Survival Of The Fittest

It stung just a little, how she seemed almost uninterested. Sure, he knew not everyone had his passion for the game, but "'kay"? Really? He never dismissed her talking about her interests. Her attitude usually slid right off him, partly because he didn't particularly care and partly because he understood where she was coming from, but for just a second his back stiffened and his pace quickened and he let out a little huff. There were days his obligations to the team were all that got him out of bed in the morning, so it could be a bit of a sore spot.

They kept walking, but the offence bled out of his stance as he reminded himself she didn't mean harm. It was only that that was a very rare thing that could actually get to him, and he idly wondered which of them would be more surprised that something could still sting him at all. They were walking away from the sun which helped with the heat and the harshness of the midday light, and Jane fell so silent he actually took a glance over, once, to see if she was even still there.

She was, of course. He gave her a little grin, as if to say 'all's well', then returned his attention to the trail. The horse and the rider had long since gone their own way and left the pair's sight, leaving Cris to scout ridges and monoliths and cacti. He could see why it might not be the most terribly exciting view of Kingman's many hiking paths, but the variety was something, wasn't it? The desert had a character all of its own, even if there were no trees for them to sneak behind or whatever if that mood struck. Too hot for that kind of thing anyway.

And then, a soft little tug, the warmth of skin on skin. Cris blinked and looked down, saw her hand cupping his. Slowly, surprised rather than reluctant, he turned over the hand to grip hers, squeezing gently. They kept walking like that, and after a few steps his thumb began to stroke the back of her hand. Her hand was so much softer than his, and he enjoyed the sensation, even if it did mean slowing his stride to not detach from her.

Jane shivered slightly each time she felt Cris caress her hand like that. It just felt nice. Really no other way to say it, it just felt really nice and she had no intention to let that moment end all too soon. It was like that warmth she felt there in her hand spread all throughout her body. Different from the heat on her skin and all that, obviously. Simply nice.

She noticed their pace had slowed down somewhat, but it didn't bother her. She quickly glanced at Crisanto again. For such a big, silly, currently unshaved boy toy - wow, had she really that used that word? - he really was a totally decent guy. Well, obviously, otherwise she wouldn't have chosen to hang out with him. More than just that 'let's hang out and then hope for a good fuck after' sort of hanging out, she already knew that.

Really took a lot to make her feel all relaxed and comfortable around someone, take the bitchy out of her, she acknowledged that. Her grandfather had had such an effect on her, in a different way though, of course. Achieving something similar, that alone made Cris sort of special. Could have been because she hadn't had that many lovers before and this one simply stood out from the others so far - especially since he didn't seem bothered by her occasional tantrums.  

Whatever it was, she didn't really want to think about it too much at moment. Just be able to enjoy what she had and be thankful for it. Yeah, sounded like a plan.

But sometimes, life looked at you and randomly decided to fuck you over. Just as Jane tried to make another step, staring off at some more rock formations, her foot came in contact with something on the ground, a rock, as it turned out .She had no idea why it was there at that exact moment, but she decided that she hated it nonetheless - or rather, cried out in surprise as she stumbled forward and instinctively let go of Cris' hand.

You didn't get where Cris was in his sport without developing excellent reflexes. You needed to be able to react in an instant to pick off a runner or catch a fly ball, or to get your bat near an opposing pitch. Compared to a baseball, which could be moving at times nearly a hundred miles an hour, Jane's stumble was in slow motion. He moved forwards, jostling the rock out of his path with a quick little sweep of his foot, and caught her with one arm across her midsection. Not too hard, only enough to arrest her forward momentum; he didn't want to knock the wind out of her after all, only to stop her fall. He stayed there for a moment, letting her stabilise herself against him if she chose and enjoying the feeling of her weight, before lowering his arm and stepping back.

"You all right, there?"

It wasn't like Jane to stumble like that, she was usually much more sure-footed. Maybe the heat was getting to her - he'd lived in this desert all his life but it still bugged him now and then, sunk into his muscles and threatened to slow his reflexes. After they finished the trail he'd make sure they hurried to somewhere with air conditioning, maybe. That, of course, was still a couple hours away, but maybe if they picked up the pace a little.

Goddamnit, this was fucking embarrassing. Jane steadied herself, careful set her foot down on the ground, making damn well sure there was no rock or some other stupid obstacle in her way this time. Of course this had to happen, she couldn't have one nice moment without some dumb shit like this pulling the rug from under her out of the blue.

She let out a groan, annoyed with herself and everything around her, before she turned towards Cris. It was weird, even though he had just helped her out, saved her from an even bigger humiliation, she still didn't know whether to be thankful or mad at him. Maybe she could have regained her footing all by herself. Could have prevented falling over like a sack of lard without him intervening, but he had apparently not thought so. Though she couldn't do anything on her own, like she was just a clumsy mess.

She kinda wanted to snark at him, let him know she was pissed, but really - she didn't. Her anger almost vanished instantly as she stared at his big, stupid face. Nah, she was just being mean for nothing, he didn't deserve that. Had just wanted to protect her, nothing wrong with that. No reason to be mad at him; it was probably just the heat getting to her again.

"Yeah, I'm good. Don't know what happened there, kinda got lost in my thoughts, y'know?" She performed a twirling gesture with her hand next to her head, to illustrate her point and smiled a little while doing so. Yeah, no way she could stay mad at him, the whole thing was even almost kind of funny. "At least we got to test your reflexes."

She smirked at him. "Getting a 10/10 from me."

"Sounds good to me."

She would've gotten pissy about it whether he caught her or didn't, so the implied annoyance in the look she shot him slid right off. If Jane was determined to be irritable about something, Cris had learned, she would be. Really, it wasn't like she'd gotten hurt or anything, everybody stumbled occasionally. Occasionally he'd grumble back at her, all in good fun, but the dry heat baked the inside of his throat and left him not feeling too up to bantering. He looked her up and down to make sure she was okay and once satisfied gave a little nod down the trail.

"Let's keep going then, or should I kiss it and make it better?"

Okay, he wasn't totally above a little jab, but just playful. He could have fun with this and forget how irrelevant the concept of fun really was.

The rest of the hike was uneventful.

((Continued elsewhere))