Remembering Him

23.

Cass

I walk out of the hotel hallway with Max and spot everyone at a table, except for Barney..
"Hey, guys?" I ask as I approach them.
Luclin looks over at me. "Where's Barney?" I ask as I stop at the table, leaning on it.
"He slept in, so we're just gonna let him sleep. The plane ride hit all of us," he replies and turns back to his laptop where he's editing one of his photos on photoshop.
"You all ready to go?" Adam asks as he turns to us.
"I'm gonna quickly save this and put my laptop back in the hotel room, I'll be right back." Luclin says and clicks a few things then closes his laptop and carries it back into the hotel room.

-

We reach the waterfall, after like 30 minutes of hiking.
When we arrive, I'm extremely exhausted so I flop down on the grass and stare up at the clear blue sky.
Max walks over and sits beside me. "What are you doing?" He asks, furrowing his eyebrows slightly.
"Laying in the grass." I say and smile then look over at him.
"No, I mean really what are you doing."
"I'm exhausted. So I'm laying on the grass." I say and take a deep breath then let it out.
"Cool. Hey, Alesa's gonna get in the water soon, so-"
"Really?" I sit up quickly and watch her walk up to the water and pull off her clothes so she's in her bathing suit.
I furrow my eyebrows. Damn. She just had a baby and her body is better than mine.
I slowly stand up and pull off my ring. "Max you might want to take this.. I don't want it to fall off in the water," I say and hand it to him.
He smiles a bit and takes it. "Go ahead," he says and nods for me to go.
I smile and walk over to the waters edge then pull off my shoes and socks then take a shaky breath.
I'm not secure about my body. At all.
I grab the hem of my shirt and pull it up over my head then unbutton my shorts and slide then down to my ankles then step out of them and jump into the water, letting myself stay under for a few seconds before resurfacing and slicking my hair back.
I smile and lay on my back, letting myself float on top of the water and stare up at the blue sky, the sun warming the front of my body.
I stare up at the sky for a while before I start treading water, everyone who isn't in the water talking which is.. Basically everyone. It's really only Alesa and I who are swimming.
I see her swim under the waterfall and sit on a slab of stone and looks around before spotting me looking over at her then smiles and waves.
I smile a bit as well then dive under the water, swimming straight down. Two feet. Three. Four. Five. All the way down to eight feet which is where the water pressure becomes too much.
I look up at the water surface and start swimming back up.
For some reason, swimming straight down in water has been my favorite thing to do. For a long time.
I smile, getting an idea.
I decide to pull a little prank on them.
I'm three feet below the surface so I close my eyes, pull a straight face and go completely limp, allowing myself to float up.
When I reach the surface, I can feel multiple pairs of eyes on me.
I draw in a breath, making it as slow as possible so it looks like I passed out.
"Somethings wrong-" I hear someone say. That was Ross.
A splash is heard soon after and I feel myself be pulled up onto shore where CPR is immediately performed on me.
"Shit oh my god.."
"Should I call an ambulance?"
"No, we're too far off the road. CPR is the best option right now."
"She's breathing.. Right?"
"Yes. Too much water filled her lungs. We need to push it out."
A pair of lips are pressed against mine and push air into my mouth.
A smile forms on my mouth as I realize it's Max and I gently place one of my hands on his.
"Max guess what.." I whisper as Max pulls away quickly. "You just got pranked," I laugh and sit up then open my eyes.
"What- are you serious?" Max asks, raising his eyebrows.
I laugh and nod. "Yep," I say and brush a hand through my hair.
"Oh wow, that was mean," Adam laughs.
I laugh as well. "Hey, someone has to start the prank war," I giggle.
"Oh, well it's on now," Adam says, a smile forming on his lips.
Max looks slightly mad (mad Max) and annoyed at the same time.
"Max." I say and he gives me a quick glance but looks away.
I laugh. "Don't be mad, come on." I say and scoot over to him.
He looks down at me and huffs then looks away.
"Max I'm gonna make an annoying whiny noise if you don't notice me." I say and stare at him.
He's staring across the lake. A hard stare on his face.
"Fine," I say and huff then get up and walk over to the water where I jump back in and swim around for a good ten minutes.
"Cass!" Luclin calls.
I quickly look over at him.
"Come on back, we're gonna head back to the hotel, Barney just woke up!" He calls.
"Coming!" I call and swim back then pull myself out of the water and slip my clothes and shoes back on then follow everyone back down the trail, Max still looking slightly upset.
I furrow my eyebrows. It was just a prank. He can't be that mad about a prank.. Right?
I look down and remember that Max still has the ring.
"Hey, Max wait up!" I call and jog down to him where he's slowed down his pace.
"Can I talk to you for a moment?" I ask.
"Sure, hey guys we'll catch up to you in a minute." Max calls and I pull him aside.