Honey | Gini

Four

Gina's POV

The wind rustles the leaves of the trees around us, and twigs snap beneath my tires as we roll down a thin dirt path. It's nowhere near as smooth as the road was, so I have to brace myself for the jolt every time there's a rock sticking out of the soil. I hear the river like TV static getting louder the closer we get.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Nini checks. 

"Yes," I say. "We're almost there."

Two minutes later, I reach a steep drop in the path and hop off my bike. I glance back at Nini who's still looking unsure, but she follows me as I start walking my bike down. Then the tree branches lift up, unveiling the river. It must be four times as wide as a road, but there's a small island of trees splitting it in the middle, blocking the larger part of the river from sight, so what we see is only a thin stripe of rushing water. Nobody else is around here. It's just us and Mother Nature. 

Nini gazes around in wonder before saying, "I didn't see this on the map."

"It wasn't," I respond. "I found it on Google Satellite."

She smiles a little, saying, "Is that cheating?"

"I think it's just being resourceful," I counter.

Nini sets down her bike sideways on the grass, and I lay mine next to hers. She strolls out to where the rocks begin to dip down into the water, stopping before her shoes can get wet. Then she points up the river at a log that bridges over the river across to the island. 

"That's a good place for a picture," she says.

While she tosses down her backpack and runs over there, I get out my phone and open up the camera. She climbs up and carefully walks across into the centre of the log. The breeze blows her hair over her face as she spins to face me, and she has to reach up to brush it out of the way. The log is only actually wide enough for her feet, so every time she wobbles, I flinch, not wanting to see her fall. But she's not worried about falling. Instead, she spreads her arms out like an eagle and gives me a big smile. Right after I press the button to take the photo, I hold for a moment, noticing the way the sunlight sparkles off the tip of Nini's nose and lights up the pink of her cheeks. She really is stunning. Honestly, I don't think I've ever met anyone as pretty as her. 

"Did you get it?" Nini asks, which snaps me back to reality.

"Uh, yeah."

I expect Nini to come back down off the log, but rather than doing that, she waves for me to come up. 

"Uh, no, thanks," I say. 

"Oh, come on," she insists. 

"My balance isn't that great." Actually, it isn't bad on a regular day, but right now, my legs kind of feel like they won't be able to hold me up straight. 

"Really?" Nini replies. "Didn't you do, like, a thousand years of gymnastics? That involves balancing."

"Just because I did gymnastics doesn't mean I was good at it."

Nini tilts her head. "Says the girl who can do, like, eight handsprings into the splits."

She looks at me, and something about that is more convincing than words. 

"Fine," I say. 

I put my phone and backpack down on the grass, deciding they're safer there than over the water, and then I go over to the end of the log. As I take a step up, Nini's hands reach out for mine, and I take them, feeling a lot more at ease. Once up, she walks backwards, pulling me across. While her eyes are down at her feet, watching her step, mine are stuck on her, noticing the way she bites her lip a little while she's concentrating.