19| Theres Comfort in Conversation

                                    

                                          
Back at camp, the men were stunned as they registered our muddy bodies. We relayed the events before they could ask too many questions, and Jake set me down so Derek could take a look at my ankle. 
                          
"Are you okay Cassie?" Cam asked as he left his spot by the fire to come by me. 
                          
I nodded, "it's been a rough day." I was trying my best to not be so ashamed of what happened. Wes and Adam fell in too and they were acting like nothing happened, so I wasn't sure why I was being such a baby about it. 
                          
Wordlessly, Cam wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug. I hugged him back, enjoying his comfort. 
                          
"Hey, I fell in too, where's my hug?" Adam called from somewhere behind us. This got me to chuckle a little bit. I loved Adam sometimes. 
                          
Cam pulled away to face him. "You want a hug man? Come here," he opened his arms wide. 
                          
"Ummmmmm... no. Sorry, but that doesn't seem genuine," Adam said as he backed away. "I'm gonna go wash off. Cassie you coming?" 
                          
I glanced at Derek who had just returned with a new, clean wrap for my ankle. 
                          
"Yeah go ahead, I'll be able to see it better if it's clean. Just be extra careful of it," he said, waving me off. 
                          
"Woohoo! Let's go then!" Adam ran over and scooped me up. I squealed at his aggressiveness. 
                          
"Hey careful with her; she's fragile right now," Jake smirked.
                          
"Oh I know! I'll take good care of her." He smiled sweetly in Jake's direction and I giggled. I tightened my arm around his shoulders to help support my weight. 
                          
He did take good care of me. He placed me gently in the water and helped me scrub the mud out of my hair. Wes joined us a little bit later and they both were trying hard to cheer me up. It was working. When we came out of the water, I got dressed in an army print, cropped t-shirt and black sweatpants. 
                          
Luke and Nathan returned with a rabbit to add to dinner, and them two along with Jake and Cam were finishing cooking while Derek checked my ankle. 
                          
He told me that it was more swollen than the day before, and I may have set my recovery back by about a day, but it didn't appear to have fractured any further. I'll tell ya though, I was getting real sick of being poked and prodded. 
                          
Dinner was nice. The stew actually ended up being pretty flavorful because of some new herb Nathan was rattling on about that gave it it's flavor. Since we didn't have many dishes, we all ate together, and passed around a few bowls. I didn't mind though, it made us all talk and get to know each other. 
                          
Tonight's dinner conversation was lighthearted, as we all talked about what kind of food we'd rather be eating right now and our favorite food of each category: ice cream, candy, dinner, breakfast, etc. The guys were all so different; ice cream flavors were all over the map, ranging from strawberry to pistachio  to coffee to cake batter. 
                          
Although I enjoyed our conversation and spending time with the guys, after dinner I just needed to take a moment to myself. The sun was going down already anyway, so when we were finished I hopped over to a rock that jutted out above the water. I sat down and just stared out at the sunset. I tried to focus on the beauty, and not the fact that we were stranded. The breeze picked up, rustling the surrounding trees. Although I loved the sound, I was regretting coming all the way over here without a sweatshirt. 
                          
I began thinking about the guys and how much I appreciated the efforts they were making to cheer me up today. As much as I was beginning to care for these guys, and appreciated their gestures, I was just having a bad day and it wasn't anyone's fault. I was just scared. I missed my family more than ever—even my mom if I was being honest, and I felt alone. I wasn't sure how much time had passed when I heard someone approaching.