CHAPTER 14

"Shit!"

Neteyam opened his eyes and groaned, reaching up to shield his eyes from the sunlight.

Eríhe tried sitting up but was stopped by his arm resting over her stomach. "Let go of me, you pervert," she said and hurried to push him away from her.

"Why is it you always call me a pervert?" Neteyam questioned as he sat up, letting go of her. Then he looked around.

The two of them were still in the forest - only now they were laying on the sand below the tree they had sat atop the previous night.

Neteyam's eyes widened and he sprung to his feet, putting distance between him and Eríhe. "Uh - what?" He scratched his head, looking around in confusion as he tried to make the connections in his head.

Eríhe got to her feet after him and dusted her body from the sand. "It seems we fell asleep."

Neteyam nodded slowly as his eyes searched for their ikran. They were not far. The two animals rested a little distance away from them. Seeing that they were close, he turned back to Erìhe who was looking at him unhappily with her arms crossed.

He tried to think of how they'd gotten there.

Neteyam remembered them talking last night on the branch - they had been holding hands and being uncharacteristically civil with each other. But that was not even the weirdest part.

That would be when Erìhe fell asleep and her head rested on his shoulder. He'd let her be there without even a small snide remark.

Then - a few moments later - he had woken her up, telling her that they should head back. They had managed to get to the ground before Neteyam decided he could not trust her to ride her ikran being as tired as she'd been.

Eríhe had just laid down on the ground and decided to sleep there - not caring that they were in the middle of a forest and that there were wild animals around.

Neteyam had not wanted to wake her up for a second time, so he'd hesitantly laid down some distance away from her and closed his eyes. He'd sworn that he wasn't going to sleep for long - but it was already morning which indicated that he'd slept soundly through the whole night.

Sometime during the night they had probably shifted to be in each others arms. Neteyam could remember the feeling of her head laid on his chest and his arms wrapped around her. Just thinking about it made him embarrassed enough to get flustered.

"We are going to get killed," Erìhe tugged at her hair as she reached to get her riders mask from the sand.

Neteyam stepped closer to her and she stood up straight again to look at him with a frown as he approached.

"What is it?" She asked as Neteyam lifted his hand to her hair. "What are you doing?"

"Calm down - you've got sand in your hair," Neteyam rolled his eyes as he ruffled her hair.

Erìhe shook her head and swatted his hand away to get rid of the sand herself, "No shit. I've been sleeping on sand."

Neteyam snorted as he turned his head to show her his hair, "Do I have sand in my hair?"

"Well obviously," Erìhe said as she returned the favor and ruffled his hair. She watched as the sand rained down from his braids. "That's better - I suppose."

Neteyam grinned, "Thanks."

Erìhe offered him a tight lipped smile before turning her head toward the ikran. "On a scale from one to ten - how big of trouble do you think we'll be in."

Neteyam clicked his tongue, "On a scale of one to ten.. probably twelve."

Erìhe stared at him for a moment before hitting her forehead once, "Fucking great."

She turned around and quickly walked over to her ikran, making the bond so they could fly. Neteyam hurried to do the same and he looked over at her once he was seated on his ikran. "You're the one who refused to move."

"You should have woken me up!" Erìhe told him, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"That's not my responsibility," Neteyam laughed.

"Whatever," Erìhe said as she took off with her ikran. She looked over her shoulder to see Neteyam following closely behind.

It seemed as though he had not realized the seriousness of the situation - he was still smiling as if this was all just some joke.

But Erìhe knew better. She knew that one of two things would happen once they arrived. The first and most preferred situation was a scolding. The second option was the talk - and this was something that Erìhe was keen on avoiding.

The ride back to the village had been a lot shorter than the previous night. Yesterday they had flown over the forest, swooping low to fly through branches and admired the sky in peace. Today they flew straight to where the ikran stayed with no time to spare.

When they landed, Erìhe ripped her riders mask off her head and walked off without even waiting for Neteyam.

"Wait for me," Neteyam called as he jogged to catch up.

"Is it really wise to arrive at the same time when they most likely have realized that we're gone?" Eríhe asked as she looked around. They were both walking down the path through the village, and they could see everyone awake.

"Why would that be bad?" Neteyam asked as he too looked around.

Erìhe gave him a pointed look. When he continued looking at her with a frown, she finally sighed. "Must I spell it out for you? Two teenagers out of bed, arrive early morning at the same time - does that not sound suspicious?"

Neteyam snorted, "What are you thinking?" He teased.

Erìhe stopped in her tracks and glared at him. Neteyam noticed she was not walking shortly after and turned to look at her. He still had that stupid mocking smile on his face.

Erìhe breathed out from her nose, "Do you wish for me to hit you?"

Neteyam seemed like he was going to joke around again, but stopped himself after thinking it over. He knew she would really hit him - and that it would hurt. "No, I'm fine."

She shook her head before walking ahead of him. Now that they were nearing the pod, Neteyam was growing nervous too. It seemed as though it was already past breakfast, and the villagers were already busy going about their days.

When they reached the pod, Erìhe stopped walking just before reaching the opening. She turned to Neteyam, "You can go first."

"No, I'm good," Neteyam told her, planting his feet on the path as he stood behind her.

"You're going first."

"I am not."

"Yes, you will."

"I will not."

Erìhe took a step toward Neteyam - away from the opening of the home - and he instinctively took a step back. She scoffed, "Come on," she held her hand out to him.

Neteyam looked down at her hand warily before meeting her eyes, "Together?" He asked as he reached for her hand slowly.

"Together," she nodded and kept her hand reached out toward him. When he hesitated, she sighed, "I promise."

He took the bait. Placing his hand in hers, he took a step toward the opening.

Erìhe took a step forward as well before ripping her hand from his and pushing him ahead.

Neteyam stumbled right in front of the opening and looked back at her with disbelief in his eyes. "You-"

Erìhe held up her other hand, which had been hiding behind her back with two of her fingers crossed - it was something Lo'ak had taught her by pulling the stunt so many times in the past. "Loser," she laughed.

Neteyam lunged for her.

She shrieked with laughter as she ducked him.

"You bitch," Neteyam scoffed.

"Neteyam?"

Both of the teenagers' heads snapped toward the voice. Neytiri stood by the opening of the pod - she had seen her son being pushed. She had also seen their fight and heard him calling Erìhe a bitch.

Tuk stood beside her mother with her arms crossed and a little smirk playing by her lips. Erìhe narrowed her eyes playfully at her before heading right toward her, her arms out - as if to hug her.

However - Tuk was used to this and she knew to run away if she did not want to be tickled to death.

Erìhe watched as the girl ran past her out of the pod, and she thought it was a brilliant excuse to escape the talk that was bound to happen.

But of course Neytiri was not just about to let her go.

"Erìhe," the older woman called as the girl was making her escape. Erìhe froze in her tracks and turned to look at her. Neytiri merely lifted a hand and beckoned her closer.

Knowing that nothing could help her now, Erìhe walked back inside the pod, nudging Neteyam out of the way. He was looking too amused.

Jake walked over to them and it was only then that Erìhe had registered that he was also inside the home. "Where have you two been?" He asked.

Erìhe and Neteyam looked at each other before the girl spoke, "By the mountain," she pointed somewhere over her shoulder. She figured she shouldn't lie - since nothing worth lying about had happened.

"When did you go?" Jake raised a brow, "We all woke up and you two were gone."

Neteyam cleared his throat awkwardly, "Not long ago.. like - last night?"

"We figured that out on our own," Jake said pointedly, "I meant what time."

"Midnight?" Erìhe said. She made it sound like a question.

Jake and Neytiri looked at each other.

"How long has this been going on?" Jake asked them. The tone of his voice made Erìhe suspect that he did not only mean sneaking out.

"Just last night," Neteyam responded.

Erìhe hit him, "Idiot," she hissed.

"Ow! What the hell?" He asked as he rubbed his shoulder where she had smacked him.

Erìhe looked back at his parents and mumbled, "How are you so slow."

When Neteyam copied her and looked back to his parents, he understood. "Oh.. right."