into the wilderness - h.s.

one

{Tenerife Sea - Ed Sheeran}

Part I

October

"Ma'am, you can't take your Chanel perfume into the wilderness with you. I'm sorry, but we are going to have to take it." The lady with the ugly green jungle hat said. She was going to confiscate my Chanel perfume! That is so not okay with me.

"No, I need that. You can't just take it away." I was beginning to wonder why I had let Jacob talk me into this in the first place. He had pulled a lame joke, bribing me with the fact that it was in California. California my ass. It was nowhere near the city, and the closest In-n-Out was two miles in the other direction.

When Jacob had come home from work three weeks ago and laid the beautifully designed brochure in front of my nose, I immediately knew something was up. He went away with his dad occasionally. They would hike in the mountains and sleep under the stars. In all honesty, it sounded very romantic; staring at the stars all night with the love of my life. And that's how I thought it was going to be, until yesterday when Jacob got called away on "business."

He had still insisted I go, as "I would be so proud of you, honey. Climbing mountains, just like me." Just like him? Please. I didn't know the first thing about how to survive in the wild, which was why I was part of this group mess.

"You can have it back when you return, in three weeks time," jungle lady said with a bored expression. I sighed and handed it over. I walked back to the waiting area of the bus station, over to a section marked "Yosemite National Park, Wilderness Tours."

There were a few other people sitting there as well. I checked my watch, which told me there was only thirty-five minutes left until the bus would take us to our starting point, at the top of the mountain. I sighed again, and shifted my backpack higher on my back.

I went and found an empty seat to sit down and wallow. This would be much more interesting if Jacob had been able to come with me as well. I pulled out my phone and decided to call him one more time. He hadn't answered any of the other phone calls I had placed earlier this morning.

As the dial tone filled my ear, I looked around at the other people sitting near me. There was a tall, thin girl sitting next to a very fit man. They were dressed in matching work out uniforms, and both had their blonde hair pulled back with grey headbands.

Across from them was a lady with dark skin who looked to be in her early 30's. She was reading a magazine that had a picture of an athlete on the front. Most likely Sports Illustrated, I thought.

The line went dead when Jacob wouldn't answer his phone. I uttered yet another sigh of frustration and tossed the phone onto the chair next to me.

"Troubling day, honey?" I looked up and saw a man standing in front of me with his hands on his hips. He was short, a little pudgy, with a mess of tight curls on his head, and he was wearing bright pink basketball joggers.

"Uhm, sort of," I said with uncertainty in my voice that he must not have been able to catch, because he picked up my phone and sat down where it had once been.

"Oh, honey, I know how you feel. Trust me. I'm Tristan Jackson, and I've had my fare share of bad days," he said with such enthusiasm. I was beginning to like this kid. "Tell Tristan what's going on."

I normally don't like it when people talk about themselves in third person, but I let this one slide. "It's my boyfriend-" I was interrupted.

"Honey, I've had lots of experience when it comes to boyfriends. I'm full of tips. How can Tristan help?"

"Well, my boyfriend, Jacob, he's the hiker, was originally going to come on this trip with me. But he got called away on business at the last minute and won't answer his phone, and I really don't want to be here, but he insisted I come and..." I just rambled on and on. I knew I would make myself cry.

"I see. Well it sounds like Jacob here is blowing you off on purpose. No man who is dedicated enough to their girl would blow them off for business." Tristan had grabbed my hand in an encouraging way.

"Jacob would never do that on purpose."

"Maybe you're right. Other than that, this Jacob sounds like a decent man, especially for dating a girl like you, Harper."

"Thank you, Tristan. Even though I've know you for like," I paused and looked at my watch, "two minutes, you've been very encouraging. I'm glad you're coming on this trip."

"You're welcome, honey. Now let's go make Jacob proud!" He practically shouted, earning the attention of the younger African American sitting across the way.

"Tristan, what did you do now?" the girl came to stand in front of him, arms crossed over her chest.

"I found a new friend, Layla," Tristan replied to the girl. "Her name is Harper."

The girl named Layla smiled and laughed. "Alright, alright, come on you big goof. Let's go get our bags. We're about to leave."

They walked in the direction of the parking lot, Tristan talking animatedly. I sighed and turned back to my phone. I shut it off completely and stuck it down into the very recesses of my backpack, where I wouldn't be able to find it till the end of the three weeks.

After a while, the same lady who had tried to take my perfume came over and told us to gather our things and follow her. We all stood and filed out neatly behind her, like kindergarteners on the first day of school. Tristan maneuvered to the front of the group, and immediately started a conversation with Jungle Lady. I laughed silently and stayed at the back of the line.

Jungle Lady led us out back to a small yellow school bus. She told us to board the bus and find a seat. She said our tour director would be along shortly. I took a seat near that back of the bus and leaned my back against the window and closed my eyes. I did deep yoga breaths before I opened my eyes.

I turned to look out the window. And that's when I saw a tall man wearing black skinny jeans and brown hiking boots walking towards our bus. I wasn't quite sure of his decision to wear dark jeans on a three week hiking trip, but that's his choice. I'm sure the tour director would get on him about it later.

As soon as the stranger stepped onto the bus, the driver closed the door and fired up the engine. Had the tour director already gotten on the bus? Maybe it was the driver. Do old men direct wilderness tours? Hmmm.

The stranger with the black skinny jeans tossed his bag into the first seat. But instead of sitting down, he stayed standing at the front of the bus. With one hand, he grabbed the back of the driver's seat for stability, and pushed the other hand through his chocolate curls. His green eyes scanned the bus, studying each person individually. When his eyes landed on me, his lips pulled into a small smirk, but then he moved on, looking at Tristan and his friend Layla in front of me.

The stranger cleared his throat. "My name is Harry Styles and I am going to be your tour director."

a/n added 15.04.2015 : if you don't like this chapter, skip to chapter 13 and see what you think. I promise it gets better as my writing and the the plot improves.

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lje