Boys, Bears And A Serious Pair Of Hiking Boots Part 15

"Nice." I pause, walking to the edge of the clearing. The valley stretches as far as I can see, Stillwater nothing but a small collection of tiny buildings and the thin thread of Main Street snaking out toward the wider ribbon of highway. I feel very small.

"That's Blue Ridge up there." Reeve points at a collection of faux-log buildings, looming over the top of a far ridge. "They built a whole new road off the highway, just to get construction materials up there."

I carefully lift the video camera from my pack and slowly pan out, away from the ugly resort. Wispy clouds are drifting across the sky, and I swear, the air feels even crisper up here. "Act nice for the camera, Fiona!" I turn to her, but she covers her face with her hands.

"Don't point that thing at me!" She backs away. "I told you: I don't want - argh!" She lets out a sudden cry as she trips and tumbles heavily to the ground.

"Graceful!" I giggle at her mishap, but she doesn't get up. Instead, Fiona stays folded on the ground, nursing her ankle.

"Thanks a lot, I bet it's broken."

"Oh, no, really?" I lower the camera and start to move toward her, but Grady gets there first.

"Does this hurt?" he asks, crouching down by her and pressing around the edge of her sneaker.

"No, it doesn - OWW!" Fiona cries out. "G.o.d, are you all trying to kill me?"

"It's not broken," he reports. "Maybe just bruised, or a sprain?"

"Just? It hurts like h.e.l.l!"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry."

Reeve looks at her, concerned. "What do you want to do? Wait here a while until it feels better?"

"We can rest as long as you need to." I put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Fiona shakes it off and presses her foot back to the ground, testing the weight for a split second. Then she sighs dramatically.

"No, I don't think I'm up to it."

"You want to go back?" Grady asks, still crouching beside her.

"I think so. Slowly." Taking his arm, Fiona maneuvers herself onto a nearby boulder. "But you guys don't have to quit." She looks over at me and Reeve. "You should keep going."

"No way," I tell her. "We're not letting you off on your own - we have rules, remember?"

"I can go with her," Grady says immediately. "You two finish the hike."

"No, it's OK," I tell him. "We can all -"

"But you wanted the view!" Fiona insists. "You're almost there. It would suck to turn back now."

"I don't mind. It's . . ." Then I pause. She's giving me a particularly meaningful look, but I can't figure out what she wants. Unless . . .

Seriously?

I look from her to Grady and back again. He's waiting, restless, by the boulder, while Fiona doesn't seem to be in pain at all anymore. But she does seem pretty eager to head off down the trail with Grady. Alone.

And just like that, her recent thaw begins to make total sense. I bite my lip to hide my smile as I watch them awkwardly avoid eye contact. I hoped maybe that fight we had made a difference because, deep down, she cared about our feelings, but it turns out there's one person whose feelings she definitely cares about: Grady's. Just how long has this been going on?

"I'll be fine," Fiona says again, taking Grady's arm and pulling herself to a standing position. She leans heavily against him, one of his arms around her shoulder. "Grady can take me home, and you and Reeve make it to the top. Right, Reeve?"

He looks at us all, clearly confused. "Sure, but I mean -"

"Then it's settled," Fiona declares. I swear I see a satisfied smile.

We split the packs and remaining water, and soon she and Grady are heading slowly back down the trail.

"I guess it's down to us."

I turn back to find Reeve waiting for me. "I guess so."

By the time we clear the tree line and make it up the final stretch of trail, I'm dead. No, really. My limbs are practically numb with exhaustion, every breath is a ch.o.r.e, and I figure that the only way I'm still managing to put one heavy foot in front of the other is if I've died and this is my zombified self plodding along.

Man, I need to exercise more.

I'm so busy staring down at the path in front of me that I only realize we've reached the top when Reeve stops walking. I look up to find that we're in a small clearing littered with shrubbery and gra.s.ses. Above us, there's nothing but impa.s.sable rock all the way to the real summit, but on my left, the cliff falls away.

"There." Reeve grins proudly. "Worth it, don't you think?"

I look out across the valley. He's right. For a moment, I can forget all my aches and pains. It's utterly breathtaking. A dark green blanket of trees, gray mountains under the gray mist of cloud, even . . . "Is that snow?" I squint at the far mountain peaks.

Reeve gulps from his water bottle, then wipes the top with his s.h.i.+rt before pa.s.sing it to me. He nods. "Some ranges never melt. The Rockies go too high; it doesn't matter if it's baking down in the valleys."

"Wow." I can't believe how far the horizon stretches. I get out the camera and begin filming, s.h.i.+vering slightly.

"You need a sweater?" Reeve asks.

"Hmm? Oh, no, I've got one." As I pull my cardigan on again, a small splatter of rain begins to fall. I turn my face up to the clouds, the water cool relief on my sweaty skin.

He looks around. "We better take cover for a while."

I laugh. "It's just a little rain." At that, a boom of thunder rings over the valley. "Or not."

"Come on." Reeve points across to the far side of the clearing, where a small wooden hut is almost hidden in the trees.

"This is where you say 'I told you so,' right?" I joke, as we dash toward the shelter.

"Yup!" Reeve laughs. He waits for me to get inside before ducking in after me.

"Inside" is kind of an exaggeration, I find. The hut is nothing but a roof and three walls, perched back from the edge of the cliff. The ground is basic concrete, covered in dirt and a couple of food wrappers some other, less careful hikers must have left behind. Reeve kicks them aside and sits down against the back wall as the rain and winds howl away outside the open front.

I join him, gladly sliding off my feet. "Oh, my . . ." I sigh, loosening my boots. It's no warmer in here, but at least the wind isn't whipping around us. "What is this place?"

"Emergency shelter." Reeve s.h.i.+fts to get comfortable on the hard ground. "All the peaks have them around here, for snowstorms mainly."

"People climb these things in the snow?"

He chuckles. "I didn't say it was a good idea."

We sit in silence for a while, the rain thrumming steadily on the roof. The vista outside that had been so clear is now completely opaque. With the world shrouded in clouds outside, it feels like we're the last two people left in the world. I rummage in my pack for an energy bar and wordlessly offer Reeve half. He takes it with a nod, and we sit, watching the rain fall in thick sheets. A flash of lightning streaks through the sky, with another rumble of thunder sounding out right away.

The storm must be on top of us.

"Are we safe in here?" I ask, nervous.

"Safer in here than out there," he rea.s.sures me, but it's only after a minute I realize that doesn't quite answer my question. "Are you scared?"

"Of the storm? No." I elbow him lightly. "I'm not that pathetic."

Reeve gives me a brief smile. "Sorry."

"I usually like them - storms, I mean. All the noise and wind . . ." I flinch as another flash of lightning illuminates the valley, and hug my arms tight around my body. "But I'm usually snug inside with four solid walls between me and all that out there." As I talk, Reeve seems more distracted, looking outside at the pouring rain until finally, he cuts me off.

"Wait a sec. I need to check something out." He stands, silhouetted in the open entrance for a moment, and then disappears back the way we came, toward the trail.

"Reeve?" I leap up and call after him, but I soon lose sight of him in the trees. I panic for a moment, wondering if he's left me here, before remembering his patience up on that climbing trip. Reeve isn't the kind of guy to just bail.

I wait, s.h.i.+vering, until he reappears a couple of minutes later, drenched and dripping from the storm.

"We need to get going," he tells me, looking worried. He was only out a short time, but his sweats.h.i.+rt is already soaked through.

"What, in this?" I protest. "It's still thundering out there."

"I know, but the trail is already way too muddy." He reaches for his pack and reties his boots. "All the water is just streaming down that path, and it's getting darker out. If we wait much longer, we'll be trapped here all night."

For a split second, the idea of being stranded on a mountaintop with Reeve has a kind of romantic allure. Then I remember that I'm cold and damp and hungry. "OK, let's make a run for it."

"No running," Reeve tells me, his voice low and serious. "You could skid and break your neck. Seriously, Jenna, you've got to be really careful out there."

I nod, chastened, and brace myself to follow him.

The minute I step outside, I'm hit by the noise. Not just the thunder, which still rings out occasionally, but the sound of the rain itself, beating down on every rock and tree branch in a loud drumming that makes it hard to hear a thing. I'm small and insignificant in the huge, gray world. Despite what I told Reeve, I begin to feel scared.

We should have gone back with Fiona and Grady.

"Watch your step!" Reeve yells at me. I start down the trail after him, trying to follow his route exactly as he picks his way through the perilous mud and streams of water gus.h.i.+ng down what used to be the plain dirt path. In minutes, my thin cardigan is soaked through, water trickling down my back and the rain freezing my bare legs. I grit my teeth and keep moving.

We manage to keep up a quick enough pace: something less than jogging but faster than a walk. The steep incline that caused my thighs so much grief on the way up now makes just as many problems as I skid and slip down, trying to keep my balance. Five minutes stretches into ten, and then twenty. The ground begins to level out as we descend into the main forest, but my skin is numb from the cold, and even these supposedly waterproof boots of mine are beginning to squelch around the toes.

I wish I were anywhere but here.

"You OK?" Reeve pauses to glance back at me. I can only imagine what I look like, hair plastered to my cheeks and teeth chattering. I nod, determined not to show how truly miserable I am, and plunge onward past him. Focus on warmth, I tell myself. Long bubble baths. Hot chocolate. Soup. Anything soft and dry and - Suddenly Reeve yanks me back, his hand gripping my arm hard.

"Oww!"

He clamps his other hand to my mouth and holds me still against him. "Don't move," he murmurs in my ear. "Don't even make a sound."

The urgency in his voice shocks me still; my complaint dies on my lips.

"What?" I whisper back. He jerks his head in the direction we were heading and I turn, following his gaze into the trees ahead of us.

A bear is loping slowly through the forest.

I stop breathing.

"Stay calm," Reeve whispers, his mouth against my ear. "It hasn't seen us yet."

The animal is huge, easily bigger than me, and it paces along with a strange rocking gait, black fur dark even in the dim light. My heart races as the rain keeps pouring down on us. I don't know much about bears except that they kill, and maim, and oh, yes, kill. I think of the half-finished energy bar in my pack with a twist of fear.

Oh, G.o.d.

I tremble, Reeve's arms locked tight around me. I can feel his heart beating quick against my back through our soaked, thin clothes. We stand frozen, watching the bear sniff and paw at the undergrowth. Every moment stretches into forever as I try not to imagine a dozen grisly ends.

I don't ever think about death. Not really, no more than a flicker of anxiety when I'm trying to merge on the highway or watching a news clip about some unfortunate girl my age. Even then, those are vague, pa.s.sing ideas - not forty feet away with razor-sharp claws and angry teeth. But standing here, shaking with fear, I suddenly grasp the truth of it: the blood racing in my veins, the sharp tingle of my chilled skin, the intensity of every breath.

This is my life.

I don't know how long it is until the bear lopes out of sight. No more than ten seconds, maybe, but it feels like hours to me.

"Wait a while longer," Reeve whispers, still holding me. "Give it time to get clear."

I nod, adrenaline rus.h.i.+ng through my system. Finally, I feel Reeve relax.

"It's gone," he says hoa.r.s.ely, loosening his grip on my arms and turning me to face him. I still don't move. "Are you OK?"

"I think so. . . ." I waver, and he pulls me back against him, holding me steady. I look up. His eyelashes are wet, water running down his face.

"I'm sorry."

I blink, slowly emerging from my daze. "How . . . I mean, that wasn't your fault."

Reeve shakes his head. "I should have been more careful. I should have made us go back hours ago. I saw the clouds changing."

Maybe it's the endorphins still singing in my blood, or maybe I'm just plain thankful I'm standing here and not lying in a b.l.o.o.d.y, mauled heap. Either way, I look straight at him, suddenly reckless. "So why didn't you?"

Our eyes meet for a long moment.

"I didn't . . ." He pauses, moving one hand to brush away the strand of hair sticking to my forehead. I feel a rush that's nothing to do with the near-death experience. There's something in the s.p.a.ce between us. I can't be imagining it - this isn't wishful thinking.

Reeve glances away. "I thought, maybe . . ."

And then before he can make another sound, I kiss him.

Our faces are cold from the storm, but I still feel a burst of warmth as I slowly press my lips against his, uncertain at first. I reach my arms around his neck and pull him down to me, kissing him with a bravery I don't think I possessed until just minutes ago.

This is my life.

I don't want to sit around, listening to Olivia's adventures - I want some of my own. All this time, I've kept quiet, stayed in, turned down dates with nice enough guys because I've wanted to really feel something. And now that I do, I want it to be mine.