Aden climbed the last few feet to reach her side, following her gaze out over the peak in front of them, feeling his lungs shallow in shock for a moment. The small mountain they had climbed overlooked the lake from its high vantage point, giving him a picturesque view of the glass water and its mirror reflection of the cloudy, pastel blue sky and lush mountains to the north. All he could muster was an awed sigh under his breath. After living on the coast of a flat, endless ocean his whole life, and wandering deserts for days, it felt like he had accidently stumbled into another world entirely.

Corey allowed a moment of silence for him to soak up the sight before adding some commentary. “No one really knows about this spot, since there’s no trails up this way. It’s kinda my little secret escape, when I want some quiet.”

She hadn’t commented on how he had subtly slipped her details about himself, so instead of asking why she’d bring him to some place so special to her, Aden kept his mouth shut and joined her on a patch of rocky ground when she sat.

He tried his hand at a joke instead. “Didn’t really take you as the type to want quiet.” He tried to keep his eyes on the lake and the beautiful peaked horizon, but found himself flicking his gaze back to her unconsciously.

She scoffed lightly, pulling up grass with her fiddling fingers. “I guess that’s true. It’s not often, just, on occasion. Sometimes it’s exhausting always being the outgoing type.” She grinned, brushing this comment off like a joke, but her smile wasn’t quite as easy as usual. It hid the bit of the truth in those words.

Aden hummed. “I wouldn’t know. Always been the quiet one in my family.” Another slip, and he knew she caught it this time. Her gaze shifted, a question in her head, trying to figure him out. Aden wasn’t really sure anymore if he was saying things accidently or if it was his own subconscious attempting to return the favor of opening up.

“You’d probably feel different in my situation. It’s just me and my mom for most of the year, you’d be surprised how desperate you get for social interaction after being snowed in up here for the winter. Even if it’s just shallow conversations with strangers, it’s something.” Again, there was a look she hid under her smile. A sobering glimpse of her reality.

Aden had learned far too well the value of a simple conversation over the last few weeks. He hadn’t realized how quiet his own house had been without Cassie around until he left. He hadn’t realized how badly he had been craving that togetherness feeling until he was sitting down at a stranger’s dining table, or being snuck into a bedroom out of the rain. “Yeah, I get that.”

She sighed, turning her gaze apologetic. “Sorry. I’m being kind of a buzz kill, aren’t I?”

He shook his head. “No need to apologize. It doesn’t sound like much fun. Not having the time to really get close to anyone.”

Corey shrugged, but was holding back another sigh. “When you say it like that obviously it sounds depressing as fuck. I try to see it like, my relationships with people never have time to sour, so I only have good memories of the people I’ve meet. Generally at least.”

“Optimistic.”

“Don’t tell anyone.” She concealed a smirk. “Nah I just, I dunno. I see a lot of people pass through here, people who are obviously dealing with their own stuff. Finding themselves or, trying to escape their reality for just a second. You know, that shit that you come out into the woods to deal with. And I kinda like the idea that I get to be part of that. Helping people find their way.”

Aden nodded, giving a noise of understanding. “So you’re the local woodland psychologist.”

She rolled her eyes. “Not quite. I’m not interested in messing my fingers around in stuff that someone doesn’t want to tell me.” With that comment, she paused, and then groaned a little. “Speaking of, I put my foot in my mouth last night, seriously.”

He forced a chuckle. “It’s really not a big deal.”

“No like, it is though. I wasn’t trying to be all in your business or, I dunno. I don’t care about the details like, if you don’t wanna talk about shit that’s totally fine. I just got ahead of myself. It’s not often that someone my age that’s actually a bearable human being comes around. I realize I was sorta being… forward.”

Aden tried to interrupt her rambling, to somehow reassure her that she really hadn’t done anything wrong, but his tongue came up tied when he tried to explain how he had clammed up the night pervious after her question about his bracelets. He didn’t know what to say, without it leading to other, more uncomfortable questions that he definitely didn’t want to touch on.

“I was just excited at the idea of having someone actually different and interesting around here for once. And I was just curious about you. But asking about your bracelet like, it just came off so wrong. Like you just met me and I’m asking about your girlfriend, like I can’t imagine how gross and desperate that must have made me seem.” Corey was obviously trying to be nonchalant, but color had found its way onto the points of her cheekbones and she was avoiding his gaze and playing with the ends of her hair.

“Wait, so you thought-.” It took Aden a second, but he connected the dots of his own misleading behavior as she wrapped up her long-winded explanation. He couldn’t help his laugh, coming out as a smothered snort that he tried to hold down behind his hand but came out anyway. He caught her gaze as it turned slightly mortified and he quickly offered an explanation. “I’m sorry, I’m not-. It’s just, Cassie isn’t my girlfriend.”

Corey blinked. “She’s-. She’s not?”

Aden pulled his laugh down to just a smirk. “Far from it.”

“Oh.”

“Mhm.”

“So, you don’t…”

“Don’t have a girlfriend, no.”

“I see.”

“Yeah.”

A pause, then Corey let out a self-deprecating laugh and leaned forward to hide her face in her hands, the flush migrating down to her ears. Aden found himself blushing as well, warmth pricking his collarbone and up his neck as he watched her grinning despite her embarrassment.

Silence hung between them for a moment, a second to both catch their breath, before Corey offered another comment, a sobering tone on her voice. “It’s too bad you’re leaving...”

Aden’s grin fell a little. He cleared his throat before replying, “Yeah.”

“I could have set you up with Mannie, if you were interested.” She waited for Aden to drop his head in defeat before allowing herself to break out into laughter.