ASPEN ➵ Paul Lahote [1]

four

Aspen was having a staring contest. With shoes. She couldn't decide if she wanted to wear her yellow Converse, and risk covering them with mud, or her blue hiking shoes, and chance looking like a Clydesdale with chunky feet. What does someone even wear when cliff jumping? Or rather, watching others go cliff jumping?

Friday had come and gone and now the brunette was filled with anticipation and indecision as she got ready to meet Embry and all his friends to go cliff jumping. Aspen had emphasized more than once that she would not be falling to her near death today and that she would leave that to the boys. Meanwhile, Embry was convinced she would end up taking the plunge.

Finally deciding on wearing her yellow Converse, she slipped the shoes on and took a glance in the mirror. Her hair landed in two french braids that sat over her shoulders, bits and pieces falling out of the braids and framing her round cheeks. She wore jeans and a simple blue long sleeve t-shirt over a bathing suit. Just in case, Embry emphasized to her over the phone the night before. She knew that even a day spent outside would end up with a chilly wind filling the air, so she packed a hoodie as well in her backpack for when the sun went down.

Aspen clasped her favorite necklace around her neck. She held the large pendant in her hand, swiping her thumb over the smooth surface of the deep pink rhodonite crystal before placing it down against her chest. Throwing a smile on her face as she took one last look at her reflection, Aspen hauled herself and her backpack downstairs.

Entering the kitchen she found her mom leaning over the coffee pot by the sink. Her moms brown hair sat tossed up into a knot as she poured the aromatic drink into her cup. She observed as her mom kept blowing the flyaway hairs out of her face when they got in the way. Her father, who was never really too far behind, sat on the kitchen island with a mug already steaming before him and a journal in his hands, wire glasses resting on the edge of his nose. Aspen smiled even brighter. Whenever her dad held his journal, she knew he had ideas swirling through his head which meant he was ready to write something new. She loved to sit and listen to his stories, research, and crazy plot twists he came up with when writing a new novel. His work wasn't insanely popular, but it had its cult followers who wrote to her father posing questions and begging for more narrative and that kept him writing, and she couldn't be more grateful for it.

Standing in the entryway to the kitchen and noticing the simplicity of her little family filled Aspen with such warmth that she couldn't help but walk over to her mom and give her a hug.

"Hey!" her dad teased, "What about me, Penny?" He placed his journal down and opened his arms wide. Aspen laughed and walked over to him too, wrapping her arms around him.
"Just wanted to say I love you," the girl stated, glancing between both of her parents. She wasn't ever shy to tell her family how much she appreciated them, even as a kid. When she was surrounded with such love, why keep it to herself?

"We love you, too, sweetie," a gentle smile resting on her features. "Are you getting ready to head out for the day?" her mom asked.

"Yeah, I'm about to walk out the door. You sure it's alright I take the car? That you won't need it today?" Aspen felt bad having to ask to take their only form of transportation, but she refused to ask Embry to pick her up since he lived on the reservation already, making him go out of his way. She never wanted to inconvenience someone.

Aspen's mom righted the girls hair, placing both braids back on her shoulders, and gave her shoulders a squeeze in the process. "Of course, sweet pea. Just be careful. Your father and I are taking the day to do boring old people stuff. The store won't open until a bit later today and we really don't mind the walk. It's good for the soul."