Six Days: Book One in the SIX Series

by Randileigh Kennedy

  Inside was a piece of folded paper. I grabbed it out and unfolded it, laying it on the couch.

  “Is that a treasure map?” Mallory asked, hovering over the piece of paper.

  “Yeah, I guess it is,” I replied with amusement. A huge smile spread across my face.

  Day 4: Hiking the hidden water trails. See you at 9:30 a.m.

  “What on earth does that mean? How athletic does this guy think I am?” I said, laughing with Mallory. “Shit, what do I wear for that,” I added, exasperated by the thought. I always tried not to curse, but panic brought it out in me. “Do you know what this is?” I asked, hoping Mallory would have an answer.

  “I don’t know, maybe Nevada City? The guys used to go up there all the time, but it’s been ages. I think there are some trails and a bunch of swimming holes, like big rocks to jump off of, that kind of thing. I think I went there as a kid once or twice, but it’s been forever. I can’t wait to hear about this one,” Mallory said, stretching out on the couch. “Just make sure you’re back by seven. We’re going out for some drinks tomorrow night. Johnny wants us to hit up some new place with him. I told him we would be up for it, if that’s okay.”

  “Sure, I mean, I guess that sounds good if this is just a day thing. I’ll call you if something comes up,” I replied, smiling back at Mallory. She raised an eyebrow at me.

  “So it seems that you like all this time you spend with Griffin?” she asked inquisitively. “Are you finally ready to admit it?”

  I didn’t feel ready to have that discussion with her yet. I mean really, I barely knew the guy. It had only been a few days, really. Before this week every time I saw him he was chatting so much with everyone else I never even had much one on one time with him. I wasn’t even sure where he was at with all this either. I mean sure, we had fun together, but he randomly drew my name out of a wooden box, right? So all of this time we were spending together, it was really just because I was his dare. He was more or less keeping up with his end of the deal, so to speak.

  I threw a pillow at Mallory and stood up to get in bed. “I’m not answering that. Just be up before nine to help me get dressed,” I replied, smirking.

  Chapter 9

  Griffin showed up at exactly nine-thirty. Because he had mentioned water, I decided to wear my swimsuit under my clothes this time. It felt like a better idea to me to already have it on, rather than the potential of changing in the forest again. I packed a bag with some extra shoes, just in case my Nikes didn’t seem appropriate, though I wondered how outdoorsy we were planning to get.

  We drove for almost an hour, and Griffin finally let me in on a few details about where we were going today. It was located just outside of a place called Nevada City. It was considered a National Park, though a little off the beaten path so it never got too busy. Mallory was right, there were some giant ponds to swim in along with some hiking trails. The real gems, however, were the natural waterfalls and rock slides down the tree studded hillside.

  We parked the car and walked for about ten minutes, finally coming to a clearing with a pseudo beach area covered in a sand/rock/pine needle mix and a large pond. There was a giant rock formation jutting out into the pond with several teenage boys jumping off, doing flips into the water.

  “You’ve got the map?” Griffin said, narrowing his eyes at me.

  I pulled it out of my pocket.

  “Clothes off,” he said, dropping his bag and pulling out a couple of towels. “I mean, you can keep the swimsuit,” he added with a smirk. “You’ll need shoes.”

  “So I’m hiking in my bathing suit and Nikes? What is this?” I asked, chuckling. “Where will I put the map?”

  Griffin walked towards me and plucked the map from my hand. His fingers grazed mine, sending a shiver through my arms.

  “I’ll hold onto it,” he responded, smirking.

  I peeled off the yoga capris and striped tank top I was wearing, feeling awkward to still be wearing my shoes. Griffin riffled through the bag he brought, pulling out a ridiculously hideous pair of grey rubber-bottom shoes.

  “Look, I know these aren’t exactly glamorous. But these are the best things to wear, I promise,” he said, holding them out to me. “That way you can grip on the rocks while we hike, but they won’t bog you down much when we’re in the water.” Griffin pulled another larger pair out for himself.

  “Oh my goodness, are these an uglier version of Aquasocks? I haven’t worn these since I was seven. I actually had a neighbor once, an old lady in a wheelchair and she wore shoes like these everyday so she could grip the floor as she wheeled herself around,” I chuckled at the memory. “Although hers were neon green, so she had us beat.”

  “I hope they fit, they’re an 8-10. The guy at the store told me every woman should fit into an 8-10, so I went with it,” Griffin said, shrugging.

  “Ha, not true, but they’ll do. Thank you,” I replied, putting them on. They were surprisingly more comfortable than I would have imagined, almost conforming to the contours of my feet. Not too bad for rubber shoes, I guess.

  “Wow, Addie. I thought the shoes were sexy enough on the shelf, but they look even better on,” Griffin said in a teasing tone as he put his shoes on.

  “Shut up, no one can make rubber shoes look good. That has to be impossible. Even Meg couldn’t pull these off,” I replied, looking around to see which direction we would even be heading. “Show me the way.”

  Griffin took off his shirt and nodded his head towards the giant pond. I followed, reminded of the tattoo on his side that I still had yet to read. We waded through the water, and it actually got pretty deep, which made sense from the teenage boys still doing back flips off the giant rock protrusion. Once we swam over to the other side, Griffin helped pull me out of the water alongside the rocky shoreline. From there we began our trek up the hiking trail.

  After walking about twenty minutes or so, Griffin stopped to check out the small piece of paper he had put into a sealed plastic bag in his pocket.

  “Is that really a map?” I asked. “I thought it was just something cute you drew on pirate-themed paper.”

  “Well, thank you for the compliment on my ‘cute’ drawing, but yes, it’s actually a map,” Griffin said, leaning against a tree. “I used to come up here every summer with Johnny, Steve, and a few other guys. We would always have a hard time remembering where to leave the trail, so we drew it out one time,” he said smiling. “So I just copied it on here, partly for aesthetics, sure, but so we won’t really get lost. I think this is it though,” Griffin said pointing through the trees. “Are you ready?”

  I smiled. “I suppose. I am out in the middle of nature in a bikini and some kickin’ rubber shoes. I guess I can’t be any more ready than this,” I replied, putting my hands up. Griffin laughed and grabbed my hand, leading me through the pine needles. They were pushed down enough into the ground that you could tell numerous other people must have walked this way, but it wasn’t an actual cleared hiking path like the rest of the trail had been.

  After another six or seven minutes of walking, Griffin finally paused, turning towards me. “Well?” he said, motioning to the water rushing down a bunch of rocks. “Just a few feet down,” Griffin said grasping my hand again. He carefully led me down the side of the rocks. I was finally thankful for the rubber shoes. We finally reached a small ledge, well, a three foot rock jutting out of the earth. Griffin sat down on it.

  “So,” he began, pulling me down next to him, “here’s how it works. The running water has actually created some natural water slides,” he said, motioning below us. Each side of the rushing water was surrounded by even bigger rocks and lots of trees. “So once we jump down to this part,” he said pointing at a smooth section below where we were sitting, “then we just get down on our butts and we literally just slide down that part.”

  I looked at Griffin with wide eyes.

  “It’s awesome, I promise. The rocks are perfectly smooth from the water wearing them down, so it’s really
just like a slide. This part is easy. There’s a little drop off later on, a few slides down from here. I’ll warn you before we get to that,” he explained, trying to calm my anxiety, though I wasn’t sure it was working. “Come on,” he said, staring directly into my eyes.

  “Griffin, this is crazy,” I responded, smiling, but terrified.

  “You’re supposed to say ‘yes,’ remember? I promise you’ll be okay. I can go in front of you or behind you, whichever you want,” he said in a soothing voice. He had a look of boyish excitement in his eyes, a look that I had to say yes to.

  “You go first,” I said reluctantly. “Just don’t lose me.”

  “You have no idea, Addie,” Griffin said, sliding down to the rocks below. He reached up and put his hands on my waist, hoisting me down. His touch pulsated through my skin. He crouched down and smiled at me. “Adventure,” he said, splashing down into the water. Griffin quickly slid down onto the rocks, sliding about twenty feet forward down the natural slide. He grabbed onto some rocks where they leveled out, motioning me to join him. I followed his lead, crouching down so I could slide my butt down onto the rocks. I pushed my body forward. I held my torso steady and slid down the rocks, surprised to feel how smooth they were. It felt exhilarating.

  I giggled the whole way down and Griffin helped me up once I reached the spot he was at. We walked a few more feet down the hill until we reached another small ledge.

  “Unfortunately it doesn’t connect the whole way down, so there’s a lot of up and down. But it’s fun, right?” he asked, beaming at me.

  I had to admit it was fun. I had no idea a place like this even existed.

  Griffin crouched back down again and pushed off the rocks. I could tell by his body’s motion that this rock slide moved a little faster than the last one. I followed, laughing the whole way down as I slid about thirty feet through the rushing water. We stood up again, walking about twenty feet down the hill to the next slide. This one was a bit further than the distance between the last two. By the time we came to the third slide, Griffin put a hand on my shoulder.

  “Now I’m giving you a heads up on this one because I’m a gentleman. This one has a little drop off at the end, but it’s only three or four feet. The water is deep at the bottom so don’t let that freak you out. You good?” He cocked his head to the side, trying to judge the expression on my face.

  “I’ll go first,” I responded, surprising even myself. Without hesitation, I dropped down and pushed myself off the rock. Sure enough, after sliding for about eight seconds, I quickly felt a rapid free-fall through the air before plunging into the water. I let out an exhilarating scream. The water felt so refreshing. The trees and rocks seemed too simple of a scene for this type of fun.

  “Griffin,” I shouted loudly as I surfaced, wiping the water out of my eyes. “That is not three or four feet! It’s more like eight!” I yelled with my head laid back, laughing as I floated in the water. I swam back a few feet, hoping I wouldn’t be in the way when Griffin came flying over the edge. Seconds later, Griffin shot off the edge of the rock, plunging into the water.

  As he surfaced, he had a huge grin on his face. “Shit, that was a big drop. I’m so sorry if that scared you, I swear it used to be smaller. Maybe the water level is down a bit,” he said, swimming towards me. “When we used to come up here, every time we brought someone new with us, we’d never tell them that it dropped off at all. Watching their faces at the end, that was always the best part,” he said, smiling at the memory.

  “I feel like a kid right now,” I said softly, trying to hide my nervous excitement as Griffin swam up to me.

  “There’s one more slide,” he said, pointing down the hill. “Good adventure?” he asked, putting his hand on my waist. I bit my bottom lip.

  “Great adventure,” I responded softly. Griffin moved closer to me, and I felt a slight shiver run through my body.

  Right in that moment, a teenage boy came flying off the edge of the rock. He landed in the water just a couple feet from us, engulfing us in a wave. He quickly rose to the surface, shaking all of the water off his head.

  “Shit, man, did you know there was a drop like that?” the kid said to Griffin, gasping for air. “Charlie!” the kid yelled up at the rock. “You’re such a jerk, man, I can’t believe you didn’t warn me!” Moments later, another kid came flying down the chute. Griffin snickered at his scream.

  “Come on,” Griffin said, sliding his hand up from my waist and grabbing my hand. “Let’s get to the bottom before the rest of these guys show up.”

  I followed Griffin out of the water and we hiked down for a bit to the next water slide. This one was a series of three humps, so it was slower than the others, but still left a pit in your stomach as you inched over each hump. We finally reached the large rock formation at the bottom of the hill, which Griffin led me up. Once we made it to the top of the rock he sat down on the edge, letting his legs dangle over the side. I joined him.

  “So do I get to read your tattoo now?” I asked, reaching for his arm.

  He reluctantly nodded. “But don’t judge me. Maybe it doesn’t make sense on its own, I don’t know. When I was in L.A. I got it one night after performing. It just felt right, and I needed something to go with the music notes. It’s just part of the lyrics from one of my songs, one of the ones I sang that night.” He maneuvered his elbow forward so that I could see the script.

  It’s not about whether you should sink or swim,

  Deep water and drowning are not the same thing

  So just hold your head up, and try to breathe me in

  “So, it seems you have a thing with water,” I said, smiling.

  “Yeah, weird timing for you to read it while we’re here I guess. But maybe I do, I don’t know. Do you ever think back to when you were a kid sometimes, and it seems like you were a fish, right? Always in the water, people’s pools, the city pool, lakes, ponds, sprinklers, whatever. Kids are fearless about that stuff, right? I would have jumped in water anywhere. Maybe it’s the splash, or the way it makes you feel like you’re moving in slow motion, I don’t know. But then you grow up, which is already a buzz kill in itself, right? And now when are you ever in water? I mean sure, occasionally for some planned event, once a year on vacation, or the Fourth of July when you visit the lake. But it’s never the same. So I don’t know, I guess… I just want to always feel like that. Like I can find the same joy I had as a child jumping in a puddle. I mean, none of that has anything to do with the tattoo, I’m just referring to the water thing. The song lyrics are more of a metaphor I guess. Like life, you get pulled under, and people think that’s all there is to it. They don’t think about the rest of it, the point of it, you know? Damn, I am really rambling, right? I’m sorry,” Griffin said shaking his head.

  “I like listening to you, actually. You just said more in those two minutes than you really have since I’ve known you. It’s nice,” I said, looking at him sincerely. “What do you usually write your songs about?”

  “Everything, really,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders. “Maybe I’ll play something for you sometime.”

  “That sounds perfect,” I said, standing up so I could break my concentration on him. My proximity to his bare skin was beginning to be too much. I felt warm near him, and too distracted. Griffin stood up next to me.

  “So, diving contest? Flips? Cannonballs? Belly flops?” Griffin asked, gesturing towards the water below.

  “Let’s see who can jump the farthest,” I replied, taking a few steps back. Griffin followed my lead and stepped back as well.

  “Same time?” he asked with a raised brow.

  I nodded, and we each took a running leap. We jumped off the edge of the rock, plunging into the water below.

  “Not bad,” I said as we surfaced, noticing I was a few feet further out that him. “Do I get a prize?” I asked teasingly.

  “Yes. You get to keep those very practical, very sexy shoes,” Griffin teased back. I splashed him.
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br />   “Hungry?” he asked.

  “Famished.”

  “Good. I’ll go set up our lunch,” he said, swimming towards shore. I floated on my back, taking in the warm sunshine and the blue sky. It was such a perfect, carefree day, as if the rest of the world around us had stopped completely.

  I came up out of the water and Griffin was already spreading out food from the cooler he brought. He was always so prepared, so planned. It made me smile.

  “So, any plans tonight?” Griffin asked, handing me half a sandwich.

  “Well, I’m supposed to go out with Mallory. I guess Johnny wants to try out some new place tonight? I just assumed you’d be there,” I replied.

  “Yeah, I may show up later,” he said, leaning back to take in the sun.

  Why was he always so nonchalant when it came to making plans? All of these adventures were planned out perfectly, but otherwise he was always late whenever we hung out with the whole group. That is, if he ever showed up at all. I wondered how someone seemingly so normal could make me so crazy at the same time.

  As we ate our lunch the park became much busier. It filled up mostly with groups of teenagers, probably excited that school was finally out for the summer. We talked about music, food, and Mallory’s plans for the bakery we had been working on. After we ate, we swam for awhile longer in the pond and watched the kids jump off the giant rock. They seemed so young, so carefree, like they had life all figured out already. I realized that was exactly what Griffin was talking about, and it made more sense to me why he wanted so badly to regain that feeling of youth and lack of responsibility. I wondered though if, as an adult, that was even possible.

  Finally around four, we decided to head back so I would have time to clean up before our night out. Griffin had to take care of a few things at work, but he promised to meet us out later that night.