"Check." Toby said, placing his knight down, waiting for me to make my next move. I was never good at chess. Strategy games weren't my thing, especially if I'm basically being cooked alive in the late summer heat. I moved my king one space in an attempt to get out of check, only to hear Toby sigh with satisfaction.
"Checkmate." He said, taking his bishop that was sitting at my end of the board and sliding it, taking out my king. "I win again."
"No wonder you're captain of our school's chess team... Fuckin' nerd." I sighed, crossing my arms at the fact he won again... for the third time.
"Ah, no need for such cruel words," Toby said with a hint of a chuckle in his voice as he cleaned up our chest game, putting the pieces in the table drawer. "What do you want to play now? There's a Go board... Checker pieces... Renegade... Chinese Checkers... a Backgammon set, a deck of cards and... a box of Dominoes." Toby rambled, digging through the drawer of the public board game table we sat at.
"I'd rather shoot my brains out than lose another game to you." I said with a sigh.
"Competitive much?" Toby chuckled, taking out the deck of cards.
"Of course I am... Grew up with a brother eleven years older."
"How about a game of Crazy 8s? No strategy needed, just slapping down cards." Toby said with a tempting tone, a sly smirk on his lips as he got out the deck and started shuffling them. My eye narrowed at him, making him chuckle. "Well? Just five games. Then we can go hike"
"Fuck you, deal them to me." I sighed out, Toby lips curling into a smile and dealing the cards between us.
"Best out of five, loser's gotta buy slushies from the ice cream truck here after the hike."
"Deal." I agreed, picking up my delt cards. 'He's going down.'
---
The gravel crackled under my shoes as I trailed behind Toby, feeling myself kinda wobble a bit with each step. Maybe it's just the heat today and it's building up in my thick clothing... I'm used to lightheadedness like this from the heat, but today? It felt like hell.
"Slowpoke, You doing okay?" Toby asked, turning around and walking backwards to look at me, making me straighten myself up from my fatigue.
"Yeah... I'm... I'm okay" I struggled to say, taking a sip from my water bottle.
"You sure? We can head back to the car, I have a change of clothes that kinda fit you." He asked, his tone soft like he was comforting me.
The thought of short sleeves made my forearms itch, pulling down at my sleeve to make sure my arms were covered. "I'll be fine... just a bit sleepy is all... just a bit of walking can help me wake up slightly." Toby gave me this look that reminded me of Charlie when I say something that worries him, maybe I said something that worried Toby. But then again, his reaction to what I said was hard to read or even process.
"Okay, if you say so." Toby said with a sigh, stopping in his tracks making me stop in front of him. "Just please... don't walk behind me, I just want to keep an eye on you... just in case." I nodded slightly, moving to his side, him turning around to continue walking towards the trail.
---
It was silent between Toby and I as we walked, the sound of the soft wind rustling the leaves on the trees that surrounded the trail up to the cliff and the sounds of the heat bugs and birds singing their respective songs. We reached the steep hill that led all the way to the overlook of the old train tracks and the part of the town, Toby taking the lead and I followed behind, struggling a bit on the incline with no grip under me. Just hardened ground mixed with the loosen dirt from previous hikers coming up to see the view.
"Need some help, little man?" Toby said, his tone sing-song sounding.
"Yes... please? I feel like I'll slip." I said, stopping in my tracks right when Toby stopped, looking over his shoulder and reaching out a hand to help me get ahead of him. I took it hesitantly and walked up, toby guiding me before following behind.
"If you slip, I'll catch you okay? I'll be your safety net." He said in a joking tone as we reached the top of the hill, Toby returning to my side.
"Thank you..."
"No problem, but didn't I tell you not to walk behind me?"
"Yeah... But you took the lead, so I didn't want to overtake you... It's kinda also dangerous to walk around someone on a slope like that is kinda scary... like you can fall instead." I mumbled, fiddling with my sleeves, arms and thighs getting itchy with the heat trapped in my clothes making me start rubbing them through the fabric as we walked.
"You okay? Are the mosquitos getting to you?" Toby asked, pressing a hand on my back.
"Y-yeah..." I lied. I can't let him know. He'll think I'm weird. Or a freak. Or whatever people call what I do. I didn't like lying to him, he's my friend and he deserves to know eventually. But not now... and not like this. My mind ran circles over the thought of me lying, the unbearable heat starting to get to me. My vision was starting to spin as my gut turned as if I was going to vomit any second. I felt myself get weak, my knees giving out. Then everything went black.
---
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