Waltzes and Waterfalls

Chapter 4

"So, when did Clay actually ask you out?" Sienna asked nonchalantly, scuffing her pair of tatty running trainers through the mud with each step.

It turned out that the weather had indeed improved. There were no traces of the tumultuous clouds that had haunted the sky the day before. In fact, there was not a cloud to be seen: not even a single wisp blemishing the expanse of azure that lay before them, bordered by the mountainous terrain and interrupted only by the sun beating harshly on everything below it.

Of course, this turn of the weather meant it was perfect for them to go on their hike. Which is how Dream and George were woken up at eight thirty-three am precisely by six knocks on their door so violent that George could have sworn that it made the bedframe shake. Sienna somehow managed to rouse everyone in the house by just nine and so, by ten o'clock, they were on their way along a muddy path that was merely a parting of the ferns and thicket which led out from their garden into the great outdoors.

And Sienna had decided that, for some reason, this was the perfect time to bother George, who was very clearly struggling to keep up.

("To let you talk to Dad about the football game," she'd said so convincingly to Dream, "To get to know my dear brother's boyfriend a little better.")

"I'm sorry—what?" George stopped, turning to Sienna with a look akin to disbelief.

"Keep walking or we're never gonna get there," She rolled her eyes, grabbing George's forearm to drag him along behind her as she continued at the same pace, "I said: when did Clay actually ask you out?"

"Who says he was the one to ask me out?" George shot back defensively, because, of course, this hypothetical relationship still reflected on his pride and George was not going to let his ego be bruised by something fictional.

"I don't know—maybe because he's always whining about how you don't talk about your feelings and all that shit?" Sienna's voice was laced with sarcasm, but the words made George's heart race a little. He knew, of course, that Dream was obviously talking about him to keep the act up, to make it believable that they were dating, that Dream was in love with George but still he let his stupid, love-drunk brain indulge in it for just a moment.

But there was no way he was going to voice that, least of all to Dream's sister, and so he exclaimed with incredulity, "That means fuck-all!"

"Fine then," she flashed George an exasperated look, eyes wide, eyebrows raised, "When did one of you ask the other out and who did it?"

Fuck.

George hadn't quite thought that far ahead.

He racked his brain for anything that could indicate when Dream had told his family but nothing was coming to him, no thoughts forming and so he just blurted, "Six months!"

Sienna just watched him looking mildly confused and on the verge of breaking into laughter, and after a few long seconds filled with only the steady plodding of footsteps, the wildlife and soft chatter from up ahead, George took a deep breath and tried again.

"It was six months ago that he—that we started dating," he spoke slowly, far more controlled.

"And who asked who out?"

"It was—well, it wasn't really one person, we both kinda... decided on it I guess?"

Keeping it vague, in case Dream had said otherwise. Good work. George gave himself a nice little mental pat on the back.

"You both decided on it?" Sienna scoffed, and the pride George felt towards his deception skills was quickly lost, "What is this—a business deal?"