I slap his chest at the comment, narrowing my eyes at him but with a subtle smile on my lips.
"It's just yellow, there's literally no cartoon on it", I say as he puts on his clothes.
"Sure..", he trails with a smirk and I know what's coming next so I give him a warning look.
"Sponge-", he starts but I cut him off, lunging forward at him. He laughs dodging the hand that was coming to his chest again.
"Okay okay, I'm over it", he says, his laughter dying down slowly as he covers his chest with his arms.
"I'll take a sorry", I say with a huff, looking away with my arms crossed over my chest.
"Since when did you get this sassy?", he asks then doesn't wait for a reply as he shoves my dirty wet dress at me.
"Noah", I gasp, making sure I stretch the ah part of his name as I pull the dress away from my body. Little dirt specks find comfort on his hoodie now.
I look up at him with a frown. He shrugs, "It's mine anyway".
"But I'm wearing it", I huff, trying to wipe the stain off with my hand but I end up using the sleeve since they're too long and they keep getting in the way. I groan leaving it be. It's his hoodie anyway.
I look up to see him staring down at me, "You done?", he asks with an amused look on his face.
I probably look like a chipmunk complaining about nuts.
He snorts, "I could call you a million names right now",
"I don't even wanna know", I say, starting to walk away but he grabs my head and turns me to the opposite direction.
"This way Gus Gus", he says and I slowly sigh at the nickname.
As we walk through the trees, Noah helps move away the branches on the way. It's really dark now and quiet, apart from the night creatures hooting and flying about and the sound of the twigs we were stepping on snapping, the place was quiet.
My steps grow slower and I get closer to Noah. "Noah..", I trail, coming to a halt when I hear something rustle in the bushes.
"Easy princess, probably just a squirrel", he nonchalantly says, putting his hands on my shoulder so I can keep walking.
"Are you sure you know where we're going?", I ask, wanting to stop again but he doesn't let me, pushing me forward.
"Yes princess", he says almost sighing then adds, "I'd carry you but.. if anything were to scare you, you'd definitely make us fall".
I look out for anything that might set me off. A squirrel, a flying squirrel, a rat, an owl, the boogie man, big foot and maybe old man Herbert.
"Stop searching for what's not searching for you", Noah tells me as he gently pushes my face forward.
I gulp squishing my back to his chest. I feel a low rumble rise from him, the chuckle doesn't escape his lips.
"We can't walk that way princess, or we'll stay here forever", he says so I turn to him then shake my head with a fearful look.
There's a swish sound coming from a bush nearby so I grab Noah's arm. He chuckles moving away.
"Ow.. that was like coach grabbing me", he says with a small laugh and when he sees the scared look on my face he laughs more loudly.
"You already looked hilarious a while back.. I can't take this", he laughs further.
"Noah stop, I seriously heard something", I whine as I look around the ground for any creeping four legged creature.
"Princess I told you, there's nothing-",
The swish sound from the bushes stops him for blurting another word and I hold on to his arm tightly. We look closely into the bushes and before I can even yell Abraham Lincoln, a black rat runs right to us.
I yell leaping up. I don't stay up for even two seconds before landing back down and unfortunately I land on the rat.
I'm about to scream again when Noah clasps his palm around my mouth.
"Chill..", he trails as he looks down, "You killed Jack",
"Oh my God", I exclaim, moving away from the rat underneath me. I indeed killed it. It's lying lifeless on the ground now. My weight must have been too much for it.
"We have to do a send off", I say and Noah's eyes widen.
"What? We've been out here for two hours cause of how slow you are and now you wanna waste more time with some rat", he nags and I sigh.
"C'mon, what if your cat got run over by some stranger? Wouldn't you want them to give it a nice send off", I point out.
"I hate cats", he says not even batting an eyelash. "Abby, this is a rat. Not someone's pet.. it's a wild creature. If it didn't die now, it'll die some other time. If you ask me, you even did it a favor. It's better it dies this way than be eaten by a bigger animal".
"Okay okay.. so go pick some leaves from over there, let me start digging a hole", I say and he looks at me in disbelief.
"Did you even listen to all I just said?", he asks.
"Maybe", I shrug and he scoffs, "C'mon Noah, the faster you are the sooner we get back to camp grounds", I tell him and he groans.
Grumbling, he goes over to a tree to get some leaves. I crouch down slowly, to avoid any cramp, by the side of a tree to get the grave ready.
I pick up a stick then use it to dig the ground. Noah comes from behind and grabs the stick from me. He squats behind me and digs faster. Okay maybe I was a little too slow.
When it's deep enough I touch his hand so he stops, getting up. "Noah can you pass him?",
"Oh hell no", he immediately refuses so I sigh.
"Well I can't get up and get down again. My knees won't let me", I say and he sighs, raking his hair back with his fingers.
"You owe me ten fucking solids", he groans and I roll my eyes. Between me and him, I don't know who's the princess.
Noah uses his shoe to kick the rat my way. "Noah!", I whisper yell at him.
"You think I'd use my hands?", he asks, giving me a crazy look.
"Have some respect for the deceased", I tell him.
"That you killed",
"Shhh", I shush him, looking around for any four legged passer bys. We can get ratted on by other rats.
"Let's just get this over with", he says, crossing his arms.
"Okay",
I move the dead body with a stick, leading it to the shallow grave Noah dug at the foot of the tree. I cover it up with sand and when it's all covered up I look up at Noah.
"One minute silence",
"Like fuck I was talking", he hisses but I disregard his rudeness, giving Jack his one minute silence.
I use the stick from earlier to write something on the ground.
"What are you doing?", Noah asks, irritatedly.
"Here lies Jack",
"For fuck sake Abby-",
I cut him off with a raised finger, "Might have had a family but we are unaware. May his soul rest in peace.. in the.. animal heaven",
"Or hell, dude must have killed a lot to survive", he says and I offer my hand so he can help me up.
Noah goes down to hold on to my waist instead, gently lifting me up.
"Thanks",
"Let's go", he says, pulling my arm so we start walking fast.
"Slow down", I say, unable to keep up with his pace. Noah pays me no heed until we reach the out of bounds sign.
His grip loosens so I put a hand on my knee to catch my breath. "Remember when you said what if I had a cat?",
"..Yeah..", I pant.
"How could I? When I have the laziest pet on earth", he says and I put two and two together.
"Wait, I'm -",
"We'll address your wounded pride later", he says, cutting me off as he takes my hand and we start walking again.
"Having another pet would be bizarre", he says and I frown at him.
"I'm not a rat", I say
"I didn't say that",
"Then what kind of pet am I?",
"A human pet, which means you have the characteristics of any other pet except the fast ones", he says and I pinch his arm.
Without flinching, he looks down at me, "Good thing you haven't upgraded to biting",
"I'm not a pet", I frown deeper and he nods.
"You're not just any pet, you're my pet", he slyly smiles, patting down my hair.
The cabins start to come in view and I start to miss my owner. I look up at him and he looks down then his brows bend in confusion.
"Where's your dress?", he asks and I look at myself then back at him.
"Oh my God.. I must have left it at Jack's funeral", I say and he rolls his eyes with a heavy sigh escaping his lips.
"Are we gonna-",
"I'd be stupid to let you come",
"Hey!",
"Get in, I'll be back", he says but I hold on to him so he looks at me with a raised brow.
"Be careful, wouldn't want your pet to have a new owner", I softly say and he smiles.
"Sure", he says then leans in to kiss my forehead.
Noah leaves and I get into the cabin. Everyone is asleep now. The room is dark but I can easily locate my bunk. I use the ladder to climb up and then quickly search for my phone.
I pick it up, it comes on and I almost get blinded by the bright light coming from the screen. I squint my eyes, turning it away from my face then notice a take out bag peeking out from behind my pillow.
I pull it closer to me and peer inside. My stomach growls at the sight of the food. The scent of the chicken nuggets fill my nostrils without consent and I don't hesitate to take a bite. I hum in delight as I chew.
He knows the way to my heart.