Chapter 43 | ICE FISHING AND BRIDAL STYLE

My alarm, once again, doesn't wake Vaughn up. So, I opt to do my usual morning routine, starting off with getting the fire going. Then, I work on brushing through my horribly tangled hair. Following a few more routine things, I head outside to see Moose curled up on a blanket near the door on the porch.

After I feed him, I choose to head back inside and try and cook breakfast. Venison, potatoes, onions, all chopped up and fried with the woodstove, and then a piece of buttered bread.

Anyways, I find it funny that that's what wakes Vaughn up. Not the sudden acoustic guitar song, or the loud creaking of the woodstove door, but rather the smell of food being cooked.

As I butter my piece of bread, I see him sit up from the futon, appearing visibly confused before he stretching his long arms above his head.

"Mikaere?" He asks, still confused.

"Yeah."

"What are you doing?" I hear his low, tired voice question as he stands up.

"Making food."

The patter of his feet against the wood floor as he walks over to me makes me feel nervous, for some reason. He stands slightly behind me, to my left as he looks over what I'm doing.

"Looks good," he comments, surprising me, before walking away to go put on his boots and jacket.

When he comes back inside, I'm already eating my share, so I merely point to his plate.

"Thank you."

I nod, too hungry to talk.

By 9:45, we're getting ready to head to the lake.

I'm actually quite excited about trying something new for once. However, I hope that I don't somehow mess it up.

After I've taken a bag and put water bottles, food, and a book inside of it, I follow him outside, over to the shed behind the cabin. He opens it, taking out multiple items.

He sets a cube-shaped red and tan item with a white handle on the ground, "A tackle box."

Vaughn then places a large, daunting looking, bright-red, giant cork-screw type of thing down, too. "An auger."

Subsequently, he holds up a black rod with a silver spool, then proceeds to hand it to me. "A fishing pole."

"Well, I know what that is."

He doesn't say anything as he takes out a large bucket, and then he hands me a bright yellow ergonomic snow shovel.

"Um. I have a question," I state as I take it from Vaughn.

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't," he says lowly, but I notice the side of his mouth lift slightly.

"What's this for?" I ask.

Silence.

Oh come on, I thought that we were over this.

"Well?" I prompt.

"We have to move. We have approximately five hours of daylight," is all Vaughn tells me, putting the tackle box in the bucket, which he carries in his left hand and the auger with the right. Then, he starts moving back towards the front of his cabin.

Only five hours? Wow, it really does take a different type of breed to live out here with such little daylight year after year. I know that I wouldn't be able to do it. I'd miss the sunny, beautiful days of- "Wait...did you just try to distract me from continuing on with my pressing for an answer by telling me something you'd know would take over my thoughts?" I immediately follow him. "Because it didn't work."

I mean, it did for a second, but he doesn't need to know that.

No reply.

I stubbornly follow after him, set on earning a response. "What's the shovel for?"

"It's for shoveling snow, Mikaere."

I deadpan, even though he can't see me, as I'm still walking in his footprints. "Yeah, well, I got that part."

"Then, why are you asking?"

I shake my head, not saying anything as I jog up to walk alongside him. Nevermind, I guess.

Moose trudges alongside us happily, tail wagging rapidly.

Before we left the cabin area, Vaughn had grabbed his rifle, and I grabbed the bow, but with Moose, now we have a warning if any wild animal were to show. So, I feel pretty safe with these two giants for protection. And, since my aim has remained relatively good, I also feel confident in my abilities to hit something if there's ever a need to.

But then again, who knows?

"Hey, let's play Would You Rather," I suggest.

"No."

Of course, he'd shoot the idea down instantly.

But then again, I did manage to get him to play twenty-one questions and chess, so...

"Oh, c'mon, just one game."

"No."

"Please?"

"No," he glances at me, then reluctantly sighs. "Fine."

I smile brightly at him, "Would you rather have to eat a raw potato or a whole lime?"

He gives me an odd look, "How do you come up with these questions?"

I shrug, "I don't know. Well?"

"A lime."

"Huh. I'd of expected you to say potato, to be honest. Okay. Your turn."

"Would you rather live in Washington or Alaska?"

"Here," I say, and he looks at me, so I clarify. "Alaska."

"Why?"

"It...just kind of feels like home," I respond honestly, though I don't know how to properly articulate and explain it.

He nods, taking my answer, so I ask the next question that comes to mind.

By the time we've arrived at the lake, we're both tired of talking. Or at least, I am, for sure. I can only assume Vaughn feels the same, knowing him.

However, as we walk out onto the lake, he starts speaking again to instruct me on what to do and what he will be doing.

When we eventually come to a stop in what appears to be the middle of the lake, I shovel the snow away from the immediate area around us, revealing the slippery surface beneath. And then, Vaughn uses the auger to drill a hole in the ice.

Thirty minutes later, and I'm bored out of my mind.

Vaughn's silent, even ignoring my questions, which I find to be strange since I thought he stopped doing that weeks ago.

Oh, well, maybe he's just really distracted by something at the moment, and he's lost in his own thoughts.

Or perhaps he just really likes concentrating on the fishing pole when he fishes. Who knows?

Moose is a temporary distraction, but I can't exactly just go running around and playing with him when we're literally walking on ice, even if it's not thin.

So, I pull out the book I brought with from the bag, somehow gaining Vaughn's temporary attention, and he raises a questioning eyebrow.

"What?" I ask defensively. "You're ignoring me, I ate most of the snacks already, nothing's biting, and Moose is literally snoring."

I glance down at the dog who's currently sleeping soundly with his head on my lap.

"I'm not ignoring you."

"Well, now you aren't," I respond, looking back up. "But five minutes ago, before I pulled the book out, you were."

He doesn't say anything for a few moments. But when he does, I'm surprised by what he says.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm just..." He trails off, and there's a small sigh. "A bit distracted today."

I frown. So Vaughn is distracted. I wonder why.

"You wanna talk about it?" I offer, even though I know he won't say yes.

Also... I couldn't really think of anything else to say, so it was better than nothing.

"No," He says, voice gentle as usual. "But thank you."

He sounds sincere, so I give him a small smile and nod, opening the book.

But he has other plans, apparently.

"Mikaere?"

I raise my head to meet his eyes, "Yeah?"

"Would you honestly turn yourself in?"

I'm surprised by his question, but then I realize that he's more than likely trying to distract himself from his...personal distraction, whatever that may be. Or maybe he's making an effort to stop ignoring me, though I find the first option to be much more probable.

I deliberate on the question for a while, and after a few moments, I answer him as honestly as possible. "I think so. But only after I've found closure in everything that's happening here."

As I sit criss-cross applesauce on the other side of the hole from Vaughn, I quickly look away from his discerning eyes to peer down into the dark water.

His eye contact...sometimes I love it, while other times it makes me feel nervous, and I don't know why.

For some reason, his company makes me feel like my previous words had some type of double meaning. But since whatever stupid and rapidly rising feelings are definitely one-sided, he should know to take my words as they are.

"Do you think you will?"

Do I?

"I don't know, maybe. I've already found out more than I thought I would, and it hasn't even been two months yet."

But then again, who knows?

I sharply glare at the back of Vaughn's head before turning back around, smoothing over the area where we had just walked to the best of my ability. Then, I resume walking for a few steps before repeating the cycle again.

"You only let me come with so that I could cover our tracks for us," I frown.

He doesn't look back as he keeps walking forward back to the cabin, somehow managing to carry everything except for the shovel.

Because the shovel is what I have.

Moose walks ahead of us both, tail wagging as usual.

After Vaughn caught three average-sized fish and one relatively large one, which was still four more than what I was expecting him to get, we decided to head back.

And that is when Vaughn explained to me why we did not need to tree-travel today.

Because you're here!

Well, that's not what he said, but he might as well have just said that. That's what he meant, deep down.

"That's not true," he denies my earlier accusation.

It probably is, because it's much more plausible than you actually wanting my company! I silently shout at him in my mind.

"Well, at the very least, this is why you wouldn't tell me what the shovel was for."

I wait for him to deny this statement, too, or for him to merely ignore it.

Instead, he decides to say: "That is partly true, yes."

Well, at least he's honest, I think to myself, refusing to reply to him.

The walk back is long, boring, exhausting, tiring, and tedious. I hate every second of it. The whole time, I'm too focused on shoveling to talk much, so the majority of the trek back is spent in silent and unseen glares.

When we arrive back to the cabin, I immediately drop the shovel, laying down on the ground. I'm almost tempted to childishly make a snow angel, but just the thought of it makes me exhausted.

I close my eyes, trying to steady my breathing. My lungs hurt from the frozen air, and I absolutely hate the feeling.

But then again, it was good exercise, I suppose. And, it's not like Vaughn made me do the shoveling. He didn't make me do anything. He merely had glanced at the shovel and then back at me, and I willingly decided to do it. Yes, at the time, I knew I would regret it, but that's on me.

Besides, if I didn't do the shoveling, I'd have to carry everything else. And that sounds terrible to me, too.

Keeping my eyes closed, I listen to the sounds of everything going on around me. I hear Vaughn walk away, over to the shed, and open it, where I assume he's putting everything except for the bucket filled with fish away.

Then, I'm aware of something else moving towards me.

Before I can react, however, my face is being licked.

My eyes fly open as I sputter, gently pushing Moose's furry head away before I wipe my face with my shirt.

The dog barely reacts, merely turning around and calmly trudging off to go lie down elsewhere.

I hear Vaughn's boots crunch on the packed down snow as he walks over to where I currently remain.

From down here on the ground, he looms over me more than he usually does, like a skyscraper.

He holds out his right hand to help me up, but what he doesn't realize is that I don't want to get up.

So I just stay there in the snow like a solid wooden plank as I stare at his hand.

"Unless you plan on carrying me inside, there's no point in offering me your hand, cause I don't have the energy to even walk up the stairs. In fact, I think that if I were to try, I would legitimately have a heart attack and die."

Okay, maybe I'm currently a little dramatic, but still, I-

"Wha-"

Before I even know what's happening, I'm aware of two large hands lifting me from the ground, and suddenly I'm being held bridal style as Vaughn moves towards the cabin.

Or is called the princess carry? I can't remember.

"Are you serious?"

There's no reply as he walks up the steps to his cabin.

I will admit, though, it's nice being so close to his face. I see his scar more clearly, and his eyes look even prettier from up close like this.

He's strong, too.

I mean, I already knew that, but I certainly wouldn't be able to lift me if I were me. Which I am, but-

I shake my head lightly to try and stop my inner rambling. My thoughts, as I'm aware, seem slightly insane.

But, focusing on Vaughn.

Once inside, he sets me down on the end of the cot, and for some reason, I immediately miss the contact.

Maybe I was wrong to try and make him think I wasn't weak all those prior times...

I shake my head again, starting to take off my winter clothes as he goes back outside without a word.

Well, that was really weird.

By the time he's back in, I'm lying comfortably on the cot, trying to read. However, my thoughts keep distracting me.

"Mikaere?" I hear him ask.

"Yeah?"

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah."

He goes back outside, and I assume it's to go fillet the fish.

A few hours later, and we've eaten, and I'm currently on my way back inside from the sauna.

I glare up at the sky, hating my luck.

When I step back inside, Vaughn sends me a cursory glance before looking back up at me, confused by my expression.

"What's wrong, Mikaere?" He asks, but what he basically means is, 'Why do you look so annoyed?'

"It's snowing. Heavily," is all that I say, starting to take off my coat and boots.

I think back to the walk back from the lake earlier, struggling to cover our tracks. I didn't even have to do any of that since it's snowing now.

I watch as he purses his lips slightly as they lift somewhat, letting me know that he's slightly amused.

"Out of all things, of course, you'd find this funny."

Immediately he's back to looking serious. "I don't."

I simply shake my head. He's a bad liar.