Fireflies

Tiny wings whisked through the air, making barely a sound, raising and lowering the fireflies through the air in circles. They were visible only by the sight of their bright yellow butts. Chazz cringed – only in nature would something like that be considered beautiful. But it was, and she thought so, too – that was evident by the small smile playing on her lips, the glint in her eyes as she looked up at the insects painting patterns in the near-darkness as though they'd rehearsed it. Their light reflected in her eyes, shone deep against the pink in her cheeks, making her look even prettier.

Chazz scowled, and whipped his head away before she saw him looking at her – he had to stop thinking about her that way – only to catch sight of another yellow butt he had no desire to see. Ever.

"Look, Boss!" Ojama Yellow cried, catching a pair of fireflies and holding them in front of his behind, "I'm a firefly, too!"

Chazz recoiled, stepping back, and stumbled over a rock he could've sworn hadn't been there two seconds ago, "Ah!"

"Chazz?" Cori only seemed to notice him after his near-death fall, turning half around to raise an eyebrow at him.

"What?" he snapped, trying to ignore the stab in his butt-bone – or whatever the biological term for the thing was. Mentally he rolled his eyes.

She laughed, and settled a stray strand of blue hair behind her ear, "You fell."

"I noticed," he scowled.

"Can I…offer you a hand?" she asked, amused, and held out her hand as per offered. But Chazz only scowled deeper as her smile turned wider.

"And what am I supposed to do with 'a hand', Slacker?" he asked sarcastically, and she gave a nonchalant shrug.

"You hold it, I pull, you get up," she said, weighing her hands up and down as she spoke. "We've been through this before – you seem to lose your footing a lot. Or it's just me," another shrug.

Chazz waved her offer away, and helped himself up, muttering, "If only…"

"Meh," Cori seemed unperturbed, and turned back to the lights – only, they'd fluttered off into the trees. "You scared them away with your girlish cries of falling."

Chazz scowled at her, rubbing dust and dirt off his black jacket. "I resent that – my cries aren't girly."

"Of course not," she teased, crossing her arms behind her back, which was turned to him now. "That's why I said 'girlish' – completely different thing."

He rolled his eyes at her back, and allowed the smile he'd been holding in. And then he caught sight of a mass of purple – tiny six-leaved flowers of a kind he'd never seen before, practically drowning a defenseless little shrub of little consequence, with their leaves and vines twined around the other plant. There were more of the purple things either choking the trees around them, or serving some decorative purpose meant to please the view of whatever pair of unfortunate lost souls happened to pass by.

Chazz spared Cori a glance over his shoulder. She was still speaking, "You realize how very nowhere this is getting us, right? For all the million and one times we've been in this forest I'm surprised none of us has ever thought of drawing a map! Or memorizing a path for that matter…"

Chazz reached up with one hand, looking over the flowers, and picked one off its vine that didn't seem half-chewed or insect-infected.

"Maybe we should have a duel – you know Jaden's nose? It'll lead him right to us, if—" she stopped mid-sentence, having turned about to see him with the flower. "I knew it – you really are a girl."

"What?! No!" he could feel his face flush, but ignored it, and stuck out his arm instead, flower in hand. Cori's arms uncrossed from behind her back, her face suddenly illuminated by the return of the fireflies around Chazz's head. He swallowed, not sure of what to say – or what he was doing for that matter – and Cori's eyes slid from his to the flower, her cheeks going bright pink.