Chapter 8
They stopped an hour later at the foot of the mountains, and the tour guide was explaining that they would have to hike a small distance to get to the top of the mountain, so they could see the sunset.
Esmeralda began to swing her legs over her shoulder, and she huffed as she nearly tripped on her way down.
Daniel laughed as he watched her.
Esmeralda straightened her spine as she dusted off her shorts. “What’s so funny?”
“You manage to trip even on flat surfaces, I wonder if that’s an innate talent of yours.”
Esmeralda began to clap her hands together to dust them off. “Okay, first, how do you know that it’s not a special sort of skill that only few are blessed with?”
Daniel crossed his arms over his chest. “How on Earth is being clumsy a special gift? It seems more like a curse.”
“That’s because your puny muggle mind fails to grasp how important it is.”
“Muggle?” One eyebrow shot up. “Did you just insult me in Harry potter speak?”
“I’m impressed you know that, and yes, it is. How do you expect me to blend in with the other muggles?”
“Well,” Daniel pretended to think about it. “I guess when you put it that way, can’t have wizardry exposed to the muggles after all.”
“Exactly, so who is going to expect clumsy little me of being a witch?”
Daniel smiled. “Well, no one. Unless I tell them, and how do you know I won’t?”
Esmeralda took a step closer and placed a finger on his chest. She leaned in to whisper. “Because I know where you live.”
Daniel laughed. “How do you know I haven’t moved?”
“Well, I’m not only a witch, but I’m also a Jedi, so I can use the force to figure out where you are.”
“Did you just make a Star Wars reference?” Daniel’s eyes widened in surprise. “I thought you were just saying that you liked it to impress me.”
Esmeralda made a face. “I wouldn’t lie about something I like just to impress a guy. If it’s something I don’t like, I’ll try to like it for the guys sake, if not, at least I tried, and if it’s something I don’t know, I’ll give it a shot.”
Daniel scratched the back of his neck. “Guess you really were my dream woman.”
Esmeralda coughed awkwardly as she gave him a weak smile. “Well, anyway-” she trailed off as she avoided his gaze and began to look anywhere else.
They paused as they noticed that the sky was bathed in a kaleidoscope of purple and pink. The colors stretched as far as the eye could see bathing the world in a soft halo. They watched as the sun began its slow descent before it finally dipped into the horizon enveloping the world in darkness.
“You didn’t tell me the second thing,” Daniel’s voice said from somewhere next to her.
“What?” she whispered as she groped around for him in the darkness. Her hand connected with something solid. She felt a solid heartbeat and warmth beneath her fingertips, and she blushed as she made to yank her hand away.
Before she could pull it away, a hand came up and wrapped itself around hers. “You said first, usually when you say that, it means you have other reasons.”
Esmeralda smiled and nodded before she remembered that he couldn’t see her. “Well, the second reason is how do you know I’m not doing it to hug the floor?”
Daniel chuckled, and Esmeralda wanted to smack herself on the head for sounding so lame. In her defense, it sounded much funnier in her head.
They heard the tour guide’s voice from somewhere far away, so Daniel took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow.
“Wouldn’t want you hugging the floor again. This floor doesn’t strike me as the sentimental type.”
Esmeralda snorted. “I’m inclined to agree with that.”
A few sharp rocks later, they finally found their way to the flash light the tour guide was shining.
“Alright, we are about to see a show put on by the Bedouins while they serve you authentic Bedouin tea. Now, if you’re not a fan of tea, I wouldn’t recommend you try the stuff, it is a bit strong.”
The tour guide made eye contact with the guests as he smiled. He paused when he met Esmeralda’s gaze, and he winked at her.
Esmeralda turned around to see who he was winking at. When she discovered that it was her, she gave him a confused smile.
“What was that about?” Daniel asked, his voice coming out sounding clipped.
“What? You mean the tour guide winking at me? I have no idea.”
“Really? Because you smiled at him after.” Daniel bit out as they moved forward. Esmeralda opened her mouth to reply, but they were separated by a throng of people. Once they got to the Bedouin area, they plopped down onto the pillows laid out across the floor around little fireplaces, and a small round table to serve the tea.
“I didn’t know what else to do. I was trying to be polite.” Esmeralda responded as she told herself to calm down and not bite his head off. He was just being concerned, and protective.
Sort of like a boyfriend? Her mind whispered.
Sort of like a jealous ex-boyfriend. Another voice in her head whispered furiously.
“Anyway, I thought we talked about this, it’s not like it’s any of your business what I do, just like it’s none of my business what you do.”
Daniel clenched his fists. “No, I suppose not.” He said coolly.
“Don’t do that.”
“What?” he asked, evenly.
“That.” Esmeralda gestured between them. “Treat me like I’m some sort of stranger or colleague.”
Daniel kept his eyes trained on the fire in front of them, the muscle ticking in his jaw the only sign of how tightly coiled he was. “How else am I supposed to treat you? We’re not good friends, we’re not even friends technically, and we sure as hell aren’t together.”
“And whose fault is that?” she asked quietly.
At first she thought that Daniel hadn’t heard her, but when he turned his head slowly to look at her, and she saw the hurt reflected in his eyes, she knew that he had.
“You’re right, okay? It’s my fault. It’s my Goddamn fault, you happy now?” He stood up abruptly, and gazed at her with barely concealed sadness.
Esmeralda stood up. “Why are you angry all of a sudden? I was just stating the facts.”
Daniel went rigid. “Okay, thank you for stating the facts.” He brushed past her and went to mingle with some of the other guests.
She saw him stand next to a petite blonde and begin to chat her up. The blonde tossed her head back and laughed. Esmeralda dug her nails into her palm as she tried to keep from marching over there and finishing what they had started.
“You and your boyfriend having trouble?” Ahmed, the tour guide who winked at her earlier, asked as he stood next to her puffing on a cigarette. He blew rings out of his mouth as he stared at her through hooded eyes.
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Pity. Care to dance?”
Esmeralda turned to stare at him. Her first reaction was to say no, but after she saw that Daniel had already begun dancing with the petite blonde.
“I’d love to.” She smiled.
They made their way onto the dance floor, and Daniel caught her eye across the dance floor. He grimaced as he noticed who she was dancing with. She gave him a pointed look before she turned all her attention to Ahmed. Beneath the pulsing lights, and the pounding music, Esmeralda could almost forget the man across the dance floor who obviously still had a very big effect on her.
Ahmed twirled her around, and she caught a glimpse of Daniel leaning in to whisper something in the blonde’s hair. She felt her stomach churn at the thought of him kissing her, so she turned to face Ahmed with an apologetic smile on her face.
“Ahmed, I’m really sorry, you’re a lovely dancer, but I’m not feeling well all of a sudden.”
Ahmed took a step back and gave her an easy smile. “No problem. I hope you feel better. We’re leaving in five minutes anyway.”
“Okay, great.” She wandered back to the pillows and dropped onto one as she did her best not to look at Daniel.
“Want me to go drag him across the dance floor and make him apologize?” Christina asked as she dropped next to her.
“No, it’s okay.” Esmeralda leaned her head against Christina’s shoulder as they waited for the tour guide to say that they were on their way back home.
***
The ride back to camp was filled with tense silence. Christina had offered to ride with Esmeralda on the way back to spare her the awkwardness, but Esmeralda knew that Christina really liked Jack.
Especially after she came clean, and it turned out that he wasn’t really into threesomes, and was really only saying that to impress her.
She sat behind Daniel on the beach buggy and tried not to lean into him anymore than necessary, but when a particularly hard speed bump nearly caused her to fall off, she had to lean forward and hold tight.
“Just hold onto me damn it, stop being so stubborn,” he growled after checking to make sure that she was okay, the worried look on his face transforming into one of annoyance.
“Bite me,” she retorted.
They rode the rest of the way in silence until they got to camp, and they each stalked off to their respective tents.