Stuck With My Archenemy

4 | SERIOUS STINK ISSUES

CHAPTER FOUR

The voice was soothing. So gentle.

Brenda...

It called me. It said my name, and I moaned in pleasure at the way my name rolled off its tongue.

Brenda...

It was a bit louder this time but that didn't change the way it made me feel.

I wanted to reach out and ask where that sensual voice was coming from. It was so tender, so sweet, so manly, so alluring, so-

"Brenda..."

I frowned. I've heard that voice from somewhere. It sounds oddly familiar.

"Brenda!"

Yes, yes, yes I have! And it sounds very much like...

"Brenda!"

"What?!" I yelped as my body jolted at the impact and my eyes shot open. I consciously raised a hand to my tingling cheek and rubbed it.

My frown turned into a glare. "What is wrong with you?!"

"This is why it'll take two weeks to get to the railroad," he muttered and raised his kneeling figure off the ground. "We've already lost four hours of daylight thanks to you."

"Four hours? Really?" I sighed and sat straight before trying to rub the sleep out of my half-opened eyes. "How did you keep track of the time?"

"They invented a watch, Brenda," he said dryly.

I rolled my eyes and muttered under my breath. "Prick."

Jack didn't reply so I turned to see him sitting on the ground and shuffling through my backpack. My brows furrowed as I watched as he eagerly searched through its contents.

"What are you searching for?" I asked, straightening up.

"Food," he mumbled, not for a moment halting his movements.

"There's a water bottle at the side. Bring that one out too," I pointed out and eyed Jack who was more eager to find food than to bring out the water bottle.

He grunted and continued his search. Jack had this vigour look that made him appear hotter. His hair was dishevelled and his clothes were a bit crumpled but all the same, he was still quite the sight.

"Mmm...you're looking eatable this morning," I blurted out.

"What?"

I clasped my hand over my mouth. Oops.

"Nothing," I stuttered, unable to find any reasoning for my stupid outburst. "I-I just said that, well I thought that you looked, you appeared to be...umm..."

"Forget it," he cut me off without even turning to look at me.

Great, now I feel like an i***t, I mentally scolded myself. No more expressing of appearances on his part. The guy is supposedly smart enough to know what he looks like each morning, dimwit.

"You kept all this inside?" he asked incredulously as he raised a big bottle of Coke and a bowl of sandwiches.

I shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Well yeah, I mean I had to be prepared in case of any misfortunes, like this one for example," I stated, got up from the ground and stretched.

"Well, at least you're smart enough to do that," Jack muttered under his breath speaking to only himself but I heard him loud and clear.

Idiot. I scoffed and blew out a breath but stopped abruptly as my eyes widened and heat began to crawl onto my cheeks.

Oh...my...sweet...ninjas.

My body froze. My whole posture stiffened and Jack seemed oblivious to the turmoil battling inside me as he continued to search through my backpack. But to make sure that I wasn't being fooled, I slowly rose my hand, cupped it over my nose and mouth and blew gently.

Son of a goddess.

I squeezed my eyes shut and cursed continuously. Damn it.

"Uhh, Jack?" I called him hesitantly, my eyes still closed as I struggled to find words to express my desperate situation without embarrassing myself further.

"What?" he responded simply yet didn't even spare me a glance as he continued to shuffle through my backpack.

"We have a...uhh a problem," I fumbled with my words.

"We?" My declaration appeared to have caught a bit of his attention because he rose up from the ground and dusted his pants before looking at me, his expression bemused.

"Yes, we," I repeated, slowly gaining confidence from an unknown source.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" he questioned though I had a distinct feeling that he couldn't be any less interested in what I had to say, but will soon be anyway.

I took a deep breath. Just tell him. It's not that big a deal, right?

"I have morning breath. Bad morning breath," I spoke the words quietly and softly but I knew that Jack had heard every word of it even though he was practically feigning confusion.

"I'm sorry, what?" He gestured for me to repeat the question but I could clearly see that he was trying really hard to stifle an amused grin.

"You heard me," I snapped, annoyed now. I mean, he didn't have to act like it was something hilarious. It was just a stupid disadvantage that I had each morning I woke up.

"Oh I did," he snickered. "Loud and clear." He then paused to look at me with a dubious expression written on his face and furrowed eyebrows. "I just don't see how it is our problem when I'm the victim here."

"You're not the only victim," I murmured, slightly annoyed at his remark.

He scoffed. "I doubt that."

"You know what, just forget about it. Let's eat." I said, trying to control the amount of air that escaped my mouth. I yawned and began to walk towards Jack, but he stuck his hands out in front of me as if to guard himself against my body.

"Hold it right there."

I stopped and looked at him as if he was an i***t. Which wasn't hard at all, trust me. "Why? It's my food, is it not?" I arched an eyebrow and folded my arms across my chest.

"You're not taking another step towards me or this food until your mouth is disinfected."

My mouth hung open at his insult and to say I was stunned was an understatement.

"Close it. You're already causing my lungs to deflate," he said cautiously and took a step back.

I wanted to bang his head against a tree trunk and scratch his eyes out but instead, I took in a deep breath and let my arms fall to my sides in defeat. "Well then, what am I suppose to do about it?"

"Hold on." He shoved his hands in his pockets and brought out a stick.

"A stick? Really?" I asked dubiously.

"A chewing stick," Jack corrected. "Here, chew it." He handed it over. I held it in my hands and examined it. It was as long as a middle finger and thin.

"Where did you get it?" I inquired as I examined the wood in my hands.

"From a tree," he answered flatly.

"Obviously. I'm not that stupid." I rolled my eyes and held the stick closely, turning it between with my fingers.

"I found some while you were sleeping. It's better than nothing." He shrugged.

"Yes. It definitely is, thanks, Jack." I removed a penknife from my backpack and used it to scrape the bark off first before chewing it.

"Oww." Damn, it was hard.

"Take your time. It's really hard so don't rush or you'll hurt yourself," he instructed just as he chewed on one himself.

"Aye Hitler," I mumbled. 

It took about a minute before I was able to brush my teeth properly. I spat out the pieces when I was done since there was no use in swallowing them, and winced. They were dry and tasteless. 

Well, obviously, since they are pretty much straw. In a way.

I was still positioned far away from Jack and the only time he made me come not more than ten centimetres radius of him was about after eleven minutes.

"Just being cautious." He had explained when I had attempted to get closer and had shot him a glare. Dimwitted pigeon.

We ate the sandwiches that were in my backpack, finished the bottle of coke and soon after, we were on our feet.

"So, which way?" I asked, sipping water from my water bottle.

"Well, according to this map," he tilted the map in his hands and peered closer, "I'd say north."

"North." I looked up at the sun and squinted. It was moving towards the west but still closer to the east which meant that it was still morning. I stretched out my arms and lifted my right hand to the east, left hand west, head facing north, back facing south.

I heard Jack scoff. "You should know that you look extremely ridiculous in that posture."

"Shut up." I ignored him afterwards and rather put my concentration on the sky. "North's that way." I nodded my head towards the north.

"Are you sure?" he asked with a hint of doubt in his voice.

I didn't know else I could do so I just let my arms fall and shrugged.

He sighed and folded the map. "Let's just move."

Jack picked up his backpack from the ground and slung it on his shoulder. I dumped the water bottle in my backpack, grabbed my blanket off the ground, stuffed it in my backpack and hurled it on my shoulder.

"Jack!" I called as we walked down a steep path. I took my time to avoid the sharp stones and the thorny plants. I was still wearing the same shoes and my legs were killing me. Those shoes were certainly not made for this kind of torture and I was sure that my feet were rotting inside. I didn't want to think of what kind of sickening smell they would unleash once I took my shoes off. 

"What?" He didn't turn to look at me, but I didn't care this time.

"Don't you think it would be more appropriate if we had a bath or something?" I asked desperately because I really needed it. I didn't have to check to know that I stunk. Bad. Real bad.

"There's no water," he retorted and kept on walking.

"Well, then find some," I ordered, exasperated at his nonchalant behaviour. I knew that men could probably stay for a day without a bath, but he should at least consider me a little.

He grumbled and clenched the folded map in his hands before turning back to look at me. "There's no water around here."

"Have you even checked? What's the map there for?" I asked, baffled at his stupidity and stopped in my tracks. No way was I taking another step without it being towards a source of water.

"It'll take time," he argued, his tone getting agitated as he too stopped and faced me. Good.

"Well I'm not gonna stick around and pretend like I don't stink because I do, we both do. And just because you can live a day without bathing 'cause you're clearly abnormal, doesn't mean I can. So give me that." I snatched the map from his hands and glanced at it, tilting it from side to side.

Stupid lines with different colours. Confusing the senses out of me.

I looked for something similar to water; the colour blue perhaps. My eyes strained on the paper in my hands. When it captured a blue line, my eyes trailed it as if my body depended on it...and it did. Kind of.

"Here," I pointed to the spot where we were at and shifted my finger to a small drawing of blue wavy lines together. 

Jack looked over at the map and furrowed his eyebrows. "It's not that far from where we're at."

I grinned, suddenly feeling excited. "That's where we'll wash ourselves. In that river or stream or whatever it is!" I squealed.

He eyed me for a moment, grunted, and then said, "You're very fortunate it's near." He snatched the map from my hands and began to walk the path which led to the source of water.

"I would've gone anyway," I muttered and followed right behind him.