My Summer Love Story | ✔️

ch. 8 ✰ i'm a bad beach

Akash finally plants me on my feet, indicating the five-mile trek of me being slung over his shoulder is over. I take a deep breath as I mutter to myself, "Thank you."

"What'd you say?" he blurts out, a playful grin growing on his face.

"I said thank you," I grumble.

"That's more like it," he crosses his arms over his chest. "Now shut up and look at the view."

"What view—" I turn around and see a huge waterfall splashing from the side. The water rumbles from the cliff and slithers down it, falling carelessly onto the river below. There are pounds of greenery from the sides, trees spilling over the sides, displaying its beautiful branches and twigs covered in plants and flowers. I hear animals rushing from each and every corner, birds chirping in the distance and insects chittering to themselves. The waterfall makes a huge roaring sound, but it's not the roaring sound where it makes you uneasy and stressed—this sound makes me at ease, causing me to go into a peaceful trance that I feel like I won't be able to come out of for a long time. Taking a deep breath, a shy smile appears on my lips as I feel my worries slipping away.

I suddenly feel fingers against my wrist, and I look over at Akash. His rough hands encircle around my wrist, electricity jolting through my veins. He gestures to the huge crowd of people coming towards us. "The rest of the gang is here."

I smile and look over at everyone else coming along. Once they see Akash and I, they grin and cheer and jog towards us. "Looks like you guys made it first," Manav chuckles.

"Yeah, thanks to my trekking skills," Akash snorts.

I feel my face warming up. "What do you mean?" Ayushi asks.

"Well, let's just say Reeya got tired, and me being a wondrous gentleman, I picked her up and carried her for the rest of the walk."

"I didn't get tired!" I snarl. Everyone else looks at me in question and I awkwardly scratch my neck. Then, all of a sudden, all the girls come running up to him and start praising him for taking care of a damsel in distress, when clearly, I was not in distress, nor was I a damsel!

Once everybody had come together, we all decided to relax by the cliff that overlooked the majestic waterfall. It was only 9 o clock and it was hot as a bitch outside. If it's this hot early in the morning, then I don't even want to imagine how hot it is going to be at the beach. I sit next to my girls while Akash, Manav, and Ali sit across from us. And we just stay in each other company, enjoying the presence of one another.

After about an hour or two later of sitting around, chatting with each other, and viewing the beautiful naturistic view, we had decided that it is time to hit the beach. I was already sweating in this intense heat, so I just could not wait to splash into the beautiful blue water and chill in one of the most amazing Costa Rican beaches. Living in New York City means never being around anything water-like, such as rivers, lakes, or beaches. Even though we live in an island, the only water-like thing we get is Staten Island, where the Statue of Liberty is. Other than that, we are pretty much surrounded by tall office buildings and busy crosswalks.

The only tropical place I have ever visited, besides Costa Rica, is Hawaii, and that was when I was 10 years old. It's been a long ass time since I have seen any type of beach, other than Miami, so I can't wait to refresh my memory.

Going back to the Jeep parked by the beginning of the trail means trekking another five miles, so we all grudgingly walk back. Our tour guides had separated, so now we are pretty much walking by ourselves. But it's nice to be surrounded by everyone and their wonderful presence. It makes me feel loved, and I appreciate that feeling.