I step back involuntarily, shrinking further into myself.

He shakes his head, giving me a look that says, 'I don't need to waste my time on you' and trudges off.

I stay rooted in my position for a few moments. His words play over and over in my mind. I can't unsee the hurt in his eyes. That wasn't the look of a downright evil boy. That was the look of a boy who is misunderstood. It's the look of a boy who has been neglected for so long that he has started to believe what people say.

I can't lie and say that that look in his eyes doesn't scare me because it does. But I know that this isn't him. The raw emotion that just slipped past his walls was enough to convince me to follow after him.

"No," I return to his side. He looks taken aback to see me standing next to him. "I know enough to see through this act that you have going on."

That night when he was drunk, those words that he said meant something. You don't just say them for no reason. There has to be something he's hiding from me. He's hurting and I'm surprised I didn't see it before.

"You think this is all an act?" He scoffs.

I raise my eyebrows at his attempt to throw me off track. "I know it is." I try to make my voice sound as confident as possible, and he chuckles deeply.

"How could you possibly know that?"

Well, that confirms that he has no memory of what happened when he was drunk. I can't reveal to him what I heard. If he's so reluctant to let people in, then he must not want me to know.

"I just do," I state.

I have no idea what he meant that night and I have no idea what he's trying to hide from me, but I'm determined to find out. "So, don't push me away because we're stuck together. At least for the next hour anyway."

He looks off in the distance. He shakes his head to say, 'I know this is a bad decision but I'm doing it anyway' and returns his gaze to me.

He rolls his eyes before saying with a huff, "I'm asking the questions." He doesn't give me a choice, but I don't mind.

"Deal, shoot."

He pauses for exactly one minute and seventeen seconds, not that I was counting. A grin makes its way onto his face as his eyes fill with amusement. "Why are you so irritating?"

"You're joking, right?" I glare at him. There are so many questions that he could ask me. Literally, an endless number of questions and he chooses that one.

"I wouldn't have asked if I was." He grumbles as he tries to stifle a laugh. I should have known that he isn't capable of joking, it isn't in his programming. "Just answer the question?"

My ponytail sways in the breeze. I'm thankful that I'm wearing a hoodie. He's wearing his signature black t-shirt, but he doesn't seem phased by the cold. I'm sure his ego is large enough to protect him from it.

"Fine, because I'm with you." I raise my chin in triumph. "The feeling is mutual. Why are you such an asshole?"

"That wasn't part of the deal. I'm the one asking the questions."

I hold my hands up in surrender. "As you wish." I sneer with a roll of my eyes.

"Are you enjoying being stuck together?" He wiggles his eyebrows causing my face to heat up. Is it that obvious?

I clear my throat, folding my arms across my chest. "Is that a trick question?" I blow out a breath of air and avoid making eye contact with him. "No."

His grin widens. He knows, he definitely knows. Dammit. "Whatever you say." He copies my previous words and I scoff in irritation. "What would you rather be doing then?"

He's going to give me whiplash if he carries on like this.

Despite his confusing antics, I can't help but think about his question. There are so many things that I would rather be doing. I'd love to lay on the beach all day without a care in the world or hire a car and drive around aimlessly, watching the buildings pass by. It would be like the world has come to a standstill. There's no worries or problems for that one day, there's just peace.

But there's one thing that I'd rather be doing that's better than all of them combined. "I'd spend the day outside with my mum. It would have to be snowing. We'd build snowmen, lay in the snow, and make snow angels until it's dark. And then we'd go back inside to watch a comedy whilst drinking hot chocolate and laughing uncontrollably."

My honesty shocks me. For that brief moment, a tear manages to slip past my defences and fall onto my cheek. The rest come flooding. I can't do anything to stop them.

I wipe my eyes in an attempt to stop them before he notices but it's too late. I laugh at my inability to control my emotions and look at the floor, mumbling incoherent curse words under my breath.

"You're crying." His eyes are wide in shock.

I blink back the tears. "I'm sorry," I laugh at myself. "I don't even know why I'm crying; I just need a moment." I take a deep breath and release it after a few seconds to try and regain control of my tear ducts. They have a mind of their own.

"You're apologising for crying?" He asks as he gradually steps closer to me.

I notice the closing distance between us and grow nervous. "I guess I am." I'm ridiculous.

"You've got nothing to be sorry for." He reassures me.

I look up only to realise how close we are. My tears stop.

I sniffle as my breathing quickens. My eyes are on his and I'm suddenly trapped by his gaze, unable to look anywhere else but at him.

My mouth feels dry, but I don't care. His eyes are no longer blank, the absence of life behind them is now replaced with concern. Concern for me. He brings his hand up slowly and presses the pad of his thumb against my cheek. I take a sharp intake of breath at the sudden contact as he wipes the remaining tears away.

We stay like this, his hand on my cheek and my eyes locked on his for what feels like forever but is only a few seconds. Our chests rise and fall in unison.

But as quick as it started it's over. His hand returns to his side as he steps away from me.

"We're back on the trail." He points to the group of people ahead of us, wearing hiking boots and holding individual maps. I swallow hard with a nod.

We walk the rest of the way without saying much. When we finally get back everyone's already there waiting for us. We go our separate ways before I'm pulled into a tight embrace by Penny.

"You did it," she praises me. It seems that they don't know we wound up getting lost. "You took a little longer than I expected you to, but you still did it."

My head rests on her shoulder. I catch Archer looking at me instead of paying attention to the teacher in front of him. Once he notices that I caught him in the act he looks away.

*

"Finally!" Penny swings the door to the house open and throws herself onto the sofa.

I kick my shoes off with a sigh at the feeling of the smooth wooden tiles under my feet instead of rocks and dirt. It's now the evening. Sophie and Henry don't give themselves time to relax after only recently getting back from work and rush into the kitchen to prepare food.

Archer doesn't walk through the door which confuses me. But less than seconds later his motorcycle roars to life. The sound grows quieter as he speeds off into the distance. I shake the thought of him out of my head and sit down on the sofa.

Penny's questioning eyes are on me instantly as she sits up. I rest my head on the leather of the sofa, kicking my feet up onto the glass coffee table. "So," she starts.

"So," I echo.

"How unbearable was he on a scale of one to ten?" She asks, referring to Archer.

My mind wanders back to what happened and the feeling of his hand on my cheek. A blush tries to fight its way onto my face, but I push the thought away before it's able to succeed.

"When is he ever anything less than a ten?" I reply causing her to laugh. She understands more than anyone what he's like.

"You're right." She confirms. "I'm surprised you're still breathing."

"Me too." I agree but I think my words have a different meaning behind them than hers do.

The rest of the night goes by and when the time comes to go to bed, I find myself laying wide awake in the dark, unable to sleep. Archer's words ring in my head. We're back on the trail. That's all he had to say. It's obvious that he wants to forget what happened when we were lost, and I do too. But why can't I get the thought of him out of my head?