I pictured myself doing all of the things Jack had talked about. Hiking, camping, kayaking… I’d never done any of it, and I would have said just a couple of days ago that it was too far out of my comfort zone. But how could I say that for sure if I never tried?
Then again, how exactly did one go about going on a hike when one had no car and no survival skills?
I only knew one person who would be able to say for sure, and luckily I’d just been added to a group chat with him.
I took a deep breath and looked down at the list of group members, using process of elimination to find Jack’s number; there were two that didn’t have names next to them, and one of those had a picture of a blurry figure with a lilac buzz cut. So I tapped on the other one – the one without the photo, though I could easily picture the golden blonde hair and chiselled face that should be there – and messaged Jack, trying to suppress the images that flashed in my mind from my little replay a few minutes ago.
So how does one… hike?
Then, for good measure, I added:
(This is Morgan, btw.)
And then, probably not good measure anymore but equally urgent:
(I got your number off the group chat. Sorry if that’s weird.)
I regretted the last message almost as soon as I’d sent it; of course it was weird that I texted him within ten minutes of having access to his number, and no amount of apologising would make it less so. But the only thing worse than the message would be deleting it and having him be able to see that I’d deleted a message. So I stuck to my guns, staring at my phone as if I could summon a reply.
Nearly two minutes later, it worked. He started typing. And ten seconds after that, his message came through:
One finds a hiking buddy. Free Friday evening?
Also, +200 XP for asking. Nice one.
Chapter10
Jack
“Pass me that, will you?”
Chloe reached into the Defender for the bug hotel I’d made for Mum out of some scrap lumber, foraged twigs and paper straws. She heaved it over the low hedge bordering the front garden, and I was surprised yet again at how heavy it was, despite the fact that I’d made it. It was massive for a bug house, nearly a metre tall, but she’d insisted she needed one that size for the back garden, and arguing with Mum was almost always futile.
“I hate these things,” Chloe said, dramatically shivering as she handed it to me. “They just get covered in spiderwebs, so they trigger my arachnophobiaandmy trypophobia all at once.”
“Well, helpfully you don’t have to look at it anymore,” I said, placing it on Mum’s front step facing away from Chloe. I walked the long way round through the gate back to the car where Chloe was waiting in the passenger seat, then drove it back up to drive it over the hill to mine.
“I need to say hi to your mum,” she said. “I haven’t seen her in ages.”
“Yeah, well, gird your loins, because she wants to set you up with?—”
“Let me guess,” Chloe said, “her friend’s daughter recently came out as gay?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know about the recency, but I’m afraid it’s a colleague, not a friend.”
“Damn,” Chloe said, smacking her thigh. “So close. It’s fine, I’m emotionally unavailable either way.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are we talking about that girl from the R escue?”
“I can’t stop insta-stalking her,” Chloe said from the passenger seat, turning her phone to show me a picture of her current crush.
“Don’t shit where you eat,” I said, not even looking. I’d seen half a dozen pictures already since I’d picked Chloe up.
“She works at the actual rescue, not the headquarters,” she explained for the third time.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Seems complicated.”
I could practically hear Chloe roll her eyes as I put the car in park. “Every form of romance is too complicated for you. You’re hardly the barometer I’d use for normal dating habits.”
