FADING (A novel)(40)

A couple hours into our hike, the clouds open and it begins to rain. As we continue to trek on, the ground becomes marshy beneath our feet. I start to fall behind a little, but I yell to Jase to keep going and I’ll catch up. I pull the hood on my jacket further over my head, so I don’t realize that Ryan has stayed back until I almost pass him. Stopping, I look up at him, and he doesn’t have his hood over his head. Rain is dripping off the ends of his hair, and it reminds me of the first night he came into the coffee shop with his rain soaked hair.

“You don’t have to hang back. You can hike on ahead.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he says as we continue to make out way through the trail. “I would hate for you to fall and hurt yourself and nobody be around.”

Turning to look at him, I give him a grin and say, “Thanks.”

“This shit’s freezing.”

I start laughing and agree with him. The rain is really cold.

After about a half hour, the rain finally lets up, and at this point, I am soaked from head to toe. I stop for a moment, take the hair tie that is around my wrist, and pull up my stringy wet hair on top of my head. Ryan walks closer to me. Laughing, he swipes his hand across my cheek, and the gesture makes me a little uncomfortable, until I see the brown mud on his fingers, and I laugh with him.

“You are covered in this shit,” he chuckles, and all I can do is shrug my shoulders. You can’t expect to not get dirty when you are hiking in the rain.

“Yeah, well, you’re covered in it too,” I say as we keep moving forward.

We manage to catch up with Jase and Mark near the incline to the peak. It’s a mile hike up, and there is a light dusting of snow throughout the trek. When we reach the top, I climb the stairs to the lookout house and take in the view. I look out at the Sound and just stare. It’s a breathtaking view. I walk back around the lookout, sit on the stairs, and grab a protein bar out of my backpack. Jase sits down behind me and kisses the top of my head. I look down to Mark and Ryan who are standing down below and catch Ryan looking up at us before he walks around to the other side of the lookout.

“Having fun?”

Turning my head to look at Jase, I say, “I actually am.”

“Good.” He wraps his arms around my shoulders, and I lean back into him as I eat my snack and rest.

“We should start heading back,” he says after ten minutes or so.

“Okay.”

We walk back down the stairs and find the other two.

“You guys ready to head back?” Jase asks them.

Everyone agrees, and we start the trek back down after we have all taken in the spectacular views. The walk down the peak is a slippery one from all the rain earlier. It isn’t long before my feet slide out from underneath me, and I fall back into the mud.

“Crap!”

Reaching out both of his hands, I grab tightly onto Ryan’s wrists as he pulls me out of the soggy mud.

“You’re a complete mess.”

“Yeah, I know,” I say with a muddy face and now a muddy ass. I feel absolutely disgusting.

I keep ahold of Ryan’s arm until we finally reach the bottom and let go. Jase and Mark are several steps in front of us, apparently lost in their own conversation, and it’s not long before Ryan and I start talking about his job.

“So, how did you come about owning a bar?” I ask.

“Just kind of fell into it. When I graduated college, the economy was starting to decline, and I couldn’t find a job. So, when I found out that the previous owner of that bar was about to shut the place down, I worked out a deal with him and was able to do a slow buyout.”

“You went to U-Dub?”

“Yeah, I graduated back in 2007.”

“So, that makes you . . .?”

Laughing at me, he says, “Twenty-eight.”

“What did you study?”

“Business Finance. So, it wasn’t too far out of reach that I would come to own my own business.”

“You enjoy it?”

“I do. When I did the buyout, I changed the whole place out and created a new vibe for it. It wasn’t before long that the business was taking off quicker than I expected. At this point, the staff pretty much runs the place, and I have a trustworthy manager, so my schedule is very flexible.”

“Sounds like the perfect job.”

“You ever been there?”

Looking over at him and smiling, I say, “No. I don’t really ever go out.” I shake my head and continue, “I’m sort of a work-a-holic. Jase is always nagging me about that.”

“Well, you should stop by sometime.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

He laughs and says, “You’re full of shit, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. Maybe,” I say, chuckling back at him.

Still laughing, he shakes his head at me as we continue the hike back.

When we finally reach the car, all of us are a mess, wet and covered in mud. I grab one of the towels that is in the back of the Range Rover and attempt to clean myself off, but at this point, most of the mud has dried and is now a hard, crusty matting on my clothes and face. Not wanting to drive all the back in these clothes, I ask Jase if he brought any extra. He tells me that Mark keeps a bag full of clean clothes in the back for when he goes to the gym. I reach in, grab his gym bag, and pull out a t-shirt and athletic pants, along with a dry pair of socks. I wouldn’t think twice about changing in front of Jase, but I tell Mark and Ryan to go sit in the front so that I can change. Mark laughs at me, but gets in the car along with Ryan. I quickly strip out of my soggy clothes and Jase hands me the clean ones. Once I am good to go, I hop into the back seat and snuggle up tightly with Jase to try and warm up.