Back Talk

Ch10: Ah-Choo?

((sorry in advance for it being late, and short. but please VC&L anyway?))

"What's so secret about it?" I asked still in awe from the damp beauty of early morning California.

"Only I know about it." he replied

"But not anymore right?"

He turned around, looked at me and smiled. "Yeah, I guess."

And with that we plunged in the darkness of the forest. It felt like we were walking forever.

"Dude what time is it?" I asked. It had been at least 15 minutes of hiking and I was wore out. This is way too much physical activity for being so early. "What if Irina wakes up and notices I'm gone?"

"She wont, I promise." He took my hand and led me furthur up the mountain.

"We're here." he announced pulling back a full, leafy branch to reveal a vast cliffy hill. The sharp jagged rocks were being covered by glistening, clear, blue water. The beautiful waterfall fed into the teal Pacific Ocean. Trees littered everywhere atop the river that fed into the waterfall. 

The 'Secret Mountain' -as Beck called it- was exactly that, a mountain. A small river that had round, stony, pebbles littering the bottom was absolutely breath-taking. It was chrystal-clear and only about knee-deep. On either side of the river was a thick forest, and if you stood at the edge of the river you could see all the way up the mountain.

"It's beautiful." I said in awe of all that nature had to offer. "How did you find this place?"

"Uhh-" he hesitated "I tried running."

I looked at him surprised "Oh yeah? Why?". He cleared his throat, I could tell it was a touchy subject. "Look- I just got here, and I say a lot of stupid stuff, and-"

"No. Uh, it's alright." He ran his fingers through his brown hair. "I um, have had a lot of issues with my mom and it never goes away, although who am I to drown you in my sadness, you've probably been through some stuff too."

"Ha!" I laughed. He looked at me sideways. "Some isn't even the tip of the ice burg." I replied flopping down on a large boulder on the edge of the river.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No! You're fine-"

"No really I-"

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

We both just stood there awquardly and tried our best not to look at each other.

"Lets start over." he said taking a step closer to the boulder. "Hi, I'm Beck." He outstretched his hand to me and offered to shake.

"...and I've been an acoholic for for five years?" I asked jokingly taking his hand.

He chuckled, and sat down next to me. A sudden gust of cool air flew at my face sending my hair backwards. I shuddered and scooted closer to Beck.

"Is it always this cold up here?" I asked wrapping my arms around my torso.

"It's usually pretty nice-" he stopped when a loud beeping eminated from his pocket. He stood up and pulled out a small little flip-phone, he read the caller ID and pressed it closely to his ear.

"Hey Iris. Yeah I know where she is, It's a secret I can't tell you. Yeah we'll be there in a second" He snapped the phone shut and took my hand. "C'mon, school starts in a hour."

"Wait," I said pulling my hand back from him, "What day is it?" 

"Monday, now let's hurry!" He took my hand again and led me down the long dirt path untill we reached the edge of the brush where the Gloria fence met the forest. He stopped abruptly and turned around to look at me. He looked deeply in my eyes, still holding me closely to his side.

"What?" I asked

But he didn't respond, he just leaned in very close to my face and closed his eyes. He inched slowly towards me. Was he going to kiss me? What am I suppost to do?

Instead of pressing his lips to mine, or whatever was suppost to happen, he covered his face with his arm and sneezed.

Well that was awkward.