A Stranger In A Strange Land

Part 6: Just remains of an age

Jean's POV

Saturday morning at eight o'clock:
I woke up by the sound of my alarm. Not often I had to do that. And still, after last nights events, I felt very rested and alert. I jumped out of bed, finished at the bathroom real quickly and headed out to my kitchen to have some cereal and coffee for breakfast. After I ate I brushed my teeth and put on a pair of black yoga pants that ended right under my knees and a pink workout tanktop which covered my ass and my white pair of Nike sneakers. Jared called at 0830: "Hi. Are you ready? Cuz I leave now, and I'll be there in about 20 minutes." Me"Almost. I just have to pack my backpack, then I'm ready to go. See ya in 20!" J"see you then. Bye!" Me"bye" Then i retrieved my small backpack in the closet and took it to the kitchen and placed two bottles of water, two of orange juice and two iced tea. All of then contained 500ml each. Then I added a couple of grinola energy bars and two bananas before putting a zipped hoodie on top. There, that should keep us hydrated and energized throughout our hike. I headed to the bathroom to apply sunscreen lotion on my face, arms and legs and put my hair in a pony tail. I even put on my one cap on the top of my head and retrieved my sunglasses from my entrance dresser when I put my backpack next to my front door. When Jared drove me home last night, he said he would bring lunch if I brought drinks, so we agreed on that. I sat at my kitchen table reading a newspaper while I waited for the last 10 minutes to pass by until I expected Jared's arrival. I couldn't concentrate on what I was reading: I just flipped through the pages as I daydreamed about when he drove me home. We talked about the show last night, where he told me he was very happy that I was there. He was also glad that Shannon went off to have fun with Amy, since he liked her too. That made me happy, since I was hoping something exciting would happend to her as well. He kissed me goodnight when he dropped me off. I could still feel his lips on mine, and his hands on my face when I closed my eyes. I just felt I wanted more of him, and he let me understand the feeling was mutual. I decided to let my guard down with him on our hike today, and be open to what may come. He seems so open and genuine, so I felt like I had nothing to loose by have an open mind and heart towards Jared. I felt excited about my decision.

Just as I had finished my trail of thoughts, I heard his truck pull up in my driveway. I folded my newspaper together and left it on my table and just as I washed the print off my hands, the doorbell rang. I dried my hands and went to open the door. And there he was, wearing a cap, sunglasses, a white tanktop, blue trackpants and black sneakers, and a huge grin on his face. I couldn't help but grin back. He took off his RayBans and greeted me: "good morning, beautiful! Are you ready?" and gave me a tight hug which I happily recipocated: "and good morning to you, handsome! I'm ready to go. Just let me lock up." J"Ok, I'll wait in my car" then he released our embrace and headed out. I grabbed my backpack, took my keys out, went outside, closed and locked the door and got into the drivers seat, where Jared had already opened the door for me. I buckled up, then Jared squeezed my hand before he turned on the ignition.

We took off the highway and headed for the hills of Hollywood. Jared: "Have you been here before? I know a special place I discovered a couple of months ago." Me"no, I actually have not been up here before. I don't know why though. I like places like this. But I never took the time to get here." J"then I'm glad I get to show you. The view is amazing from up here." He smiled and winked at me and I smiled back and was thankful I had remembered to pack my pocketcamera. I bet I could take some good snapshots today. Jared followed the road up the hill and pulled onto a graveled dirtroad. I now understood why he had a 4x4 drive truck: it was much easier to drive on roads like this.
He parked his car at a small, empty parking lot after a few minutes of driving on the dirt road, and we got out. It was chilly in the woods, although the sun was shining from a nearly cloudless sky. But since it was January, it was really cold in the shade, so I took my hoddy out of my backpack and put it on. We each took a sip of water, then he put two packages of sandwich into my backpack before he insisted on carrying it. I thanked him for it, since the weight of our beverage could be heavy on my shoulders further up this hill. Me"You are such a gentleman Jared. I really appreciate that!" J"well, I try to be. A nice lady like you should be treated correctly" he smiled at me. I grinned back"how do you know I'm a nice lady? What if I was quite the oposite?" I winked at him. J"well, that remains to be seen, now doesn't it? But I'd love to find that out!" he said ad he narrowed his eyes at me. I blushed at the very thought and said "Keep those compliments up, and mabye you'll get lucky" while I mentally kicked myself for being so upfront and blunt with him. J"we'll see how this first date goes and take it from there, shall we" he winked and smiled at me. Me"so you do consider this as a date? I'm down for that. I like this already" I answered shyly. J"I'm glad. So do I. I don't have much time for dates in my busy schedule, so with this time off, I'm going to enjoy this to the fullest! And I might as well spend it with a beautiful girl like you" My heart almost skipped a beat. Did I hear him right? Calling me beautiful, here, in yoga outfit and no make up? I clear my throat before I could muster a comeback: "why thank you for that compliment. And you look good yourself. But should we start climbing?" J"I was just about to ask you the same thing. So let's go. Just follow my lead" and off we went, leaving Jared's truck behind.