Chapter 35 Last Talked
I groan, my bare knee scraping the ground hard. I can literally feel the skin tear against the gravel. I wince my eyes, shutting automatically. A few ows and oos ring out around me.
I open my eyes, looking down at the gravel that just tore my knee up. Of course, there is no evidence of my injury on the gravel beside the little hole made by the rocks moving around my knee. It hurts like there should be blood gushing, but of course, there is none.
A hand comes into my view, distracting me from looking at my knee itself. I can’t see the damage done until I lean back onto my other foot.
But a man’s hand is in front of me. I look up before grabbing it. My stomach flips with nerves; it’s Kai.
He looks down at me with a worried expression on his face. I don’t want to cause issues between us, especially in front of the people looking at me right now. I put my hand in his, letting him help me stand. My knee throbs as the skin moves with my movement. I don’t hide the pain well; my face becomes tight at the sensation.
“Are you okay?”
I nod as an answer. Of course I’ll be fine. I look around me, not enjoying the number of people looking at us.
“What happened?” He asks with a touch of humor in his tone.
I look back at him, almost wanting to ask what about our last conversation, what about that when you threatened my boyfriend? But once again, I chose to keep the peace.
“I tripped over air, I think.”
I really did trip over nothing. I just happened to lose my footing, and the next second I was on the ground. I’ve never really been much of a clumsy kid, but I guess everyone has their moments.
My hand is still in his, and I honestly had forgotten it was even there. I pull my hand back immediately upon feeling his fingers against my hand. He keeps his hand in the air for a second too long before dropping it.
“Do you want to come to my cabin? I have a first aid kit, and we can clean you up.” He gestures to the cabins behind us down the path.
“Um, I don’t know.” I look away from him, the air becoming awkward.
I don’t know if I feel comfortable being alone with him again, especially after our last conversation. No, I know I don’t feel comfortable being alone with him.
“Oh come on, I’m not going to try anything. Just let me clean your knee, otherwise it could get infected.”
He’s right, I’m being dramatic. I don’t want to upset him, and I know I shouldn’t be stressing over nothing. I don’t think he’d ever hurt me.
“Lead the way.” I give in.
He does just that, leading me behind my cabin to his. I’ve never been inside the counselor’s cabin, so it’s a little underwhelming to realise it looks identical to our cabin.
“They don’t give you guys a special cabin,” I note aloud.
There is no one else here; the cabin is a bit messier than I would’ve expected from counselors, but otherwise it looks normal. He smirks at me walking to what I assume is his bunk bed.
“That’s why they made the lounge.”
“Of course, I should’ve guessed that.”
He grabs a bag from under his bed, which is labeled with a large red ‘counselor’. He opened it, sifted through it quickly, and pulled out a large red first-aid kit.
“I haven’t had to use this yet, so be patient with me.”
I nod, taking steps closer to him. He gestures to his bed, leading me to sit down. He kneels in front of me on the ground, leaning over me slightly to look through the first aid kit. His arm grazes my legs with every move.
I can finally see my nes and although it still hurts like hell, it doesn’t look as bad as I expected. The skin is torn all over it, and it definitely isn’t pretty, but it isn’t showing bone as it felt. I look back over to the kit next to me, watching him sift through it, looking for something.
“Are you sure you know what to do?” I ask when he still hasn’t pulled out anything.
He chuckles softly. “I have been trained for this, but I can’t seem to find the…. I got it.” He pulls out an antibacterial spray.
“This is gonna sting a little.” He sprays it gingerly onto my knee, making my leg clench automatically. It definitely doesn’t feel pleasant.
“Sorry.” He mutters, looking over the wound.
“It’s okay, I just need to try to be less of a klutz.”
He looks up from my knee directly into my eyes. “I never pegged you as the klutzy type.”
I shrug. “I’m normally not.”
“What made you this time?” His question feels more personal than a simple conversation between friends, making my stomach twist with fresh anxiety.
“Nothing in particular. It feels more like someone made me trip over imaginary air.” I joke, trying to keep the conversation light.
In all honesty, nothing specific caused me to fall. I was purely thinking of Alec and Cassie. Maybe thinking of Cassie and everything that went down is what caused this. He returns to the box, pulling out a large bandage. Maybe I should talk to Cassie. I don’t even know what I would say to her, or if I would even want to be around her as a friend again. But maybe it would help me to talk to her. Maybe.
“Whatcha thinking about?” He takes out the bandage and gently puts it over my knee. It stings a bit to have the material touching my knee, but it’s better than the spray.
“Just life. It’s been a crazy summer, you know.”
“Yeah, I know quite a bit about that.” His look reminds me that maybe I shouldn’t have said that out of everything. The air grows awkward as he stays on the ground, closing the container, looking at me, on and off, the whole time.
“Welp, thank you for helping me.”
He seems to take the hint, standing on the floor. “No problem. Don’t swim in the pond for a few days, and you should be good.”
I stand from his bed, taking steps to his door. He walks to it and opens it for me.
“See ya later.”
I walk from his cabin, going back to the gravel that betrayed me. Maybe Kai is better now; maybe he was just having an off day when we last talked.
Hopefully.