Evergreen Mountain

Nine | Got It

The sounds of Hal rifling around early in the morning woke me up. I groaned and turned to face him, wondering what he was doing that could possibly be making that much noise.

"Hey." he said, my groan alerting him that I was awake.

"Hey." I responded, my voice heavy and raspy from sleep.

"I'm going for hike. If you want to join, you can." he said, his back still facing me as I noticed he was packing his backpack. I narrowed my eyes at him for a moment, realizing he might be asking me to go with him as some form of an apology, to solidify the truce again.

"Sure. Give me a sec to get ready." I responded, swinging my legs over the bed and padding into the bathroom to brush my teeth and get ready.

We left the cabin just as the sun finished rising. It was early, really early. The campground was silent, everyone still sleeping. Well, almost everyone.

"You up for a longer one today?" Hal asked, motioning for the 8 mile trail.

"Sure, sounds good to me." I responded, following him as he started down the trail. I stayed behind him, not wanting to get too close to him.

"Eli said you asked about me the other day." he suddenly said.

"Huh?" I asked, confused.

"He said you asked why he was friends with me." he replied, looking back at me with a smirk. I felt my lips quirk up slightly.

"Yeah, I did. I can't possibly imagine anyone wanting to be friends with you voluntarily. I wanted to make sure you weren't holding him against his will." I answered, smirking. He let out a deep chuckle that made something in my chest jump.

"So what did he say? Am I holding him against his will?" Hal asked.

"No. He really is your friend for whatever reason." I sighed, earning another chuckle from Hal. "He even said you're a pretty good guy 'once you get to know him' in his words." I added.

"But you don't believe that." Hal said, smirking at me.

"No, I don't." I replied. I found myself speeding up slightly, matching his pace and walking alongside him. "He also said I'm the only person you hate. I feel like that may be an honor." I laughed, making Hal stop in his tracks. I looked back at him. "What?" I asked.

"I don't hate you, Andy." he frowned, a concerned look on his face. I felt the smile on my face falter.

"I'm pretty sure you do." I replied, to which Hal shook his head.

"You think I hate you?" he asked, a glimmer of worry flashing across his eyes.

"It's common knowledge." I said, shrugging. Hal shook his head, distraught.

"I don't hate you." he asserted. This was new. This conversation was starting to creep into some new territory I wasn't sure I wanted to get into with Hal right now.

"Okay, you don't hate me. Got it." I said, trying to appease him to get rid of the gnawing I felt in my stomach. He shot me a worried look before shaking his head slightly and continuing along the trail. We were quiet for a while, the silence putting me on edge. "Have you ever traveled internationally?" I suddenly asked, the view from the trail reminding me of a trail I'd hiked in Germany with Amelia a few years ago. Hal shook his head.

"I'm not one to travel much." he responded, an edge still in his voice from our conversation earlier. I hummed in acknowledgment, not sure what else to ask. "How many countries have you been able to scratch off that map?" he asked. I looked over at him, a surprised expression on my face.

"You remember that?" I asked, knowing he was referring to the map I had hanging in my room with countries I'd visited scratched off. When I was younger I told Hal I was going to go to every single one. He nodded, looking over at me.

"Yeah. All you ever talked about was traveling." he said, offering me a light smile, which I returned.

"Uh, yeah. I think I have about 16 scratched off now. Mostly in central Europe. I'm hoping to visit a few more when we visit my grandparents this summer." I added.

"Where?" he asked.

"I haven't been to the UK yet, so Amelia and I are planning to go to London for a day or two. I'm trying to convince my parents to fly out of Portugal so we can do a little cross country trip across Spain and Portugal on our way back." I added.

"Whoa." Hal said, still smiling.

"If you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?" I asked, genuinely wanting to know. Hal barely paused before answering.

"Germany." he firmly stated.

"Really? Why?" I asked, shocked.

"You talked about it so much growing up, about how much you loved it. It made me want to go. Still do." he answered honestly. I found myself looking at him, unsure how to perceive the person beside me. "What? Is there a bug on me?" Hal asked, looking over at me.

"No, just, nothing." I stammered, looking forward while trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in my chest.

We reached the highest point of the trail soon after that. We decided to settle down and eat something before continuing. The view was beautiful, but for some reason my thoughts were clouded and consisted of one person, the person sitting beside me. I found it hard to focus on the view in front of me, my eyes wanting to almost instinctively look at Hal. I was hoping he was too busy looking out at the lake to notice, because I was unsure how to explain my staring.

As we continued along the trail, I felt like something had changed between Hal and I. All these years, I guess I hadn't entertained the thought of Hal changing and growing. I especially hadn't thought that he'd remember all those things from when we were friends so many years ago. I couldn't clearly remember what happened. It was like we were inseparable one day and then completely distant the next.

"What are you thinking about?" Hal asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I asked.

"The look on your face, you look deep in thought. Didn't think you had the capability but maybe you do." Hal smirked. I shot him a look but the soft smile that formed on my lips gave me away.

"Just thinking."

"So maybe I was right." Hal snickered. I shoved him as I laughed.

"Hey! I'm not that dumb!" I defended, making Hal chuckle. We continued walking, the ghost of a smile still on his lips. We were back at the main camp before afternoon. "Thanks for letting me tag along." I said.

"Sure." Hal answered, seeming more on guard as people milled around.

"Okay well, I'll see you I guess." I said.

"Yeah. See you." Hal repeated, turning and heading for the cabin while I made my way to the main hall to get some food, wondering why Hal was acting different when other people were around.