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It had been an interesting day so far.
After finally finding Case wandering around in a panic in the woods, I continued to lead the group along the remainder of the path.
The rest of the walk was without incident — and even all of the groups grumbling had seemed to subside a little bit too.
Along the walk, and all the way back to the cabins, I gave Case the odd look. Yet, not once did he return any of them.
It’s been a while since I’ve had my gaydar ping for me as strongly as it did with Case. Particularly during that moment when I stopped him from falling over flat on his face.
As he’d stumbled away from me, Case had done a really bad job of hiding the way his hand drifted down to his crotch.
Still, I was surprised when I noticed it, because I for sure thought Case was straight. Yet, I know I felt something pass between Case and myself. There was no mistaking it. I know I felt an electricity.
‘But did Case?’ I questioned. ‘Or am I simply projecting my own horniness?’
A sliver of doubt clouded my memory of that moment with Case. Especially what with the way he studiously avoided looking my way (or meeting my eye) for the rest of the hike.
And to add insult to injury, Case had also flirted up a storm with some pony-tailed blond, on the remaining walk back to the cabins.
“WE WILL MEET OUR TARGETS THIS YEAR!”
The rising volume of chanting voices disrupted my thoughts. The grumbling hiking group from earlier — along with Case — were all inside the communal cabin behind me.
Stood out front on the decking, I listened to them, as I polished the apple I held against my shirt. And as I gazed up at the early evening sky, I shook my head at what I heard.
Margaret was apparently leading the group through what she had once told me was, ‘an inner motivational gathering of outer souls’.
I had no clue what she meant, but I didn’t hesitate to turn down the offer of joining the group for an evening of team building.
The smell of burnt sage wafted thickly out the cabins half-open window, as the voices continued to loudly refrain slogans.
This particular motivational gathering involved refraining statements such as, ‘We Are Powerful Beings,’ ‘Let My Heart Serve My Mind’ — and my personal favorite — ‘Our Sales Targets, Our Rules!’.
I was pretty sure neither Margaret or Steve were clinical psychologists. So, I had a sneaky suspicion that their motivational sessions weren’t exactly scientific.
Still, they paid me well. And they truly believed that what they did helped others. So, who was I to try and stand in their way.
The chanting behind me soon died down, replaced with a mixture of grumbles and cheers. And a few moments later, I heard the door of the cabin open up behind me, but I didn’t bother to turn around.
I didn’t need to. The voice that spoke up was one I was beginning to know very well.
“I need to go take a leak,” Case said, speaking back to whomever. “I’ll be right back as soon as possible.”
“Okay, but hurry,” I heard Margaret call out, “you’ll miss the stick circle segment.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Case said, and I could hear the grimace in his voice as he closed the door, cutting off the noise inside the cabin.
The silence that followed was an awkward one, and lasted much too long. Long enough that I was almost tempted to turn around and face the man who seemingly stood stock still behind me.
Finally, Case broke the tension.
“Hey,” Case said as he moved to stand beside me. I spared him a quick glance, giving him a wordless curt nod, before turning my gaze back towards the sky.
“Yeah well,” Case voice trailed off when I said nothing.
If he wanted to try and fill the silence with small talk, he could go ahead. It was churlish of me, but I figured he was going to ignore me anyway. So, I saw no need to go out of my way to make conversation.
Case cleared his throat. “It looks to be shaping up to be a beautiful evening.”
I grunted, taking another bite from my apple. I fully expected that to be the end of that, but it seemed Case was in no hurry to go anywhere.
“You got anymore of those?” Case asked, and that was enough to make me finally turn my head towards him.
I gave him a steady stare, unwilling to make myself vulnerable to a man I’d only met this morning.
I’d expected to see a smirk on his face, or some whimsical glance. Or maybe I expected him to continue to try and avoid my eye.
But, instead I was met by Case’s own steady blue gaze, his eyes hopeful. So, I put him out of his misery and relented enough to answer.
“The kitchen is still open for at least another...” I glanced down at my watch, “...forty five minutes or so.” I met his gaze once again. “They can whip you up something to eat, if you’re hungry.”
Case shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes now turned down. “I’m not really hungry, or need a snack or anything ,” Case rambled, and I tried not to find it endearing. “It’s more that I saw you eating an apple. And I like apples. I mean, I’ve always thought I liked them. And then I thought, ‘hey, maybe there are more apples’. So I figured...”
I stopped his long-winded explanation with a wave of my hand. “Yup, I got it,” I said, fighting to hold back a small smile.
Case blew out a breath, sounding frustrated as he rubbed a hand across his face. “Sorry about that. All the chanting in there has gotten to me. I just couldn’t take another minute of all of that...” Case jutted a thumb towards the cabin window, the sounds of Margaret trying (and failing) to lead the group into another round of motivational shouts.
“It sounds like fun.” I deadpanned, and Case laughed.
“I know you work here , but I can’t wait to wrap this all up. I have no idea what soul massaging involves, but from what little I could pick up from Margaret, it definitely does not sound like my thing.”
I nodded, sagely, “oh I don’t know,” I said, letting my cheeky side come through, “it depends on who is doing the massaging.” And with that, I openly let my eyes roam all over Case’s body.