The sun was beating down on her sore arms but she tried to keep her bow steady. Arabella was going to have a sunburn, there was no doubt about it and it was going to really suck the next day. But she was set on getting this right. The Aphrodite cabin had archery with Chiron right before lunch but most of them had given up and were sitting around, waiting for the class to be over. Only Arabella and Lucas were still standing and trying their hardest.
Lucas was okay. He didn't really have very good aim but he always had fun with it. He was pretty amazing with his knife and he liked having fun with archery. Arabella always loved the way that archery looked. She thought it was beautiful and she wanted to be amazing. From the moment she got to camp, she had been pushing herself to be a better archer.
With a small breath, Arabella let go of the arrow and watched as it whizzed towards the target, hitting a little left of center. Chiron let out a shout of excitement and smiled over to Arabella. "Your best ever, Arabella"
"It's not good enough" Arabella muttered, walking towards the target and yanking the arrow out. She wished, like she always did during archery, that she had the skills of the kids from Apollo.
"You'll get there." Chiron told her with a nod and a little knowing smile in his eyes. Arabella gave him a small smile, rubbing her arms. They were starting to very, very sore and very, very stiff. There was a small moment of silence before Chiron clapped his hands together. "Time for lunch" He announced.
Arabella's siblings all let out a sigh of happiness and stood, walking down towards the mess hall. As she was walking, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her and Arabella smiled softly, tuning around and wrapping her arms around Brett, hugging him close. "Hi" She sighed.
"Woah. Please tell me what I did so that I could get more hugs like this" Brett chuckled and Arabella smiled into his chest a little bit. She took a deep breath before pulling away and taking his hand.
"I just needed a hug and you were there. Don't get cocky" Arabella said, walking with Brett by her side.
"You needed a hug? You okay?" He asked her and Arabella nodded.
"Yeah, yeah..I'm fine. It's just been a bit of a long day" She explained to him and when he put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side, she didn't protest. They walked past the Hermes table and Arabella smiled when she saw Hunter and Jake, giving them a small wave. Her and Brett stood in line to get their food but when Arabella went to grab her tray, Brett picked it up, carrying it towards the Aphrodite table. He placed her tray down and kissed her cheek before walking towards the Apollo cabin.
Her cheeks were pink and she felt this warmth inside of her. Brett had been amazing ever since she had gotten to know him. She was nervous about taking that next step with him, though. She didn't want to ruin what they had going. Arabella had finished about half of her lunch when she saw a familiar person standing in front of her. She took a sip of her drink before looking up into Brett's green eyes. "Miss me already?"
"Come on. Let's go for a walk before lunch is over" Brett said and Arabella let out a small sigh, looking around and then glancing down at her plate with food on it. She bit her lip then grabbed an apple before following Brett away from the mess hall and down towards the beach.
"You know...I'm sure that we're going to get in trouble one of these days for sneaking away to go for walks" Arabella said with a nod and she took a bite of her apple.
"Oh well. It's a beautiful day and I didn't want to miss it" Brett said and Arabella laughed.
"It's always a beautiful day at camp." She rolled her eyes and looked out to the ocean, letting out a sigh. "I miss the rain" She confessed, looking up at Brett. Arabella had to squint because of the sun in her eyes. Part of her was kind of hoping that he would say that he loved it too. And that they were going to leave camp for a few days when it was supposed to rain. That he would take her to the city and they would dance in Central Park in the rain. But instead, he wrinkled his nose.
"Ugh. I hate the rain. I'll take the sun over the rain any day" Brett said and Arabella let out a little sigh.
"So..are you looking forward to capture the flag tonight?" Arabella asked him as she started to walk along the beach.
"Yeah, it'll be fun" Brett said with a nod and he took her hand, sitting down. Arabella raised an eyebrow at him but she sat down next to him anyway.
"What happened to the whole...'walk' thing?" Arabella asked him with a little laugh and Brett grinned, moving so that he was sitting right beside her.
"Oh, please. I just say that so that you'd come with me" Brett laughed and he took her hand in both of his, running his fingers along her skin. Arabella smiled a little bit and looked down at her hand in his then gingerly placed her head on his shoulder. It was quiet for a moment. The only sound was the sound of the waves, crashing on the shore. It was peaceful and Arabella was glad that she had gone along with Brett.
"Thanks for this" Arabella said softly and she closed her eyes. It was comforting, just to sit with him like that. He really did care about her and Arabella could feel it.
"It's my pleasure" Brett said softly and he took a deep breath, placing his hand on her thigh. Arabella looked down at his hand and her stomach started to get knotted up. "Arabella?"
"Yeah?" Arabella looked up at him and as soon as she did, Brett leaned in to kiss her. She gave a little squeak of surprise and she bent backwards, away from him. She stood up quickly and brushed her hands on her shorts.
"Seriously? After this whole week of flirting and hugging, you're not going to kiss me?" Brett sounded annoyed and the knot in Arabella's stomach was so tight, it was making her feel sick.
"Brett...I, uh.." Arabella whispered, nervously running her fingers through her hair. She looked back towards the camp and saw that the kids were starting to go to their next activity. "I gotta go" She breathed and turned, hurrying back towards the camp. She didn't turn around to look at him. She didn't stop to say goodbye. She just walked.
Arabella wanted to kiss him. She wanted to take that next step with Brett but she was so afraid and she didn't want it to be like that. When Arabella pictured her first kiss with Brett, it wasn't going to be rushed like that. She wanted it to be special. Maybe she was being a little silly but when she saw him going to kiss her, she froze and did the first thing that made sense.
So she moved onto the next thing, writing letters home, trying to forget about what had happened. Maybe things would get better during capture the flag, once she had a chance to talk to him.