And after a long break, Gamerwhogames is back and at it, people! I was working on some stuff for you guys (art and new stories!), but now it's time to get back to the publishing table! In response to the reviews, I see everyone enjoyed that awkward moment between Aiden and Gill. That's great! I hope to have more humorous lines in the future for you guys. This story's supposed to be dramatic, but a few laughs can't hurt anything! Well, hit it, Crisper! You know what? Since there is a spider crawling across my wall as I type this (true story) let me hit it for you. In fact….
Let me wham it.
(WHAMS IT!)
Maya sank into the cool pond, with a wary sigh. So far, taking a break seemed like a mixture of effectiveness and futility. It was effective because, like Aiden said, it was helping Gill a lot. Or so she hoped. And that's where the futility came in. What was in it for her? Besides a buildup of nervous energy as she worried her head off. She felt like she could clean an entire house. But there were no houses to clean. Everything had been destroyed, including their own home. So much for not worrying about anything.
Aiden glanced at her and saw her worried face. "Don't worry, Maya. Gill's been sick before." Aiden said from where he reclined in the pond, seemingly without a care in the world.
"Yeah, but not this sick." Maya replied, expecting Aiden to say something like that.
Aiden wearily sat up, careful not to move too much. He still felt pretty sore all over. The break wasn't just for Gill. "I know. But worrying's not going to fix anything. Just try to relax. This is the last break we'll probably get for a really long time." He said, looking her in the eye with an expression Maya couldn't read. A mixture of tiredness showed in his eyes and some other emotion, maybe anger or concern.
"Okay." Maya reluctantly said, sinking into the water by a few inches. She felt Aiden's eyes still on her and looked away, hoping he'd get the message that she didn't want to be stared at. She didn't feel any different about his staring now than when he "ogled" her earlier. Or when he tried to get as close to her as possible in the Nether. There was a new, strange pattern in his behavior that she couldn't ignore. But why was he suddenly taking interest in her? And had he completely forgotten about her huge crush on Gill that he always disliked?
"Are you relaxing yet?" Aiden asked casually.
"No." She answered quietly. A pause.
"You think I could help with that?"
Maya felt her heart skip a beat. Or maybe even a few measures. She turned to face him, a stunned expression on her face. "What?!"
Aiden frowned. "Geez, Maya, calm down. It was just a question." He said coolly, making her feel like a fool for giving such a reaction. His frown softened into a grin. "So, can I help you or not?"
"How?" She asked after a short pause.
"How about a swim?" He asked. She couldn't help but to be stunned and quickly looked away, but he persisted. "Please? It's boring out here with nothing to do."
"Well, why can't you swim by yourself, Aiden?"
"Because I want to swim with you, Maya. Please? Pretty please?" He begged jokingly. She sent him a cautious glance, and he took the opportunity to flash her his best puppy eyes and pouty lips. Maya took a moment to consider her options: Sulk around and hope Gill hadn't magically come down with the plague, or swim with an abnormally-acting Aiden who seemed pretty set on her lately. An abnormally-acting Aiden who wasn't going to leave her alone until she said 'yes'.
"Fine. We can swim." She finally said. She heard a rush of water, and she gasped when a strong arm suddenly pulled her into the water. But instead of sinking completely into the cold pond, she landed on something soft and slightly warm. Aiden. A flurry of surprise mingled with anger filled her, along with another feeling she really couldn't explain. Pleasure. There was something about getting attention from Aiden in particular that made her feel… good, warm and fuzzy. Did she like Gill? Yes. Did she care about how he felt? Of course! But did she like this attention? Maybe a bit too much.
Aiden began to float around the pond with Maya on top, staring into her eyes with a smug, yet happy look. You could say they were a ship.
"Aiden, seriously, what are you doing?" She asked, feeling guilty and happy at the same time.
"I'm trying to get you to stop worrying about Gill over there. And I think it's working."
"Yeah, you've got that right." She muttered to herself. Aiden slowed to a stop, standing up in the water and holding her inches away from himself.
"What's wrong, Maya? You look kind of upset."
"It's nothing. I just don't feel like swimming right now."
"Why? Still worried about Gill?" He asked almost spitefully.
"No. It's not that."
"Then what is it?" When she didn't answer, he studied her face. A mischievous grin spread across his face. "Am I making you feel… uncomfortable?"
Maya suddenly felt shocked timid at his question. "No, actually, you—" He sent her a knowing grin that caught her off guard, making her go quiet.
"You enjoy this, don't you?" He suddenly asked. It shocked her that he had the courage—and audacity—to ask such a question seemingly out of the blue. It only gave a weak clue to his mysterious, new behavior. "You're not comfortable around me because you know I like you." He drew her closer, leering at her as she tried to turn away. "And you like me, too."
She suddenly backed out of his arm, half-grinning and half-scowling. "Pfft, yeah." She forced a chuckle, rolling her eyes. "Gill and I are dating, you know."
"No, you're not." He said and walked closer to her, making her blink in surprise. He cast an arm around her waist again, gazing into her eyes. "And even if you were, that doesn't exactly tie you down to him. Just sayin'." He added with a wink. She wriggled in his grasp, trying to get away.
"Aiden, let go of me! You've been acting so weird all day!" She shouted, accidentally hitting him in his arm. She came down hard and he cried out, tipping backwards. The force Maya used to escape sent her flying backwards and she landed in the cold water with a splash! Goosebumps quickly crawled across her arms as she shivered (she'd taken off her jacket before). She looked up to see Aiden sitting in the water, holding his arm to himself like it was a precious child.
Aiden fought back tears as he clutched his arm to himself, rocking back and forth. He sent Maya a glare, and suddenly the short-lived high was over. Maya's eyes met with his, and she returned the same look before getting up and sloshing away, leaving behind her an awkward-feeling Aiden.
He stared at his legs in the water, trying to process what just happened. But as he tried to think, he looked up and saw the darkening sky. Sunset already? It seemed like the time flew by. Or swam. Wet and steaming at the same time, Aiden walked up the hill where he saw Maya at the side of none other than Gill, who was still sleeping like a dead beet. No, not a dead beet, Aiden flinchingly thought. Dead was the last word any of them wanted to describe him as.
"What do you need, now?" Maya snapped, folding her arms and turning away. Aiden rolled his eyes and knelt beside Gill.
"We need to wake him up."
"I thought you said we needed him to sleep."
"I know what I said, Maya." He said, shaking Gill awake. He awoke with his usual snort, but instead of getting right up, like he'd wanted to do before, he pushed Aiden's hand away.
"Ten more minutes." He said, straining to turn onto his side without moving his legs.
"No, it's sunset, Gill. We need to get up and find shelter." Aiden said loudly so Gill would hear him. At the word 'sunset', Gill's eyes flew open and he groggily sat up.
"Sunset?!" He exclaimed, looking at the sky. Maya flinched when Gill suddenly reached out to pop Aiden in the back of his head, nearly making him faceplant on the dirt! "I told you to wake me up in thirty minutes, not thirty days!"
"I was going to." Aiden hissed, rubbing his head. Apparently, Gill forgot he'd just been trampled the night before. But apparently that wasn't important. "We need to find shelter before monsters come out. What should we build?"
"How about a house?" Gill asked, sending him a deadpan stare. Aiden turned to send Gill a wittier remark, but he stopped, noticing the slightly purple bags under Gill's eyes. The nap wasn't as helpful as he hoped it would be. In fact, Gill looked a bit worse. He quickly looked away as not to stare.
"Why don't we try to find wood? I saw some trees up there." Maya asked.
"Actually, I was thinking we could just dig into this dirt over here and make a cave-house. It'd be a lot quicker." Aiden suggested.
"Okay. Cave house sounds easiest. We're doing that." Gill said.
"I'll go get wood for a door." Maya said, standing to her feet. "You guys do the digging."
Aiden walked over to the wall and started digging through the dirt. After a few minutes his hand tired out, and he noticed Gill wasn't by his side. "Hey, Gill, I could really use an extra hand right about now. Literally." He shouted over his shoulder. He glanced at his dirt-filled nails and frowned. "Or a shovel would be really nice."
"Hang on." Gill called, his voice a bit raggedy. Aiden waited as Gill limped over to him, straining to keep weight off his injured leg.
"You okay?" Aiden asked when Gill got over to him.
"I'm fine, Aiden. My leg's just really hurting." He answered, straightening and starting to dig.
"Alright, then."
They completed their little dirt house around sunset. They sat mere feet across in its cramped, earthy walls, making a conscious effort to look straight ahead to avoid getting clumps of dirt in their eyes. Maybe there weren't worms and dirt-clumps outside, but the low growl of a zombie and the hiss of a Creeper made them thankful for their tiny, crude living space.
The flint and steel painfully dug into Aiden's thigh and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Think there's enough space for a fire?" Aiden asked. Gill shook his head from his side of the wall. Aiden didn't mind, though. He didn't want to use his hands anyways.
"So, what now?" Maya asked. They both looked to Gill, sitting in the corner with his eyes shut, thinking up another great plan. Until they heard a soft snore.
"I guess that answers the question." Aiden joked, sending her a playful smile. Instead of smiling back, she sent him a scowl and looked away. Despite the three of them having no personal space at all, Aiden still made sure to keep his distance from the still-angry Maya. He shut his eyes to go to sleep, glad to be distancing herself from her anger and everything else. Like the fact that a giant jellyfish-monster was out doing who knows what. Kissing a pig. A zombie-pig. And riding a rollercoaster through a quite literal hell. Aiden shifted into what felt like one of the worst sleeping positions ever, back upright against the dirt walls, legs clutched to his chest, not to mention the bulging sling on his arm. But exhaustion mingled with pain did its work, and he soon found himself asleep.
Maya stared around the dark cave. Soft, blue light streamed through the wooden door, barely illuminating the figure of her friends. If she wanted to sleep, she knew she was going to have to fight her fears and worries until they let her, or tiredness overtook her. She didn't want anything to happen to them, but it seemed fate was doing just that. She felt like she was slowly losing them. She shut her eyes, trying to stop her racing mind from thinking just long enough to let her doze off.
Well, that's that, my friends. Chapter eleven. When I got to writing this, I had to consult a friend about that little Aidaya incident. His (stage) name is BlackPanther, and he gave the scene a little kick. Speaking of that scene, it took a little change on Aiden's character. When I first started writing this Aidya, I wanted to make him subtle and sneaky about his "affections". Now, I think having him all out weird is really working. The question now is how will Maya respond? Now, I'm trying to keep this story adventurous and sometimes funny, but romance will be in here too. I just don't want the story solely based on shipping and romance.
Now, to take a moment to look at your reviews!
Meow Shadow: Aiden would've been far better off just saying Gill had a fever. I think Gill's pretty bold, too. The beard really pulls it, too. And-*catches virtual box of cookies*-Wow! Cookies! Thanks!
Emily The Avenger: Thanks! I know I say this a lot, but I'm really glad you (and others) are liking this story! It's my main reason to keep writing.
NoItsBecky: I cracked up when I managed to pen that joke. I'm glad I kept it in the story!
the indecisive bird: Hold. That. Thought.
Ariza Luca: Glad to make you laugh!
Well, thanks for reading! Leave a review, favorite and follow, if you will. I really appreciate feedback from you guys! Well, that's all, folks! Close it, Crisper!
Crisper: (closes it)
WAAAAITT!
There's a poll on my homepage I'd like you guys to take concerning the next stories I plan to write! Which story would you like to see next? Or do you want me to focus on Ocelot Mode and ANFO? Be heard! Take a vote! Thanks!