We were all surprised when we found an old rowing boat just by the lake that Michelle led us to. Everything was still intact as if the former owners never really used it that much. It didn't matter though, cause we didn't need it.
There were indeed red-yellow bushes at the edges of the lake that made the entire area-the land surrounding the water and the lake itself- stand out. It looked beautiful. It was amazing how the little things made so much difference.
“At the bottom?” Tanya's voice called out and I suddenly came back to reality. They were all standing in a circle, chatting audibly.
“Apparently,” Peter said with a shrug. “The poor guy lost his treasure cause it sunk to the bottom of the lake and for some reason he and his mates had to leave the lake and the treasure was gone forever. Well, until maybe now.”
“Okay, let's begin then,” she replied.
“Where's Larry?” Michelle asked and they all turned around to look for me.
“Right here.” I waved. Tanya looked at me properly for the first time in a while. She looked very innocent as she stared, her big amber eyes piercing into mine. Surprisingly, she smiled at me, a small shy one. And despite myself, I couldn't help but give a small, sad one back.
It felt like all the anger I had towards her had almost sizzled away. With just that one smile. I understood what Peter said. She was very likeable. She didn't need to do much. We barely spoke and I was attracted to her, then she said one sentence about my past and I broke and I was certain I would hate her forever. The hatred was intense, just like my feelings for her were too. And then one morning, she smiles at me and everything is dissolving away.
She seemed like the kind of person that if I ever dated, we'd have bad fights but then one look, one smile, one kiss maybe could melt all the negative feelings away and I'd fall back in love with her.
Maybe that was what her ex boyfriend noticed. And maybe he was truly in love with her and maybe he still is. But then he couldn't do it anymore. He was tired of being swayed so easily all the time and he had to run away from her to save himself.
“You know what we're going to do right?” Peter asked.
“Well,” I began, running a hand through my greasy hair. “I know there's something at the bottom of the lake we need to get.”
“The clue.”
“Yeah…but how do we do it?”
“Someone will go into the lake and look for whatever’s down there. The remaining people will wait at the edge of the lake to help grab the other person when they want to get out,” Tanya explained.
“Right. So who's going in?”
We all looked back and forth between each other.
“Actually we haven't decided that yet.”
“Okay then I–” I started to say.
“I'll do it,” Tanya said.
“What? No!” Peter exclaimed.
“No way,” I said. “If anyone is doing it, it has to be a guy.”
“And why's that?” she asked, not in an annoying, condescending way but rather a I-literally-can't-think-of-a-damn-reason-why manner.
“B–because…”
I'd encountered raging feminists. I’d been caught number of times being a sexist. It wasn't my fault. I genuinely felt males were stronger and more capable and I was just trying to keep the girls and women safe.
YOU ARE READING
Fall in San Diego
AventuraHaunted by the death of his family that he caused, Larry cuts himself off from the world and relapses into depression, subconsciously craving anything that would make him happy. He finds himself lost in the woods after his swirling emotions forces h...
