Chapter 64
Aiden
“Evie?”
I abruptly sit up straight as my eyes search the ground and my head whips from side to side. There are a whole lot of plants obstructing my view and my anxiety flares. I hold my phone up to my ear as my subconscious remembers that other people aren’t too far away.
“Hello?” I insist furtively.
“Here!”
I sigh with relief as I finally make out her voice, and then a familiar figure pops her head out from under a leaf. Evie looks out of breath as she waves up at me. “Sorry, I guess you couldn’t hear me. Didn’t mean to disappear!”
“All good. You covered a lot of ground, I put you down way over there."
“It’s a whole other world under here!" She pushes the leaf up above her head now, gesturing with her chin as if inviting me inside. “Come see what I found. Can you push this up?”
I glance back towards the other groups of people who have also decided to go strawberry picking on this late summer day. As usual, no one seems to care about what I’m doing, and the one family who was close by is heading further out now. Eh, what’s a little dirt on my shirt. I get all the way down to the ground, tilting my head to the side and slipping my hand under the canopy of leaves. We’re on the very edge of the field near a grove of trees, so there’s actually a variety of plants here, and I’m feeling quite curious as I peer underneath the foliage and lift it up.
My girlfriend’s right there waiting for me. She gives me a playful peck on the forehead before turning and weaving her way through the sapling-like stems of the strawberry plants. Argh, how is she so goshdarn cute? This is a new dress that she’s wearing, and between her improved sewing skills and having picked out better materials over time, the garment almost looks like just a normal dress that was shrunken down to fit her. The greens and earthy browns of the fabric help her camouflage and look like a little forest fairy.
“See?” she chirps, hoisting something up from the ground. “They’re my size!”
Even though we’re visiting a farm that just has regular strawberries, she’s managed to discover some unexpected wild strawberries that are much smaller. The pale red fruit must be less than half an inch in length.
“Almost your size,” I chuckle at the fact that the tiny berry still looks as big as a football in her hands.
Evie rolls her eyes and with a grin she takes a big bite out of her prize. She then proceeds to do a comedic spit take, hacking it back up in disgust.
“Aggghhh that is so sour,” she groans. She tosses the fruit down and wipes the back of her hand on her mouth.
I try very hard to wince sympathetically instead of laugh. Laying the side of my head flat on the earth, I reach my arm a little deeper into the foliage and say, “There are some more over here, I’m sure we’ll find a tastier one for ya.”
I pluck up a few extra berries and Evie adds a couple of her own to the pile in my palm before she climbs aboard herself. I close my fingers around the lot and drag my hand out of the brush as I sit upright in the grass. Now’s as good a time as any to pause for a snack, so we settle in. I lean against a nearby tree, tug our much bigger basket of regular strawberries towards us, and gently set my little partner on my knee as I sit cross legged.
“Try this one,” I say, rolling a ruby red berry to the edge of my palm so that Evie can reach it. “It looks more ripe.”
Her nibble is tentative this time, but her smile quickly returns. “Oh wow! They’re not as juicy as the farm kind, but I think I actually like these better. Here, you have some too.”
She gives my hand an encouraging push, and I go ahead and pop a couple of the wild berries in my mouth. They’ve got some nice floral notes that feel incredibly nostalgic to me.
“What’s good about these is that they’re so easy to identify,” I tell her, “They’re a nice little snack if you come across them while camping.”
“Oooo, do you know how to forage for food in the woods?”
“I’m no expert, but I’ve picked up a couple of things. They actually have a class about wild mushrooms the weekend we’re going to the cabin, I kinda want to check it out.”
“Cool! Can I join you? I could hide in your hat. That way you can bend over without worrying about me falling out of your pocket.”
“Yeah, totally! Squeeze it into the itinerary.”
Evie laughs self-consciously, knowing that she’s been a little extra with the amount of time she’s already spent planning for this camping trip. “I’m excited,” she says defensively.
“I’m just teasing you. I’m really excited too. It’s something to look forward to at least.”
I don’t do a good job of hiding how forlorn I feel as I say that last bit. Today is rather bittersweet in that it’s the last day of summer vacation. My classes start tomorrow, and I’m really not looking forward to it.
Evie’s expression softens and she scoots towards my hand to take my thumb, leaning her cheek against the tip of it sympathetically. She’s been having to deal with me being a little grumpy about this for days, but it hasn’t affected how supportive she’s been. I silently show appreciation by smiling and very gently rubbing the side of her face.
She pauses and then suggests, “Would it help to make some more fall plans? Things like visiting a pumpkin patch? Or maybe we could do apple picking next time? Although, uh… it’ll be harder for me to help you with apples.”
“Heh. Yeah, all of that sounds fun. But it’s alright - I’m sure I’ll feel better once I just rip the bandaid off and get in the swing of things with school.”
“You’ve got this, babe." She gives me a squeeze and then lets go of my thumb. She looks upwards, squinting and shielding her face. "Hey, the sun’s really beating down… Do you think we could go lie down in the shade there?”
Evie’s pointing a little bit deeper into the grove, at a patch of shade just a couple of feet to the side of where we are. She already starts walking the length of my leg, towards my hip, and even though I’m careful as I scoot back, I still knock her down to her knees. I chuckle out an apology and then recline backwards, laying onto the ground with a sigh.
My little partner continues her journey up my body, making my breath grow a bit more shallow as she reaches the top of my leg. The way she circumvents the awkward space near my crotch is an unintentional tease that I sheepishly enjoy, but soon enough she’s made it to my shirt. I close my eyes as I focus on her tiny feet traversing my abdomen. I get so much comfort out of her warm little weight.
“Do we know who’s taking the loft bed?” Evie asks, casually circling the conversation back to the camping trip.
“Moira was insisting that she’ll take it,” I mumble, so relaxed that I’m having trouble moving my lips. “I think you and I are getting that side room downstairs. Let’s just let Camila have the bigger room.”
“Yeah, I’m fine with that. We’ll be nice and cozy.”
I feel her lay down on my chest and my fingers easily find her without me needing to look. I stroke her back and quietly ask, “Speaking of Camila… How did that hangout go with her at the Ignacios’ place?”
For a split second I think I feel her tense up, but she regains her composure so quickly that I’m not even sure. “It was fine. We’re still not best buds or anything, but she was nice enough, and Moira and Star handle her well.”
I open my eyes to glance down at her curled up form on my chest. She’s restlessly drawing small circles on my shirt even though her eyes look contentedly shut. I exhale slowly as I lay my head back again and frown up at the canopy of branches. I think about when we properly introduced Camila and Evie several weeks ago, back at the beer garden. I’ve come around somewhat since then, but I was honestly still annoyed at how rude I thought Camila was being at the time. I’ve let Evie do her thing, but I wasn’t exactly comfortable with her spending time on her own with all of the girls.
“I don’t love not being there when she’s around…” I admit.
“Why?” Evie shifts as she lifts her head up. Ack, I’m realizing I sounded a bit ominous. I should watch what I say, I don’t mean to scare her.
“I trust that you’re safe, but… I don’t know, this is just the protective side of me that wants to stand up for you if someone’s not being the nicest.”
“Oh. Don’t worry too much. The others are good at making me feel included. Thanks, though.” Out of the corner of my eye I catch a flash of her teeth in a grin. She starts emphatically rubbing my chest as she croons, “Aww, does my big, stwong man want to be a big, stwong pwotector?”
“Shut up, you,” I chuckle, squeezing my fingers around her a little tighter as she wriggles and giggles.
We don’t get much more strawberry picking done after that. Which is fine - our basket has more than enough fruit already, and the point of this outing was just to spend some quality time together anyway. We hang out in the grove until I notice the sun is starting to set. Eventually I remark that we should probably go pay for what we’ve picked before the farm closes, and all too soon Evie’s in my pocket as I trudge back to the car.
What a fantastic summer it’s been overall. I got a girlfriend out of it, for one. And we’ve shared so many wonderful memories. It’s not like the start of the school semester is going to drastically alter all that much about our lives, but I’m still so bummed out about it feeling like this current chapter is coming to a close.
“Wait!” Evie pipes up suddenly. I’ve just opened the car door and freeze mid-crouch to look down at her. She’s hooked her arms over the lip of the pocket and has one hand pointing to something in the distance. “Did you see that?”
“Hmm?” I ask, glancing up in the direction she’s pointing. It’s another little patch of trees at the end of the parking lot, but I don’t see anything remarkable.
“There!” she yelps again excitedly.
I saw it this time. In the dimming dusk was a brief pinprick of light passing by a bush, followed by a second one a couple of yards away.
“Fireflies,” I say, looking back down at her with a growing smile. “Have you never seen any before?”
“No, never in person. Can we go check it out? Oh, there’s another one! Please, please, I want to see!”
“Okay, okay,” I laugh, shutting the car door and redirecting towards the little lights.
Soon enough we’re surrounded by them, flickering amongst the trees in the growing evening darkness. Evie perks up adorably every time she spots one, her head whipping around, until I suggest we have her sit on my shoulder instead of my pocket so that she has a better 360-degree view. I actually feel like I’ve entered her world for once, as if we’ve stumbled into a magical fairy circle.
“They’re so cool! Ever caught one in a jar?” she asks me from her perch by my neck.
“Yup. On many a family camping trip we’d make temporary lanterns with these little guys.”
“Aren’t they hard to catch?”
“Nah, they don’t tend to be that evasive actually. The trick is to pick one and follow it…”
I stay particularly mindful of my tiny passenger as I set my sights on a passing light. Its bioluminescence fades, but I don’t get distracted by the other glowing insects and continue focusing on the same buzzing target as it meanders over the top of a bush. I take slow, careful steps towards it, reach my arm out, and manage to palm the little bug on my first try. It lands on me as soon as my skin makes contact, and I gently cup both hands around it.
“Like that! They’re pretty chill,” I say with a glance down at Evie, who’s now clinging tightly to my shirt as she leans forward with interest. I bring my hands up closer to where she’s sitting, so that she can see the light pouring out from the gap between my fingers when the firefly starts to glow again.
“I’m impressed!” she giggles. “Careful though, don’t squish him.”
To reassure her I open my hands to let the lightning bug go on its way, but I remark, “Don’t worry… I have plenty of practice snatching up little critters.”
She sighs dramatically in response as she knows exactly where I’m going with this - I scoop her right off my shoulder so that I can softly clap my hands around her instead. She scrambles around against my palm, and I beam with joy as I hear her laughter. I bring her right up to my eye and lift my thumb slightly so that I can peer through the gap. I can just make out her tiny form in the dark hand cave that I’ve trapped her in.
“Hmmm, what a weird little bug,” I comment loftily.
“You are asking for an eye poke, mister,” she playfully growls back.
I’m the one laughing now as I open my hands and avidly give her body a big smooch, reveling in her squeals of delight. She grabs at my nose to try and pull me in closer and cuddle up against me, and I let her jerk me around without resisting in the slightest.
This small detour before heading back home has done wonders for my mood. Just when I thought that the fun was all over, my best friend was there to help me realize that there’s still plenty of fun to still be had. I’m finding it that much easier to look forward to the next chapter.
Egads, I’m such a SW through and through, the mere thought of being the large one makes me want to hide underground lol
Welcome to the dollhouse~
Meanwhile I picked it because I associate it with a soup from my childhood
