Chapter Six:

There was something to this. There had to be. Every time I was with Angela, all the things that were on my mind seemed to spill out of my mouth like some kind of demented spittake of words. But when my own fiancé tried to squeeze my thoughts out of me, there were none to spare. In the spirit of discovery and sheer masochism, I had to find out just what it was.

So here I was. Going for a hike in the woods with a relative stranger. But Angela never felt like a stranger... she felt like a friend. At least, I think. I didn't have much experience with friendship.

"It's nice out here, isn't it?" she said. "Moist and dank, and yet... so fresh."

"Yeah..." I mumbled, kicking a small rock off the path. I'd forgotten I wore open-toed sandals; the rock crushed my toe. I said nothing. It's shameful for a man to complain about a little smashed toe in front of a girl. "It's nice to get out of the inn once in a while."

"I can imagine," she said. "Cooking all day, confined in that little space, not to mention having Maya hang all over you..." I gave her a quizzical look, even though she was completely right. Being around Maya all the time was a chore. "Oh, uh, I didn't mean to say she was annoying..." She stumbled over her words like a nervous schoolgirl.

I played it cool and shrugged. "It's not like I don't get sick of her. Frankly, I don't see how anyone could possibly not get sick of her..."

"Well, you're marrying her, right?"

Maybe. "Yeah."

"That's eternity. You'll come home to her every evening. You'll sleep next to her every night. You'll wake up next to her every morning. Doesn't that scare you?"

"It scares the heck out of me," I said. And that was the truth.

That was the truth...

I was doing it again and I didn't even know how it happened. "I mean, well, I'm nervous, but everyone gets nervous before their wedding, right?" I said, directly quoting Maya's reassurance. It wasn't so much for Angela as it was for me; I was the one who needed to hear it.

"I suppose I would be, too, if I were marrying Maya," she admitted.

"I don't know if Mayor Hamilton would let you," I joked. She giggled.

And then the woods fell silent. All the sound was the patting of our footsteps and the whirs and buzzes of insects. "Say, Chase," she piped up. I swiveled my head to look at her. She was blushing, averting her eyes.
"Yeah?"

"Do you, uh... do you believe in soulmates?"

Now it seemed she was just trying to squeeze my thoughts out of me. "What do you mean?"

She started fidgeting with her hands. "Like, the whole idea that there's one person out there for everyone and there's some more divine component to love... that kind of thing."

I paused for a moment, fiddling with the waist-tie on my apron. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's just something I was thinking about last night... I mean, if it's all true it's a bit of a tedious affair." She looked up into the trees. "If you don't want to talk about it, we can change the subject. Really, it's fine."

Well, it was a little strange of her to ask... but strangely enough, I felt like talking about it. Maybe this was it; maybe it was just the subjects she brought up that made me want to talk. "No, that's okay." Another short silence. "I don't, by the way."

"You don't?"

"No, of course not. There are seven billion people in the world, and so many are so madly in love. If there were one true match for each person, that would be statistically unsound."

"Well, maybe they could all be happier with someone else. Maybe they're all just settling with whoever was nearby and convenient. Like my mom and dad... they used to fight all the time, but they kept saying they loved each other, all the way up until Dad died. I don't know who they thought they were fooling, but... I hope it wasn't themselves."

Okay, now she was trying to get something out of me. "I'll bet it was," I said.

"How do you fig-- OH my God, Chase!" she interrupted herself. She stopped walking.

"What?" I asked, halting along with her.

"What happened to your foot?" She sounded hysterical.

Now that she brought it up, I noticed it was still in pain. "Oh, I kicked a rock earlier... why, is it worse than-- oh, wow," I said, looking at my toe. It was purple and swollen, and the nail was sticking out at an angle at which toenails should never stick out. "That's disgusting."

"How can you just stand there and talk so calmly?!" she yelled. "Doesn't it hurt?"

"Yep," I admitted. "Nothing major, though. Come on, let's keep going." I attempted to keep walking, even though every step felt like hammers smashing my toe. All I could hope was that it wasn't making me limp.

"You look yourself in the toes and say that!" she squealed. "At least let me look at it. I've got a splint in my pack."

"Oh, alright," I said, sitting down on the path. She followed suit and started poking at my toe. "Ow!" I shouted.

"Does it hurt when I do this?" she said, lightly squeezing my toe.

"Yes!"

"How about this?" She twisted it a little.

"Aah!"

She touched it as lightly as she could and gave me a deadpan stare.

"Ow!"

"Well, I think it's broken," she said. "Luckily, it didn't break the skin. Now this is going to hurt, but I'm going to have to move your toe to put it in the splint." I braced myself as she took out a little metal sheet lined with foam and a gauze strip. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

So how was I going to explain this one? "It's... ah, I guess it's a pride thing." With the truth, of course. "It was early on in the walk. I-- OW!"

"Sorry."

"I didn't want you to think I was a pansy, or an idiot for kicking a rock in sandals in the first place..."

"Well, you're an idiot for not saying anything in the first place. If you had, we could've iced it and it wouldn't be nearly as swollen." She tightened the last tie on the gauze strip. "There, it's done. You shouldn't walk on that too much; I think we should head back."

"But I've got time off until six, and it's only one," I said, peeking at my watch. "We've only been away for a couple of hours. I don't want you to cut your walk short just 'cause my toe's a little messed up."

She turned around and started walking back. I followed. "Don't worry about me, I've got plenty of things to do."

"Like what?"

"Uhh... well, I could... go meet some other people." I stopped myself before I could reject the idea. What should I care? She's a person; people like companionship. "You can occupy yourself for a while, can't you? Stay at home, read a book, go fishing in Maple Lake... just stay off that foot as much as you can."

"You don't want to spend the rest of the afternoon with me?" I asked. It seemed odd, she'd be fine bringing up weird conversation topics one second and not even wanting to hang out the next. "Look, if I said anything that made you uncomfortable..."

"No, no, that's not it at all. If anything, I made myself uncomfortable. It's just, well... with you being engaged, and all... it just feels awkward. And slimy. Er... metaphorically."

So that's what it was about? "Angela, we're friends. I know it, you know it, Maya knows it. There's nothing slimy about friendship." I half-smiled at her.

"Yeah... I guess..." she said, her face lowering with her tone.

"That didn't sound too convincing. You should work on that."

"Yeah!" she said emphatically. "How's that?"

"As long as you believe it," I said, reaching over to tousle her hair.

"Ah, hey!" she said, mocking dejection. "You messed up my hair."

I did. Oh, god, I really did. I messed up her hair, as a gesture of friendly teasing. When did I become such a friendly softie? And without even trying? Being with Angela just felt so natural, like I'd known her all my life. "Well," she piped up. "Is there anything slimy about a hug goodbye?"

"Goodbye? But we've only been walking back for about ten minutes."

"We took a shortcut,"

"Guess I haven't been paying attention." We were already in the entrance to the woods. I could see the mining district. How did I not notice we were almost home already.
"Guess not," she said. We kept walking, and before I knew it we were at my house. "So?" She edged herself in front of me.

"I suppose there's nothing slimy about a hug, no..."

"Yay!" She smiled and wrapped her arms around me.

There's something to this. There has to be.

And I still don't know what it is.