Where It Happened

"Remember the first time we came here?" Juniper laughs, "That was horrible. The poison ivy rash and bug bites I got were so painful."

"At least you weren't the one who got attacked by an angry bird. Now that was painful."

She rolls her eyes and looks at me. "You should've known better than to touch her eggs. Everyone knows you don't touch a nest full of eggs."

I laugh along with her and look back at the sunset. We first came here when we were sixteen. Juniper and I vowed to take a road trip together once we got our driver's licenses. So one random Tuesday morning in June we woke up early, got in the car, and just started driving.

"At least we didn't meet up with any bears. Oh god, I hate bears."

"I know," I say, laughing again and looking over at her. We're sitting on two tree stumps just a few feet away from each other, gazing at the sunset before us. She looks so beautiful sitting in the golden orange light. The blue tank top she has on matches her eyes perfectly. Her tan skin is glowing and the slight breeze is just enough to keep her hair out of her face. Juniper hates when her hair gets in her eyes and stuck in her lip gloss.

She messes with the frayed hem of her denim shorts and sighs. "I'll have to leave soon Jay."

I take a deep breathe. "I know."

I almost always forget it was her idea to stop and take a short hike through the woods.

"Pull over Jay," she exclaimed. I watched as she jumped out of the car and practically flew over to the edge of the forest. "C'mon! It'll be fun to take a hike, besides, didn't we decide to take this road trip to experience life and have fun? We can see some nature and some plants. Maybe some animals too."

She listed a ton of other reasons why we needed to go on a hike and even though I fought tooth and nail not to go, we did. I always end giving into Juniper, I can't help it.

"Don't be sad, you'll get to see me next year."

I glance at her. "Oh, sure Juni. Just one entire year, I'm sure it'll fly by, just like every other fucking year."

"Seriously, Jay, you do this every time I have to go. Just this once can't we end things on a happier note?"

I stand up and walk over to her. She rises up to stand with me, and wraps her arms around me. She moves her mouth close to my ear. I can smell her hair, a mix of citrus and freshly cut grass, the scent of her favorite shampoo. Her breath tickles my neck as she whispers to me.

"I want to go to the spot where it happened."

For two years after that we went back to the forest and hiked the same trail. And on that third year, she insisted we take a different path and like I said before, I always give in to Juniper.

At one point when we were walking, we came across a small, charcoal grey rabbit.

"Look," she whispered. "It's so cute, let's get closer!"

We strayed off the path and followed the rabbit for a while. It hopped slowly in front of us, unbothered by our presence. Juniper giggled every time it looked back at us.

"What'd you say to adopting a rabbit once we live together?"

I laughed at her. "We're still in high school, who says we'll be living together anytime soon?"