enchanted

40

I had never imagined myself going on a two hour nature walk in 86° humid weather.

But here I am.

My tank top sticks to my body and i can feel the sweat absorbing in my biker shorts.

The four of us have to walk for thirty minutes, go to a pond and explore it, and then walk up a hill and back.

My legs won't work till next week.

Lucas is in front of me. He isn't wearing a shirt anymore, just shorts.

Men are so lucky that they don't have to wear shirts in hot weather.

I never realized that he had tattoos for some reason, I guess my eyes just never went to those parts of his body before. He has one on his rib cage and one on his upper arm on the inside. The one on his rib is two small little birds, his arm says something in another language.

Presley and Cristian are barely even keeping up with us. She walks incredibly slow and Cristian is a little ahead of her, looking back every now and then to make sure her legs haven't gave out.

I'm so ahead of them because Lucas is practically speed walking his way through the trail. Why and how does he walk so fast?

It is a really nice setting, there's a lot of birds flying around. I see trees and even some flowers and benches on the sides of the trail.

We haven't been walking long, but I already feel tired. Once we make it to the water, I'm making sure Lucas goes in with me. I don't leave him a choice.

I go right next to him and hold his hand, he holds mine back.

"You're gonna go in the water with me when we get there", I tell him.

"I don't have a bathing suit."

"Okay? I don't either. We have to climb a whole hill after anyways."

"But I can't swim." He says quietly, so low that I wouldn't have heard him if I wasn't listening for his response.

I laugh, "We don't have to go deep babe."

"I'll think about it."

That's going to mean yes.

——

The water is freezing, but I find it refreshing considering how hot it is outside.

Lucas still isn't fully in the water, and neither is Cristian. Presley will take every possible opportunity to be in the water swimming.

So it's the two of us trying to get both coward boys in the water.

"It's cold, I don't wanna go in", Lucas complains like a five year old.

"Let's both go in", Cristian says to him, "We should do it at the same time."

Lucas sighs and steps in closer towards me, there's tons of rocks that you step down like stairs. He widens his eyes at the chill of the water, and immediately latches onto me like a koala bear.

Cristian walks down now, an energy drink in his hand. He holds a straight face the entire time.

I whisper to Lucas as I hold him, "Is he okay? He doesn't talk much."

"He's really shy, he should be better by tonight hopefully."

I just nod and we hold each other in the water. It's so peaceful with the sound of the birds chirping and the small waves hitting the rocks.

"I can't believe you made me come in here with you, it's so cold", he shivers while he speaks, but he is being pretty dramatic.

Presley is swimming around us, splashing us in our faces as her feat kick by.

Lucas shuts his eyes tightly in immediate reaction, I can't help but laugh a little.

"Do you wanna go on the hike now?" Cristian speaks up which I find surprising, I'm ready to get out of the water as well.

Lucas nods his head instantly, so I loosen my grip on him so he can get out.

I doggy paddle to Presley because I can't swim. I find her and grab her arm, she dramatically flips her body around.

"We are going on our hike now, come on."

She pouts and we go back together, up the rocks and to the solid ground.

The four of us walk towards the hill, and I take his hand in mine.

He looks tired, but we still have a whole weekend left to seize.

It'll either be the fastest or slowest vacation ever.