"I haven't got anywhere else to go," Cameron offers, stepping slowly back, hand moving to her elbow. It's a strange feeling, if he's honest, knowing he has nowhere to be, nothing he's meant to be doing — no classes, no studies, no practice, no races, no home life, nothing whatsoever to tie him down to any given moment. It could be freeing. For him, it feels the opposite. There's something claustrophobic about all that open uncertainty, the lack of direction. "We could sit a while, stay. If you like."

She's the one who suggested it, in essence, but still, he doesn't like to presume, even as he heads over to find a clear spot in the grass below a tree. By the water is always the best place to be, he figures, and not even because of his natural bias, the fact he spends — or used to spend — most of his waking hours on the river. It's just cooler here, next to running water, beneath the shade, and they could both use the respite.