Chapter Ten
A Little Bit Closer

I tried to enjoy my ride on Spider the horse, but my mind kept wandering to Parker. I had convinced myself that I wasn't jealous, because that would just be ridiculous. It was just one time, one night. I might like Parker a little more than I probably should, but that's no reason for me to freak out like a crazy woman because she obviously felt no need to continue what we started. I was okay with it. Or, at least I was going to make myself be.

"Sophie, are you and Parker alright?" Nate asked me as he caught up to ride beside me. Eliot had gone off on his own, he rode his horse like an expert and took off as soon as he mounted.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well she went off with Hardison, and not with you when you asked."

Thanks Nate, let's rub it in just a little bit more, shall we? "I think she's just a little weirded out from last night. She'll be fine."

"Will you?"

"Of course, Nate," I said and looked at him like it was a stupid thing to ask, even though it was a valid question.

Nate sighed and looked up at the horizon over the trees and said, "It's this place. When people go away they feel like they're getting out of reality. Guess that's what makes some people do some things they normally never would even think of doing."

I furrowed my eyebrows. I didn't know exactly how true that was. While I was sure that when I left the states I wasn't interested in Parker, if the opportunity presented itself I might have still been liable to take it.

Though, to be fair, I wasn't really sure on that point either.

"Maybe your right," I replied.

Nate turned to look at me, and gave me a smile that I remembered now always made me go weak in the knees before I got my mind all warped because of this Parker stuff. This time was no different. "Everything will be back to normal when we get home, just watch."

"If you say so," I said with a smile of my own, and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear before smirking and saying challenging, "Race you back!"

I took off before he had a chance to accept and I could hear him yell behind me, "Hey! That's not fair!" as I giggled all the way back to the ranch.

****

"I'm telling you, they taste the same. It's just the food dye."

"No they don't, the chocolate one's taste like chocolate and the rainbow one's taste like rainbows."

"How do you even know what a rainbow tastes like?"

"I just do."

Parker and Hardison were outside when we came out, debating about the apparent taste differences, or lack there of, of rainbow vs. chocolate sprinkles on their icecream.

"Eliot! Hey man what do you think, do they taste the same?" Hardison asked as he held it up for Eliot to taste.

Eliot was in a sour mood, though me and Nate couldn't figure out why. It decided to rear it's ugly head even more when Eliot slapped the icecream out of Hardison's hand and onto the ground and said, "Just shut up, man."

"Seriously? Seriously?!" Hardison exclaimed as he looked at his icecream that lay on the dirt ground, very uneatable now.

"That's icecream abuse," Parker said as she took a spoonful of her own as Eliot stalked off to the car. She turned to Nate and asked, "What's eating him?" Then she giggled after she spoke, apparently amused at herself. "Ha ha... icecream... eating him."

Nate ignored her amused chuckle but answered, "I don't know, he's kind of been that way since we got here. Which doesn't make any sense, since he's the one that wanted to come here." He looked at Eliot who just jumped in the van and slammed the door.

"I'll go talk to him," Hardison offered, and started walking off towards the van to go see what was wrong.

"He's probably just mad that Hardison didn't go with him, they were making plans on doing a big competitive race," Nate said.

Me and Parker exchanged knowing looks, but Nate didn't catch them. He just looked back at the office and said, "I'm going to go see where there's a good place to go around here tonight, if they're ready to go before I come back, tell them I'll be right back."

"Alright," I said as I watched him walk away in the opposite direction.

Cue the awkward silence.

"I forgot to tell you something earlier," Parker said finally, and I looked back to look at her.

"What?"

She got a little amused look on her face, and curled her finger silently to motion me to get closer so she could whisper it.

I leaned my head in towards her, and tried very hard not to think about how she smelled when I was this close to her.

Parker whispered in my ear, "When we went to the District, they both went in the same room with one girl."

My eyes went wide and I turned my head to look at her, which was such a bad idea at such a close proximity. I shook it off though and said, "Really? Do you think that they...?"

"Crossed swords?" Parker finished for me, giggling. "Probably."

I couldn't help it, I giggled. Maybe Nate was right, this vacation was sure throwing all of us for a loop.

After we both got over our giggles, we both suddenly had the painful realization of how close out faces were to each other. I coughed uncomfortably and moved away, as Parker's eyes averted to anywhere but my face.

The awkward silence came again. I was starting to hate silence very quickly.

Of course, it was Parker who spoke first. She always was so much bolder than I was. "I can't be with you, Sophie."

"What?" was out of my mouth before I could think of a better thing to say, and I looked at her.

"I can't be with you," she repeated.

"I know what you said," I replied, annoyed. I looked out at the horses in the distance and bit the inside of my lower lip so I wouldn't say anything before I thought it through first in my head.

Finally I replied, "I understand."

"No you don't," Parker said, reading my facial expression.

I turned to look at her and said, "No, I don't. Regardless, I don't know what gave you the impression that I wanted to be with you in the first place."

It sounded harsh to me, and completely untrue, but Parker didn't seem to notice. She just asked, "Do you just want to have sex with me?"

"Possibly," I evaded.

Parker looked at me curiously, possibly trying to figure me out, but thankfully I was saved from Nate coming back. "Are they done yet?" he asked.

I shrugged, and Parker said, "I don't know, I'll go find out," and walked off to do just that, not caring about butting into a private conversation.

Nate looked at me and asked, "Talk some things out?"

I looked at him questionably and asked, "Is that why you left? You're a sneaky bastard, you know that?"

Nate just laughed, "Just didn't want all this tension within the team. Everyone's gotta be on speaking terms in order for us to get anything done."

"Anything done, what do you mean?"

Nate smiled, "We have a new case."

I was silent for a minute but then said, "But we're on vacation!"

TBC...