55| Lake, Bonfire And Jungle

The next morning when Zoey woke up, she felt suffocated all of sudden. Something, or rather someone was crushing her. Groaning, she opened her eyes and found Travis lying on top of her, his head resting on her breast and his legs tangled with her own.

Heat crawled up Zoey's neck at their intimate position. She tried to push him away but he was too heavy for someone who looks so lean. Giving up, she stayed like that, ignoring the funny sensation in her stomach.

What is it about this guy that makes her feel like this? All warm and gooey, like a cliché heroine in a cringeworthy novel. Was it even possible to like someone this much, without actually liking them romantically? What was the name of this stupid feeling she had for him?

After some five minutes, she felt him move. Immediately, she closed her eyes and acted as if she was sleeping. Travis moved over her and then she felt his heated gaze on her, making it impossible to act like sleeping.

To avoid any embarrassment, she opened her eyes slowly and watched him with fake surprise. "Why are we cuddling like an old couple?" She asked.

"I don't know. Ask your pelvis which kept grinding into me last night." He said, staring at Zoey's lips with hooded eyes and her cheeks flushed.

"Liar." She said, staring into his penetrative eyes that makes her feel strange. "Do you have any proof?"

"I had one last night. It's quite settled now." He replied sarcastically and Zoey gasped when she understood the meaning of what he just said.

"God Anderson, you aren't as innocent as you try to be." Zoey said and pushed him away.

"It's all your fault. You have ruined me." Travis said and hopped out of the bed. He then made his way to the bathroom while Zoey called Zachary to check if her room was empty now.

•••••••••••

After finishing the book he was reading at almost 4, Travis decided to leave the room and explore this place. He was a little hesitant of intruding in between Zoey and her friends so he was trying to maintain his distance. But the fourth text from Zoey finally forced him to move off his ass.

"Finally." He heard her say when he reached the lake. Everybody was dressed in bikinis or shorts and swimming around the lake. "You have too many clothes on."

"I'll just watch from here." Travis said.

"Come on in, Travis. The water is really cold." Maya said.

"I'm fine here." He said and made his way to the wooden bench where Althea was already sitting and sipping her mimosa or whatever fancy drink she was having.

He sat down beside her and followed Zoey with his eyes. She was dressed in a blue floral strapless bikini, her wet hair gathered on top of her head with some loose locks framing her face. They all were playing in the water like kids and her facial expressions were also that of a little kid.

"You like her, don't you?" Althea's voice reached his ears.

He sighed, pulling his eyes off her laughing face. She had just won a race to the edge of the lake against Ethan and was now dancing to celebrate her victory. She looked cute as a button and all he wanted was to kiss her as if his life depended on it. "Um... I do, kind of."

"She likes you too. In fact, she is crazy about you." She commented and Travis felt his heartbeat quicken. "I don't understand why. I mean, don't mind but you are too average for a girl like her."

Travis didn't feel bad because Althea had a reputation for being blunt. Instead, he felt pity on her. People like her see the world in black and white, they don't realize that most things exist midway in the spectrum.

"On the other hand, you are everything but average. Althea Harper, the dream girl. Every girl wants to be you and every boy wants to be with you." Travis said and Althea smirked proudly at this. "I just don't understand why are you sitting here alone, just like me?"

He watched as the color on Althea's face changed at his comment. Before she could reply or worse, dump the mimosa on his head, Travis left the bench and walked over to the lake.

He stopped near the heap of clothes and took off his shirt. He was pretty sure he heard a whistle that came from Zoey's direction. Passing her a mischievous glare, he dived into the water, splashing some water over her.

"Catch me, Anderson. It's your turn." She challenged. "Everyone else failed to do so."

"And why is that?" Travis asked.

"Because I am the fastest." Zoey said and started swimming forwards.

Bracing himself, Travis plunged into the water and swam forwards in his full speed. Zoey was right; she was really fast. Travis had to swim in his full speed to maintain the distance between them while she on the other hand didn't even look tired.

"Loser." Zoey stopped for a second and shouted to tease him.

"Let me show you who is the loser among us." Travis said and increased his speed.

The distance between their bodies decreased as Travis slowly caught up to her. Zoey tried to increase her speed but Travis reached her before that. Gripping her by her waist, he stopped her and pulled her closer to him.

"See, I win." He said as both of them came face to face. Their almost bare fronts were touching together, warming them up even in the cold water. "Who is the loser now?" He said.

"You, because you just wasted almost five minutes chasing me." Zoey smirked.

"Or maybe you wanted me to chase you. You just can't get enough of me, can you?" He replied.

"Yeah, right. I so want to jump on you and fuck you until we are both breathless." Zoey whispered in his ears and Travis's eyes darkened at this.

"Zoey!" He yelled with widened eyes and then looked around to see if anyone heard her. Thankfully, everybody was busy swimming around that nobody bothered to look towards them. "One of these days, your mouth is going to land you in great troubles."

"Really? What kind of troubles?" Zoey whispered and moved forwards in a way that their bodies grazed against each other.

"Don't." Travis pulled away before she could wake up a certain part of him.

"I am not interested anyway. Go read your book or whatever." Zoey said and swam back to the shore. As she left the water and reached the ground, the sight of her long legs stirred Travis. She added extra sway in her hips as she walked away and Travis dived under water to calm his excited hormones.

•••••••••••

It was about 7 in the evening. After playing in water for many hours, they all were now gathered around the bonfire. Maya was reading a book, Zachary was lying on the hammock, Travis and Zoey were making the Barbecue, Olive was lying on the grass and Ethan and Cindy were talking to each other.

Althea was observing everyone silently from a distance. Travis' words kept ringing in her ears. She was all alone. Nobody cared if she was here or not. Sometimes, she felt like they all were tolerating her because of Zachary. If it was not for her brother, no person here would actually want to be her friend. She was a burden on them and she was sure nobody would even notice if she leaves.

For some reason, her vision felt blurred. There was moisture in her eyes and she couldn't understand why.

She wanted to spend some time alone so she walked away towards the house. Instead of going in, she made her way behind it to the array of trees leading to a jungle. By the time anyone will notice her absence, she would have returned.

With these thoughts in mind, she made her way through the woods. Life as the only daughter of Daniel Harper and Isobel Harper was hard. She had a standard to maintain, an image to uphold. She couldn't go and ruin her father's name like Zoey does, or she couldn't be careless like Ethan and Zachary because she was a girl and everything she does has repercussions. She was born this way, she was raised up this way, and she was expected to act in a certain way. No matter how much she tries, she couldn't do things a normal person does. It wasn't easy being her but nobody understand this.

The chain of her thoughts broke when her sandals stuck in the ground and she stumbled forwards onto the ground. A groan left her mouth as she observed the scratch on her knee from where blood was oozing.

"Guys? Zoey? Ethan? Zachariah?" She called everyone's names but nobody listened to her. "Can anybody hear me?"

When no reply came, she gathered courage and stood up, ignoring the pain in her knees. She looked around to go back and when she couldn't remember which way she came from, panic filled her mind. Whichever side she looked, there was dense jungle with no light and sign of a plain.

"Oh God!" She said to herself.

"Ethan! Ethan!" She called out as she walked forwards, sweat dripping from her forehead in stress. "Zachary! Olive!"

Suddenly, the thought of her phone came to her mind. She pulled it out from the pockets of her fanny pack and tried to find network. At a specific spot, she got some signal so she immediately called the first name that came to her mind.

"What happened? Where are you? I have been looking for you everywhere?" Ethan's tensed voice came from the other side.

"I... I don't know... I am in this jungle. I am lost, Ethan." Althea said, trying to control her tears.

"Jungle? Shit. Stay where you are. I am coming." He said and then cut the call, or rather the call cut on its own because of low signal.

Hugging her arms around herself, Althea sat down against a tree. Her body was shaking in anxiety. She was lost in a jungle, a jungle filled with animals and wild creatures, that will tear her apart without any mercy.

"Breathe. Breathe. Breathe." She told herself. "You will be fine."

She closed her eyes and rested her head against the bark of tree. After a while, she felt something on her face. Expecting it to be a crumpled leaf, she touched her face but when her hands rested on something big and moving, a shriek left her mouth.

Her eyes shot open and met with the insect on her hands. It was like a cockroach but bigger, and it's skin was soft and velvety. Nausea rose in her stomach and she stood up in panic. At the same time, she heard a howl of an animal and her heart almost stopped beating.

"Somebody save me." She cried out, controlling the tears that were leaving her eyes uncontrollably. Ignoring the stabbing pain in her knee, she walked forwards and tried to find the escape.

"Althea!" She heard a feeble voice after some time.

"Ethan?" She screamed. "Is that you?"

"Thea!" The voice came again.

"Ethan, I am here!" She increased her pace towards the sound of that voice.

"I am coming. Don't worry, princess." She heard him say.

"Yeah, I am here." She said and continued walking. "Ethan! Ethan!" She called but no response came this time.

She stopped in her spot and looked around to see if he was coming. "Ethan?" She shouted but there was no answer.

'Did he leave? Did I just hallucinate his presence?' Althea thought to herself.

"Ethan!" She called his name in between tears.

"Thank God!" She heard a voice. Turning around in her spot, she found Ethan running towards her frantically.

Never in her life had she felt such relief. A smile broke on her mouth and she leapt towards him when he reached her. Her hands automatically found its way around his neck while he encircled her waist, pulling her up in a hug.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Does anyone ship Travis and Althea? They would be chaotic together.😂😂😂