere down the hill. On the right from the path we came from. The creek should be somewhere on the left."

"I think you're forgetting something, genius. We only have one flashlight." I grumbled.

Wallace smiled. "Here. Take it." He handed me the flashlight. "I've got this." Wallace held up his phone and turned on the flashlight.

"You're so smart!" Mia grabbed her phone too.

"Alright are you all ready?" Mr. Hammock asked.

Everyone agreed. They sounded a lot more excited than before.

"Alright then let the scavenger hunt begin! You get forty minutes!" Mr. Hammock declared. He pressed an air horn.

"Good luck Hedgehogs! Let's win this thing!" Wallace said.

"Good luck guys!" The girls cheered. Everyone ran off soon enough, leaving me alone in the dark with Timothy.

"Let's go." I growled, leading the way. T followed behind me silently.

"Can't believe we have to do this shit. It's for toddlers."

"Don't you want that immunity?" T asked.

"I don't fucking care."

Timothy tripped and almost tumbled down the goddamn hill. I caught him in my arms.

"Watch where you're going!"

"I'm sorry. It's dark, okay?"

"Here." I gave Timmy the flashlight and kept walking.

The moon was out and it was getting pretty cold. I worried if T might get too cold. Then figured his new stupid little boyfriend could worry about that.

"Do you like that asshole?" I growled.

"Huh? Who?" T asked. He sounded out of breath.

"That idiot, Blade."

"Uh.. No. We're just friends."

"Weren't you just friends with Fangs in the beginning?"

T was quiet for a moment. I don't know why I just fucking said that.

"Yeah. Now that I think about it." T agreed.

"Don't date Blade, okay? You should stay single for a while." I was being completely selfish here.

"I just told you I won't." T chuckled. Right before he tripped again. He shrieked and tumbled down the hill.

"Hey!" I grabbed onto him before he could bang into a tree. "Are you blind?!" I cried.

"Ow!" T held his hand to his knee.

"You are so fucking stupid, Timothy." I grabbed the flashlight and shone it on him.

Well, his jeans were already ripped so that wasn't new. But now he also had a bloody knee.

"Dumbass."

"I suck at this kinda stuff, you know that." T panted.

"Yeah. At least you have other talents. Like giving a good blowy."

T scoffed and shyly glanced at the ground.

"Come on." I held out my hand and pulled T up on his feet. "Does it hurt?"

"It's okay."

We continued down the rest of the hill.

"Watch it!" I held my arm across T's torso before he had the chance to trip over another tree stump.

"You know what? Hold this." I gave T the flashlight.

"What are you- Woah!" I lifted Timothy off his feet so he was right on my back. He wrapped his arms around me.

"Much better. Now, tell me when you see a cabin."

"Okay." T shone the flashlight to the right when we reached the foot of the hill. There was a little path hidden away. I followed it.

I was glad he couldn't hear my heart thump.

"You smell nice." Timothy said suddenly.

It completely caught me off guard. I didn't know what to say. I was blushing. God, just have me committed already.

"Was I not supposed to say that? Oh crap, I forgot to add the 'bro'." T mocked.

I smirked. And then I remembered how I could never have him and my smirk faded.

After two minutes we found the cabin.

"Well, thank fuck for that." I put T back on the ground and we each looked for one of the stupid little items outside but found none of them. The lights were on inside the cabin. Maybe it was in there?

I opened the door. "Come." I said to Timothy.

He followed behind me. The cabin was mostly empty. There was only a gray block and a red brick in there. It was a square room. There wasn't really much looking left to do.

"You know what? Fuck this shit. I don't need immunity and I'm done playing fucking kids games. I say we just wait till the time's up." I leaned against the wall.

T shrugged. "Fine by me." He closed the door. It was nice and warm inside.

I sighed and closed my eyes. I just wanted to go home. Then I remembered that even there I wouldn't get a break from Timothy. For the first time in months I considered going back to my dad's.

"Hey," T began.

I looked up.

"Allie told me you rejected her."

"Rejected?"

"Well, she asked if you were into her and you said no."

"I don't wanna talk about this." I shook my head

"Why'd you say that?" T asked.

"Because it's the truth?" I snapped.

"Come on, Josh."

"What do you mean 'come on, josh', it's the fucking truth."

"I don't believe that."

"Well, that's not my problem." I crossed my arms.

"Come on, every time I bring Allie up you get mad."

"Yeah, so that means you should probably shut the fuck up!"

"Why would you get mad if you don't have feelings for her? I know you like her I just don't know why you lied to her cause I told you she likes you too."

"Seriously, Timothy. Shut up now."

I was starting to get really angry. This was danger territory. He had no idea how this conversation felt for me.

Timothy stepped up closer to me. "Josh-"

"I don't wanna talk about it!" I screamed.

"Why are you getting so upset?" T asked gently. He looked concerned now. God! Just what I needed!

"I know you don't want me to say this but I see how you look at her. You're always calm when she's around."

That's because you're always there. It's you, not her!

"Is it because you're scared of what your friends will think?" T asked.

"I don't like her!" I pushed Timothy against the wall. I was being way too rough but in the moment I could hardly think straight.

"Then what's going on?" Timothy asked. He caressed my arm.

I closed my eyes. I almost started to cry. How could his touch mean this much to me? Why was I so fucking emotional?!

When I opened my eyes to his worried expression, his gentle gaze.. I forgot to hold back.

I grabbed Timothy's throat. I caressed his jaw.

Timothy didn't look away from me for a second. He had that look again. Like he was trying to figure me out. And I forgot to shut him out.

I let him in.

And I kissed him.

A/N

Thank you all so much for making me smile.