A day in the woods (1,497 views)

“Like I said, fancy coffee. Besides, it’d probably be easier for you if I was dead, so I don’t know why you’d even tell me to get away from the smoke.”

He shook his head at her remark about all-nighters.

“For one, you don’t even know the word. You stumbled. And for two, you probably have a nice soft cozy little bed that you curl up in and sleep in every night without a care in the whole world. Why would you want to sacrifice a night of sleep?”

Arthur rolled his eyes as the wind blew again, but this time in the opposite direction. Now the sky was visible again, but he couldn’t find that star again. He frowned.

“I don’t care how big your bed is. Or how comfortable. And you’re probably right about how much the stupid thing is worth, but look how much I care? I don’t.”

Arthur found the star, finally, and resumed search for the big dipper.

“And that’s not the reason I stay up. Just because it isn’t a designer mattress doesn’t mean it’s impossible to sleep on.”

He didn’t bother to mention how the crappy school-provided mattress was probably the nicest mattress he’d ever slept on in his life.

Arthur didn’t remove his eyes from the sky.

“I’m not sleeping with you on your mattress. Ever.” He deadpanned in response to her mattress comment. God, if her mind wasn’t in the gutter about her ‘innocent’ statement before, her reaction to that might be funny. He thought he saw the big dipper, but it was just a trick by the stars. He was really bad at this stuff.

“And no. It’s something to do out here. I’ve never been good at finding consolations.” Susan always pointed them out. He just stared blankly as the fire grew dimmer, breathing out through his nose.

It was late, anyway. They’d just relight it in the morning.

Arthur shook his head. “You set that one up. You can’t blame me for getting the wrong idea.”

He followed another line of stars, eventually seeing what he thought was the big dipper. Upon further explanation, it was just another line of dumb stars. He growled under his breath. Why couldn’t he find those stupid stars?

“There is no point, idiot. It’s like you and fashion. There’s no point. But you do it anyway.”

He hugged himself, feeling the cool set in. His eyes abandoned the sky and filtered to the fire, which was dying. He didn’t really want to waste the lighter fluid in his lighter—they needed that for the morning. They’d survive the night. He’d slept through worse, anyway. Not that he had any intention of sleeping tonight, though.

“Hey, you’re the one who said it in the first place. What the hell else am I supposed to think, you were planning on letting me borrow your mattress?!”

Kara groaned, woken up from her slight doze by the loud arguing.

“Could you two stop yelling? Some of us are actually trying to sleep…”

Arthur growled and let his gaze fall back to the sky. The fire was now dull, just a light orange glow beneath the wood.

“Judging people based on appearance. Of course you think that’s a good thing.”

He ignored her comment about the starts. He’d find that stupid dipper, and then he’d rub it in her face that she was wrong and yes, he could find something in the sky.

“You’re such a germophobe.” Arthur remarked, keeping his voice low. He didn’t really want to deal with a grumpy Kara in the morning, when they had to relight this fire, stay for a few hours, and figure out what they were going to do about Chardonnay and her inability to walk if they wanted to try going anywhere.

“A shallow, spoiled germophobe. You can’t—“

He found it! That stupid consolation he’d been trying to find for the better part of two hours, the big dipper! It was so shocking how he hadn’t seen it before, even though his eyes had trailed over it countless times! His face lit up a bit, and a smirk crossed his lips.

“I found something. The big dipper. So you were wrong, it is possible to find something in the stars.”

“I’m not finishing my sentence.” Arthur said, shaking his head. “So you can deal with it. And besides, like I said, it really doesn’t matter. It’s something to do besides listen to you and look at your ugly face.”

He started to look for the little dipper. It should be somewhere near the big dipper, shouldn’t it? He narrowed his eyes and continued to look, ignoring Chardonnay.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Arthur said in a monotone, staring at the rock as it passed him by. He didn’t even flinch. He figured from her wince earlier her aim would be off, and he was right. Once the rock had landed, Arthur sat up, resting his elbows on the dirt, and turned his head to glare at Chardonnay.

“Violence isn’t going to get us anywhere. And why throw a rock? Because I called you ugly? What does it matter to you anyway, if I think you’re ugly!? I hate you, and you hate me!”

His expression was hardened, angry, as he looked her face over. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t ugly. It was actually really nice, maybe even nicer when it looked more natural like this instead of fancy pants like when he first met her earlier, but the last thing her ego needed was more stroking. So he held his ground.

“If it doesn’t matter what I think, why are you getting so mad about me saying it?! Just build yourself a bridge and get over it! You don’t see me throwing rocks at you because I’m so devastated you think I’m ugly!”

He didn’t really care how he looked. He wasn’t really interested in a relationship anyway, so why should he strive to be handsome? He shouldn’t.

“This is America, where we have freedom of speech. So if I feel like expressing my opinion I will.”

“People like me?!” Arthur snapped. “You’re the spoiled brat! I bet you grew up with everyone around you telling you how fucking gorgeous you are! Well you need to take a reality check, because an ego like that is more hideous than a face full of acne!”

“People like you are constantly praised and never insulted. People like you are stuck with the mentality that no one could possibly find you unattractive. Well news flash! I do.”

Why was he even going off on her about this? He hadn’t meant to snap about beauty, of all things. This wouldn’t help at all, he was just stressing her out more, which would thus cause her ankle more pain and make her bitch more. But he couldn’t stop pushing her buttons—it was far too easy. He was still glaring at her, face twisted down into a frown.

“You are such a bitch! Maybe if you didn’t act like such a pompous brat, people wouldn’t ridicule you! You’re such a narcissistic slimeball, I hate people like you! I don’t care if you ‘haven’t had it easy’, you still think you’re the best thing since sliced bread was invented!”

He hoped she went into debt someday. Something. Something bad to happen to this crazy girl to make her appreciate everything she had!

“You say my opinion doesn’t matter, but—“

“AHEM.” Kara interrupted, sitting up. “I asked you two to be quiet! Could you stop having sexual tension for like… the night? Please? I want to sleep for once.”

“It’s not sexual tension!” Arthur snapped. Kara gave Chardonnay a blank look.

“Why don’t you just ignore him… all he is, is a pig.” She glared at Arthur, who shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. She wouldn’t let the Audrey situation go, would she? Arthur’s glare returned to Chardonnay.

“What?! I don’t want your stupid pity! I don’t want anyone to pity me. I just want you to stop saying you’re so high and mighty because you AREN’T! You’re the exact—“

“Ugh!” Kara groaned, slamming her hands over her ears. “Make it stoppppppp.”

Arthur didn’t even look at Kara, too focused on glaring Chardonnay down. “I’m not lower than you just because I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth! You fucking bitch!”

Kara glared at the tree she was facing now. Why couldn’t the search party show up right now and save her from dealing with those two?

“You never specifically said it but it’s so obvious you think that way from your fucking actions!” Arthur snapped. “You know what? What’s it matter to you if I go nowhere in life? What's it matter if i'm a street rat? Because once I graduate I’ll never be seeing you again! So you won’t be able to rub anything in my face!”

He gritted his teeth, glaring back at Chardonnay with fire. “I hope you go into debt and lose everything you’ve ever had! Then you'll stop saying you're the shit, because all you are is a piece of shit!”

Kara sighed and glanced over at Ace.

“Looks like none of us are sleeping tonight…. Come on…. I didn’t sleep too much last night, either….”

She was also beginning to crash from the coffee, and she felt dead. She wanted to curl up into a cocoon. But she couldn’t. Not with their screaming match going on.