Evergreen Mountain

Five | Hiking

A few days had passed, and I had started to settle into a routine. Wake up, eat, hang out with my friends, maybe play soccer after dinner or take a hike and then get drunk or hang out with them until the early morning hours.

Hal and I's truce seemed to be working out well. We hadn't gotten into a fight or nearly killed one another yet, so I took that as a win.

When I woke up this morning, something felt different. I couldn't immediately discern what it could possibly be, so I groaned and rolled over, the sun streaming into my eyes. I let out another groan and shielded my eyes, turning my head towards Hal's side of the room in an attempt to avoid the light.

The sound of my groaning made Hal turn to look at me, temporarily pausing whatever he was doing on your bed.

"Morning." he said, looking back towards his bed.

"Morning." I mumbled, shuffling myself into a sitting position and turning to look out the window.  The sound of crinkling and zipping caught my attention. Hal's back to me and he was doing something on his bed. "What're you doing?" I asked.

"Packing." he stated.

"For what?" Hal chuckled.

"You ask a lot of questions." he muttered. I rolled my eyes and sat up straighter, making Hal look back at me. "For a hike." he finally said, turning back to what I saw was a backpack.

"Are you planning on hiking home?" I snickered. Hal chuckled and shook his head.

"No, dumbass. Just the day." he responded. I hummed in response, looking out the window to see the sky was cloudless and the sun was bright.

"Nice day for it." I commented, mostly talking to myself.

"Do you want to come?" Hal asked suddenly.

"What?" I asked, my head snapping to look at him.

"Hiking. Do you want to come?" he asked again. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Are you just asking so you can kill me and leave my body in the woods?" I skeptically asked. Hal let out a loud laugh.

"No, golden boy. Just a hike." he said, shaking his head. I thought for a second before shrugging.

"Sure." I answered.

"You better hurry. I'm leaving in 5." he said. I threw my legs over the bed and grabbed clothes, heading for the bathroom. I changed into shorts and a t-shirt, pulling on my socks and shoes as Hal put his backpack on. I grabbed a jacket and shrugged it on before digging through my bag for my water bottle. "There's an empty side pocket you can put that in if you want." Hal offered, gesturing towards his bag. I muttered a thanks and slid it into the pocket before grabbing my phone. "Ready?"

"Yep. Let's go." I walked out the door, holding it open for Hal. We made our way to the trails, stopping at the cluster of signs to decide which one.

"5 miles too much?" Hal asked. I shrugged, a small smile on my face.

"Works for me." I responded. Hal nodded and started walking in front of me. We were quiet at first, just the sounds of our footsteps and the chirping birds surrounding us. "You know, Eli isn't as bad as I thought." I said.

"Oh yeah?" Hal chuckled.

"I mean, he hangs out with you so I figured he'd be just as horrible, but he's not. He's actually pretty chill." I said.

"Wow, so happy to hear you hold me in such a high regard." Hal joked, making me lightly laugh. I sped up slightly to walk next to him, earning a sideways glance from Hal as I fell into step with him.