How to Fall Apart

Chapter Ten

I wasn't even sure what to wear for hiking. It took me nearly as long to get ready as it did for a night out. I finally put on a pair of tennis shoes because I didn't have hiking boots, yoga pants that had never seen yoga, a sports bra that had never seen sports, a long sleeve thermal shirt and a mint green hoodie because despite Carly saying it would be nice out, it was November and nice was a relative term. I pulled my hair into a messy bun with a black and mint green headband to complete my sporty look and then topped it off with a little deodorant.

I heard the knock on the door and was expecting it to be Carly but when I opened it, I was surprised to see Nate on the other side. He flashed his megawatt smile at me. "Hey, Carly was too lazy to get out." He gestured to his truck where Carly was waving from the front seat. When Carly had said 'we' the day before I hadn't realized that she meant her and her brother. This was going to be more humiliating than I had thought.

"I was going to just honk, but Nathan thought that was rude," she shrugged when I climbed into the back of Nate's big white pickup. His truck was clean and smelled like a combination of his cologne and the air freshener hanging from his rear view mirror.

We parked at Founders Park and walked across a little bridge to the beginning of the trailhead for the hill. I was chewing on my lip and looking up toward the top of the hill. "Chill Veda! It's M Hill, not Mount Everest." Carly bumped me with her shoulder and I let out a long sigh. Once we started walking and talking I realized it wasn't so bad. Carly and Nate took turns telling stories trying to embarrass one another as we wound our way up the hill.

"When we were like three Nathan used to cry every time someone flushed the toilet," Carly giggled.

"It was loud, it hurt my ears," he said, defensively. "I had a lot of ear infections as a child."

"Carly pooped in the tub when we were having a farting contest when we were four," he threw back over his shoulder. I was thankful not to have to say much, I was out of breath from the walking and laughing over their sibling rivalry.

"You don't even remember that!" She swatted at him. "You only know because Dad told you that story. And anyway you just admitted to taking a bath with your sister."

"Okay, well how bout this one?" Nate stopped and turned toward us. "When Carly got her wisdom teeth out last year she was all drugged up." Carly reached for him, trying to shut him up and he hid behind me, using me as a human shield. "She described, in great detail, how she

was abducted by aliens," he was laughing and she was trying not to. "They're green and slimy in case you were wondering. Wait though, it gets better. After the aliens abducted her they brought her back so she could have Justin Bieber's babies. Plural, lots of little Bieber babies. I recorded it, remind me to show you sometime" He was laughing and holding onto my shoulders, turning me to block Carly's advances. I was laughing so hard I was helpless to stop him.

"Well," I said, wiping my eyes, "Channing Tatum is going to be so jealous." When we got to the top of the hill we came out above the big white washed concrete M inlaid into the side of the hill that it was named for.

The hike had warmed us up and Nate pulled his hoodie off over his head. His t-shirt underneath was stuck to his hoodie and slid up, showing off his stomach. Nate was tall and lean and I was surprised to see how defined his stomach was. He had sneaky hot abs. I realized I was staring and looked away quickly, but not quickly enough. Carly was watching me admire her brother's sneaky hot abs with an amused smile on her face and an eyebrow raised. I looked away and bit my lip, suppressing the blush I felt creeping up my cheeks. I stood at the top of the M and checked out the view, I could see half the town. We were quiet for a little while before Carly pulled out apples from her backpack.