“Moleskin,” he repeated as he held up some fuzzy brown Band-Aid-looking stuff. “It helps with the blisters. Here, let’s get some on so you can go down the mountain.” He knelt down and started unlacing my boots.
“I can do it,” I said, wishing this date couldn’t get any more awkward. My own date was somewhere up the mountain with Melissa, and poor Tyler was stuck here helping me with my shoes.
“I’m sure you can.” He didn’t pause in the slightest.
“I’ll owe you one. Maybe lunch sometime.” I hissed as he slipped off the boot. This was so embarrassing. I didn’t even want to know what my feet looked like.
“Are you asking me out on a date while you’re on one? Not very princess-like.” He grinned.
“No!” I blushed when my objection echoed off the rocky mountainside around us.
“Methinks you doth protest too much.” Though his tone was light, he was careful to gently place each patch of the fuzzy stuff.
I resisted the urge to correct his Shakespeare. The bard seemed so out of place for an early morning, well now, more mid-morning hike, and we still weren’t to the top.
“So what do you do for fun?” He looked up as he slipped my boot back on.
“Something a little less active.” I winced as he laced it up.
“Movies? Books?” He pulled off the other boot. “Drawing?”
“I don’t draw.” I leaned in to flick a leaf that had landed on his hair.
“Girls can’t keep their hands off it.”
“I wasn’t… There was a leaf.”
“Okay book girl, whatever you need to tell yourself.”
“How do you know I’m not a movie girl?”
“Because I saw you flinch when I misquoted Shakespeare. For some reason, I didn’t think you’d take to being called a lady, princess,” he said as he stickered my left foot with more moleskin than my actual skin.
“Touché. So what do you like to do for fun besides hiking with other people’s ex-girlfriend?”
“I have many interests including speculation on why a girl like you ended up with a guy like that, who’s left you behind to hike ahead with his ex-girlfriend.”
“And yet, you managed to say absolutely nothing about yourself.”
“I promise to answer all your questions—on our lunch date.”
“It’s not a date.” My protested sounded far weaker this time.
“Come on, Cinderella. Let’s get you down the mountain before midnight.”
I didn’t bother to snap at his comment. I wanted to be down the mountain before midnight too.
.o0o.
“I don’t remember this edge being quite so near this morning,” I said as I peered over the steep drop to my right. I moved as far from the edge as I could, finding comfort in the cold rock face.
“It was. You just couldn’t see it. So, is Cinderella afraid of heights?”
“Lilly. My name is Lilly.” I squeaked as I hit a loose rock and slipped.
“Got you, Lilly,” he said, drawing my name out. My stomach fluttered around at his touch.
Stop that. You’re just reacting to almost falling to your death, I told myself. “Thanks for catching me.”
“No problem. I think if I rescue you a few more times, I might be able to upgrade the lunch to dinner.”
“Funny.” But I took my time letting go.
“So why fear?” he asked, referring to the earlier drawing as we continued hiking down the trail again.
“Emotion of the day,” I said, happy I was staring at his broad back instead of his face. I’d had enough embarrassment for the day.
“What’s today’s emotion?” His steps didn’t hesitate as he said it but he tapped his hands against his worn jeans in as close to a nervous gesture as I had seen from him so far.
“You’ll have to wait until our lunch date.”
“Ha, you admit it. You said date.” He flipped around to point at me and his foot slipped. I reached out to steady him but my hand wrapped around the air. I ran to the edge and dropped to my knees, hoping and praying I’d misjudged the distance.
The scraggly shrubbery growing on the cliff face did little to stop his descent. I sucked in my breath when a rocky outcropping caught his shirt and scraped up his back, leaving dark red lines. The sound of my racing heart covered the crunch as his head made contact.
I cringed and forced myself to my feet.
No one could survive that, a small part of me whispered. I shoved the thought away and ran as fast as I could push my blistered feet. One of the trail loops would have to get me closer.
What if he was already dead?
Don’t think about that. I skidded on loose rocks, leaving dust clouds in my wake.
“I’m coming,” I yelled as I ran toward him. The undergrowth caught on my jeans, hindering me from going faster.
And then I got a good look at him. His leg stuck out at an awkward angle. My gut dropped. Please don’t let that bit of white be bone. His chest rose and I dropped to my knees beside him.
“Can you hear me?” I brushed his hair back from his scratched face to get a better look at the purple bump rising on his forehead.
He groaned, opening one cornflower blue eye.
I cursed Melissa and Jacob under my breath. Why had they gone ahead? Focus. It’s only you here. First step, call for help.
“Dingbat,” I cursed again. The image of my cellphone on my dresser reminded me yet again why I was never leaving it across the room to help me wake up ever again.
His brow lifted, but I couldn’t be certain if it wasn’t because of the growing lump.
“I’m so sorry. I left my cellphone at home. Do you have yours?”
“Back pocket,” he croaked.
I hoped he had one of those unbreakable phone cases because otherwise his phone was long gone. “Sorry,” I whispered again as I gingerly reached underneath him. I forced a smile as warm blood trickled on my hand. Well, the good news was it was still in his pocket. The cracked phone screen flicked a moment before going dark. I swallowed and kept the smile up even as tears threatened to fall. “How many miles to the bottom?”
“Not that far.” His voice wheezed more than it had been a second ago. Don’t die. This isn’t fair. The only reason he was in this bind was because of me.
Water. There had to be water around here somewhere. Weren’t there supposed to be frolicking mountain streams all over the place? We passed what felt like twenty on the way up.
He'd had a water bottle before the fall. My emotions warred as the memory of Caitlyn’s face after I’d removed the sorrow fought against what helping him could do to Tyler. If you don’t do something, he’ll die. Being alive is better than nothing, I thought, the decision made.
“I’ll be right back,” I told him, squeezing his hand. He nodded, his face turning a shade paler. His lip bled as he tried to smile.
I searched the underbrush until I found his cracked blue water bottle. Thank the heavens there was a small bit left. The last drops dribbled into the cap when I flipped it over, and I dipped my fingers into it. It had to be enough.
I grabbed his wrist. “This might feel weird.”
The bone moved under my light touch—it must be broken too. His face turned dusty white, like the ash trees around us. “Sorry.”
So this time you’re trading pain for strength. You can do this. I felt just as stupid this time as I had last time, maybe stupider.
I emptied my mind, letting the fear and worry I felt slide out like the last drops of cream from the carton. Tyler watched me with one eye; the other one was swollen shut. I closed my own to stop getting distracted.
Stone—like the ones surrounding me that’d been around for thousands of years. Trees—with roots that went deep into this rocky ground. The water stirred beneath my fingers. Tidal waves—that destroyed everything in their path: strength.
The pain flowed out as I pushed in the strength, but the bit of water at my fingertips couldn’t take very much.
It evaporated with each breath I took. It would have to be enough to keep him alive until I could get down the mountain.
“Maybe I was wrong.” He sounded more like himself.
“Wrong?” I asked. I leaned closer to look at his eyes. They seemed a little darker than before, from cornflower blue to a stormy sky kind of color.
“Maybe you’re not Cinderella. Maybe you’re the Fairy Godmother.” He grabbed my wrist.
A tight laugh escaped. “Sure, Charming. I’m going to run down the mountain and get help. Do you think you’ll be okay until I get back?” I asked as I let go and tried to stand up.
“Next weekend. You, me, something safe—like a movie?”
“You’re dating Melissa.” I tried to shrug it off but he wasn’t letting go.
“Do you see Melissa around here?”
“Maybe.” I hoped he’d see the error of his ways after he was no longer in peril.
“I want a yes about next weekend or I’m not letting go,” he said even as his grip lessened
That’s what broke me. I had one guy up the mountain who had no idea what was going on and another who was seriously injured and wouldn’t let me go. “Okay. Friday, one movie,” I said before wiggling my wrist out of his hold and running down the mountain as fast as I could go.
Chapter Four
Tyler lifted his eyebrow as I inched into the stark white room. “Doc said it’s a miracle I survived.”
“Maybe you didn’t fall as far as you thought.” I took another couple of steps in, then halted at the sight of his parents seated in the corner.
His mother stood. “Tyler said you could barely walk, but you kept going until you got help.”
“It was just a few blisters.” I felt the blood rising in my cheeks—next stop, beet red.
“Either way, thank you.” She wrapped me in a hug. Her flowery perfume temporarily blocked out the stringent smell of disinfectant and almost drove me to confess my fault in her son’s fall.
Instead, I bit my lip. “Honey, I need a cup of tea. Why don’t you come with me?” she said to Tyler’s father as she let me go.
“I’m fine,” he replied, stretching his legs. The small metal folding chair buckled and he wobbled a moment before settling down.
“I didn’t ask if you were fine. I asked you to come get some tea with me,” his mother said as she nodded toward the door.
He shrugged and stood, the folding chair tipping precariously sideways in the process before righting itself. He took his wife’s outstretched hand and followed.
As the door swung shut, his deep bass voice drifted back in with “If you wanted us to leave, why didn’t you just say—”
“I’ll admit I’m a bit fuzzy on everything that happened, but I do remember you touching me and the pain getting better. Want to fill me in?” Tyler asked, his blue eyes searching my face.
“Well, you were dying and forced me on a date before you’d let me save you.” I wrinkled my nose.
“Before that?”
“You covered my feet in moleskin. I still haven’t dared to take it off.”
“After that,” he sighed.
“I’m a bit fuzzy about that myself. If I remember right, you called me an old lady.”
Wow, where was this coming from? Most of the time, I could barely string two words together in front of guys. Between yesterday and today, I bordered on flirting.
Okay, I passed the line a while ago.
“I believe I called you a Fairy Godmother, but I can’t be held accountable for that because I’m told I have a concussion.”
I stepped forward and rested my hand on top of his. “See, old lady.”
He beamed as he set his other hand over mine. “So what happened, Fairy Godmother?” he asked, leaning closer to me.
“Would you believe you’re just that amazing?” I whispered. My cheeks flushed again. If I couldn’t stop blushing every time we talked, this relationship was doomed.
“I would, but there was something else.”
“My grandmother used to say every person has water. And that water, it’s all sort of tied together—she said it nicer than that, but I didn’t pay attention at the time.” Ugh, this was sounding stupider the more I spoke. I tried to pull my hand away, but he held tighter.
“And?”
“And some people, they can use that water to help,” I whispered as I looked out the window, anywhere but his face.
“And how exactly did you help?” He squeezed my hand.
“I thought you were dying.” My voice broke and the image of his pale face came back. I closed my eyes and swallowed.
“I thought I was, too. If that makes any difference,” Tyler said. For the first time, his voice didn’t sound as confident as it normally did. “Have you done it before?”
“Once. For a friend.”
“Don’t tell me she fell off a cliff too?” He fingers intertwined with mine and the butterflies in my stomach went to a rock concert level of fluttering.
I took a deep breath to stop the sigh that wanted to escape. “Her little brother died.”
“Oh? You can’t bring someone back from the dead, can you?” He grinned, but the tension in his grip told me he was bracing for a creepy response.
“No,” I said firmly.
“How long ago was it?”
I met his eyes and wanted to confess. A year ago I’d messed with something I didn’t understand, and my friend wasn’t the same. The emptiness I left inside her had grown. Everything about her was slowly changing. Her edges were becoming harsher, her acts more dangerous. How could I tell him that in fixing her, I had broken her, and I might have done the same to him?
The knock on the door made me jump. A nurse strode in. “Sorry to break this up but I need to check on a few things. Would you mind stepping out of the room for a minute?” she asked as she dropped what looked like a pile of bandages on a cart beside his bed.
“Sure. I better go anyway. I’m glad you’re okay,” I said as I hurried to the door.
“Friday night. You promised,” I heard as it shut behind me. I smiled and let the butterflies continue their party.
My phone vibrated in my pocket as I stepped into my car. I pulled it out and glanced down—speak of the devil. “Hey, what’s up,” I asked as I clicked my seatbelt into place.
“Seriously, I had to hear it from Melissa?” Caitlyn shouted. I held the phone away from my ear and sighed.
“Sorry, it’s been sort of crazy. I haven’t told anyone, promise.”
“I want the exclusive.”
“It’s boring. Tyler slipped and fell and I ran down until I found a hiker with a cell phone and then we ran further down until we could get service.”
“I heard he almost died.”
“He was hurt pretty bad, but I wouldn’t say almost dead.” I didn’t want to admit to her I’d used it again. First, because I still wasn’t completely sure what I was doing, and second because with Caitlyn being who she was these days, who knows who she’d tell.
“And I heard he broke up with Melissa when she came to visit him at the hospital.” Caitlyn’s words trailed off, baiting me. It worked. She had my full attention.
“I hadn’t heard that.” Spill, why don’t you.
There was a brief moment of silence and then a torrent of words followed. “Well, Joan said that Melissa said that you were a whiny little you-know-what. And you were trying to steal him all along, and that’s the only reason you went for the hike in the first place.”
I pictured her smile now, a little like a cat licking its lips and lapping up a bowl of cream. Had I created the Cheshire cat right out of Alice in Wonderland?
“I didn’t even know he was going until I got in the car. And I’m never hiking again. Who’s Joan?”
“Joan’s Melissa’s third in command. Mind you, she heard this from Tia, but close enough. Anyway, then Joan let it slip that while Tyler was all dying at the bottom of that ravine, she was kissing Jacob at the top of the mountain.�
�
“Are you kidding me?” I snapped, smacking my hand on the steering wheel. “Ouch.”
“Ouch would be right. Anyway, Joan said that Tia said that Melissa was upset that Jacob hadn’t already asked her to prom and so she was just going after the new guy to make Jacob jealous, and he’s not that hard on the eyes.”
“Wait, so this whole we almost died hike was so Melissa could make Jacob jealous?” I wanted to track down that water bottle we’d left behind and shove all that pain into Melissa. See how she liked it. How could she be that stupid?
“Yeah, right. But there’s one more thing,” Caitlyn said, skimming completely over the craziness. What could be bigger than that?
“What?” I said when she didn’t continue.
“She is still ticked at you for taking Tyler,” she said triumphantly.
I was at a loss for words. Really? “Even though she was going to dump him the moment she got back together with Jacob?”
“Even though,” she said. “You want me to take care of her?”
I paused, unsure how to answer that. Caitlyn’s tone had dropped to a person inquiring about swatting a fly or squishing a spider. What made me shiver was that I wasn’t sure if she really meant it. What kind of line would she be willing to cross now that I’d taken away the sadness tied to death?
“I’m good, but thanks for the warning,” I said, ignoring her sigh.
“Suit yourself. Listen, I gotta go, but catch me up on everything later, okay?”
“Sure,” I said, setting down the phone in the seat beside me. No need to hang up; Caitlyn always did first anyway.
.o0o.
I thought I had gotten away with it. Though I’d received a few glares from Melissa’s friends, the rest of the school was treating me like some sort of hero; my cheeks reached a perpetual state of red. Half the football team had come by to thank me for saving their teammate. I saw another one start toward me and ducked into the girls’ bathroom.
In hindsight, the perfume should have given her away, but my nose had been stuffed since the mountain incident: another reason never to go again. I was pretty sure I was just allergic to hiking.
A Touch of Water (Touch of Magic Book 1) Page 2