Consumed

“Sounds good to me,” said Michael — as though he was going to argue against having to spend time alone with Charlotte.

“Just try not to rape her when you get to the woods,” Dan pointed out, a wry smile on his face.

“What?” an alarmed look on Charlotte’s face.

“Fuck you!” Michael spat.

“I was joking,” Dan reassured Charlotte. “We all know Mike would never have been able to pin you!”

“Fuck you!” Michael spat once again.

The group laughed at Michael’s expense.

“Yeah, well, if I do happen to try it on and I do succeed… You only have yourselves to blame… Egging me on like that,” said Michael. He turned to Charlotte, “Let’s go.” He didn’t wait for an answer. He simply started walking in the direction of the nearest line of trees, at the far side of the field on the left hand side of the road.

“I don’t suppose anyone has a whistle I can blow on if he tries anything?” asked Charlotte — part of her joking, part of her deadly serious. The group took it as a joke and laughed it off as Charlotte started to walk after Michael.

“We’ll sound the horn if anyone comes down the road,” Joel called out after them.

Michael raised his hand in acknowledgement.

“So now what?” Joel asked as he turned back to the rest of the group. Immediately he noticed that Hayley and Dan had climbed back into the van, and closed the doors behind them and it was just Lara standing with him. “Oh…” he said.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to talk to me,” said Lara. “You have the perfect excuse not to, after all… No mobile phone signal. You couldn’t possibly send me a text message.”

“You’re never going to let me forget that, are you?” said Joel. It was more of a rhetorical question but she answered anyway.

“You think I’m ever going to forget that my first proper boyfriend dumped me via text message? Worse still — completely out of the blue.”

“I did say sorry,” he pointed out.

“No. No I don’t think you did,” said Lara — clearly annoyed.

“Well for what it’s worth, I am sorry.”

There was a pause as Lara waited for him to follow his apology up with a joke of some description. No joke came. “Thank you,” she said.

“And I promise not to dump my next girlfriend via text,” he joked.

Lara rolled her eyes.

* * *

“You don’t believe what they said, do you?” Michael asked Charlotte as they walked, side by side, through the country field of tall grass, towards the tree line on the horizon.

“That you’ll rape me?” she asked. She shook her head. “If I thought that… Firstly we wouldn’t be friends and secondly, I wouldn’t be walking towards a forest with you…”

“I actually meant about me fancying you…” he said sheepishly. It hadn’t even crossed his mind that she may have taken the previous conversations about ‘rape’ seriously.

“What? No. No,” she said.

“Because I don’t,” he continued.

“Oh, thanks. Good to know…”

“No… You know… You’re not my type…”

“Great. Anything else? Fat arse? Ugly?”

“No… Nothing like that. I just prefer blondes,” he continued — completely unaware of the hole he was digging for himself. “It’s not because you’re ugly. Because, you know, you’re not. Just, not for me…”

“Awesome,” she said in a completely monotone voice.

“I’m sure you’ll find someone though. Some day.” He meant it as a compliment despite how it came out.

“You think?” she asked sarcastically. “I do so hope so,” she continued, “I dream about it…”

“Well it will happen. No sense rushing it…”

“Look,” she said, “why don’t we walk in silence? Enjoy the peace and quiet of the countryside. It’s nice. Listen,” she lifted her hand to her ear and paused to take in the tranquility.

“I can’t hear anything,” said Michael missing the point completely.

Charlotte changed the subject, “Do you have any signal on your phone yet?” she asked as she checked her own mobile phone.

Michael fished his mobile from his pocket and gave it a check — still no service. He shook his head and started to walk again with Charlotte a few steps behind him — wishing she had stayed by the van with the others.

* * *

Joel shook his head in disgust, at the sight of Haley and Dan making out in the van, “If they stain the seats…”

“At least someone is having a nice time on this trip,” said Lara. She walked over to the roadside and sat on the grass verge.

Joel walked over and sat next to her, “Is it really that bad?”

“Look where we are,” she pointed out. “Has the holiday even started?”

“At least we’re talking,” said Joel, “so one good thing has come from it already.”

“You’ve calmed down from earlier.”

“You know me. I blow up and calm down pretty soon afterwards.”

“Same old, same old… One day you might learn to grow up a bit.”

Joel smiled, he let her get away with the slur. She did, after all, know him better than anyone else on the trip. Part of him even believed she knew him better than he knew himself.

“You know I regretted that text more or less as soon as I sent it,” he told her — his voice hesitant as to whether he should be admitting any of this.

“What?”

“I was angry. Can’t even remember what set me off.”