by Ellis Marie
“We’re going!” I shout with laughter, nudging her a little and knocking her out of her daze as she turns and winks at me with a playful smile on her lips. Trent chuckles, wrapping an arm around the small woman.
“I’ll look after her, I promise.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that.”
I shake my head at the two of them and head for the door, putting on my shoes as I do. I watch them chat in hushed tones and I pray that Mrs. Grenway isn’t trying to get him to do something for her; that would be mortifying.
I whistle for Obi who comes trotting through in response, eagerly looking at the leash in my hand. I clip it on, grabbing my jacket as well as Trent’s.
“Trent?” I call, waiting for him to come to the door. He appears a second later with a smirk on his lips as he heads towards me. “Finished your little chit-chat?” I tease, and he rolls his eyes, bumping my arm with his.
“Don’t be jealous, you’re still my favourite girl.” His words catch me by surprise, and I stand stunned for a moment as he walks past me and opens the front door.
Where did that come from?
“Goodbye, Maggie!” he shouts and I, along with the voice in the other room, gasp at his words. He shoots me a cheeky smirk, grabbing my arm and pulling me out the house quickly.
“You better not call me that!” Mrs. Grenway shouts as we make our way onto the porch, but I can see the smile basically blinding me from outside. I know she would let him most likely call her anything at this point.
He does have that effect on people.
“We’ll be back soon!” I shout back before shutting the door and I follow Trent down the steps, the two of us laughing at her.
***
“Honestly, I don’t know how you’ve managed to get her wrapped around your finger so quick. The woman doesn’t even let me call her Margaret, let alone Maggie.”
Trent has taken me on a walk into the woods, and however crazy and scary that sounds, for some reason, I’m not worried. It’s like no matter what he does, I trust him to look after me. It seems like Obi does, too, because he happily trotted into the forest, despite being scared of it the last time we passed.
“I just have that charm.” Trent winks and I roll my eyes as I continue walking, following him through the trees. There’s a faint path under our feet but I doubt Trent even needs it with how confidently he strolls.
It’s a warm night and I had considered taking off my jacket; however, the long sleeves of it protected my skin from the sharp branches that we’re passing through, and so it remained on, tight against my skin. It’s just a thin workout jumper with a zip at the throat, but it was enough. My legs, on the other hand, are a bit worse off. I’m wearing cropped leggings, and so my calves and ankles have been receiving a bit of torture from lower bushes and such, but it’s nothing too serious and there is no way I wanted to turn around and go back. I feel like I’m on an adventure.
“How do you know your way so well?” I ask and Trent glances at me briefly, shrugging.
“I don’t really, just following the path.”
I frown at his answer, knowing that that isn’t it at all, but before I can say anything, he spins around and halts my walking with my foot hovering in mid-air.
“Don’t put your foot down,” he orders. I stand in shock, waiting for him to explain. Instead, he slowly pushes away a branch from where my foot is about to land and reveals silver metal underneath, spikes glinting in the setting sun.
“Is that a trap?” I gasp, taking a step back and then immediately, I freeze, terrified that there would be more around me. “A trap for what?”
Trent sighs and stands back up, leaving it completely uncovered. His face is coated in a pained look.
“It’s for wolves,” he states simply as if he hadn’t just told me that a dangerous predator could be lurking around us. “They’re no good though, the people that lay them put them in the most obvious places and leave their scent everywhere, plus the metal makes a noise whenever you walk near it because of the vibrations in the ground, but still, a young pup probably wouldn’t have the skill to notice it. It’s probably why they’ve tried to ban people from coming in here.”
My mouth drops in shock as I take in his words, suddenly feeling a little unsafe.
“Is Obi okay to be in here?” I gasp, looking for the dog. Trent quickly grabs my arm, reassuringly.
“He’s fine. He’s a dog, he can smell the same things. He’s not stupid.”
I warily nod but I’m still not one hundred percent convinced.
“Look, do you trust me?”
Of course, I trust him. I just don’t trust other people who could have done this. Although I understand that they are dangerous animals, surely coming into their territory means that you know the risks.
“Yes, I trust you,” I state. He smiles at my words and holds out his hand to me, his eyes silently promising me that nothing will happen.
“Then follow me.”
I eye his hand for a second, not knowing what to do.
Am I crazy enough to follow a boy I have known for such a small amount of time into a forest that is maybe filled with dangerous animals?
On one hand, I wanted nothing more than to grab his hand and follow him into the woods, to have the best time and just forget about everything that’s going on. But on the other . . .
Matt.
If he’s out in the woods with some girl, I wouldn’t be happy, and it isn’t exactly fair to be doing this while he’s away . . . on Tracey’s boat.
I quickly take out my phone and check to see if I have any reply from him at all, but all I see is the picture of Kristie and I smiling back at me. I look back up at Trent while slipping my phone into my pocket. He raises a brow, waiting for me to decide. As I look from his outstretched hand to his smile, I make my decision.
Okay, Aladdin, f*ck it.
I grab on to his hand and he grins massively, enclosing his fingers around mine. I begin to walk behind him, our bodies bumping into each other occasionally as I try to watch where he steps. Occasionally, he turns and looks at me. I keep seeing him glance at our entwined hands, a chuffed smile repeating onto his lips every time.
“How do you know so much about wolves and traps?” I ask. “You don’t hunt them, do you?”
I never even thought about him being the horrible one. What if he’s a killer?
He laughs and shakes his head, looking back at me with humour-filled eyes.
“No, Elle. I don’t hunt wolves.” He thinks for a moment before turning away again. “I have a love for them.”
I relax, and he seems to notice it, sending me a questioning stare.
“I was worried you hunted them,” I explain. “I could never even be friends with someone who thought it was okay to kill such majestic and beautiful animals. Especially ones that are in their own environment. I’ve always dreamed of seeing a wolf.”
Trent’s foot stumbles and he trips forward, dragging me with him. I scream out as I go flying to the ground, but I land on something soft and comforting instead of a trap or a stick, which I could impale myself on.
My heart feels like it’s about to burst out of me.
I lift my head and look at Trent below me who is chuckling as he lies on the grass, his arm wrapped around me and my body pressed against his. He makes a pretty good mattress.
“Sorry, min elskede, I lost my footing.” He chuckles before his eyes pop open in shock and the smile slips off his face.
“What did you call me?” I ask confused while giggling. “I think you just spoke another language.”
Trent groans and covers his face with his hand, but I still see the blush on his cheeks before he can hide it.
“It’s Danish. I speak a couple languages,” he admits although it’s muffled, and I smile.
“So what does it mean?” I ask again while reaching out and grabbing his hand, softly tugging it down so I can look at his face. It’s like all the breath is knocked out of me when I see him l
ooking nervous.
“It’s nothing, it’s like saying ‘mate’ or ‘pal’ to someone.”
I feel disappointed that it isn’t something better than that, but at least it isn’t an insult. Although, I don’t know why he would react the way he did if it really did mean just ‘friend’.
“I’ve always wanted to learn a language. Maybe I’ll learn Danish?” I tease, and the nervous expression slips from his face as he looks down at me, his lips curving into a small smile.
Before I can ask anything more, Obi appears and begins to attack me and Trent. His tongue tries to kiss us both at the same time, and I scream with laughter, rolling off Trent in an attempt to get away from the over friendly dog.
“Obi!” I cry, shoving him off me as I try to spit dog hair and grass out of my mouth. “Down, boy!”
Surprisingly, the dog actually listens to me and moves away, choosing instead to give attention to Trent. I actually feel like someone has grabbed my insides and twisted them when I see the two of them playing together, Trent’s laugh echoing around us.
It’s strange. At school, he seems to always have a sort of defence up around him. I’ve never once seen him look as relaxed as he does right now. It’s like he’s born to be outdoors.
As my eyes drift from the gorgeous boy on the ground beside me, I finally notice the scenery around us and gasp at the sight. I don’t know how I didn’t notice the beautiful colours around us before, but now, it’s as if it’s all my eyes can see.
Unknown to me, we have fallen into a small clearing surrounded by trees. The space stretches out in front of us as if someone placed a small piece of paradise here on purpose, hidden away from onlookers. The trees are no longer green but pink, the blossoms fanning over my head like they were celebrating, tinging everything with their rose-coloured leaves.
Below that is a breath-taking pool of water. The surface of it glitters in the sun as water falls, cascading down the sides of rocks. I wonder how I hadn’t heard the rushing sound before. I never knew something so beautiful could be hidden in a place that people feared.
“It looks like a painting,” I whisper breathlessly, not wanting to blink in case I miss a detail of the scene. Slowly, I climb to my feet, smiling as I listen to the sound of birds chirping.
“I thought you’d like it,” Trent says, getting up beside me. I glance at him in wonder.
This is what he wanted to show me?
“This is my favourite place, and you seem like you need a reminder of how beautiful things can be despite all of the ugliness around us.” His words make my mouth drop open, my mind whirling. I watch him glance at me with a nervous smile on his face as he lifts his hand and scratches his head.
He seems to do that a lot.
“Sorry if that was a bit mushy.” He chuckles, clearing his throat. “We can just forget I said that and pretend I took you here by accident if you like?”
His offer makes laughter bubble from my throat, and I shake my head, unable to form words as I try to calm down my frantic heart.
How did he manage to do that to me with only a sentence?
After a moment, my laughter dies down and I sigh, tilting my head up to the sun as I take a deep breath, basking in the way the wind blows through my hair and makes it fly around my face. I feel free.
“This is amazing,” I tell him, not needing to look at him to know that he’s listening.
He always seems to be listening, even when I’m not actually telling him something.
How else would he have known that I needed this?
“Do you want to sit?” Trent asks, motioning to some flat rocks over by the water. I nod eagerly, following him over.
“How did you find this place?” I question as we take a seat, the stone surprisingly comfy underneath me.
Trent shrugs, looking out over the water.
“I like going for jogs through the woods, stumbled across it one day and made sure to remember how to get to it.”
I scoff and roll my eyes, making him turn to look at me in confusion. “You are honestly unreal. Why would you come for a jog through here? Actually, why would you go for a jog at all? They are literally torture.”
Trent laughs, leaning back onto his elbows as he stretches his legs out in front of him while his foot softly knocks against mine.
“I like the outdoors, and I like finding new places. Running doesn’t really seem like exercise when I get too interested in where I could end up and get to forget about my problems for a while.”
Although his words are like poetry to my ears, and I feel light listening to them, they also create a heavy feeling in my heart as I look at his sorrow-filled expression.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble, causing him to frown at me and I wring my hands together. “I should have given you a chance to talk earlier, I shouldn’t have just tried to dismiss you like that. I—”
“Elle,” Trent interrupts, grabbing my hands as he leans forward with a chuckle escaping his lips. “I’m not annoyed at you. Stop worrying, okay?”
I nod softly, shooting him an embarrassed smile. I feel the blush coat my cheeks, causing his eyes to zero in on it.
Instead of making fun of me like I expect him to, his eyes widen a little, as though he’s seeing something for the first time. One of his hands removes themselves from around mine, rising to touch the side of my face.
He trails his fingers along my cheek and his lips twitch as he tucks a stray piece of hair behind my ear, lingering while softly pressing against my skin.
“I used to think I’ve experienced life’s beauty,” he murmurs, his thumb running along the outside of my lip. “I could not have been more wrong.”
Is this what dying feels like?
I swallow the lump in my throat and my eyes look down, unable to deal with him staring at me for so long but it’s as if they have a mind of their own because, not a second later, I’m looking at him again, unable to tear my gaze from his. I can physically see his breath halting as we look at each other.
“I’m nothing compared to this place,” I half-joke, trying not to think about how serious he looked when he said those words. He shakes his head a little, his fingers circling the rosy apples of my face. His eyes sparkling like the water below us, emotions swirling within them.
“It’s nothing compared to you.”
I’ve had words spoken to me before—tender ones in moments of pure vulnerability, peppered with kisses across my naked body as I lay bared to the person.
I felt the touch of someone as they told me they loved me; their body covering mine for the first time and touching me in places I had never experienced before, their whispers filling me with safety and affection. I had experienced what I thought was the purest and most beautiful moments in life, but all of that seemed like nothing right now.
Until this very second, watching the way his lips formed around the words he spoke to me, I had never known what it was like to literally feel yourself fall in love with a moment . . . and I never want it to end.
He runs his hand down the side of my neck, my body shivering in response as his nails gently scrape along the skin, leaving a trail of tingles in their wake before gently curling around to the back of my head.
It’s as if I have floated out from my person, and I’m watching above like a spirit, unable to control myself or the way my body leans into his touch, wanting to be closer to him . . . to feel him.
“Trent,” I whisper, unable to make my mouth form any other words apart from his name. It rolls off my tongue like caramel, slipping down my throat in a sweet ecstasy.
His eyes flash with something dark, and I feel his fingers curl a little, their hardness digging into the flesh on my neck and his nostrils flare as he takes in a deep breath with his eyes closing as he does.
I push down the dreaded feeling in my stomach as I lift my hand and curl my fingers around his forearm, just wanting to feel the heat of him beneath my fingertips. I notice how his arm tenses as I do, the hairs lifting in respons
e.
“Trent, I—”
Trent’s eyes snap open, making me jump slightly. They dart around the area, seeming to almost survey it as he stands while bringing me with him and close to his body.
What’s going on?
“Is everything okay?” I ask, glancing around the clearing. Panic begins to slither its way down my spine. “What is it?”
I hadn’t heard anything. Is he just trying to find a way to break the moment we were having?
“We should go,” he announces, his voice flat and rough. “It’s getting late.”
Before I can respond and point out how the sun is only just beginning to show signs of disappearing, he whistles to something behind me. I turn to see Obi lying by the water. He looks up at the sound and immediately walks over, heading straight to my side that Trent isn’t occupying.
“Let’s go,” Trent tells me, his hand moving around my waist as he urges me forward. I stumble a little, still confused at the sudden change of atmosphere. “Maggie will be getting worried.”
I try to laugh at his words, but all that comes out is a short cackle that sounds fake even to me. He doesn’t seem to notice though; he’s already pushing me ahead of him, his eyes not once looking at me.
I follow Obi, sparing one last glance at the stunning scenery behind me before we disappear into the trees. I wish for nothing more than to be back on those rocks, pretending like I’m a different person.
Soon, the view is cut from my sight and we make our way through the forest, the conversation non-existent apart from Trent’s occasional directions or warnings about traps on the ground.
Obi doesn’t go further than a foot away from me once, and I feel the hairs lift on the back of my neck. I watch the shadows surrounding us, wondering what could possibly have put Trent on edge.
Maybe it’s me? Maybe he regrets saying what he did and needs to get away from me? Is that it?
By the way we are walking faster than normal and the absence of his usually charming comments, I know that everything is not okay.
Eventually, we emerge from the trees and head down the road. I almost feel better at seeing the street, knowing that we are no longer surrounded by something foreign to me; however, it doesn’t last long as Trent still doesn’t say a word to me, and I’m reminded of his refusal to kiss me last night.