Snippet #2515324

Harper was surprised by Autumn's questions. She'd always been a nice girl, and fairly polite to him, but she'd never expressed much concern. Was that what it took for people to care? A near-death experience?

"Aw, I'm fine," he said with a smile, "Well, as fine as I can be. Still not too stoked to be here, and I definitely don't want to do this--you know--" He was doing his best to avoid the term 'jump off a cliff'. As calm as he was now, he was certain he'd have nightmares of this for weeks to come. "But, I am alive, which is a plus."

He nearly scoffed at her suggestion of rest, but he was still dizzy, and did sit down. He watched Dorian climbing out of the water, and his eyes followed as he offered Xabier his jacket. Dorian left, but Harper's eyes lingered on Xabi. He didn't realize he was sighing until after he'd done it, and abruptly turned away, hoping Autumn didn't notice. As forward and confident as he could be with girls, it seemed that guys were another issue entirely.

Skylar's splash provided a welcome distraction, and when her head popped out of the surface, he waved her over, hooting.

"So, what's the deal? We camping here?" he asked Autumn, "The Guardians ditching us too...no surprise." With a groan he stretched backwards. He reached too far and ended up dropping, back to the sand. He realized then that he'd lost a flip flop. Instinctively he reached towards his neck, but was relieved to find that his necklace, shark tooth and pearl ring, were still intact. "I just want this to be over with so we can just go home. It's been, what, weeks? Months? How much longer are they going to keep us here for?" He felt himself about to embark on a ramble, complete with complaints and curses, but stopped himself. He turned to Autumn.

"You know, I'm fine," he told her, an uncharacteristic lack of sarcasm in his voice. If anything, he almost sounded....sincere..., "Seriously. If you don't want to sit here, listening to me yammer on about things you don't care about, you don't have to."

He turned away, facing the sky again, "You're a nice girl, Autumn, and I know you don't like me that much. You can go if you want. I don't mind. Hell," he laughed this time, a small chuckle, and pulled himself upright, back into sitting position, and he looked out at the lake, Skylar on the beach now. "I bet most of the others probably wished I'd just drowned after all. Hah! Wouldn't that be the most ironic death? I can see the headline now:" he reached his arm out, sliding his hand across to punctuate each word, " "Star Swimmer Dead. Cause of Death: Drowning." Hah! What a laugh. Like something out of a movie."

He paused, arm still outstretched. He glanced at Autumn, eyebrows raised. "Seriously. If you want to leave, you can. I won't hold it against you. In fact, I'm questioning why you're still here, listening to my dickheaded self."