Page 63 of Fate Fiction

He sat at the foot of my unmade bed in a relaxed position. A more feral woman would pounce on him. I was tempted to. Instead I pulled two mugs from the cabinet and set them on the counter, filling each up with coffee and leaving enough room for cream.

“So how long will the hike today take?” he asked when I handed the mug to him.

“Oh, I don’t know, a few hours maybe? Depends on how long we want to spend at the summit. The view is amazing, probably one of my favorites here.”

He nodded and took a long sip. “I’m excited for you to show it to me.”

After breakfasts and changing and packing backpacks, we met behind my cabin to begin the hike. Everything I’d done this morning was charged with a weird energy I couldn’t dissipate. My fingers were tingling as I washed our mugs and tossed granola bars into my backpack.

Evan was standing outside my cabin, taking photos of the view and the way the sunlight shone through the trees and made playful shadows on the cabin. I watched him from a distance. I felt spoiled seeing these pieces of him. They would be a memory I’d hold close to my chest when this all came to an end.

I stepped outside and he took a quick photo of me before I could protest.

“Wasn’t one enough?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I brought four rolls of film, would be a shame if I didn’t use most of them up.”

I shook off his comment, still flustered. “So, it’s a short walk to the actual trail and then we’ll basically be ascending that mountain right there,” I gestured to the rounded nub off to the right side of the lake. “Glad to see you’re well prepared today,” I nodded at the backpack hanging off his shoulder.

He assessed it as he slid his camera back inside. “I think I need to rough it up a bit to appear like I’m the kind of guy who actually does this thing.”

“Throw it down the trail on our descent, that’ll do it. You ready to go?”

Evan gently squeezed the back of my arm and gave me a quick kiss on the head. Warmth rained down my scalp. “Very much ready.”

The initial walk would be the easiest part. The rest of the trail was a steady incline until the summit. Not particularly brutal or steep, but the kind of hike you definitely can feel in every leg muscle. I was active, sure, but Evan was ten inches taller than me and probably trained five days a week, his stride would be much quicker than mine once the actual hiking portion began.

We trudged through Randy’s bushwhacked trail that was marked with bright yellow blazes on the trees among the thick brush. I carefully watched the ground for errant roots, not wanting a repeat of Monday’s mishap. The ugly purple bruise was still spread across my ankle like a spilled pot of paint.

It was easier and easier for us to talk about nothing of importance, we covered favorite foods—mine, margherita pizza, specifically from this one place in Somerville, his, an all-American style breakfast spread, not unlike the one Sue made the day prior—and favorite movies from our childhoods—mine, Mulan, his, Spider-Man, the original Tobey Maguire one. This naturally turned into a healthy debate about the best superheroes—I loved Hulk, Evan loved Captain America, which I found incredibly ironic.

“I auditioned for a Marvel movie, you know,” he quipped. “Apparently I didn’t have the superhero ‘look’.”

We reached the trailhead, which was marked with a wooden sign worn down from the elements. The trail hadn’t been used yet this season, which was lucky for us. The chances of running into any other hikers were close to zero.

“Ready for the ascent?”

Evan peered up the trail, the steep incline was visible from where we stood. I mentally apologized to my knees for what they’d go through today.

“Ah, this is a real hike,” he mused.

I raised my brows in amusement. “What were you expecting?”

“A trail not meant for mountain goats,” he laughed.

I walked on to the trail, “come on. It won’t get any easier the longer you stare at it.”

Evan’s sense of wonder returned as we walked further on the trail. He marveled at the moss-covered stone steps inset into the ground, the ancient trees towering over us, and the glimpse of the shrinking lake we got through the trees.

We walked in silence. Comfortable silence. Enjoying one another’s company.

“You know, when Sue told me that her niece needed to stay here because of an emergency you were truthfully not what I was expecting,” Evan said out of the blue. I feared that his view of my ass from a few feet ahead on the hill we were climbing somehow inspired this observation.

“Oh?” I was out of breath from the incline, the word was more of a raspy exhale.

“I don’t know,” he mused. “The way she painted the picture made me think you’d be some weird teenager who had clearly never been among actual people. I pictured a bizarre backwoods preteen girl who’d hiss at me from behind trees.”

I busted out laughing. Embarrassingly exasperated. “You haven’t noticed me doing any hissing?”