by Maya Riley
Gary sat down next to me and placed an arm around me. “Hey, good lookin’.” Carrie raised an eyebrow as she approached and I snickered inside. Gary was one of my favorite people in the world. He could be overly flirtatious sometimes, and it was hilarious when it made other people uncomfortable. Not everyone liked to be hit on all the time, but we had a fun game that was forever ongoing.
“Right back at ya, hot stuff.” I leaned into him with a kiss to his cheek.
The other three set their bags and coolers down. They were small coolers, only big enough to hold barely a few cans of beverages, but also made of fabric and very easy to smash down and stuff inside a pack.
Stan opened one and took out a beer. “Beer? Anyone? We have extras.”
“I’m good,” I replied while shaking my head. I’d completely sworn off alcohol for the last month. At least until I accomplished this goal. I wasn’t going to let anything, no matter how small, get in my way.
I pulled out my astronaut food. The chicken and rice was my second favorite. I’d brought a few of them. I’d already learned the macaroni and cheese one did not at all taste like macaroni or cheese. The others seemed to enjoy it, but that was the one and only food I was picky about, and I was relentless when I found a kind that I just couldn’t stomach.
After adding some of the boiling water that Carson was heating up, I let it cook for a couple minutes. I then took out my travel spoon and began to eat. I drank from one of my disposable water bottles, which could be emptied and thrown in a trash can here at the base of the mountain, and would be a little bit less weight to carry. The one that mattered the most was my CamelBak. It would be the most useful, and could provide hydration while doing the actual climb.
We spent the night getting to know each other even more, since our conversations during our lunch break had been so short. The new climbers were nice. We decided that while we came here in individual groups, we could join forces to help each other get up the mountain.
That was one thing I loved about climbers. They were always willing to lend a helping hand. They had no problem talking to people they didn’t know, and made new friends fast. I wasn’t always like that myself, but the few times I did, it was nice.
That night, Jenna and I shared a tent. Ryan and Carson were in one, J.D. and Gary shared another, and Pete had his own. Despite the massive amount of things going through my mind, I somehow managed to find some sleep that night.
The next morning, I woke while it was still dark out. Jenna was asleep and I hadn’t heard any one’s alarm going off yet. I was wide-awake, as though my body may have been out, but my mind was running at full speed all throughout the night.
Looking at my watch, I groaned when I saw I still had about twenty minutes before I had to be up, so there was no point in falling back to sleep again. As soon as I’d close my eyes, the alarm would sound. That was how it usually seemed to work.
Making up my mind, I did the awkward shuffle to put on a sports bra without taking my shirt off. I was still baffled as to why this wasn’t an Olympic sport.
After throwing on a light sweater, I quietly unzipped the tent flap beside me and crawled out into the cool morning air.
I hobbled around in the dark, having left my headlamp behind, and found some bushes in what felt to be a decent spot. After taking care of my morning business—and hoping I hadn’t found any poison ivy in the process— I moved away to a new nearby spot, sat down on the cool ground, and laid on my back. I looked up at the clear, dark sky still filled with stars.
A sound behind my head surprised me before a body flopped down next to me, and I turned my head to see Pete’s outline. My shoulders tightened and stomach dropped before I could even register exactly who it was. I startled easily.
He turned his head and smiled. “Good morning,” he greeted. The moonlight glinted off his glasses as he turned his head toward me.
“Morning,” I returned, trying to keep my voice even.
He pulled his hand up and I noticed a flower in it. Lifting it up closer to me, he brushed some hair behind my ear and placed the flower there. “Happy early Birthday, Cam.”
My grin spread from ear to ear. “That’s actually one of the best gifts I’ve gotten in years.” That was the honest truth, and the gratitude in my voice conveyed that.
His smile grew, and I continued, “And I don’t just mean the flower in my hair.” I reached over and grabbed his hand with mine, and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you for coming on this trip. I’m glad you’re here.”
“Any time.” He squeezed my hand back. “I’m really glad to be here.”
Okay, so I hadn’t dated anyone in a while. I had no idea how to go about this relationship stuff. Or, more importantly, how to even start this relationship stuff.
Maybe I should continue to focus on getting up this mountain. But this, right here, with him, alone under the stars, seemed like a really good time to do something. To tell him something. To tell him anything.
I bit down on the corner of my bottom lip, then decided to just bite the bullet and tell him, “I’m really, really glad you’re here.” There I go again, saying words that weren’t the right ones. Words I had literally just said seconds before. I was like a broken record, trying to figure out how to play the next track without repeating the same thing.
“Cam.” He leaned his face closer, but hesitated. Instead, he continued to look at me. “I’ve been wanting to tell you something for a long time.”
“I know,” I replied. It was now or never. “I like you.” My heart slowed, and the moments between the beats seemed to stretch on for an eternity. I was suddenly terrified that I’d said the wrong thing. That maybe I should have held off a little bit longer until we were finished with this journey, and then I really could focus on something else.
Before my brain could continue to spiral out of control, soft lips were on mine, and I was surprised with a smooth and sweet kiss.
Once my brain caught up with what was going on, I clenched my fingers tighter around his, and returned the kiss, enjoying every taste. I took pleasure in the brushes of his soft lips against mine, blowing my mind away. His grip tightened, as though to hold on, like it would be the last thing he ever did.
After a few seconds, which felt more like millennia, we parted in that slow way you see in movies. I instantly missed the taste of his cherry chapstick, and the warmth of his lips on mine.
I opened up my eyes again and caught his dark brown eyes staring back at me with a strange mixture of awe and worry, with a little bit of panic mixed in. I smiled, attempting to relieve any ounce of doubt he might have had.
“So, I wasn’t going to do that until this was all over,” he rushed out, trying to explain himself.
“I’m glad it happened. I’d been wondering about some things lately,” I responded, trying to play it all casual-like.
“Like what?” His eyebrows knitted together. He was so cute when he looked concerned. And he was very concerned right now. “Like... good things? Bad things? What have you been wondering about lately?”
“Just... I don’t know.” I honestly didn’t know how to phrase it. Did I tell him I’d been thinking about having my own harem of climbers, plus him? How does one even approach this topic?
Alarms began going off behind us. In no time, the others would begin to stir. Our hands separated and we sat up. The others’ sleep-filled heads began to pop out of the tents as they stumbled out, finding their way around. Everyone greeted one another, did their morning routine, and sat down.
We used the small, outdoor camping propane tank to heat up some water then made breakfast. This time, mine was scrambled eggs with hash browns and a bacon type of bag thing. It was decent, and would become even more amazing each day we were out here.
Dave, Stan, and Carrie all joined us too. Biting into my astronaut eggs, I looked around me. Several years ago, I lost everyone in my life. Some of them were even lost while still breathing. Every one of these people, sitting around me, sl
owly inched their way into my life, and they were still here on the greatest adventure of a lifetime. I couldn’t possibly be more grateful.
Once everyone was done with breakfast, we packed up camp and were ready to move by the time the sun rose. We harnessed up, tied up our hiking boots, slung our packs onto our backs, and faced the mountain. I tilted my head up and gazed at the place where the mountain cut through the clouds, and imagined myself up there, climbing past it. Excitement buzzed along my skin at the thought of being above the clouds, seeing the world from a new location.
A clipping noise caught my attention and I turned around. Stan was clipping his toenails. That was a brilliant idea actually. Everyone soon realized and it had a domino effect. Within minutes, ten people were sitting on the ground clipping their fingernails and toenails. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why normal people found climbers to be odd.
Once finished, I slid the clippers back into the pocket of my chalk bag and pulled on my climbing shoes. Slipping my hand into the side pocket of my pack, I squeezed the small metal locket before removing my hand, standing up, and walking over to the wall.
J.D. got his rope ready and we prepared ourselves to begin the first ascent. “Almost-Birthday girl first,” he offered with a smile.
I stepped up and tied a double figure eight knot to my harness loop, and he secured his carabiner. After checking over each other’s work, our eyes met and one last time, he asked me, “Excited?”
I let out a breath and grinned. “I’ve never been more excited about anything in my life.”
The first climb at the Carbolitas would be a warm-up climb for the area. This first pitch of the first leg was a one hundred foot trad route. It was one of the easiest ones here. I was already in my harness and shoes, and ready to go. I was so eager to get up this wall, that I couldn’t even stand still, which I took as another sign that I needed to climb.
I grabbed onto the rock wall and reached up. Pressing myself flat against the stone, I slowly made my way up. While chalk helped a lot for indoor climbing, it didn’t work as well with outdoor climbing. I still always kept it on me though, just in case. It was better to be over prepared than not prepared enough.
I placed a small cam in a crack, and secured it by adding a draw and then hooking the rope into it, so I was now on belay.
Sticking one hand into the crack, I made a fist and pulled, making sure it held, and then did the same with the other fist. Maneuvering my legs and hands, I shimmied my way up the fissure until I was a good distance away from the device below me, before placing another one. At the top, I secured another device and anchored myself in. Pulling myself over the top, I slid until I was a couple feet from the edge.
A tree conveniently growing there made for the perfect location for me to wrap slings around its trunk, and secure myself in by my harness, before untying the knot and dropping it over the edge, and down below.
I sat down and enjoyed the view. I couldn’t see anyone climbing from where I was secured, so now it was just a waiting game.
It was still early and birds were singing and flying around. A small blue bird pulled a worm from the ground and flew away. I loved the early mornings. Most people were night owls, but climbers loved the mornings as well as late nights. Basically, we just never slept. Those were the best times to get in some great climbs before the heat of the day burned everything. Climbing with blisters was always doable, but never pleasant.
A mop of scraggly, dark hair popped over the rock ledge and Ryan’s face appeared. His eyes pierced mine and he grinned. “Fancy finding you here, darling,” he said.
He heaved himself over the ledge and moved up to get into an anchored position. Once there, he secured his harness to the same tree I had, before untying the rope from his harness and plopping down next to me. Strands of his dark hair fell into his dark eyes as his butt bounced off the ground with the force of how hard he landed.
“One step down, many more to go,” he commented in a cheerful tone, while very lightly bumping his shoulder against mine.
I laughed and bumped his shoulder back. His gaze didn’t leave mine as he reached a hand up to tuck a stray hair behind my ear—the flower from there, that Pete had given me earlier, was now weaved into a loop on my chalk bag—and his hand stayed there for a couple seconds longer than normal.
Remembering what Jenna said, I figured what the hell, might as well get this over with. I couldn’t continue all of this without wondering what-if. So, I decided to take a chance. I leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. Startled, he pulled back in shock, and for a moment I thought I did something wrong, perhaps Jenna was mistaken. All my insecurities of the past came flying to the forefront.
These guys had been some of my only friends for so long, I probably should have thought about how this would affect all of us first. So, I quickly backpedaled. “I’m sorry,” I rushed out.
“Cam, why?” Ryan looked so confused, and I couldn’t handle it.
“I don’t know, I just thought...” I trailed off, unsure what to say. I had no idea what kind of excuse to use that would make this seem normal. I was not an expert in normal.
“I’m sorry, it’s just... I’ve liked you for so long, but I wasn’t sure if you’d feel the same. I was going to wait until after this trip to talk to you. Actually, we all were,” he quickly explained, with his hands facing palm out, as though to calm me down.
I heard some noises below, signs someone else was on their way. Best to get this sorted out as soon as possible. “I like you guys too,” I admitted. “I know I’ve been so focused on my own goals, and I’ve been blind to so many things...”
“Hey, you have every right to be. And no matter what happens, we’ll all still be here to support you.” He smiled a wide, toothy grin only Ryan had.
“Thanks,” I said.
“We can figure out this dating thing later, whenever you’re ready. But don’t worry, none of us are going to go anywhere,” he assured me.
“Neither am I.”
He leaned forward and kissed me. Not a long, passionate one, but more of a peck on the lips to let me know we’d sort it out. “I’ll wait for you however long you need me to, pretty girl.” My heart fluttered at his words.
“What if I said I didn’t want to wait any longer?” I questioned.
His eyes flamed. “Do you mean that?” he asked.
“Yes,” I stated, staring as intently at him as he was at me. “I’ve liked you guys for so long. I’ve dedicated my whole life to this trip. Once this is over, I have no idea what to do next. With my life, with anything. All I know is that I want you guys in it,” I confessed.
“I can’t speak for the others, even though I know they feel the same, but I’ll always be in your life for however long you want me to be,” he promised.
“How about starting now?” I challenged.
We both leaned forward and our lips met once again.
“Well, it’s about damn time.” Jenna’s voice interrupted us, and we pulled apart and looked over to see blonde hair poking out of a hot pink helmet, as she lifted herself over the edge and scooted toward us.
“Well, you sure know how to make an entrance,” I joked.
“Always, darling,” she answered, and pretended to flip her hair back with her hand, but only managing to smack her hand into the edge of her helmet with a thunk. After scooting over to the tree and hooking herself in, she untied the rope from her harness, yelled “Rope!” and pushed it over the edge with her foot. She linked an arm through mine and demanded, “So, tell me all the dirty details. You finally getting it on with these guys who have been after you for years?”
She grinned, practically beaming with pride, and my cheeks heated. Ryan gave an awkward cough from my other side.
“Thanks for not making this awkward, Jen,” I muttered.
“You’re welcome,” she singsonged as she smiled.
One by one, the others joined us. We were all anchored into the tree, and then Dave joined us. H
e hooked up as a belayer to the Grigri and proceeded to belay the last guy that was still down below, Stan.
It was only a matter of time before Stan joined us too. He cleaned all the trad devices as he came up, and appeared over the edge with a harness full of dirty and colorful equipment. Trad climbing gear was only ever shiny once in its life. After it was used for the first time, it was impossible to get it looking brand new ever again.
J.D. and Carson opened up the small snack packs they had and pulled out some delicious protein and energy bars. We enjoyed a light lunch together while looking out at the view. It was going to be a great day, and this was the most perfect way to start it.
The guys were different around me now. Thanks to Jenna for being the ever not so subtle one that she was, and the ever-growing tensions between us, we now had something other than the outdoor climbing adventure to focus on. Now, I got to take the one greatest adventure of my life and turn it into a rom-com.
Ryan went over to talk to Dave, and Carson sat down next to me. He looked at me and smiled, and that was it. I stared back at him and the awkwardness grew. We kept looking at each other, his smile growing bigger with every passing second.
“What’s with the smile?” I finally asked.
“Just thinking,” he responded.
Once everyone was done and it was time to continue climbing, we packed up our gear and got back into the swing of things.
We spent the rest of the day climbing to the second landing spot. It was about a thousand feet up—nine hundred and eighty-four feet to be exact—and took us the rest of the day to get everyone up there. The heavy, gear-filled packs on our backs slowed us down some, but it was worth it.
I led the whole way up, and we separated into two groups so we’d get up faster. Others had the chance to lead in the second group, but I was determined to lead the entire way up the Carbolitas. This was the thing I’d been looking forward to most since Clif’s death, after all, and I was going to be as stubborn as I needed to be. Fortunately, none of my climbers had a problem with this. It was a big reason why Stan, Dave, and Carrie wanted to break off. I didn’t blame them though; they came here for the same adventure we did.