It actually took less than ten seconds before the act of stupidity occurred. She sat there next to Kre, enjoying the fact that their hands were somewhat entwined with the cloth bandage. He, on the other hand, seemed to suddenly realize that same fact and immediately pulled his hand back and started playing with the bandage. He tugged it between his hands and nervously twisted it around his fingers.
Jem simply shook her head and rose to her feet. “Listen Kre,” she started.
“Hey Jem,” Kre said at the same time. “Sorry, you go.”
“Yeah,” she responded with a sigh. “I should just go. It’s really late.”
Kre nodded, not trusting himself to actually form words. He reached out tentatively, as if to embrace her, then thought better of it. Instead, he awkwardly held out his hand. It took her a moment to realize what he intended, her mind and her emotions not being ready to immediately process his action. Still, to her credit, she took his hand in hers and gave it a casual shake.
“I’ll miss you, you know.” Jem offered up a soft smile and started to hum another part of her tune. This part of the melody seemed gloomier, more mournful and it also seemed to fit the mood perfectly.
The nervous teenage boy returned the smile. “I’ll definitely miss… well, I’ll miss all of you guys.”
He stood there for several minutes more, long after he could no longer hear her humming. In his mind, he continued to replay the scene with Jem except with someone else standing in his place. Someone more charismatic, more charming. He often did these substitutive reflections in his mind. They weren’t especially useful as he never changed his behavior in any meaningful way, but they did seem to help him cope with his awkwardness.
In the most vivid of his revisionist daydreams, the charming man in his role literally swept Jem off her feet and convinced her how much she meant to him. As usual, the scene faded out before any of the more physically romantic bits started. Even in his imagination, he couldn’t manage those visualizations without feeling a strong sense of embarrassment and shame.
Having played out the same scene in his head several times and feeling the worse for how he personally handled the situation. He shook his head to try and clear it of his random thoughts. He wondered briefly if Pete and the others were still celebrating and if he should try to join up with them. Pete might be upset he left in the first place though, especially to meet up with Jem. The youngest Koraski wasn’t a fan of Jem, for whatever reason. He usually just shook his head and muttered when she came around, and he usually made up some bawdy lyrics to match whatever tune she happened to be playing at the time.
Stifling a yawn, Kre seemed to suddenly realize just how late it was. He inhaled deeply of the cool night air around him and exhaled slowly, turning slowly around as he did so to take in the sights around him. There was no telling if he’d have another night in Mintas as that all depended on when Braun decided to leave for Sandort. Knowing the weasel, he’d want to leave as soon as he was packed and had his report in hand.
Kre meandered down the trail back towards the Lodge, hoping to get some sleep tonight in anticipation of a morning departure. One good thing about Braun though, probably the only good thing, was that he was not a morning person. He rarely conducted business before lunchtime which gave Kre plenty of time to say goodbye to some other folks in the morning and, possibly, hopefully, see Jem one more time to try and make up for tonight.