Exotica

Wading

♡ Amini Howard ♡

May 2017

"You do that... on a daily?" Quinten asks, bending over, placing his hands on his knees. I watch as he starts to take slow and steady breaths.

"You're waaay out of shape." I laugh, twisting the cap of my smart water bottle off.

"Five miles, every day?" He emphasizes. I nod my head and screw the cap back on.

"Well technically I just run five miles on my treadmill but some days like today I go hiking."

"Why?"

"I strip for a living which means that I need to stay in shape plus working out clears my mind."

"Stress reliever?" He asks raising one of his thick eyebrows. I simply nod and walk over to the large boulders that were in front of us. I carefully step on them, making sure not to hurt myself in the process as I make my way to the top. I sit down and look out at the scenery in front of me, the view wasn't filled with greenery like the path we took to get up here but for some reason it was so peaceful to me.

When I'm here my problems are nonexistent.

I wish they were always like that.

I continue to stare out at the fields that surrounded us until I feel a presence. From my peripheral vision, I see Quinten sit down beside me. He was holding onto his bottle of water tightly while staring at me.

I wanted to look at him and question him on why he had his eyes focused on me when there was a beautiful view right in front of us but, it's just best to not speak at times.

"This view is astonishing, I've never been on this side of Florida." he comments, a smile forms on my lips followed by the small sound of laughter, which caught his attention.

"What's funny?" I shake my head and raise my hand, dismissing his question. "Meditating out here would be great wouldn't it?" I glance over at him and stare into his dark brown eyes.

He gives me a subtle nod while biting down on his bottom lip as if he himself were thinking about it. "Yes. I mean it's best to meditate in a relaxing environment but, it's much more beneficial when it's done out doors." he explains.

"Why?" I pull my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around my legs as I await his answer.

"Nature is healing to the soul, our souls connect with the universe."

"I don't think I'm picking up what you're putting down." he looks at me and let's out a deep, yet appealing chuckle that for some reason soothed my ears.

He licks over his lips and turns towards me, "Let me see how I can explain this without confusing you." he starts off. "Let's refer to the Native Americans, you know how people say they used some type of magic or what some may call voodoo to make it rain."

"Rain dancing, yes what about it?"

"They were connected with the universe they talked to the universe and the universe replied. The universe does everything in our favor only if we allow it." I blink a few times since I was confused on what he just said.