Love Like This

2

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Jane crosses her arms, digging the heels of her sneakers into the dirt pathway. The path splits the dense, green forest perfectly in half.

"I don't see a footprint anywhere," Jane comments, tracing a swirl in the dirt with her shoe. A slight breeze rustles the green leaves hanging above her, causing goosebumps to rise on her arms.

Hunter lets out a frustrated sigh, ferociously scanning the dry earth with his blue eyes. "I swear this is where I saw it, right by this tree stump." He lightly kicks the stump as if it will magically make the footprint appear.

Jane watches Hunter with mixed feelings. The 30 minute trip to Hollow Falls wasn't particularly unpleasant, just a little quiet and awkward. Hunter tuned into his favorite country radio station and hummed along to the comforting rhythms while Jane chose to silently show her opposition to his music choice by propping her feet up on the dashboard. The boy struggled not to kick her out of his beloved truck right then and there, but that didn't stop him from slamming the brakes every now and then to make her sit up in her seat.

"Maybe it was near a different stump," Jane weakly offers, picking at the flaking, red polish on her nails.

"Let's just keep looking," he replies, walking down the trail.

And so the pair continues to travel deeper into the woods, ducking under low branches and stepping overgrown weeds in search of the next camping site. Most of the sites look like giant, circular patches of dirt surrounded by trees. After scavenging every one of the 1o mini camping sites, Jane is tired, and Hunter is irritated. Even the fluffy, white clouds manage to bunch up and create a sheet of angry, dark gray clouds.

"We've been looking for over an hour, can't we just call it a day?" the girl asks. As if on cue, the dark sky flashes, and a rumble of thunder shakes the ground.

"The footprint's around here somewhere, I swear," Hunter insists.

"Okay, well, I can just lie to your friends and tell them I saw it. That way, you'll get your dignity back, and I'll get my book back," Jane suggests, gazing at the sky. A droplet of water lands on the top of her head.

Hunter sighs, sitting on the tree stump and looking up at the girl. "No, that's not good enough. The goal wasn't to prove it to them... it was to prove it to you."

"Yeah, yeah, can we just discuss this somewhere else? I really don't feel like getting soaked today."

Hunter and Jane head back to his car as the thunder and lighting increase in intensity. It begins to drizzle as soon as they emerge from the forest, winding up right back where they started.

"I'll race you to the car," Hunter suddenly hears himself say. Childishly, he races towards his car without a warning.

"That's not fair!" she hollers back, pumping her arms and taking long, quick strides to compensate for his unfair advantage.

Eventually, they both enter the car and relax against the rough seats as the soft drizzle transforms into an heavy downpour. And in this moment, Jane is sort of... relieved. Not only will she get her book back now, but Hunter is also starting to warm up to her a bit. It's a miracle all in itself that they can talk to each other without arguing.

"So can I have my book back?"

The red truck chokes before rumbling to a start. The boy doesn't reply right away, and Jane wonders what's taking him so long when the answer is so obviously a "yes."

"No," Hunter says.

Confusion sets in first, and then anger swirls to life. "No? What do you mean 'no'?" she furiously asks. She's close to getting those precious notes back, and now, the chance is slowly slipping away.

"The deal isn't finished. I said I'd give it back to you once you believe Bigfoot is real, and clearly, you don't."

Jane bites on her lips, glancing out the window as a strike of lighting commands the sky. "Well, I do believe it's real now."

Hunter stares at her, raising his eyebrow. Thunder rumbles the earth. "You're a horrible actress."

"Ugh, fine," she admits. "Well, now what? Are you doing to spend the rest of your life hunting Bigfoot?"

"Obviously not. We'll be able to hunt that bad boy down in a single night." Hunter adjusts the beanie on his head before pulling out of the lot with a confident grin on his lips.

"Wait, what do you mean 'we'?" Jane asks, narrowing her eyes.

"The deal's not over just yet, sunshine," he smirks. "If you want your precious little book back, you're spending the night with me out here in the woods."

"What? I don't want to go camping with you!" she shrieks, crinkling her nose in disgust. Jane isn't a hippy tree-hugger, she's an avid technology-hugger. There's no way she'd ever trade the glamorous, civilized life she loves for a dirty, grimy camping experience.

Hunter rolls his eyes. "You're overreacting. All I'm asking is for one night of myth-hunting, and you'll never have to talk to me again."

"More like myth-busting," Jane mumbles to herself, crossing her arms.

The boy purposely ignores the sullen remark. "I'll even give back your book the second after the camping trip is over, even if we don't see Bigfoot."

Jane pauses, searching the boy's serious face before coming to a conclusion she wishes she doesn't have to reach. She needs to get those notes back, and what other choice does she have?

"Okay, fine, I'll go," she agrees, snapping her seat belt into its lock. "Now, can we please just go? I have a lot of homework I still need to get done."

Hunter pulls out of the empty lot and speeds down the highway with his rambunctious thought running laps around his brain. He's fairly certain that Bigfoot is real, that the footprint he saw belonged to a beast bigger than a bear.

It's incredibly important to him to prove to Jane that he's not making up some story to get everyone else's attention. In fact, Hunter told the tale extra loud in order to get her attention. And the more he tried to prove his story true, the more of an idiot he'd look like in front of her.

Sometimes, a small crush on a beautiful girl can make a boy do some crazy things... going on a quest to hunt down Bigfoot.

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