Mysterious Romance

Emma

I shouldn't have said that thing about wanting to climb on the rocks, I probably look silly now.

I'd convinced myself this would be the same as doing this by myself, but I'm overly conscious of Caleb's presence.

"I've never been out this way." he remarks.

"There are a lot of nice places out here." I tell him. "Do you like nature?"

"Yeah. I feel so much more creative when I'm outside." he says, flashing a smile at me.

I feel myself smile back, then look back at the road.

We're on the highway. It's crowded since it's President's day and everyone is off work, going out and doing something like us.

Traffic starts slowing down until it slows to a stop. I flick through the radio stations to the traffic report. There's an accident up ahead.

"Looks like we're going to be here a while." I sigh.

There still should be plenty of time in the day after this, I comfort myself.

I dig through my bag and pull out my little sketchbook and mechanical pencil. The car ahead of me is an interesting red pickup truck with a baby on board sticker.

Caleb watches my page as I start capturing the outline, then the texture of it. I hear his breath beside me, feel his solid presence. I cover the page with a hand.

"You can see it when it's done." I tell him, laughing uncomfortably.

"Sorry. You're really good at that." he says, turning his face away and leaning back towards his window.

"Should I turn on some music?" I ask, realizing he might be bored.

"No, I can write. Or, I mean, you can if you want. I'm fine with music. Music is fine." he says quickly.

I think I will. I flick through the radio stations until I find some classical music, then turn it on quietly.

I like to have a bit of quiet classical music in the background while I work, weird as it is. I know most people find it really boring, but for me pop music can be distracting.

He pulls out a laptop and opens it, tilting the screen away from me.

We each do our thing in silence until I get out of the traffic jam. My sketchbook on my lap, I keep driving.

"That's really cool." says Caleb, looking over at my drawing.

"Thanks." I say, happy.

I hope he'll show me what he's writing, eventually.

We get to the park before long, and I pick up my backpack and camera bag, which has a strap.

Caleb just has a regular cloth bag with all his stuff in it.

I shut the car and we head toward what looks to be the start of the trail.

We spot a board with the trail map on it. There are multiple trails.

"Ooh, if we take the longer way we'll get to see the waterfall." I realize. "What do you think, you up for it?"

"Totally!" he says, his smile not just covering his face but his whole aura.

We start, and I pull out my camera, stopping every time I see something remarkable to get a picture. There are quite a lot of remarkable things, big, mysterious rocks, eroded hills with tree roots sticking out, formations of little rocks laid out by human hands to prevent erosion, interesting insects...