Walk By Faith

Part 4

The lush thick grass springs up to my shoulders as we follow one another single file under a throng of trees and a path of mud as we eagerly listen to the trickles of the river we're going to rest at. The sun streaks through the leaves above us giving the area a heavenly glow, but the heat still swells around our bodies with every step. The guys ahead of us shrug off their packs and begin to pull out their water purifiers. I unload my pack next to everyone else's and walk up eagerly beside Josh and Connor.

"We're really going to drink water from the river?"

Josh raises an eyebrow as if to say, behold-thou-art-stupid, "Well after we purify it, yeah."

Connor chimes in, "It's the best, ice cold and refreshing. We do it all the time in scouts. Have you ever tried it?"

"No, this will be a first."

"Well, welcome to the wilderness! Glad you could make it." Connor nudges me as I roll my eyes. Rebecca comes up to our little group. "Hey guys," she smiles and I swear Josh is staring at her like she's a tall drink of water. Our Pa for the week puts together the purifiers with the help of Ethan and Jordan, it appears to be a syringe vacuum looking thing-a-ma-jig that's smaller than I expected. Our Pa gathers all of us around as he demonstrates how to use it properly. We all await the cool goodness as sweat trickles down our patient faces, holding our empty water bottles, ready for the fill up. It takes a few minutes for the water to purify so we all end up going back to talking in groups in an effort to try and distract ourselves from the heat. I untie the red bandana I was given this morning from my arm and soak it in the river. I wring it out and tie it as a headband, sighing at the coolness of it and sit down on a boulder next to Krista, Kendra, Elise and Marissa.

"Hey Payton," Elise's eyes widen as she leans in, "Who do you think is the cutest?" She bites her lip and looks around at the other girls who restlessly await my response.

Are they kidding? "Uh, the cutest?" They all nod enthusiastically.

"I think Jordan is pretty cute, in an adorable dorky kinda way, I like that." Krista chimes in.

"Yeah I think so too." Marissa adds shyly.

"Josh is hot, come on, tall dark and handsome, am I right?" Kendra giggles.

"What about you Elise, who did you say is the cutest?" I ask curiously.

"Honestly, Connor and Josh are super cute and Jordan is adorable, and so is Ethan but you know, he's 2 years younger than me so... yeah I don't know."

"Now Payton, stop avoiding the question, we all answered, don't be shy, who's the cutest?" Marissa urges.

"Well...I think they are all cute, in their own ways."

"Oh Payton, you have to like someone more than the other, right?" Krista inquires batting her eyes all dreamy like.

"We won't tell, we swear!" Kendra grins, looking around to make sure the guys are far enough away. I sigh, shrugging.

Rebecca suddenly comes and sits with us. "Hey, what are you guys talking about? What did I miss? Girl talk?"

Elise gets all excited again, "Who do you think is the cutest guy in our trek family?" We all turn to stare at her.

"Easy, tall dark and handsome over there." She looks back to where the guys are playing ninja in a circle.

"No way!" Kendra gasps, "I think so too, see guys, he's adorable."

"Hey Rebecca, I probably shouldn't say anything, but I was in the car with tall, dark and handsome and he mentioned you being someone he had his eye on as well."

"Shut up no he didn't!" Elise goes crazy. Rebecca's eyes grow big and she turns a light shade of pink.

"Whatever, you're lying."

"Nope, honest, we played MASH in the car and he had me put you as a potential spouse." The girls freak out in 'ooohs' and 'awws' and Rebecca becomes a darker shade of pink.

"Now that's when you know he's serious!" Marissa squeals.

I nudge Rebecca, "At least you know it's mutual so, you have a shot." I wink and she just laughs.