Sweet Sickness, Literally.

Chapter 2

Aaron stood beside her now, on a platform overlooking a ravine that led to the ocean just west of them. A trail weaved its way along the edge of a cliff on the right side of the plunging drop, greenery and caramel soil illuminated by the setting sun.

"Hell no," Rhiannon said, wide-eyed. "Absolutely no way."

Over the past few weeks, he had led her to some of the most magnificent places she hadn't known existed. Rhiannon tried to ignore the pestering question in the back of her mind that tainted every experience: why was he doing all this? Hanging around a cancer patient that could very well die? Did he feel bad? Maybe she reminded him of his mom that he missed so greatly.

Aaron never treated her anything short of capable. It didn't stop him from making comments that she would've found insensitive coming from anyone else, but somehow, they had an understanding that she enjoyed it. Enjoyed having someone who didn't walk on eggshells around her. In fact, he walked on the thickest, strongest steel ever made.

"Come on, the view at the end is worth it," Aaron attempted to convince her.

"Is it worth dying?" she asked as she studied the drop that would leave her splattered on the ground if she lost her footing.

"You're impossible" Aaron chided. "I'll carry you if the wobbly chemo legs give out." Rhiannon gaped and hit him in the arm, but she couldn't hide the smile that played across her lips.

Without another word, he started down the trail and beckoned for her to follow. With a growl, she stomped after him, willing her eyes to avoid the river that flowed forty feet below.

"Let's walk a little faster so we get there before the sun sets," he remarked from ahead. She picked up her pace, trailing his fearless gait with a nervous shuffle of her own.

Rhiannon gasped as her foot slid on a rock that tumbled helplessly to the ravine below. As she peered over the edge, she couldn't help but imagine herself doing the same.

Aaron reached a hand behind him, offering her support that she desperately sought. As Rhiannon gripped his fingers in her own, he looked down at their interlocked hands and froze, then met her confused gaze.

"What?" she demanded.

"Nothing," he said, snapping from the trance he stumbled into. "Just can't believe how clammy your hands are."

"Says you. If I were to fall, your hand's too slippery to catch me anyway," Rhiannon said, evoking one of those unrestrained smiles from Aaron's lips.

He wasn't exaggerating about the view. Golden rays played over the mountainous landscape, casting shadows where the foothills met the sand of the beach below. Towering rocks of all different sizes peaked from below the ocean's surface as waves crashed against their jagged faces.

"Wow," Rhiannon breathed, at a loss of any other words.

"That's all?"

"I mean, I've been hiking through these mountains, but never have I known you could overlook everything from here."

"That's why this spot is special. And what makes the hike so worth it. The beach is completely inaccessible," Aaron explained. She considered that.

"It's untouched," she observed. "Sometimes I think nature is better off that way. Admired, but not changed."

Aaron watched her as Rhiannon gazed towards the horizon and swept her eyes over every detail of the landscape, completely unaware of his fixed attention on her. Sometimes Aaron wondered if she noticed the way he looked at her as if he beheld the world in his eyes. He doubted it, and a part of him was saddened at that fact. The girl he looked at so adoringly had shut out the looks of others, their pitying glances and assuming expressions so often that she couldn't even see the longing in his eyes.

"You have a beautiful heart," he said.

She scoffed. "Was that a compliment I just heard?"

"Maybe," he replied, but there was no laughter on his face. She noticed that and realized he had abandoned his usual sarcasm.

"Well, thank you," Rhiannon said, genuinely.