Ash's POV
Dale smiled when I sat down beside him.
That same smile. Easy and warm and so completely familiar that it made my chest do something complicated. I smiled back because I had decided on the walk over that today I was going to be normal. Just Ash and Dale. Old friends catching up. Nothing suspicious about it.
"You actually came back," he said.
"I actually came back," I said.
"Where did you go?" he asked. "You just disappeared. No word, nothing."
"Camping," I said.
He stared at me.
Then he laughed. Genuinely, fully, the kind of laugh that came from somewhere real, and I felt the corners of my mouth pull despite everything.
"Camping," he repeated.
"It was peaceful," I said.
"You left school grounds without a pass to go camping," he said.
"I got labour duty for it," I sai
