A Hike

Twenty five minutes came and went as each of the teens made their way to the kitchen, grabbing simple snacks, coffee or juice for breakfast. Brandon and Ashley had both been looking at Zack, the former in contempt and the latter with dreamy glee. Zack did his best to pretend he couldnt feel their eyes on him, or rather at least Brandon's, while he and Chloe made short coversation every couple minutes. Unfortunately for him the redhead was still dead tired and was more interested on guzzling coffee to wake herself. Gavin was also of no use for conversation as the geeky teen was too embarrassed from his blunder with Heather this morning to look up from his plate. Then, on the far side of the table, Kurt and Victoria ate in silence, choosing to share flirtatious glances rather than speak to one another. The heavy silence hanging between everyone was only broken by Heather, “So...anyone got an idea for what we could do today?”

“Don’t care,” Kurt replied with a tired voice, perfectly content in his current situation,

“Thanks, that was helpful,” Heather replied with a scoff,

“How about a hike through the woods.” Victoria pipped in,

“That sounds good, some clean fresh air,” Chloe yawned while brushing a few loose amber hairs from her face, “Figure there has to be a lot of trails around with that old summer camp in the woods.”

“Summer camp?” Gavin immediately asked,

“Yeah Heather told me that some old summer camp used to be out here, it’s gone now but I figure the trails must still exist.” Chloe explained, “Right?”

“Yeah,” Heather replied dryly, “Camp Ravers, a work in progress, a new investment from my father. He used to go to the original camp out here when was younger, and the whole thing closed down." Heather explained with a smirk, "He's the nostalgic type,"

“I don’t know guys, you really want to hike in this heat?” Gavin interjected,

“What’s wrong, don’t want to see us in shorts, Gavin?” Heather teased, "Scared to see too much skin?"

Gavin let out a small nervous laugh and shook his head slightly, “Nevermind, I’ll just stay quiet.”

This did cause everyone to laugh breaking the tension between them, though Heather wasnt apart of it, a touch of shame instead hung over her head having not intended to embarrass the teen only joke. Another thirty minutes passed as everyone finished breakfast then returned to their rooms to change into some hiking clothes, as well as fixing a few hiking packs. As soon as they were all prepared they left the cabin and hiked up towards the woods, Heather brought them all to the start of a few hiking trails started that they could follow.

As they reached the start of each of the trails, everyone began to separate themselves. Zack and Ashley chose to go on an older trail, that was by far the longest. Gavin, not totally loving the idea of a long hike, chose to follow a trail that leads around the lake, Heather joined him. Victoria picked out a trail that went around the base of a nearby mountain, Kurt offered to join her and lastly, Chloe wanted to take a hike up a mountain path which Brandon half-heartedly agreed to join. Without another word, the pairs broke off into their separate trails, most happy to be away from the growing tension.

Over the next twenty minutes, Zack and Ashley walked down their trail in silence. Despite being on good terms things did feel a bit awkward, not only was the Brandon situation making things uncomfortable for Ashley, Zack felt unsure where they stood since the kiss earlier.. All the years he had known her their relationship never advanced from friendship, just the thought would have made him bust out laughing a few days ago. Now, however, he was curious to see what would become of them.

Suddenly Ashley spoke up, “You know, I’m glad it’s just you and me on this trail, no one to mess with us, just quiet, peace where we can talk,” She said while glancing over to him with a smile,

Zack returned the smile and nodded, “Totally, after everything that happened this morning I’m glad me and Brandon have some distance.”

Ashley’s brow narrowed a bit, “You don’t want to fight him do you?”

Zack’s eyes widened, “Me? Fight him? Hell no, I don’t want him to kick my ass. I would like nothing more than to keep the peace.”

Ashley let out a relieved exhale and reached over taking his hand, “Thank god, I hoped you’d say something like that. Most every guy I know is like, fight, fight, fight. Im so sick of that mentality, I dont think its impressive to make another guy bleed. So thank you for not being another dumb meathead, I prefer you,"

“Thanks, I think?” Zack replied with a little chuckle,

Ashley let out a giggle and rolled her eyes, “I don’t mean that in a bad way. I just mean you’re just you. You don’t put up some tough guy front to seem better than the others. Brandon did that, he got super protective whenever he thought someone was trying to make a move. We even used to get in fights over you, it really pissed me off.” Ashley explained before taking a slow breath, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t just keep talking about Brandon.”

Zack shook his head lightly, “No, no, it’s fine. I really don’t mind.” He said with a warm smile,

Ashley smiled widely to him and tightened her grip on his hand, “Thanks but no, I’m not gonna spend the rest of our hike talking about Brandon.”

"Alright, well what do you want to talk about?" Zack asked back,

"You," Ashley easily replied, "I dont know much about you, and I want to. Hell, our sisters are best friends, so obviously Bishops ans Woodsens get along, right?"

Zack let out a short chuckle, "You make it sound like some sort of destiny in our bloodlines,"

"Maybe it is," Ashley sarcastically replied before the pair shared a laugh, and then as naturally as taking a breath, Zacks hand reached for Ashley's and they interlaced their fingers as they continued up the trail.