Marco walked down to the fire from over by the caves, where he had just finished helping Eva fold clean clothes. It was a feminine and senseless job, but he had nothing better to do. And after being without his mother for so long, he almost enjoyed it. It really was times like those, even doing something as silly as folding laundry, that reminded him how lonely those years had been without her.
He had just started to melt some marshmallows and chocolate when Rachel came walking up from one of the huts. He sensed her apprehension, and squinted his eyes. Rest assured, tiny hints of worry were written across her features. She took a breath when Marco looked up at her.
"What's up? Clogged pores? Split ends? Dry cuticles?" he asked rotating his stick over the flames. Rachel's expression didn't change.
"I haven't seen Cassie, or Jake for that matter, all day. I've been looking for the past hour
and I can't find them anywhere."
"Maybe they went off somewhere together," Marco suggested.
They looked at each other for a moment, then shook their heads.
"Nah. They wouldn't be together," she told him. He sighed, and sat back on his elbows.
"Yeah...it's still strange. I remember the days when Jake used to obsess over Cassie getting a paper cut. I never thought I'd see the day when they could hardly stand the sight of each other."
Rachel sat down and popped a marshmallow into her mouth, resting her elbows on her knees.
"You can hardly blame him, though. I don't know how I'd react if someone just-I don't know-stole my choice from me like that. Even if they were trying to help me. Jake's never been to good when it comes to his brother," she said.
"Don't think I didn't see you steal my marshmallow, you thief, but I think Jake is probably still in bed," he told Rachel.
"He was pretty much out for the count last night after dinner. He could barely hold his head up. Maybe he's still knocked out from your mom's aspirin."
Rachel frowned and picked at a piece of chocolate.
"Come to think of it Cassie wasn't feeling too well either. She's probably still in bed," she
mused, standing.
"I better go check up on her."
At that moment they both saw Jake approaching them from the north side of the valley, where the dense woods and streams lay. He was barefoot and his hands were massaging his temples. Rachel noticed his shirt looked somewhat damp.
"Where have you been?" she asked him, gazing at his haphazard appearance.
Jake stuffed his hands in his pockets, avoiding her gaze.
"I'm pretty sure that's none of your business," he replied shortly, sitting on another log
lazily. Marco raised an eyebrow and abandoned his burnt marshmallows.
"You sure look rested."
When Jake just stared at him Marco lifted his hands.
"Just kidding, I'm kidding. It was a joke."
Rachel momentarily stopped picking at the food and looked toward the direction Jake came from.
"So, uh, where were you Jake? I noticed you weren't around this morning."
Jake frowned at her.
"Since when are you my surrogate mother? Since when did anything I've ever done matter to you? You have your own life, your whole freaking life ahead of you. So spend it minding your own business."
There was an awkward, disconcerting pause after his words. Rachel appeared as if she wanted to either hug Jake or knock him flat on his face. The marshmallows were all but forgotten as Marco frowned slightly and finally spoke up.
"Jeez Jake, it was just a question. You didn't have to bite her head off."
Rachel just shook her head, keeping her eyes trained on her cousin. She was getting a strange feeling she had just stumbled into something deeper than she meant to.
"It's fine, it's none of my business. But there's something I have to do. Thanks for the snack Marco. Feel better Jake," she said, and walked off towards the woods, blonde hair blowing behind her.
Jake stared after her and ran his hands through his own locks.
"What's her problem anyway?"
Marco smirked sarcastically, and raised his eyes from the flames to his best friend.
"Funny, I was about to ask the same of you."
~~~~~~~~
"Cassie? You in there?" Rachel called ahead of her. She briskly walked the last few steps to the opening of her friend's hut. She poked her head inside and quickly found Cassie sitting against the wall on the bed, legs drawn up to her chin. The thin quilt was bunched up in her arms, as if she were holding on for dear life. She looked up with dark, glassy eyes.
"What's wrong Rachel?" she asked. Rachel crossed the room to sit next to her.
"Nothing. I was worried when you didn't come to breakfast. I thought maybe you were feeling worse than last night and decided to come see." Cassie smiled a smile that wasn't quite genuine.
"You didn't have to." Rachel's blue eyes darkened as they peered into Cassie's.
"Sure I did. I was worried about you," she repeated. Cassie didn't answer her. She looked down at the quilt in her hands and sighed.
"I'm fine, Rachel. Just fine."
"That's exactly what Jake said."
A tear immediately rolled down Cassie's face. Rachel saw it and tilted Cassie's head to meet her own gaze.
"For God sake's girl, I'm your best friend. You can tell me anything. Trust me," she whispered.
At that Cassie covered her face with her hands, and her body shook with sobs.
"Don't say that. Please don't say that," she cried. Rachel put her hands on
her shoulders and gently shook her.
"Say what? What was it I said? Tell me!"
"I trusted him, Rachel," Cassie cried, flicking tears off her face as fast as they fell,
"I really trusted him."
~~~~~~~~
Marco and Jake were still at the fire, poking at the burning logs as if it were something that took a lot of thought. Neither of them were exactly motivated to revive conversation, yet both felt like there were things that needed to be said.
"I don't understand, Jake. For the longest time you couldn't even talk to her without blowing up. What made you think that would change things?"
Jake sighed and studied the dusty ground around their feet.
"Nothing made me think it would change things. It just happened. It wasn't something I planned on and I know it never crossed Cassie's mind."
"But you wanted it to happen. And you were going to use her guilt to let it happen, if she hadn't run off," Marco surmised, and Jake just picked at the logs.
Marco was never going to learn that Cassie never ran off, at least from him and she probably wouldn't say anything, either. But when he let himself think about what really had happened, his shoulders slumped with a guilt that hadn't been there before.
"Maybe I was. Maybe I was using her."
Marco shook his head and continued to stir the burning embers.
"Man, I know you've been going through some things lately and I'm sorry for that. But you've never purposely hurt people to make yourself feel better. That's just not you."
He slowly looked at Jake.
"She might not ever have gotten over doing it with a guy who hated her."
"Well she didn't," Jake said, his voice breaking.
"She had the sense to end it before it started. And I don't hate her. I don't know what I feel
anymore."
The lie resounded in his head as Marco shrugged and picked his marshmallow stick back up, daring to grin at his friend.
"But then again, you should be pretty used to getting rejected by now, huh?" he tried lightening the mood. Jake just rubbed his forehead, the migraine from that morning resurfacing, and he managed a weak smile.
"You have no idea."
~~~~~~~~~~
Cassie looked at Rachel knowingly.
"You think I'm disgusting," she finally sighed. Rachel shook her head, rolling her eyes.
"No I don't. I'm just surprised that you and Jake would ever even consider being that...that..."
"Stupid?"
"Not stupid. Just impulsive. Very impulsive." She paused.
"I guess it was kind of inevitable. We all knew Jake couldn't stop caring about you, just like that," she said. Cassie brushed the last bit of moisture from her cheek.
"You think he still loves me?"
Rachel patted Cassie's knee.
"Enough to stop you guys from making a dumb mistake."
"Yeah, I guess so," she answered slowly, trying to control her trembling hands. She hid them under the blanket. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the horrible feeling of lying to her best friend off.
Rachel rested her head against the wall and pushed her hair from her forehead, lips pursed.
"You know, I'm kind of surprised at you. Didn't you stop to think you had no condoms, no pills whatsoever? You could have gotten pregnant or something."
She whistled.
"That even sounds crazy. My cousin must be more in tuned to the outside world than I thought," Rachel mused out loud.
Cassie's blood turned to ice water in her veins.
"Yeah. He must be."
~~~~~~
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