good.”
“Hey, I’ve seen the ramen noodles you eat during lunch at The Cookie Jar. Maybe you can eat crap like that, but I’m spoiled. I grew up with a home cooked meal on the kitchen table for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of my life,” he smirked as she took a seat on a fallen log.
“Your mom can cook,” she commented as he set the bag down and plopped down next to her. “Do you want to share one or eat a whole one each?”
Vincent thought about it for a moment, weighing his options. “Let’s share. I don’t think I can stomach a whole one myself, and better safe than sorry. We might need to ration our food.”
Sarah dug into the bag and produced their lunch.
“I’m salivating already,” Vincent smiled.
Sarah bumped him with her elbow as she laughed. “Stop!”
“Sorry, I’m just mentally preparing myself for the assault my taste buds are going to endure,” he continued with a laugh.
“You’re insufferable,” she commented, tearing into the package.
“Maybe, but you think I’m funny.”
Sarah giggled, her sapphire eyes lighting up brightly. She offered him the tray of dehydrated, preserved food first. He picked up a piece of what he thought was meat and placed it in his mouth.
“Well?” Sarah grinned.
Vincent coughed as he attempted to chew the food—if you could call it that—and not spit it out. “It’s even worse than I imagined. I swear you’re trying to poison me.”
Sarah picked up a piece of food and plopped it in her mouth. “My mom wasn’t much of a cook and my dad worked long hours as a doctor. We ate a lot of takeout growing up, but we always had dinner together.”
“I need a drink of water.”
“You need to eat more,” Sarah replied, ignoring him.
“You’re trying to kill me.”
“It’s not that bad,” she laughed.
“Says the takeout queen.”
“Hey!”
His stomach rumbled loudly. Despite the horrid taste of the food, he couldn’t deny his hunger, especially if he wanted any hope of shifting. He closed his eyes and swallowed the dreadful thing. The taste caused his stomach to lurch, the animal in him wanting nothing to do with the dehydrated, who-knows-how-long-it’s-been-that-way piece of meat. Once he was sure the food was going to stay down, he opened his eyes and reached back into the container.
His fingers brushed up against Sarah’s soft, dainty hand. She pulled back, her gaze flickering to his.
“Sorry,” she whispered, clasping her hands together.
“It’s okay, you go ahead,” he replied, not taking his eyes off her.
She smiled and looked down at the food then back up at him. Sarah was so close, her perfect pink, full lips mere inches from his. Her chest heaved as she leaned in toward him. His eyes flickered to her mouth, watching as her tongue darted out wetting her lips. Did she want to kiss him as much as he wanted to kiss her? Nervously, he lifted his hand and pushed her golden hair out of her face, slowly closing the gap between them.
Her warm breath puffed against his face and she blinked before letting her eyes fall shut. Mustering up the courage to close the distance, he leaned closer.
A loud rumble jolted him back to reality. He pulled away from her and shot to his feet.
“What is it?” Sarah asked, looking around wildly. “Did you hear something?” she whisper shouted at him.
“I hear a truck,” he stated, putting a finger over his lips and motioned for her to follow him.
Sarah wrapped up the food and shoved it into the sack. She picked up their bag, zipped it up, and slung it on her back in case they needed it and didn’t have time to come back for it. Once she’d finished packing up, she crept after Vincent.
Vincent pushed through the dense auburn foliage. They came to a small creek bed; he walked across the stones one at a time. The vehicle screeched and whined loudly as it drew closer. He turned to Sarah and she nodded for them to check it out. Vincent continued on, moving through the