“Oh?” I wonder, sensing a story. “Do tell.” She winces like she’d rather not, and I snicker. “What? It’s not like we don’t have time.”
She shoves me again, but relents. “Fine. So, freshman year I joined the Viking Hikers—”
“The Viking Hikers?”
“It’s the school hiking club. Our mascot is the Viking, so . . .” I nod, catching the meaning. “Anyway, my first Halloween there, we were going to do a fun hike through the park blocks of downtown Portland. They butt up to the school and stretch for about twelve blocks, plus another five-block segment a few blocks past the north end. Together, it’s about a two-and-a-half-mile loop. The plan was to do the hike in costume, and we chose Disney as the theme.”
“Let me guess,” I interject. “You went as Belle?”
“Yep. I showed up in a poofy yellow dress.” Belle cringes. “And . . . I was the only one. Everyone else ditched the theme and went with your usual assortment of sexy witches, zombies, and whatever else they could find at the Halloween store. We ended up detouring to Powell’s Bookstore along the way. It’s this awesome used bookstore, which takes up three stories of an entire city block. They have everything there. Rachel insisted on getting glamour shots of me among the stacks. The club had them up on their Facebook page for a while. After that, I was Belle.”
I make a mental note to look up the group later, because now I’m picturing her in a yellow dress surrounded by books. Which is making me rather uncomfortable in the crotch.
“What about you?” she asks. “What’s the deal with Nova?”
“Oh . . . um . . .” I hedge. Before I can answer, she’s stopping and pulling her phone out.
“Indian paintbrush,” she exclaims, pointing her phone at a red flower tucked next to a twiggy bush. “I haven’t seen this one yet.”
Belle spends the next couple of minutes taking pictures of the plant. Her desire to stop and see the flowers is rubbing off a bit, and I also spend the time admiring the flower instead of her enticing curves. Not that I don’t take a moment to admire those too.
“So, Nova?” she asks, tucking her phone away as we start back up.
I let out a huff. “Do you know those science programs on public broadcasting?”
It only takes a moment for Belle to reach the answer. “Nova. Got it. Wouldn’t have pegged you for the type.”
“I know it doesn’t fit the whole surfer vibe, but it’s true. I would record them on the DVR during the week and if I couldn’t go to the beach, or if the guys and I weren’t hiking once I moved east, then I would spend the weekend watching episodes. It’s part of what led to my passion for computers. I could spend all day tearing them apart and putting them together. Coding too. I finished my degree in computer engineering before coming out here, but I haven’t decided what to do with it yet. Guess I’m looking for the right place to excite me.” Belle looks back at me, a warm smile on her lips. “What?”
“Your passion. It’s infectious, you know,” she parrots my words with a wink. “I’m sure you’ll find the right place to appreciate you.”
My mouth curves up in a grin, and I doubt I’ll be able to stop smiling for the rest of the day. We move onto more typical get-to-know-you type questions. Favorite color? Dream car? Xbox or PlayStation? Though she favors Nintendo. All mingled with more flora and geology facts, of course. By the time lunch rolls around, I don’t want to stop. Hiking with Belle is even better than I imagined it would be.
***
We catch up to Bats and Grinder around noon when the trail crosses a dirt road. Bats is leaned back against his pack, looking half asleep, while Grinder appears irritated. I help Belle out of her pack, then excuse myself. As I search for a spot to relieve myself, I notice Grinder following me. “What’s up?” I ask, stopping behind a tree.
“We got here forty-five minutes ago.”
I shrug. “So?”
“Are you going to be in camp before sunset?”
I yank my zipper up and spin on him. “Yes, Dad. I’ll be home before curfew.”
As I turn to head back, Grinder grabs my arm to stop me. He lets out a long sigh, full of concern and worry. “We’re a trio. You. Me. Bats. We’re here to do this together.”
I sigh. “Yeah. I know. I’ll be in camp tonight. Promise.”
There are more questions in Grinder’s eyes, but he’s holding his tongue. He’s said what he needs to, and we both know it.
We walk back to the trailhead in silence. Bats has his pack on already and helps Grinder into his. I give them both fist bumps and they head up the trail without me. Can’t say it’s a good feeling, watching them go.
“Everything okay?”
I follow the soft tones of that voice over to Belle, who’s digging into a tuna packet with some crackers and her remaining jerky and trail mix from the morning portions. I force a smile, but looking at her makes it easier to do. “Yeah. All good.”
Her eyes wander to the trailhead Bats and Grinder headed down. “Grinder seems a little pissed.”
“Nah. He suffers from ‘resting dickface.’ He’s a glittery teddy bear once you get to know him.”
Belle laughs, and it’s the best thing I’ve heard since leaving to start this trip. “Maybe if I saw him covered in glitter, I’d believe it.”
We spend the next half hour chewing, hydrating, and reviewing her photos from the morning. While I feel like I’m a little closer to taking the same journey as she is, I still have a long way to go to appreciate everything around me the way she does. But I want to.
Leaving the road to get back to the hike, I let Belle take the lead for the afternoon. The next four hours pass far too quickly as we climb into the Laguna Mountains. The trail winds through more of the same low-lying shrubbery, though Belle continues to find colorful flowers mixed in with the drab bushes everywhere we go.
With each fact Belle shares, the turmoil boiling up inside my gut gets harder to ignore, as does the desire to stay with her. Belle has her own hike to take, though, and I have a decision to make in a few miles. Even if I don’t want to admit to myself that it’s already been decided. I hate admitting that Grinder’s right, but he is. I’ll end the day camping with the guys at Burnt Rancheria, with or without Belle.
When we reach the junction for Lower Morris Meadow Spring, I stand there kicking a rock off the trail and play with my straps. I want to look into Belle’s beautiful blue eyes, but I know what will happen if I do. So I don’t.
“You need to keep going,” she says with hesitation in her voice. “Don’t you?”
“Yeah. The guys are expecting me at the Burnt Rancheria Campground. It’s about three more miles up the trail.”
She nods. “You should get going then. You don’t want to keep your friends waiting.”
I let out a long sigh. “Yeah. I’ll probably have to throw down my sleeping bag and sleep under the stars by the time I get there.”
She nods, biting her lip. Fuck, I’d like to bite that lip too, but that won’t make this any easier.
“You know . . . it’s a long trail,” Belle says, and I nod. “Maybe I’ll see you again along the way?”
My head snaps up, my gaze meeting hers. “That would be great.”
She smiles and nudges me down the trail. “Get going. No sense making Grinder any more irritated. You’ve got to put up with him another five months.” She sighs and looks down her own trail, then nods at me. “Be seeing you, Nova.”
“Looking forward to it, Belle,” I tell her, as she heads down the trail that I wish I was taking.
The next hour is a blur as I make my way along the trail and drag my sorry ass into camp, ready to drop my pack and fall asleep. I’m already missing Belle, but there’s nothing I can do about it. Grinder will march us thirty miles up the trail tomorrow and I’ll never see her again.
Grinder makes his way over to me and holds out a cup of Gatorade. Hike, hydrate, eat, sleep. That’s the Grinder way. He knows I’ll be moody for a few days, and he’s okay with that. “She seemed . . . okay,” he says.
“Yeah” is all I can say in response.
“I haven’t torn down my burner yet if you need it.”
“Thanks. Give me a minute. I’ll be right there.”
He claps me on the shoulder and heads for his tent.
Twenty minutes later, I’m leaning back, waiting for my dinner to finish cooking, when Bats chuckles from his swaying hammock. “What?”
“Grinder’s going to be pissed,” he says, then points toward the trail.
A brown-haired angel is walking into camp. Springing from my seat, I rush over to meet her. “I thought you were staying in the meadow?”
“Someone told me it was pretty brown. Turns out, they were right.”
“Do you need a place to camp tonight?”
“Maybe. Got room for one more?” Belle asks, pushing a loose strand of hair back.
A big, goofy grin takes hold of me. “Of course. If you don’t mind sleeping under the stars.”
She smiles back, and it brightens everything around her. “I’d love to.”