'Wh' Thomas stuttered out still dazed from what just happened.
'Nice one man,' said Minho. 'Nice of you to pursue your romance while I'm here bleeding out'
'She kissed me' Thomas protested.
'Yeah yeah, whatever' replied Minho, and they continued to stretcher him towards the camp.
Brenda was walking ahead of Thomas, her heart beating fast, feeling immensely relieved that she had finally done that. Her mind was made up as soon as she saw him that she was going to do what she had in fact just done. She felt a buzz inside her when she heard footsteps coming up behind her and that familiar hand tapped her on her shoulder. Thomas turned Brenda around and looked at her head on. The accompanying figures also stopped.
'Guys' Thomas said. 'You go on, we'll be along soon. This is kind of private.'
'Gonna fuck are you?' called Minho as they walked away from them.
'Shithead' Thomas said under his breath as Brenda slightly blushed.
They waited until the others had gone out of hearing range and then again turned to one another and looked each other directly in the eyes.
'Who goes first?' asked Thomas.
'I think I just did' joked Brenda, with Thomas chuckling a little.
'I guess it's my move then' he replied.
'No' Brenda interrupted. 'I'll go first.'
'Okay' said Thomas.
'So' said Thomas. 'I have really enjoyed spending our time together and I wanna start by saying that first and foremost you are one of my closest friends. But I know that inside I don't wanna be just friends. I love you Thomas, I've known that I do for some time now. It's okay if you don't return those feelings, but I had to tell you.
'Brenda, I know' Thomas replied. 'I know you love me and I do return those feelings. I didn't know how to tell you but when Jorge told me-'
'What?' said Brenda, cutting him off again.
'Yeah' Thomas replied. 'Jorge said you had a thing for me.'
'Oh I'll kill him' Brenda said.
'Okay' Thomas said awkwardly. 'Anyway, ever since I found that out, I'd been waiting for an opportunity to tell you and now that I have, I feel so much better. I love you Brenda'
They leaned in together and kissed again, finally having the privacy and intimacy with each other that had been craving for so long. Once the kiss had ended, they turned, hands interlinked, and walked back to camp. As they got back a couple minutes after the rest of their party, they went to check on Minho in the medical tent.
'Thanks for remembering to check on me' he said smarmily.
'Be grateful we came at all' Thomas fired back. 'Has Vance been notified?'
'He's on his way back now' one of the medics said.
'Good' said Thomas. 'I have a suspicion this wasn't just a freak accident.'