Finally a taste of relaxation. Granted, it was clouded with pain, but it was still relaxation. Dirk sighed, and continued to let Jake wrap bandages. He really wish he could tend to Jake first, but Jake had refused. Dirk's heart fluttered every time Jake's cool, surprisingly soft hands brush against his skin. Despite Jake's constant fisticuffs, he had soft hands. Probably because he used lotion. Dirk took a deep breath and tried to get his thoughts straight. He needed to tell Jake. Procrastinating any longer would only break his mental heath even more. Jake kept on jabbering about whatever, when Dirk decided to finally spill the beans, so to speak.
"Hey Jake?" Dirk asked, looking down, avoiding eye contact.
"Yea Dirk?" Jake asked, relieved that Dirk was talking again.
"Look, I kinda have a thing for you," Dirk said scratching the back of his head nervously.
"What is it?" Jake asked continuing what he was doing, completely clueless. Dirk simply let out an exasperated sigh.
"What I mean is that I...I like you a lot okay?" He shook his head, "No, that's not it, I LOVE you Jake. Will you go out with me?" Jake's jaw literally dropped, and the bandages he was holding fell onto the floor, forgotten.
"I...I can't!" Jake stuttered. Dirk's heart plummeted a thousand miles per hour downward. "It's not that I don't like you or anything, It's just I prefer to stay friends and also," Jake looked down nervously, fidgeting. "I'm not gay."
"It's cool," Dirk said. If he were to die today (which at this point seemed like a great option) then he'd have to say that this was his best poker face ever.
"Really?" Jake's face lit up. "You're fine with just being friends? Oh, thanks Dirk!" Jake put on a dorky grin. "Well, it seems like my work here is done. I'll be off to tend to the others!" Wow, that really hit Dirk in the stomach. Jake was so stupid sometimes, and it was frustrating, but also really adorable. Dirk decided to sulk by himself. He needed to get over it before his brother and his friends arrived. Dirk and Jake along with their friends Jane and Roxy, were demon hunters. They had a daunting mission ahead of them, so they called some of their relatives up, who also happened to be friends, to help them out. At first Dirk was against the notion, however, he was overruled and gave in.
Dirk walked around the forest he, and his friends were currently in. He didn't want to cry over something stupid like rejection, but he found an override of water within his tear ducts. He found a small cave along his path, and entered it. There was absolutely nothing inside. He enter in, sat down, and leaned against the rocky wall of the cave. He closed his eyes, as he thought about Jake, trying so hard to emphasize his weak points, the things he should hate about him. He told himself to get over it, and that he could fine someone better. 'Besides any of us could die at any moment,' he thought. All of a sudden the image of Jake being ripped apart by a demon filled his mind. Jake looked at Dirk helplessly, his eyes pleading for help, but he could do nothing about it. There was blood everywhere, Dirk carefully held what was left of Jake, it seemed to him like he'd been the one who killed Jake. A couple tears managed to escape through his tightly clenched eyes.
A soft buzzing woke Dirk up from his mind. He fetched his phone from his jeans pocket. 'They'll be here soon,' Jane had texted him. Her light, bright blue text more welcoming than the forest green he was dreading. 'I'm coming,' he replied. He sat for a moment not moving as his vivid orange text flashed up next to Jane's. He sighed, rubbing his eyes to cover the fact he had been crying. Along the way back he met up with a stream. He looked down and saw that his face was smeared with dirt from the cave, so he quickly made himself presentable. Wait, why did he even bother? He didn't have to impress Jake any more. 'To find someone else,' he thought. Yea, that was it. Find someone better. He hardened this resolve and swiftly walked back to their camping spot.
He had arrived with plenty of time. Everyone tried their best to seem presentable for their relative. They didn't need to scare them off, even though that was highly unlikely. Jane had cleaned the area up, Roxy was sober, but still goofing off, and Jake, well, he had cleaned up and covered his own cuts by then. They decided to sit around for a bit until the other group arrived. Dirk sat by Roxy to avoid Jake who was getting suspiciously close to Jane. He mentally sighed. He should have known. Thankfully they didn't have to sit around small talking because the other group had arrived. John led the way into the clearing, holding a small mechanical device. Rose, Dave, and Jade filed in after him.
"See! I told you I wasn't directionally challenged!" John exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.
"Sure," Dave said, oozing with sarcasm. John gave him a quick glare before returning his attention to the other group.
"Jane!" John said, running up to her. "It's been so long!" Jane proceeded to stand up and give him a hug. Dirk barely had anytime to register the fact that they had arrived before Dave walked up to him.
"Hey bro," He said, holding out his fist.
"Hey lil' man," Dirk said using the one name Dave hated, and returning the fist bump. Rose and Jade greeted their relatives, and then everyone started to get situated. The girls slept in one tent, while the guys in the other. They also decided, no thanks to Rose, that they should have a night watch. One guy and one girl were to watch out for any demons in case of a surprise attack. Each shift would be 5 hours long.
"Speaking of night," John stretched and yawned, "I'm tired."
"We should probably set up our shifts for the night." Rose said, looking around questioningly, "Any volunteers?"
"I'll go first," Jake piped up. "I think Dirk should go next to give you guys some rest."
"Okay, that's fine with me. Now what about the girls?"
"Well, I guess I can go first, however..." Jane trailed off, looking at her now inebriated friend. "I'm pretty sure Roxy went a little overboard with your gift of wine."
"I'll go," Jade offered. "After a little bit of sleep I should be fine."
"Alright, now that we've got that figured out, we can all go to bed." Rose said, getting up off the dirt ground, and brushing the dirt off her skirt. Everyone except for Jane and Jake went into their respective tents, however, Rose had to drag her drunken cousin into her sleeping bag. Jane and Jake sat on a nearby log. Their 5 hour vigil had just begun.
"The stars sure are beautiful out here," Jane said, trying to avoid the awkward silence that was already invading their conversation.
"Yea, it's so much better than in the city," Jake said. They continued their small talk, all the while keeping a look out for any movement.
Jake was barely inside the tent before Dirk was up and ready to go. They both went outside, as to not wake Dave, or John up.
"As far as Jane and I could tell there wasn't anything suspicious." He said. Dirk quirked an eyebrow. It wasn't surprising since the demons could probably sense that they have more people.
"Alright," Dirk said turning away. Jake stood a bit hesitantly, but then retreated into the tent to go to bed. He saw Jade in front of the other tent while Jane debriefed her. She was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and tried her best to look alert. Dirk waited and watched as Jane gave Jade a hug before relieving herself of duty. Jade walked up to you looking a bit nervous.
"It seems like we're going to have it easy tonight." She said, optimistic. Like Jake. He shook his head they WERE similar, however, they were definitely very different.
"Hopefully," He sighed, "Hopefully," Jade looked at him questioningly.
"Is something wrong?" She asked looking genuinely concerned. He walked over to the log Jane and Jake were sitting on earlier, the warmth from the log was gone. He thought a moment debating whether or not to tell her.
"Well-" He started closing his eyes and tilting his head towards the sky.
"You don't have to tell me," Jade inserted quickly, following him to the log. His eyes snapped open. She was the one who wanted to know, and he was going to tell her (okay maybe not the entire truth) and now she decided she doesn't want to hear it? Maybe she is more like Jake than he thought.
"It's just," She hesitated. "I know you're not Dave, but you two ARE similar, and whenever I ask him about his problems he normally just make up things. I don't want some ironic Strider story, I want the whole truth, and since I know you don't want to tell anyone I know you're just going to spin some random story with half the real story in there." Dirk paused, she was spot on.
"How do you know I don't want to tell anyone?" She shrugged.
"Because you'd probably tell Jake first, and it seems to me like he's getting farther from you and closer to Jane." Dirk simply stared at her. She was definitely very different from Jake. Her questioning look shook him out of his trance.
"Wow, I can't believe you were able to figure all that out,"
"Well, I do spend a lot of time hanging out with Rose, and Dave's one of my best friends! Besides even I have to admit that Jake is VERY dense, but I'M not as dense as him." Jade laughed. It was a joyous laugh. As hearty as Jake's, but had a note of optimism and rang like a bell. Dirk couldn't help but smile a bit. He hoped the darkness hid his expression, but to no avail she instantly noticed.
"Is a cool kid actually smiling?" She teased, poking his shoulder.
"No," He said too fast. He slipped his poker face back on, the more he talked to her, the more he seemed to like her. Jade just grinned, and leaned back to look at the stars.
"The stars are so much brighter out here in the country," She said.
"Yea, there's a lot of 'em too," Dirk said, looking more at her than the stars. They continued their idle chit-chat till the sun started to rise. They couldn't see the sun, but the sky turned into a bright orange, pink, and yellow mirage. Both Dirk and Jade listen to the morning bird's song until Dirk finally stood up.
"I better go wake everyone up," He said, stretching. He walked towards the tents. A new day, a new dawn. Maybe things were finally changing, maybe he was in for something even better.