“Hey! Hey!! Hey!!!” Her annoying shouting from behind forced him to stop walking.

“Nick.”

“What?”

“My name is Nick alright!”

“Fine! Whatever your name is! Can we stop for a while? I need to catch my breath!”

“Again?” The blonde one turned to face the girl standing a few feet away from him.

“What do you mean again?”

“We just stopped like what… ten minutes ago? Now, you want to stop again?”

“Look dude! I’m not an athlete alright and your ten minutes is like what… an hour ago? I’m tired and I need to rest, furthermore we’ve been walking for two days now. Are you sure we are going the right way?” She asked sounded both in fatigue and annoyed at the same time.

He stabbed the long stick deep into the wet soil as he leaned against the big tree. She was right. They had been walking for two days and so far there were no sign of getting closer to the way out.

“We have to keep on going if we want to get out of here as soon as possible!”

“I know but I’m not a robot alright! My feet are aching, my back is in pain and my thighs… my things are getting heavier now.” Be thankful that you’re not a robot or else I would have dismantled and put you aside.

“Were you saying something?”

“What?”

“I thought I heard you said something?”

“Oh! I said, we should be able to find the way out soon right?”

“Right! You’ve been saying that since yesterday but we’re still stuck in here! Are you sure you know how to read the map?”

“Hey! I may be blonde but I’m not stupid! Don’t underestimate me alright!” Nick said in an almost agitated mannered as he studied the map again.

“Julie.”

“What?” Without looking at her, he folded the map and looked at the compass. Now, how the fuck does this thing work? I remembered Kevin taught me once… put it in front of you and… but why is it North at all directions?

“I said my name is Julie.”

“Yeah, I heard that.”

“So… where exactly are we?”

“Forest.”

“Yeah… I can pretty much figure that out! I mean, where exactly we are… like are we in the middle of this thick forest? At the edge? Or somewhere near the terrain or something?” Terrain? What the fuck was that? A river or something? Nick wanted to ask but unlike her, he was too exhausted to talk. He slipped the compass back into his jeans pocket and dragged his feet towards her direction.

“Here!”

“What’s that?”

“Eeerr… water? What do you expect? Double cheeseburger?”

“Hahaha, that’s funny!”

“So do you want it or what?”

“Nah!”

“Why? Scared that I spit the water?”

“Its always better to be safe than sorry.” Especially when you are the prankster of the group, I’m not going to let myself be an idiot now. Julie shone a wide grin, watching Nick shrugging his shoulders innocently and took a few sips of the drink.

“Sure you don’t want this? I’ve drank the top part of it so… if I should spit inside, it would have been on its way down here!” Nick smiled, pointing to his stomach.

“Yeah, I’ll… I’ll be fine.”

“Suit yourself then! In this kind of weather, you will get… what that thing called… you know… when your body lack of water-”

“Dehydration you mean?”

“Yeah, that’s the word I’m talking about!”

“Great! So… you are good at reading maps?”

“Not really that good. I may have failed my Geography but I can still read map-”

“What? You failed your Geography? Then… all these while… the map? Now Nick… be honest with me… do you know how to read a compass then?” Nick scratched his forehead though it was not itchy. “Great! This is just great! Now… we’re going to be here forever…”

“Don’t panic alright!”

“Oh! I am not panicky Nick Carter! We are in the middle of nowhere in this thick jungle or forest and none of us are good at reading maps, of course I’m not panicky!” She tried to calm herself down but the tone of her voice showed otherwise.

“I’m sure someone will find us alright!”

“And when would that be? Next week? Next month? Next year?”

“Hey! Be positive alright-”

“Its Julie!”

“Alright, alright! Be positive Julie… I’m sure we’ll find the way out!”

“Right… positive… I am being positive now… I think I need a drink now…”

“Here you –” Julie snatched the bottle from his hands even before he finished his sentence. “Don’t mention it!”

“We shouldn’t have left the car. We should have just stayed there and wait for help.” Julie’s regretful tone made Nick felt even guiltier. Afterall, he was the one who gave the suggestion of leaving his car that suddenly died out in the middle of the long stretch of road leading to what that seemed like an endless end. They tried hailed a few passing cars but none bothered to stop to take them in, while some preferred taking Julie alone for a ride. Julie on the other hand, thought it would be better and safer for her to stick around with Nick. So when Nick suggested he knew a short cut to get to a nearest gas station even when he mentioned about walking through the thick forest, she followed without much protestation.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have brought you along.”

“And then what? Leave me alone in the car?” I can’t believe this girl! She’s fucking whining when she’s with me and she’s mad when I shouldn’t have brought her along! She is sure one hard-to-please kind of lady!

Seeing the changes in Nick’s facial expression, Julie bit her tongue for realizing the fact that she was being too demanding. She knew Nick was being kind enough to put up with all her whining and complaining. It was not entirely his fault they got stranded deeper in the thick forest. If it was not for her frequent stops, maybe they might have covered half of the entire journey in finding their way out.

“So… what are you doing?”

“Do I look like I’m dancing to you? I’m writing.” In a way, her response brought a smile on Nick’s face.

“I can see that, I’m not blind yet you know!”

“Good and I don’t see that question is necessary then.”

“I’m just trying to create a conversation… you know, to kill time while your feet get the spa treatment.” This time round, it was Julie who smiled sheepishly at Nick’s subtle sarcastic remarks.

“Well… we can continue if you want.”

“Nah… its getting dark now, even if we walk on, we might just get lost and strayed deeper… I think we’ll spend the night here. What do you think?”

“Sure… if you say so. But how are we going to make the fire?”

“I have an idea! How about calling up my friends, tell them to get us some marshmallows, cokes, chocolate, snacks… you want fries? You know we can even make a campfire here.”

“What? I thought the network is not working?” Julie frowned in puzzled.

“What I’m saying is that… its not that difficult to make a small fire. All we need is just this and some small twigs and dried leaves.” Nick said as he showed his lighter and pointed out to the twigs and dried leaves scattering around them. Julie felt stupid for a moment, for being too slow. She should have known better than just to display that frowning face at Nick. Maybe, throwing the bottle back at him would be nice.

“Fine! You don’t have to be so evil!”

“Sarcastic you mean?” Julie rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the small journal in her hands. “So… what are you writing?”

“Its none of your concern.”

“You’ve been writing a lot. Are you a writer? A journalist maybe?”

“What makes you think I’m one of those that you have mentioned?”

“Because a writer and journalist always write everything they see, anything they feel and at this moment of time, there’re just a lot to write about.”

“Such as?”

“Yeah, like getting lost in the middle of a jungle with a gorgeous hunk of the entire universe.”

“Gosh! That sounds interesting but too bad, I’m writing more about the bees, red ants and mosquitoes than the so-called gorgeous hunk of the entire universe.”

Nick smiled and it was a wide smile.

“And what could have been so funny now Mr. Carter?”

“At least you acknowledge the fact that I am the gorgeous hunk of the entire universe!”

“I can’t believe you! You are so full of yourself huh!”

“Well… there’s nothing to be shy about. There’s no one here except the trees, the bees, red ants and mosquitoes.”

“Hello? Don’t forget I AM a living thing here!” Julie said, rolling her eyes once again with an unbelievable smile on her face.

“So… what actually are you writing?”

“A diary.”

“Dia what?”

“Diary. You know something like a journal where you make your confessions and stuff.”

“I know what a diary is alright. So… you’ve been writing that since yesterday? Everytime we stopped to rest?”

“Yeah… kind of a habit you see… being a teacher I need to be aware of the things happening around me. The environment, the description, the facial expressions of strangers, then I can share it with my class.”

“You are a what?”

“Teacher. You know someone who teach.”

“Yes Julie! I know what a teacher is for God’s sake!”

“Sorry… I’m just so used of explaining things to the kids in school so I… the habit is always there.”

“You know… people could have take it in 2 ways.”

“And what are they?”

“First, they would either think that you are insulting their intelligent or secondly… they would appreciate your explanation cause you are just like a walking dictionary.”

“And how do you take it?”

“Both.”

“Sorry if I should give you the impression that I’m… you know… in any way insulting your… intellectual.”

“Nah! Its okay… I’m already immune to it. See… not even a scar on my skin!” Julie was not sure how to comprehend his response but his eyes revealed one kind of bitterness. It was like having another bruise to try and hide, another alibi to write and another ditch in the road.

In the past Julie used to hear a lot about the blonde guy sitting next to her. Mostly were touching on his family and personal lives. For someone who did not know him in person, they would have got themselves believing the rumours especially about his characters. So far, spending the last two days with him has made her learnt a lot about the beautiful stranger who was considerate enough to give her a lift to Florida after her jeep died on her too. All the while, he never displayed such anger or the short-tempered as claimed. He was patience and very protective even to people he hardly knew.

“I’ll go and get the fire ready.”

“I’ll help you-”

“Nah! You save your energy for the long walk tomorrow. Just leave this to me.”

“You sure?” Without saying a word, Nick showed a thumb up and walked towards a densely spread bushes to gather small twigs and dried leaves.

“Dear Diary,

Can you believe it? This is my 3rd entry for today. I’m totally exhausted and finally got Nick to stop to rest. My whole body is aching and if they could talk, they would have begged me to stop and simply lie on those leaves. Amazingly, we are doing fine and still surviving. Nick is right there trying to make a fire for tonight. Honestly I have to give credit to this guy for helping me a lot while going through all these challenging moments. I’m glad to heed my instinct for once. That is to stay behind and actually learnt more about him. He’s not that bad, I mean, apart from his subtle sarcastic remarks, other than that… he’s really a nice lad. I don’t understand why people are being so nasty to him. Oh well…

I can’t believe my summer road trip ended in such a mess! Maybe I should have stayed at home watching TV and play with Katie. Oh! I miss home! I miss Katie! I wonder if mom is feeding her well. She must be missing me too. I should have brought her along. You know what I really want right now? Its to have a long hot shower with my Apple and Bleach body wash… how refreshing… wait! What’s that smell? A sickening smell… gosh! Its gross man! Its more like…”

“Nick!”

“What?”

“Did you smell that?”

What? Oh you mean that smell? Shall I say it? Or maybe I should just keep it to myself… you know, just between me and Mother Nature. God… finally I feel so much better! Its always feels great to fart!