They met the others back in the clearing, all toting their various kills. "Hello Stevens." Angel said in a sing-song voice, clearly still enjoying her high from their romp in the forest. Stevens looked from Angel to Amanda, a scowl appearing on her face.
"You got hurt." Amanda stated, noticing the yellow-tinged bruise on Stevens' waist. "She charged me when I was going for the male."
Stevens nodded at the large moose she and her partner had killed. Amanda strode over, running her hands over the taller woman's bruise, palpating it to check for any broken bones. It was almost done healing already. Stevens let out a groan of discomfort.
"Sorry." She took her hand away.
"It's not that." Stevens said, shifting uneasily. Amanda looked down and saw how Steven's body had reacted to her ministrations. Oh.
"Did you get the kill?" She asked Stevens in a voice low enough so that the others couldn't hear. Stevens shook her head.
"Take care of it and meet us back at base." Stevens looked up at her, raw need in her dark eyes. "Amanda, if you..."
"No." Amanda said shortly, turning on her heel. She put her hand into the air and made the gesture for the group to move out. As they walked, she heard Stevens call Angel's name.
"Rabbit stew? Oh I am not eating this." Jenni said in disgust, pushing the bowl over to Emily. Emily shrugged and accepted it, offering Jenni her own cornbread in exchange, which the woman gratefully took.
"It really is quite good you know." Emily said, enjoying the succulent meat. The game tasted so fresh, she wondered if it was freshly killed. Maybe they had a pen full of rabbits somewhere? Or maybe they caught them. She wondered if Amanda had caught any. She didn't see the woman at all yesterday, and she would be lying if she didn't admit that it bothered her.
She was just a compassionate guard, that's all. She told herself. Immediately she felt a sudden mood change, the quick type of depression that came and went. The kind that she knew was associated when she had a crush on someone. Damn, I have a crush on my prison guard. Admitting it to herself it helped a little, but still...she resolved to avoid contact with Amanda until she was sure the crush had passed.
"Hello." Well shit.
"Oh hi Mandy." Jenni said cheerfully.
"Didn't like the stew huh?" Amanda said with a chuckle, leaning on the table to talk to Jenni, giving Emily a great view of her backside. Emily looked away.
"Nah I don't eat anything that doesn't have feathers." Jenni said meekly. Amanda laughed.
"Mm right, I remember now."
They continued chatting and Emily busied herself with her food as they talked about sports. Apparently they were both a big fan of football and they discussed the latest game while Emily ate. Having never watched a game in her life, well except the one time Sam had won tickets and they went to a game to watch the first half, Emily wisely chose to stay out of the conversation.
Anyways, she was supposed to be getting over her crush.
"Well I gotta go, I'll talk to you ladies later." Amanda straighted up. "Pleasure talking to you Jenni." Amanda looked over at Emily. Emily busied herself by stacking all her plates together.
"Bye Emily."
Emily muttered a goodbye.
"Wow what is wrong with you?" Jenni without malice as they went to put their tray and plates away at the disposal,
"Could you be more awkward?"
Emily rolled her eyes at the question. "I'm just in a bad mood, that's all. I didn't sleep well yesterday." She lied. Jenni seemed to believe this and gave a shrug. "Well Amanda's one of the nicest guards here, you could be a little more friendly you know." See, she was just being nice to you, that's all a small voice told her. "I'm going to go look around before my task at 11." She said to Jenni, who waved goodbye to her as Emily headed for the courtyard.