4: Platonically in love

For a moment I panicked, my throat closing up in indescribable terror until all of a sudden a familiar scent of perfume began to fill my nose.

"Will you stop doing that, I almost jumped out of my skin." I twisted the upper half of my body around to see Ciara and her triumphant grin.

"It's too much fun, did you see your face? Oh the way you jumped." Ciara sat down beside me and threw her arms around my neck with a squeal of excitement. "I missed you so much."

"You're sadistic if you extract pleasure from the idea of my heart stopping," I replied with a roll of my eyes as returned her welcomed embrace. "It's good to see you nonetheless."

"Just good? Earl I've been dying without your presence, ever since harvest began Aunt Gendal has barley let me leave the property, let alone see anyone else except those boys she hired for help."

She pulled away with a long suffering sigh as her eyes conveyed a heavy look of sorrow. "I wanted to throw myself off the tallest tree I could find, truly only the thought of our friendship has kept me alive through this dark time of tribulation."

"You're getting better, I'm impressed." I clapped my hands and smiled in admiration.

Ciara pretended to bow and tucked her dark strands behind her ear meekly, "stop, you're making me blush Earl." I giggled at her convincing show of modesty.

"I've been practicing on my aunt for days now," she continued returning to her usual self, "so far I've been able to get five coins off her, plus plenty of pastries which I told her were for the neighbours."

She turned around and leaned over to pull over a basket that she had placed down behind us. When she set it before me, I pulled off the hand towel that had been placed on top and gasped in surprise.

"Wow, it looks mouth watering Ciara, all of this for us?" I glanced up from assortment of deserts and she nodded proudly.

"Your bleeding your poor aunt dry." I told her, marvelling at the delicacies and Ciara shrugged, pulling a box of matches out her pocket.

"Got the candles?" She asked and I pulled them out of my pockets. "I wonder where the boys are?" She added as she lit the wax stalks carefully.

"They must be running late," I replied, stationing the candles a little further away from us so we wouldn't knock it over accidentally.

A twig snapped behind us and I whirled around nervously, squinting into the murky darkness to see what had made that noise.

"Did you hear that Ciara," I whispered and she nodded, narrowing her eyes sharply.

"Someone's there," she replied in a hushed tone of voice, her guarded gaze meeting mine.

We stared into the darkness for a few more seconds, holding our breathes in anticipation. I gave Ciara my hand and she squeezed it fretfully.

Then all of a sudden someone appeared in front of us with a ear splitting scream and we scrambled back with shrieks of surprise that quickly turned in to laughter when we realised it Hades and Daniel who scared us, both boys doubled over with laughter on their faces.

"I think I peed my pants," Ciara complained with a whine.

"That wasn't funny." I snapped gruffly as Hades crashed down on the ground beside me.

"Perfection," he wheezed, "absolute perfection."

"If I could I'd watch that over and over again." Daniel added, taking a seat before us with a wide grin.

"Nice to see you too." Ciara muttered and Hades leaned over to give her a hug.

"I know you've missed me dearly Ciara." He murmured, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Get off Hades," She snapped, slapping his inviting hands away.

"Every time I crawl up this damm mountain it gets steeper and steeper." Daniel said to me as we watched Ciara and Hades fight.

"I hope it was a long and tiring journey for you." I told him and

he pulled a face.

"What took you two so long other than the fact that my Aunt has been spoiling Daniel so much he can't climb up a hill that he's climbed his entire life?" Ciara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Actually-," Daniel raised a hand in objection but quickly returned to his amusing activity of trying to catch his breath.

"We went through our snares in the forest," Hades told us as he set down the blanket on the grass.

Ciara and I grabbed the corners and straighten out the threadbare blanket before scrambling on it, grateful to get off the spiky grass that was beginning to make our skin itch.

"Isn't that something you should do in the morning?" I asked. "You also shouldn't be carry candles through the forest as well, especially with this dry spell we're having-,"

"Did you find anything?" Ciara cut in excitedly.

"Not one thing," Hades replied with a grimace, "but then again, luck has never been our strongest fort."

"Cheer up guys, look what Ciara brought." I showed Hades the basket of food and he howled ecstatically, slapping his palm against his thigh.

"Well I'd be dammed, is that food?" He rummaged through goodies till he found his favourite delight- crumbly scone.

It felt good to be with my friends again, to sit with them and share a meal. To be alone without the judging looks of our family and guards with always gazed at us with suspicion whenever we walked by.

We could just be ourselves for the time being, no rules, regulations, judgement and no suffocating standards or expectations we could never live up to, just ourselves and our comforting friendship.

Daniel handed me a pastry and I nodded in thanks, noticing how strange he looked in the candlelight, it gave his face a softer look as the sharp edges of jaw and cheeks moulded into a gentle curve. He ran a hand through his golden waves and met my gaze with a smile.

"Admiring my looks I assume?" He asked with a cocky smile that was very unlike him, his turquoise eyes glinting merrily and I scoffed with a roll my eyes.

"Not when there's nothing to admire," I replied and he feigned a look of severe disappointment, "but the haircut does suit you, if I must admit."

"What about me? I actually wore a clean shirt today." Hades exclaimed as indicating proudly to his chest which showed an admirable lack of dirt.

"I was wondering what was different about you today, are those new trousers too?" Ciara asked.

"No.." Hades replied slowly and became seemingly preoccupied with tying his dark hair up with a piece of string, his glinting eyes refused to met any of ours.

"I've never seen you wear those trousers before," I mused innocently, "they must be new."

"No," he shook his head with wide, dismissive eyes, "just found them lying around the house."

"Really?" Ciara tapped her chin thoughtfully, "they look just like the ones Mr Telope was selling in the market this morning."

"Fine," Hades took an aggressive bite out of his scone and glared at us, "I borrowed it from him."

He struggled again to tie up his hair, dark locks falling against his cheeks as they escaped his grasp.

"How can you borrow a pair of trousers? You clearly stole it." I raised my eyebrow at him and he gave a playful smile.

"Now I wouldn't call it stealing, I'll pay him when I get my harvest wages." Hades gave up trying to tie his hair back and I held my hand out for the string.

"You told us you'd stop taking things from people." I smoothed down his hair and twisted it up in a bun, clicking my teeth enviously, he did have the most luscious chestnuts waves I'd ever seen.

"Why doesn't your father provide you with anything?" Ciara asked and Hades clenched his jaw at the mention of his father, his grey eyes darkening.

I glared at her to be quiet and she gave me a questioning look.

"Let's just forget about it, as long as Hades doesn't get caught or anything, it doesn't matter." She added in, brushing off the crumbs from her lap but Daniel looked a little uncertain and fiddled with a piece of grass, pursing her lips.

"And if he does?" he asked.

"He won't, he's too quick on his feet to get caught."

"There you go," I turned Hades around and admired my handiwork, running my eyes over face noticing he looked a little worn out.

"You know you can stay over at mine for a few days if you need to." I told him cautiously and he shook his head quickly.

"I'm fine guys, stop looking at me like that." He turned to us, holding up his hands theatrically with a wide smile that was almost too big for his face to bear. "I'm fine, you don't need to worry about me."

I noticed a slight bulged in his jacket pocket and pulled out a tall glass of alcohol.

"Is that a drink?" Ciara asked with a clap of her hands, her eyes holding the bottle greedily, "stolen of course but this time I'm not complaining."

"Hades," I sighed, "you father will notice it gone."

"No he won't, he doesn't even know we had any left in the house." Hades popped the cork and poured the liquid into Ciaras mouth. It spilled over her face and we laughed as she gagged at the burning sensation in her throat.