Natara's POV

As the day wore on, I had to bully Mal into making himself useful. "Why do we have to fetch water from the stream?" he grumbled. "We've got loads of it." "That's for drinking." I told him. His naïveté almost made me chuckle. "Same difference." he said in the same grumbly tone. "To you it probably is." I said. "Now shut up and get it while I start a fire!" "Yes, O Natara the wise fire maker!" he teased. I gave him a playful shove towards the stream. "Go!" I said, laughing. "Okay, okay, but don't expect me to sit around the fire singing stupid campfire songs" he told me darkly as he proceeded towards the stream. After he was gone, I set about making a fire. I gathered some stones and arranged them into a circular shape. Then, I gathered some twigs and dry leaves and started rubbing the twigs together. After a few minutes of laborious rubbing, a flame flickered at the end of the twigs. I set them to the dry leaves, which immediately caught. Soon, I had a nice blaze going.

Mal soon came back with the water, and I used them to heat up the cans of ready-to-eat food. "This makes up for the water-carrying bit" he told me, as we sat side by side in the moonlight, eating our food, which really was tasty, considering it was canned. "Told you." I said, smirking. "Yeah, yeah." he muttered.

After dinner, we went to our vantage point, from where we really did have an excellent view of the path snaking through the forest. "Anders has done an unexpectedly good job." I said, as we examined the place. "Pretty short run down to the forest as well." he told me, peering at the rugged mountain path. "Trust that son-of-a-bitch." he muttered. "Mal." I said reprovingly, even though I wholeheartedly agreed with him. "What?" he said. "It's not like anyone can hear me." then, with a flash of inspiration in his eyes, he threw his arms up and yelled at the top of his voice. "Anders is a son-of-a-bitch!" he shouted. "Mal!" I hissed at him. "There, that felt good." he said, completely ignoring my reproach. "Go on, Nat, say something which you have been wanting to say." he urged me. I sighed. This was so stupid. "Humor me." he pressed. "Fine." I said. Gearing up my vocal cords, I copied Mal. "Oscar is a sick douchebag!" I screamed at the top of my voice. Strangely enough, that felt amazing. The exhilaration encouraged me, made me act rashly and recklessly. "And I love someone else!" I continued, throwing caution to the winds.

Abruptly, Mal's expression soured. His smile vanished, and his face became grim. "I'm kinda tired." he said stiffly, trying not to let it show. I wondered what the matter was. I instantly started berating myself. I shouldn't have made such a flamboyant declaration. But what could have prompted such a strong response? Was he awkward? But he never had been around me before, even when I was with Oscar. Could it be… it could not… I dared not think it. No, it must be that he was concerned for me, did not want me to get burned by getting into a relationship so soon after a messy breakup. I could not comprehend why anyone would want to be with me. As far as I was concerned, I was unlovable. Oscar had shattered what little had existed of my self-esteem. I had never felt so vulnerable as I did at that moment, standing on the hilltop and watching Mal's retreating figure. I gave him a decent interval before joining him in the tent, so that he could pretend to be asleep if he didn't want to talk to me. Strangely enough, he was standing outside the tent, waiting for me, when I returned. "I'm sorry for being such an ass and leaving earlier. " he said, his cobalt eyes staring earnestly into mine. "Mal, there's nothing to forgive." I said, walking up to him, and putting my arms around him in a hug. He froze for a second, and then hugged me back, his mucular arms wrapping around me, holding me tight, a promise of safety.

Yayyyyyyyy! Another chapter up. Thanks to all my looooooooovely readers and reviewers! You never fail to make me smile! And Ooooooo, bit of a cliffhanger there! Sooo what do you think? Should Mal and Nat do it?

Jade, awwwww thanks sooooooo much! Did I ever mention I love your name? Kai made me laugh too while I was writing this! Molly, you know, I always picture you as someone all cute and cuddly! A 'Molly' sounds like that, somehow. And I simply could NOT resist putting Ken in there. I never really got over him dying. Dani! I'm soooooo happy you got an account! Now I can PM you! And I'm blushing after reading your review! :p and best of luck, I'm sure you'll do well! And I'm definitely putting your idea about the beer in! Yaoifangirl, don't worry, there are definitely a couple more chapters coming. And a BIIIIIG thank you to everyone who wished me luck for the exams!