Chapter 77: I'll Keep My Hands To Myself
"Thanks." Keith said as kept his eyes fixated on the pan, "By the way, I want you to use your divine protection on Laura, Amelia, Caleb, me and you. Brandon and Nathan have their own ways to protect themselves, so they'll be fine."
"Mhm." she hummed and nodded in response before taking the fish off the pan. She placed it on the wooden plate that Keith was using, "Do you want more?"
He nodded and grabbed four chunks of meat from the stash before placing them on a clean large leaf that was placed on the ground, beside the fire.
"Yeah, I'm hungry. We don't really have a problem with food as long as Laura is here, so there's no reason to hold back." he said and sat down beside her, "It's a pity that the guys and girls have to sleep separately though."
Hearing his comment, she turned to look at him, "You... want to sleep together?"
"I mean, why not? You don't want to?" he asked back as he dug into this food.
Clara didn't answer and directly switched topics, "What's the plan for tomorrow? Nathan said he'll stay at the camp for safety purposes while Laura and Brandon plan to take care of the hunting. Caleb is slightly depressed that he's not being of any use while Amelia and I are also slightly lost at what to do."
"We need to build a smoker and a storage unit." Keith said after swallowing the food in his mouth, "We don't have problem procuring food, but we can't just waste it. Everyone ate until their tummies went full, but we still have so much meat left over."
Hearing his words, she looked at the pile of fish meat that was still pretty tall and nodded, "You're right."
"Mhm." he replied, his mouth filled with fish. He took his time to swallow it before pointing at the water filter, "I also have to toss in some filter materials into that thing. But once that is done, I don't really know what we're supposed to do. They did say that we'll have free time of three days before some random instructor comes here on the fourth day."
"I asked Edward about it and he told me that the instructors will just focus on training us physically and will teach us a few things based on their church's specializations. He also told me that the training will be physically intense."
Keith heard her and immediately blurted out, "If that's the case, then we need to stock up on berries or various fruits. Something that's sweet. Meat alone won't cut it if we're supposed to strain ourselves physically."
He knew the importance of micro and macro nutrients, so he knew that fish meat alone won't provide enough energy to do intense physical tasks. He'd need carbohydrates for that, so he went straight for sweet things, which technically should contain a lot of calories.
He wasn't a great nutritionist or herbology expert, but he knew some surface level information.
"Then Amelia and I will look for them. Maybe we'll take Caleb with us too."
Keith nodded and finished the last bit of fish that was left on his plate, "Is it done?" he asked as he looked at the chunk of meat that was on the pan.
"Wait a bit."
"Alright..."
The two of them chatted while he filled up his stomach, but once four extra chunks of meat were taken care of, Keith patted his belly, "I guess that's enough for tonight."
Clara nodded and looked at the tents, "If you want, you can share a tent with me. Brandon went ahead and asked Edward if he could use the smaller tent for.. um recreational purposes and Edward agreed.
I'm sharing my tent with Amelia and Edward, so only cuddling is allowed. Is that fine?"
Hearing her words, Keith immediately nodded, "Yes of course. I'm not Brandon you know? I totally don't think of getting into your pants all the time. Especially not now."
His words said one thing, but the smirk on his face said something else. Clara blushed slightly as she recalled the night she spent together with him before she glared at him, "Pervert!"
"Heh. Let's go, I was just joking. I'll keep my hands to myself. After all, I am pretty tried." he said, yawning slightly. It was in fact, true that he was tired. The only thing he wanted to do right now, was to close his eyes and drift into the realm of nothingness.
Clara nodded with a slight smile on her face before taking him to her tent. There were three "beds" made of leaves, but it would basically just feel like sleeping on the ground as it wasn't exactly soft. There were only three layers of leaves.
There were only three leaf beds in the tent, which was clearly meant for the three girls, but now, two of them were occupied by Edward and Amelia.
Clara seemed to have overlooked this and turned to give Keith an apologetic look, "It'll feel cramped."
"It's fine. You guys should have used some of the cloth for the bedding though, we bought so much cloth after all, so what's the point of saving it."
Hearing his words, she immediately pinned the blame on Nathan.
"I... it was Caleb who took care of the bedding. And even though we noticed... it felt rude to reprimand him when he was already feeling so down." she whispered, sounding guilty.
Keith sighed and shook his head, "Communication is important. Leaves don't do a great job at blocking heat so I'm a hundred percent sure that everyone here will have trouble sleeping tonight. It's already getting cold and it's not even midnight yet. What do you think will happen when Caleb sees the others suffering? It'll just make him feel even worse. Even he will suffer thanks to the cold."
He looked at the other two in the tent and sighed once again as they were fast asleep.
"Go wake the others. Tell them to change the bedding as soon as possible. If not, they'll just wake up feeling grumpy and I don't want to see that."