✺ 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 ✺- Josh Kiszka

Part 7

We continued up the mountain, making conversation and making each other laugh until my ribs hurt. We still hadn't seen many people at all on the trails, maybe one or two people every mile. We were closing in on the summit after about an hour. My thighs had begun to hurt from the steep angles of some parts of the trail.

Finally, I saw a break in the trees ahead, and we made it to the summit. Several ledges looked out over a large forest. It was stunning. You could see small roads running along through it and occasional houses that were so small they looked like bugs. The hills were so green, and the sky was so clear and blue it looked like a painting. We sat down on the flat rock ledge, and Danny removed his bag, retrieving the lunches from inside.

"Here, I made these when we got back from your house, so I didn't have enough time to ask you what you liked, these are. These turkey and cheese sandwiches." Danny said, pulling out three foil-wrapped sandwiches.

"That's great, thank you." I replied.

He also proceeded to pull out three small bags of sun chips and a large bag of grapes. I grabbed out three waters and passed them out.

We all ate in silence, just staring off past the summit. Giant birds would fly past, gliding over the trees and past the hills. After about ten minutes, we had all eaten our sandwiches and chips and had put a significant dent in the bag of grapes.

We gathered all of our trash and put it into one bag.

"There's a trash can about a quarter of a mile up the trail, opposite to the way we came, I'll throw this out so we don't have to carry it back down."

"Thank you." Josh and I said in unison.

"Do you want us to go with you? I'd feel bad making you walk by yourself." I asked

"No, no don't worry about it, just pack up the rest of the stuff we took out while I'm gone. I'll meet you guys back on the ledge in about fifteen." He replied as he started up the mountain.

Josh and I began to pack up the rest of the stuff we had taken out of the bags and made sure we hadn't left any trash behind. After we had double-checked, we went and sat back on edge, hanging our feet over.

"I have a question." Josh said after we had sat.

"Shoot." I replied, looking out towards the hills.

"What is the most important thing in the world to you? Like if you lost it, your life would never again be the same." He asked

I looked over at him, surprised by the question. He continued to look straight forward at the hills below us.

"That's a pretty forward question." I replied.

"Yeah," he said. "But forward questions warrant forward answers. We've only ever talked about surface-level stuff. I saw him shift his gaze to me. I followed suit and looked back at him.

"I want to get to know you past just your favorite color and classes." He said. "So if you'd like to answer, the question is still in the air."

I continued to look at him, our eyes never wavering away from the others. Usually, his eyes are a dark brown, like the color of mahogany. Now, as he was looking at me, the golden sun shining on his face and into his eyes, they were light hazel, speckled with flecks of gold and green.

Wow

I stared at Josh a bit longer before beginning to answer his question,

"The most important thing to me," I started. "That could mean a lot of things, but Violet would take that spot. She's been with me since the beginning. My dad is not in the picture anymore, and my mom is gone on business so much that Violet is my only family. I don't think I could even imagine not having her in my life." I finished