The Note ↠ Daniel Seavey

Chapter 7

August 13, 2017
"Woah."
Me and Daniel had just hiked about thirty minutes to get to the final location Daniel was taking me. (Good call on wearing old shoes, Christina!) We were now standing at the edge of a meadow, which dropped down to a cliff with water at the bottom.
"I know right. I came here a few times when I was younger, when we came to L.A. on vacation. It's always been special to me." Daniel set the picnic basket down and looked back out into the water. "I've been wanting to come back for a while, but I either didn’t have the time or I would be alone, and it's not as fun when you're alone."
"Well, this place is honestly so beautiful," I said, sitting down on the picnic blanket that was now laid out.
"Are you still mad at me."
"Well, I don’t have my food yet, so yes."
Daniel opened the basket and pulled out our Taco Bell bags. Neither me or Daniel were great cooks, so we decided to just get something on the way. "Now are you happy?" He asked, handing me my bag of food."
"Very."
-
"You coming?" Daniel asked, getting up off the blanket.
"Going where?"
"Swimming."
"You're not telling me that you're about to jump off that cliff."
"Yes, I am, and you're coming with me," Daniel said, grabbing my hand and lifting me up.
"No, no I am not. You are actually insane, Daniel."
"Nope. You wore a swimsuit for a reason. You are jumping in with me."
"Daniel, you know me. I will probably jump and land on a rock. Not to mention I forgot to wear a swimsuit."
"One, you're not going to land on a rock. Two, I can see the strap of your swimsuit," Daniel said, flicking the strap.
"That’s my bra," I said, more like a question rather than a statement.
"Nice try, let's go."
I took my shirt and shorts off, leaving me in my swimsuit. Daniel grabbed my arm and pulled me over to the side, a little further from the edge than we were.
"I can't do this," I said, pulling my arm away from his grip.
"Yes, you can. And you will." Daniel grabbed my arm and held my hand in his. "On the count of three, we run. I'll tell you when to jump, okay?"
"Okay."
"Three, two, one!"
Me and Daniel took off running. I closed my eyes about halfway to the edge.
"Jump!" I heard Daniel yell, so I did.
-
I swam up to the surface of the water to get a breath of air. As soon as I reached the surface I heard Daniel scream, "That was amazing!"
"That was terrifying!" I yelled, swimming over to a flat rock.
"So, who's the wimp now?" Daniel asked, pulling himself up on the rock.
"Shut up."
After about three hours of just swimming and goofing around, we finally decided to go back up to the top and dry off and get ready to go back home.
"Thanks for bringing me here, I had a lot of fun," I said, walking in front of Daniel and beginning the hike up.
"I love this place, I had a feeling you would too. Guess it was just my brotherly instincts."
"Haha," I said, rolling my eyes.
We were about half way to the top when I slipped on a rock. The trail back to the top was not very safe, so it was a long fall down. Luckily, Daniel grabbed my arm and caught me before I fell.
"Oh my gosh, thank you, I could have died," I said, slightly laughing to lighten the mood.
"Well, I wasn’t going to let you fall to your death."
I looked down for a second, trying to catch my breath. I looked up and Daniel was staring at me, then he started to lean in. I froze. I didn’t know what to do, and it felt like everything was in slow motion. His lips were about to touch mine when I was finally able to pull away.
"Daniel, I-I don’t like you like that."
A look of hurt fell across his face, but just as fast as he tried to cover it up. "Sorry, I-I don’t know what I was thinking. Got caught in the moment, I guess." He looked away and scratched his neck, forcing a small smile. We spent the rest of the hike up and the entire ride home in awkward silence, only mumbling a quiet "goodbye," when I got out of the car.
As soon as I stepped into the house Christina and Nadia bombed me with questions.
"Where did you go?"
"What did you do?"
"What took you so long?"
"I think I'm just gonna go to bed, I'm tired." I pushed past Christina and Nadia and went up to my room. I changed into some shorts and a tank top before lying in bed and trying to go to sleep. But all I could think of was how hurt Daniel looked.