The Absence of Olivia(48)
“Okay,” I managed. He stepped away from me, heading toward the narrow passage where brave hikers were up to their armpits in water. Some laughing, some cursing. I looked behind me and found a large rock to sit on while I watched him navigate the water. He held the backpack above his head and even from a distance, I could see his knuckles turning white from gripping it so tightly. Eventually he disappeared around a bend and I could no longer see him or his backpack, so my eyes wandered and I took in the beautiful imagery around me. I laughed to myself, wishing I had my camera to take some photos.
After a few minutes of sitting on the rock and watching people navigate the stream, going in and out of the gorge it created, I finally saw Nate return, his shirt completely wet. As he got closer, I noticed his neck was wet as well. But his hands, which were still up above his head, were dry.
“Your camera is safe and dry on the other side. I left it with a responsible-looking group of hoodlums spraying graffiti on the pine trees.”
“Shut up,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him, but still grinning, unable to stop my lips from turning up at his words. I immediately regretted saying that to him, afraid he’d find my retort offensive. I didn’t know him well enough to be telling him to shut up in a playful way – not everyone understood my sarcasm. Thankfully, his smile broadened at my words and, surprisingly, he only seemed to enjoy my sass.
“I’m kidding. It’s nestled safely at the trunk of a tree about ten yards away from the water. Come on, I’ll take you.” He held out his hand to me again, but that time, I didn’t try to talk myself out of the butterflies I was feeling. I felt them, and I acknowledged them for what they were – a budding attraction. A crush. Nate was a man I wanted to let lead me.
He walked me out into the freezing water until it was barely above my knees, but then stopped short and turned to face me.
“I’m gonna take you out until the water is about to your belly button,” he said, pressing a hand against my stomach, making my breath stop and my heart pound. “Then I’m gonna go under completely and you’re gonna get on my shoulders. Then I’ll walk through and you’ll stay mostly dry.”
“You are not,” I scoffed. “I can see the water came up to your neck. You can’t walk through there with me on your shoulders; you’ll drown.”
He laughed. “I’m not going to drown. Are you always this dramatic?” He lifted a hand to motion toward the gorge. “I might have slipped a little going through the first time and went under a little, but I kept your precious camera dry – I promise.”
My eyes went wide at his admission. He had fallen in the godforsaken river. But I reminded myself that my camera was fine, that he was only trying to help me.
“You think you can really carry me on your shoulders through there?”
He raised one eyebrow at me and pulled his chin back in surprise. “Are you serious? Shut up.”
I immediately laughed at his words, and then continued to laugh because it felt so good to do so. With one shut up from Nate, I’d lowered a wall I’d had built for years. Granted, it was still pretty much up and surrounding the most vulnerable part of me, but those few bricks that had just collapsed weighed a ton. I’d never felt this light before.
He tugged me farther into the water and I kept my yelps silent as the water encroached on the apex of my thighs, the icy water causing all kinds of nerves to fire haphazardly. True to his word, when the water had reached my belly button, he stopped and faced me.
“Okay, I’m gonna go under and you just hop onto my shoulders. When I stand up, hang on tight. If you fall in, this will be all for naught.”
It was my turn to raise an eyebrow at him. “Did you really just say all for naught?”
He only winked at me in response, then turned his back to me, and proceeded to dunk himself under the water.
“Oh, shit, he was serious,” I said to myself as I clamored to climb up onto his shoulders. I managed to get my legs over his shoulders, trying not to think about the jolt of electricity that shot up my spine when his hands wrapped around my thighs, holding me tightly. Once I was situated, he started to rise out of the water. As more of my body left the cold water, it became apparent his body was taking on more and more of my weight, and I started to feel badly for the poor guy.
When he was standing straight again, I heard him take in a deep breath trying to compensate for the oxygen he missed while underwater. I leaned forward a little, my hands plastered against his forehead. “Am I too heavy?” I asked, but before I could get the last word out, I lost my balance and started to fall forward. Instinctively, my feet wrapped around the back of Nate’s waist, and my hands gripped him below his chin, trying desperately not to fall in the mountain-cold water.
“Whoa, I got you,” he said, his hands gripping me tighter on my thighs, his big arms squeezing my legs, keeping me in place. “You all right?” I heard him ask, noticing the garbled sound of his voice. It was then I decided to loosen the death grip I had on his face.
“This was a dumb idea. Just put me down, I’ll swim through.”
“Evelyn, trust me. I’ve got you.”
“Okay,” I whispered, knowing he couldn’t hear me.
I felt him take the first step with me atop his shoulders and I felt my face pull back in excitement and fear. I hadn’t been on anyone’s shoulders since spring break in Cancun my senior year of college when Elliot, Liv, Devon, and I were playing drunken chicken during one of our late-night pool excursions. This was different. Nate’s body was unfamiliar and, any way you looked at it, my most private and sensitive areas were pressed against him. For someone who I didn’t really know that well, it was an unusually familiar situation to be in. But regardless of what my head was telling me about what was appropriate or inappropriate, I liked feeling Nate that close to me, with his strong arms snaked around my legs. It had never been this exciting on Elliot’s shoulders.