Chapter 4
Murphy Pov
After emerging from Ella's tent, Murphy cracked his neck and walked over to the blazing fire in the middle of camp where a group of teenagers sat eating.
It was now pitch black outside. He had just woken from a much needed rest, with Ella still asleep where he had left her on her bed. He walked over to the blazing light, grabbing a piece of already cooked meat as he did.
"Hey man, sleep well?" said Miller suggestively, smirking at him as he sat himself down in between Jasper and Bellamy.
The only people left outside were Miller, Monty, Jasper, Bellamy and Raven, the rest of the camp having gone to bed long ago.
Murphy picked up a handful of dirt and threw it at him, receiving a yelp of surprise from the boy.
"Their just friends," said Monty helpfully.
"Please, do you see the way she looks at him? That girl wants a lot more than friendship-"
"Don't you have your own life? Oh, wait, what am I saying, of course you don't."
"Geez," said Miller, eyebrows raised. "Someones getting defensive."
"Leave him alone Miller," said Bellamy, rubbing his temples as if he had a headache.
Murphy's face was red hot with anger at Miller for talking about Ella like that. She was nothing but good to everyone she met, and still they had to make fun of her. Of course she didn't want anything more than friendship, the girl was as innocent as a flower.
"You're one to talk. I bet you couldn't even get Harper to give you the time of day," came Raven's voice.
"Like I would want her anyway. It wouldn't even be an accomplishment," he spit back.
He knew about Harper of course, the girl had given Ella a very hard time in school when they were little, but he was sure that they must have worked out their differences by now. At least he thought so seeing as Ella had not come to him about anything the girl done to her in a long time. But, than again, she had stopped talking to him about most of the things that had been bothering her recently, which concerned him greatly.
Most men would think of it as a relief not to have to hear a girl complaining to them about things that bothered them in everyday life, but he liked talking to her, he liked helping her with her problems. It made him feel better about himself in knowing that he could help at least one person in his life. That, even though he always seemed to screw up everything else, he would always have her to come back to. Someone who would forgive him for every bad thing that he had done. Keeping her in his toxic life was his greatest sin.
"He's right," said Jasper. "There are more boys in camp than there are girls, but even out of those few, Harper is at the bottom of the list when it comes to hard to get."
No one made a single move to defend the girl, expecaly Raven, who sat sat there with of look of dry amusement on her face at Jasper's comment. He guessed that it was due to the fact that she had never gotten over the hard time that Harper had given to Ella in school – girl-code or whatever.
"Hey, thought I heard my name," came Harper's voice out of nowhere as the girl slowly came out of the invisibility of the darkness, stepping into the light of the fire.
"What are we talking about?"
No one seemed particularly eager to answer that question.
She sat down next to Murphy, squeezing into the small space between him and Jasper, forcing them to make room for her. Miller, to get out of the awkwardness of things, started up a conversation with Bellamy about a new kind of animal trap that he had "invented", with Jasper soon joining in and Monty leaning over to listen without actually engaging in what they were talking about, Raven had gotten up to get another piece of meat seeming completely uninterested. Murphy stared into the flames of the fire, watching them lick at the sky and blow sparks into the air with a crack.
Harper leaned into him, looking at the other boys as she did to make sure they weren't paying attention, keeping her voice at a low volume.
"I see you come out of Ella's tent almost every night - you two aren't like, dating or anything are you?"
Murphy's eyebrows drew together at her question. "No, we're just friends. Why does everyone always assume we're dating?" he added the last part under his breath.
"I don't know, I just thought that I'd ask."
"Why?"
"Because, I wanted to tell you that I like you, and I wouldn't want to screw with yours and Ella's relationship if you were dating."
That had Murphy very taken aback at the forwardness of the statement and made him wonder how quick he could bolt out of there.
"Uh, no, like I said, we're not dating, but-"
"Good! So, you are available. You know, I figured that you and Ella weren't dating, I mean, she's never had a boyfriend before, though I have no idea what she's waiting for-"
"Harper, I-"
"I am sorry, I'm rambling aren't I?" she said smiling and rolling her hazel eyes. "So, what do you say?"
"What do I say about what?" he asked in a bored voice.
"About you and me of course!" she whispered, exasperated.
"You and me?"
"Yes, us."
"Us?"
What's happening?
"Yes, us," she said, her face turning red with annoyance.
"Yeah, um-"
"Great!" she exclaimed getting up from the log they were sitting on and looking down at him. "Well, I'm exhausted, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."
She spun around so quickly that it made Murphy dizzy, and walked back to her tent.
Murphy just sat with his mouth open, the only thing snapping him out of it was the other boy's snickers and whistles.
"Harper? Really man, you could do so much better," said Miller dramatically.
"What just happened?" said Murphy with a blank expression.
"Really Murphy, you could have just told her no," said Raven with narrowed eyes.
"No I couldn't – that conversation kind of got away from me."
"Sorry man, looks like you're stuck," said Monty.
"Stuck?! Just tell the slut tomorrow that you're in fact not dating her and she needs do go pick on someone else," said Raven threw gritted teeth.
Murphy put his head in his hands, bending over, fearing he had caught Bellamy's headache, and trying to do something to ease the pain.
"It's to late for this," he groaned, standing up. "I'm going to bed. Maybe I'll wake up and this will all be a terrible nightmare," he added the last part with a lazy smirk.
"Hey, if you want, I could put her down for you. I would say that I would make it easy on her, but lets get real, I'm going to try to make her cry," said Raven.
"Goodnight Raven," said Murphy over his shoulder as he turned away and walked back to his tent.
His bed was a very welcome sight, but looked so empty now that he no longer had Ella to lay with.
Throwing himself down on the bed, he kicked his shoes off halfheartedly, leaving himself fully clothed. But, despite how tired he was, he just couldn't seem to get his mind to turn off.
He would deal with Harper in the morning, though what he was going to tell her was still a mystery to him. Did he really want to be with Harper? She had never been in an actual relationship with a guy before as far as he knew, so why him? He wasn't exactly the relationship sort of guy either, but something about spending so much time with Ella made him want to be. She was such a hopeless romantic, with this notion in her head that everyone had someone out there that they were meant to be with, though few ever found them (not that he thought Harper was his soul mate or anything, but at least he could try). Most of the books that she read were romance novels – those were always the ones that he got for her every year on her birthday, trading whatever personal items of his that he could find to get them for her. Sometimes when he stayed the night with her on those nights when sleeping alone in her tent frightened her, she would read them to him.
How she had managed to get them down to Earth was still a mystery to him, though he would bet that Raven had brought them down for her, seeing as he hadn't noticed them until after she came.
He tried to pretend that he didn't like the stories, but when she read them to him, her face seemed to glow and a smile came to her full pink lips.
Her smile.
That was something that he didn't get to see nearly enough. He loved her smile and tried to get one out of her every chance he got and still it was never enough.
Maybe being in a relationship wasn't the worst thing in the world. He was sure that Ella would approve of him at least trying at a committed relationship, even if it was with Harper.