As I watched Scout and Trent enter her tent, I turned back to face Eli, who was showing me a cool insect he found.

"Wow. I've never seen anything like it." I gazed at it in awe.

He grinned from ear to ear, "I knew you'd like it."

The others soon joined us.

"Hope Eli's not annoying you," Noah said, taking a seat next to us.

"No, actually quite the opposite," I replied, elbowing Eli playfully.

He smiled back, happy that I had appreciated what he was showing me.

"So, you met Trent, then," Olivia commented pointedly.

The tone of her voice was indistinguishable, so I decided to play it safe.

"Yeah, he seemed like a nice guy." I lied, not wanted to offend them.

"What? Trent?!" Daisy asked laughing hysterically.

"Nice is not a word I would use to describe him," Olivia added, taking a sip of water.

"Maybe he wasn't the nicest person but-"

They all raised their eyebrows at me, giving me a knowing look.

I gave in, "Okay, okay not nice at all. What's his deal?"

Noah finally spoke, "Trent's the worst, man. When they first got together I was so happy because there was finally going to be another guy around. But boy was I wrong." he shook his head.

"He's just generally a douchebag, like the kind of guy you wouldn't want to spend more than five minutes in the same room with," Noah stated, matter-of-factly.

"Whenever the girls are talking, I'm always left with him and my god, I've never met a bigger tool in my life," he added, grimacing.

Daisy chimed in, "Not to mention him and Scout fight like all the time."

Eli was silent until now. "He makes Scout cry," he commented sadly - quiet but heard by everyone.

Noah gave him a side hug.

That shocked me. I had never seen Scout cry for the entire time we went to school together. Sure we didn't talk, but I knew she was tough, so if she had ever cried it must have been about something awful.

The guys continued to rant about Trent - from his holier-than-thou attitude to his selfishness.

After hearing the stories about Trent, I really did agree and sympathise with them. He sounded like a jerk.

"Why haven't you tried to talk to her about it? Seems toxic as hell." I asked, confused at how they were still together.

Olivia sighed, "Oh, believe me, we've tried. She wouldn't listen though. We love her but she's crazy for not being able to see the red flags, even if they're so blatantly obvious.

"She gets pretty defensive when it comes to talking about Trent., Even mentioning it to her is so difficult, she really thinks what they have is special. I'm sad to say this, but after months and months we've given up at this point." Daisy looked dejected.

"At the end of the day, it is her choice, even though we might not agree." Olivia looked at the floor.

"She knows how we feel about him though, no doubt. She's just blinded by what she thinks is love, but is actually comfort, to realise he's not right for her." Noah stated.

Olivia explained it further, "You see Cole, Scout hasn't had the easiest life. It's been anything but simple for her, with people leaving her left right and centre. So, now she likes to hold onto things that are constant, even if they aren't good for her."

"She had enough of change, we're guessing," Daisy shrugged.

"But you can't just-"

Olivia stopped me mid-sentence, looking at me unwaveringly, "Cole, what do you want us to do? We've tried everything we could."

Noah chimed in, "Scout won't listen to any of us. The only way she'll realise it is by herself, but who knows how long that'll take?"

"Have you tried talking to Trent about any of this?" I questioned.

Olivia held her head in her hands, "Yeah, once. Worst. Idea. Ever. If anything it made everything worse because Trent made it look like it was our fault."

"But surely Scout wouldn't believe Trent over you guys," I added in disbelief.

"Well, you'd think so, but she actually ended up taking neither side and pretended like it never happened," Daisy scowled.

Olivia described the current situation, "So now we just avoid conversation with each other for the most part, unless we absolutely need to."

Daisy smiled faintly, "He's not here often though, thankfully. He lives in the city and runs a company, so he doesn't have as much time to visit."

Noah sighed in relief, "Which means I don't have to put up with him as much anymo-hey, Trent!"

We were all taken by surprise as he and Scout joined us out of nowhere.

Trent patted on the back as he sat down, causing him to smile with gritted teeth.

Scout sat down next to Trent, "What were you guys talking about?"

Eli accidentally started rambling out, "We were just talking about yo-"

Noah instantly covered his mouth, knowing what he was going to say, and made something up in an attempt to not cause a scene.

I cringed internally as Daisy chimed in to help and they both just made it worse.

It was a disaster and Scout didn't look like she bought it.

Not one bit.

Olivia urged me to change the topic by asking a question, "So Cole, is there anything you wanted to ask us?"

I wasn't sure what to change it to.

Food?

Screw it, everyone loves food, don't they?

"What kind of food do you guys make here? I'm starving." I asked coolly.

"We don't have any leftovers from dinner but I'll grab you some snacks." Olivia offered, getting up to fetch them.

"Thanks, Olivia. You're a real one." I called out. They really did have everything they needed out here.

As Olivia walked away, Daisy unexpectedly began rattling on about food and its ins and outs.

A sense of calm washed over me as I sat there, surprised by her knowledge.

See, food solves every problem.

Well, not always, but it solved this one.

***

The conversation naturally went back to normal from there, and soon it was time for us to go to sleep.

Noah came up to me from behind and put his hand on my back, "There's plenty of room in mine and Eli's tent, so you're welcome to sleep there tonight."

"Sounds good, thanks man," I replied, grateful for his kindness.

"I must warn you though-" Noah began, but was interrupted by a bouncing Eli.

"Is Cole sleeping in our tent?!" he exclaimed, excited to see me near their tent.

"You've never been excited to share a tent with me," Noah added jokingly.

"Yeah, that's because you're not cool like Cole." Eli shrugged his shoulders and entered the tent.

Noah scoffed at that, "What? That's insane."

I clapped him on his back and laughed, getting into the tent, "Sorry man. But what can I say? I'm just untouchable."

Noah rolled his eyes, letting out a chuckle, "Yeah, and humble too."

He followed me into the tent shortly after, all of us settling down and getting ready to sleep.

I exhaled, as I closed my eyes.

I hadn't thought about my situation for hours.

Maybe these guys were good for me. I finally felt safe and somewhat happy.

I could get used to this.

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Thanks for reading this chapter! If you enjoyed this one make sure to give me a vote and a comment to share your thoughts/feedback x

What do you think about the guys' conversation while Scout and Trent were away?

Next update: 9/8/20

Teaser: Cole attempts to get a job at the farm...will the boss oblige?