What I Wish Happened

Chapter Eight

It's Thursday, two more days until I go to New York to see my Dad. I run my hair straighteners down the length of my hair one last time before resting them on the heatproof mat, turning them off and walking into my room. I pick up my phone and see I have a message from Leo.

I know you don't want to be 'with' me but do you have anything important at school today? - Leo

Not that I know of, why? - Vee

Do you want to do something reckless? - Leo

Always. - Vee

Wear comfortable shoes, I'll pick you up in 20 - Leo

I smile and run back into my closet throwing my school uniform into the hamper and grabbing my workout gear, slipping into my workout shoes. I pull my previous pristinely straight hair into a tight ponytail. I run down the stairs, into the kitchen, I sit at the kitchen island as Mom passes me my coffee, "No uniform today?" I smile and sip on my coffee, "I have phys-ed first." I lie but Mom seems to believe it. River walks in and smiles as he looks me up and down, "Phys-ed first?" I nod and he gives me a knowing wink, he takes a chocolate bar from the cabinet, stuffing the entire thing in his mouth. "Do you need a ride to school." He winks and smirks at me, "No, I've sorted a ride." he nods with a cocky expression on his face, I just shake my head and look away, placing my now empty coffee mug in the sink to be cleaned, I kiss my Mom's cheek as I pass her, and hit River on the back of the head as I pass him, I strock the dogs as I pass the open the door just as Leo stops outside the gate.

I run over to meet him, "Hey." I say with a smile on my face, he places a bike helmet on my head and clicks the fascinator together he climbs off the bike and gestures for me to climb onto the front, I give him a panicked look, "You said you wanted to learn to ride." I smile and jump on, holding the handles tightly in my hands. He smiles at the sight of me on his bike, He explains the general information about how to drive, he climbs on behind me and wraps his arms around my middle. "Go, Nova!" I speed in the direction he points me in. We speed down the roads, we go as we get onto more remote roads, animals start popping out into the roads. The second a horse leisurely walks onto the road I let out a large scream, I end up swerving and barely missing a collision, I let out a throaty laugh as I speed towards the layby Leo directs me to. I put down the peg and climb off taking off my helmet, I start jumping with excitement, "That was amazing!" he smiles as I jump in front of him "I loved that!" I pull him in for a hug and the second I realise what I'm doing I pull away and look him in the eyes, our faces are millimetres from each other, I take a deep breath before I pull away, and step back leaning on the bike. "Um, Nova, can I?" he points to the seat and step away as he lifts it revealing a compartment filled with his bag and two water bottles. he hands me one and I look at him with questioning eyes. "What? We are hiking."

We've been hiking for twenty minutes and I see nothing reckless for miles. "I barely call hiking reckless." Leo turns to me with a smirk on his face, "I'll let you know, hiking can be very reckless, we could get lost up here and only have these water bottles to survive up here." I give him a slightly annoyed look, which only makes him laugh, "Patience young one, this is only the journey, we will get somewhere reckless soon." I sigh, "You are only 19 days older than me." He stops in his tracks and turns to me, "How do you know my birthday?" I smile and step towards him, "I know it's 19 days before mine, so happy birthday wise old man." He smirks at me, "Hey, I'm only 18." I turn to him as I walk away, "Then stop talking like a 118-year-old." He jogs slightly to catch up to me, "you know that if I was still in the UK, I'd probably be ditching college to go to a pub to get pissed right now." I look up to him and smile. "Are you ever going to tell me where we're going birthday boy?" He smirks and runs his fingertips down the length of my forearm, and intertwines our fingers. We jog slightly until we reach a clearing, which brings us out to a cliff edge that drops to a natural pool, "What are we doing here?" I turn to look at Leo and he's pulling off his shirt and kicking off his shoes, "We are here to swim, Hermosa." My eyes widen as he strips to his underwear and runs pass me jumping into the pool below. I smile as I hear him shout with joy, his scream suddenly muffled by the sound of his body and the water coming into contact. "Nova! Your coming or what?"