Better Than The Movies

Chapter Twenty

"Watch your step!" Jace warns, urgently as I trip on yet another tree branch.

"How can I do that Einstein? I can't even see." I huffed.

We've been walking through what I assumed were the woods because of the abundance of trees for me to trip over for the past half an hour. He blindfolded me as soon as I got into his car outside of his house. I protested and argued for a while before he promised that it was worth it and he would buy me lunch if it wasn't. Even if wherever we went was the best place in the world, I wasn't going to give up a free meal.

I doubt I'm going to enjoy our destination because I'm not a huge nature fan, too many bugs and my allergies act horrendous. Of course he knew that and as soon as we stepped out the car he gave me a Zyrtec and a fresh coat of bug spray. Things like that make me like Jace a little more than I did the day before.

At the moment, he was pissing me off considering every five minutes he was running me into trees.

"Shit, my bad!" And there's another one.

"My bad," I mocked. My patience is running thin. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost," We continued walking and the sound of rushing water grew nearer. He grips onto my shoulders, slowing me to a stop. "Okay, hold on." He removes his hands, leaving my body devoid of his touch.

His hands are back in my hair which came just above my shoulders and showed off my natural curls making me feel like Yara Shahidi in The Sun Is Also A Star. He unties the blindfold, my eyes squint as they adjust to the new found light. I look around, taking in my surroundings. All I see are tall trees, large rocks and green bushes until I feel a tap on my shoulder.

I turn around and I see Jace standing in front of a rushing waterfall followed into a small river. There's light reflecting from the sun onto the water. This place seems familiar like I've seen it before. It looks like a scene straight out of a movie where the main characters jump from the rocks and make out under the water fall. Not that, that was happening today.

"Where are we?" I said in awe after staring for a few minutes.

"Kilgore Falls," I think about where I heard that from. It's on the tip of my tongue. "What? Feel familiar?" He's amused.

"Just tell me Kingston." He puts his hands up in defense before pulling out his phone. He shoves it in front of my face as I'm admiring the large rocks behind the waterfall.

I can't see the title of the video but I didn't need to. That sly bitch.

"Tuck Everlasting." The corner of his mouth twitches as he tries to hold in a smile.

It was a book I read as a child before it became a Disney movie. I showed Jace the movie last week and he cried for half of it. I knew that parts of it were filmed in Maryland and fantasized about the beautiful waterfall scene along with an attractive, shirtless Jesse Tuck, but that was all it was.

A fantasy.

Until Jace took me here. And turned my fantasy into a reality.

"Still regret coming?" I shake my head unable to form coherent thoughts let alone words. He bends down and I look over to see him removing his Nikes and socks.

"You know that water is as dirty as the harbor?" He just glances up at me, hair flopping over his eyes and resting just above his nose. "No seriously. You might get aids from that water." He laughs, ignoring my warning, before slipping into the dirty river. The water came just below his knee and looked up at me, expectantly.

"It's burning out there. Just come in for a second." I shake my head, backing up. I'm perfectly content with the nearly eighty- five degree heat if it meant staying away from that water.