Aiden floated around on his back. His group was back to full numbers, but the boys were notably subdued with their hangovers. Connor was playing water volleyball with Evie against Kal and Hugh; he knew from Hugh’s cursing who was winning.

He looked to where Lucas was leaning against the edge of the rockpool. He’d gotten in the water, buried his face in his arms and hadn’t moved since. Aiden weighed up wanting to avoid an awkward encounter with wanting to check on him.

The current of the river brought him closer, so he decided to bite the bullet.

“How do you feel?” Aiden pulled himself out of the water and hung his legs in the cool liquid.

Lucas raised his head, “Terrible, but I brought that on myself.”

“Do you always drink so much?” Aiden asked. The more he thought about how terrible his dad had been the more he found it strange that Lucas would drink like that. He was sure Lucas used to hate seeing his dad when he got drunk.

Lucas tilted his head down. His lips were set in a thin line.

“I’m not trying to criticise you or anything” He impulsively touched his shoulder, “I’m just asking. I’m not much of a drinker myself.”

Lucas flicked his eyes up, and the green shade seemed deeper than usual. After a moment he felt Lucas relax under his hand, and he rested his chin on crossed arms. “No, I don’t. I don’t like getting that. So drunk that I black out. Having a spotty memory feels terrible.”

From the way he said it, Aiden got the impression this wasn’t the first time he’d drunk so much. Actually, he was sure of it. He’d heard stories at school. Some would be exaggerations to show off, but some were probably true.

“Was there a reason you were drinking so much?” Aiden wasn’t sure why he wanted to know so badly, or why he wanted to keep asking questions … that was a lie.

He was curious.

He wished that he’d just let Lucas kiss him last night. He’d know then. He wouldn’t be left with an irritating ‘what if’.

Admitting to himself that he wanted to try kissing a guy sounded a bit ridiculous, so he pretended there was no motive.

“Are you going to watch me until I answer?” Lucas mumbled.

“No, sorry” Aiden turned his face away embarrassed. He’d been staring at him. Oh god, where had he been looking? He had a sinking feeling that it had been his lips.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lucas look over his bare chest, and then turn his head away. It could have been Aiden’s imagination showing him what he wanted to see – but he could have sworn Lucas was blushing.

“I’ve been fighting with my teammates.” Lucas said.

Aiden peeked down. Lucas was staring into the forest. His expression was neutral, but his body was tense again. Ah. His hand was still on his shoulder. “What about?”

“Leaving their boots on the strap of my bag. Knocking over my water bottle. Snagging my jersey in a tackle.” Lucas listed, “And a dozen other stupid things that don’t matter. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“Maybe you need a break. You can get sick of anyone if you’re around them too much.” Aiden said. It was generic advice, but it wasn’t as if he knew how friendships in a team worked. He’d never been part of one himself.

“I’ve been with them for five years, there have been plenty of times I’ve gotten sick of them already.” Lucas muttered.

The sound of someone approaching forced Aiden to look away from Lucas. Hugh was a few feet away with the beach ball in his hands. His eyes were narrowed at the hand Aiden had on Lucas’s shoulder.

Aiden felt a chill at the in his gaze. He put down his hand.

Lucas tilted his head to Aiden, then behind him to see Hugh. “What’s up?”

“Want to join?” Hugh spun the ball on his finger. “We’ll have to head in soon.”

“Why not?” Lucas sighed, sounding like he’d love any excuse not to.

Lucas waded out to Hugh and looked back. “Coming?”

Hugh stopped spinning the ball and shot an annoyed look to the back of Lucas’s head.

“Sure.” Aiden let himself down into the water.

It was quiet at first, but it didn’t take long for Lucas to get into the game. His competitive side came out and soon he was shouting louder than anyone else.

Aiden wasn’t even annoyed by it. After seeing his mood not to long ago, him being back to normal was a relief.

It could have been his imagination, but Hugh and Kal looked relieved too.

Aiden dreamt about it.

“Goddammit.” He smacked his phone and silenced the alarm.

He was just going to have to do it. He needed to know what it felt like. He was going to kiss Lucas.

But how? Getting him drunk just so he could kiss him felt wrong to even think about, never mind try and implement. What he needed was a good mood, with the two of them, alone.

He had no idea how to do that.

A romantic walk in the woods? He couldn’t picture Lucas appreciating the aesthetics. Or keeping his mouth shut long enough for it to be romantic. An activity then? His mind turned up a complete blank.

It didn’t help matters that Lucas was getting along with Hugh and Kal again, and back to his non-hungover boisterous self.

“Aiden” Evie tapped his arm, “Are you okay? I’ve been calling you.”

“Just thinking.” Aiden looked down. She had a root in her hands. Fat, pale yellow and covered in dirt. “Is that one of them?”

“It kind of looks like the picture.” Evie handed him an open booklet. A picture of one of the roots they were supposed to be gathering covered it. It looked similar. The colour was a bit off. Evie groaned. “It’s wrong. This is hard!” She put the root back in its hole and covered it with dirt. “We haven’t found anything.”

“We found berries.” Aiden said.

“Connor gave us those. Out of pity. Because we had nothing. Have nothing.” Evie brushed off her hands.

“You know it’s not like he found them” He pointed out, “Your dad knows what to look for. Connor’s just stealing the credit.”

“Let’s go somewhere else.”

“Agreed.” Aiden looked around. “Are you up for a hike?”

“Anything but staring at pictures of leaves.” Evie nodded.

Aiden felt a bit mean, but he took Evie on one of the steeper trails. She panted a lot but didn’t complain even once. The exercise helped to clear his mind. And, while they didn’t find much, they did find mushrooms.

“We’ll be the only ones with this.” Evie said confidently as they approached the cabins. “Everyone will have roots and berries – we’ll have mushrooms. Something you can eat that tastes good.”

Aiden liked berries, but for the sake of pride agreed with her. “Yeah. Dinner will be a real treat.”

Richard and Connor were on an outdoor bench arranging multiple bags of different samples. Connor glanced up as they walked over. He raised an eyebrow at their single bag. “What have you got there?”

Richard’s eyes widened. “Amanita ocreata!” He rushed over and picked up the bag, holding them up to light. “Spectacular!”

“Did you find anything spectacular?” Aiden asked Connor casually.

Connor joined them and looked at the bag. “I found more than one thing.”

“If you ask nicely you can have one for dinner.” Aiden told him.

“Dinner?” Richard laughed, “Oh no, no these are Death Angel mushrooms, half of one has enough toxicity to kill a person.

“What?” Evie snatched the bag out of his hands and scrutinized them. “They look like the puffy ones you get in the store!”

Connor slung his arm loosely over Aiden’s shoulder. “If you ask nicely, I’ll share some of the poisonous berries we found.”

“They look like those white ones.” Aiden crossed his arms.

“The colour is where the similarities end.” Connor said, “They’re clearly a different type.”

“You’re just saying that because you already know they’re different.” Aiden took the bag and turned their collection over. All they brought back was poison.

“Oh. Even they have more things than you do.” Connor was watching Lucas and Kal unpack plastic bags from a backpack.

Lucas was eyeing up Richard’s collection. It was at least double the size of his.

“They did about twenty times better than you.” Connor said casually.

“Shut up.” Aiden grumbled. Why did he even try competing?

“Couldn’t you at least have found the mint leaves? They were –“

“Yes, okay. I’m sure they were everywhere.” Aiden interrupted him.

Lucas came over to them. “Nice haul.” He complimented Connor. “Where’s yours?”

Connor snickered.

Aiden bit the inside of his cheek, and Lucas looked at Connor with a confused expression.

“Here” Aiden tossed the bag to Lucas. He caught it, his arms shooting out instantly. “You can have it for dinner.”

Connor let out a loud bark of laughter.

Lucas frowned at Connor before he investigated the bag. “What kind of mushrooms are they?”

“Death Angels.” Connor reported.

Lucas’s lips straightened into a thin line. He looked at Aiden. “These are poisonous.” He wasn’t asking.

“Only one way to find out.” Aiden answered.

“I’ll give you more berries” Connor ruffled Aiden’s hair with a snicker.

“Stop that” He smacked away his hand.

“Why are you trying to poison me?” Lucas questioned.

“He’s trying to draw attention away from the fact he found nothing else, despite working here.” Connor said gleefully.

“Nothing?” Lucas repeated doubtfully. He looked at Aiden and must have seen confirmation there. “Wow.”

“Shut up.” Aiden turned away from them both.

“Running away?” Connor called after him.

“I’ll shove those mushrooms down your throat.” Aiden shouted back.

He only heard Connor laugh more.

Aiden didn’t see what was so funny.

Aiden’s legs were heavier than usual as they trekked up the hill. He’d stayed up late last night. Waiting for a chance to talk to Lucas. An opportunity never presented itself. Instead he had to watch Kal and Hugh drink and drink and was forced to listen as they told stories about how great they were.

The first camping area had spots spread out over an area about the length of a football pitch. There were trees and undergrowth between each tent, so it was private while remaining within a close distance of each other.

Aiden went from tent to tent, helping everyone set up.

When he came to the trio’s spot, Lucas was bend over a small stack of wood without the others in sight.

Aiden looked sharply around at the trees, but he didn’t spot anyone. He even peeked into the open door of the tent to make sure it was empty.

“Need help?” Aiden offered.

“I think I did it right.” Lucas sat back on a log set up next to the unlit campfire.

Aiden sat next to him. “Looks good.”

He opened his bag and dug out a pack of firelights.

“Isn’t this cheating?” Lucas took them and broke pieces into the middle of the twigs.

“You’ll have plenty of time to try it with moss and sticks later.” Aiden handed him his lighter. “Mandy makes sure that for the first night everyone gets a fire going.”

Lucas lit up the fire and sat back to watch the small flames. “There’s more freedom up at the second site?”

“There’s no group activities” Aiden explained, “You can do whatever you want. As a group, if you feel like it. Or you can take a tent and go off alone – as long as you let someone know.”

“What will you be doing?” Lucas asked.

“Food.”

“Would you be up for a night or two of camping?” Lucas questioned.

Aiden looked up. “Do you mean like a group trip or –“

“No.” Lucas flicked his eyes to the surrounding trees, “Just us.”

He covered his mouth with his hand to hide the smile. “Sounds good.”