We Fell In Love In October

Session 7.2

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let me in | grouplove

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"WHERE ARE YOU taking me, Jayce?" I groaned, balancing my palms on my knees and heaving. "I regret telling you that I am a sporty person. Come on, I haven't gone trekking in a decade or so."

"This isn't trekking. This is just a slope you have to climb," he informed me, trying to sound polite. I grumbled under my breath. The long list of chores waiting for me back home made cameos in my mind. Was I wasting my time? I didn't know. Did I feel like I was wasting my time? Absolutely.

"How are we going to get back? Do you know the way? Have you come here before?" I shot question after question.

I had made a harmless comment about how nice it would be to take a picture of him in an amazing place with a jaw-dropping view. Stacey and I were big about scenic places with jaw-dropping backgrounds. When we went on trips together, we liked to come back with the best pictures. We were getting old, you know. Pictures were the most effective cues to trigger memories. Prettier ones were bonus perks.

Haze and Remy disagreed with us spending so much time on pictures, saying that the most beautiful ones were candid clicks. But what fun would it be when you aren't goofing around with poses and making faces at the camera. Right?

Jayce had taken my demand for a photogenic place seriously and decided to take me on a trip into the woods. I knew for a fact that it wasn't his enthusiasm for pictures that fueled this long walk but were the adventures he missed. The joy in his eyes told me everything I needed to know.

"Firstly, I know the way around this place like the back of my hand. I found this place last December but I haven't come here in Autumn. I've heard it looks best in this season," he said, walking further.

"What is on the other side? If it isn't worth it, Jayce, you should do whatever I say," I said and he stopped to turn around and look at me."Like whatever!"

"And if it was? Will I get to order you around?" The end of his mouth curved.

"Yeah, just once though," I said and attempted to join him where he stood. I heard a branch I stepped on give out under my foot and before I could fall, Jayce's hand clasped onto mine. I clutched my chest and breathed out after he helped me gain balance.

"Thank you," I told Jayce and he nodded, scanning me to check if I was okay.

"It's just a few steps away. Come on," he said, still holding my hand. I smiled at the warm gesture and intertwined our fingers together. For a second, Jayce's fingers went limp against mine but he closed the tiny gaps and squeezed our hands together. There weren't any butterflies flying around but a cloud of all the good feelings in the world enveloped me. I could feel it. We climbed up the slope together as we laughed at each other's slips now and then.

Every step we took echoed with a crunch of leaves and twigs underneath. There was something so nice in being the only two people in the quiet woods, with the sound of the breeze and the leaves rolling onto each other as our only company.

"And... here we are," Jayce announced and I waited for him to move. "If I am confident about one thing in my life, it's that you will love it."

"Confidence is a good look on you, big man," I said and he rolled his eyes. "Now move."

He shifted and came around to stand beside me.

Like a narrow strip of land separating the sea into two, a black metal bridge divided the river of leaves. The bridge outlined the ups and downs of the slope, curving here and there and leading down to something turquoise. Through the rail-thin trees huddled before the end, I tried to make out what the blue was.