I've Been Waiting All Along (Book 2 - Rock Canyon Series)

Chapter 13 - Tyrell (He/Him/His)

Chapter 13 - Tyrell (He/Him/His)

Their laughter swept around me like a bird of prey, nipping and playful until it finally swooped in for the kill. Only instead of talons squeezing my life away, it was their entire body slamming into mine as we tumbled to the ground.

"What the hell was all that?" they said in between snatches of laughter that seemed to lift the barren clearing around us.

When I had seen them take off sprinting, I chased them down quickly, and started circling around them like a drone. They spun around and around, giggling and running, as I darted back and forth, accidentally bumping into them where the dirt road met a footpath. Thankfully, I'd been able to grab ahold of them and pull them on top of me so they didn't fall onto any one of the ten thousand boulders laying around.

By the time we'd spilled onto the ground, they'd dissolved into a pile of incoherent mush. I watched them cover their mouth with their hand while getting lost in how close the green of the pine needles was to their eyes.

"I was just helping us get warmed up, silly," I said once they had settled. "But I'm going to have to take this hoodie off if we do it again." I swiped a hand through my dreads and looked up the footpath to where it curved to the left out of sight.

"Hey, is this the right path?" I asked, unconsciously matching their eyes to the pine needles around them before realizing what I was doing.

I watched their finger poke out extra-long sleeves. They pointed at the map and showed me Nate's hastily drawn instructions. Pointing to where we were by the beginning of the footpath, they stood up and knocked the sand off the top of their boots.

"Yup, unless Nate screwed up, we are where we're supposed to be. We just go however long down this trail until we reach a red ribbon that's been left for us. Easy enough, I guess."

The footpath was considerably narrower than the dirt road. The worn-in part suggested single-file. With the possibility of being attacked and bitten by a rattlesnake not exactly lost on me, even though it was cold, I shuffled in behind Charlie, my eyes like a metronome sweeping back and forth, ready for anything out here.

I watched with fascination as my breath was faintly visible in the cool air. I had never been to the mountains before, and it mesmerized me how empty it was, and yet how full. The selfsame shape of the trees looked video game fake, and yet the feeling of walking amongst them was like being recharged, albeit with the constant terror of snakes.

The blonde head in front of me bobbed back and forth as they took in our surroundings. "Are you nervous about seeing Destiny?" I asked as we rounded a bend and saw the red ribbon further down the trail. I wanted to change the subject and stop thinking about what might be lurking in these woods.

"I think I would have been at any other point in my life. Right now? I don't really care. We weren't right for each other. She's my sister's best friend and she's never been anything but nice to me, if I'm being honest. She doesn't like girls and that's totally okay. I mean, it has to be okay. I don't have a choice," they said with a tired laugh. "But as far as being friends? I don't think we vibe enough to hang out. I don't mind seeing her, though. It's whatever."

They slowed and I fell in beside them, squeezing in tight to avoid the occasional branch hanging close to the trail. I didn't know how much trails like these were maintained but it was obvious it wasn't often.

"Now that I know you, I gotta be honest–Destiny doesn't seem like your type at all. She's hot, we both know that. But personality stuff? I can't see it, bruh," I said, kicking a stray pine cone, trying to get my next words out before I lost courage. Instead of thinking too much, I just let myself say them.