He leaves me alone in the bathroom, closing the door behind himself. I hold my breath until the sound of his footsteps fades out of the room. I take another minute to compose myself and then I follow him out.
On my way out of the bedroom, I sneak a glance at the dresser where Oliver left the condoms. They’re gone.
ChapterTwenty-Three
Sunny with a Chance of Showers
“Ithought you said this was an easy hike.”
“It is.”
Tina stands on a boulder at the top of a steep part of the trail. I’m on my hands and knees, grabbing at rocks and tree limbs, trying to pull myself up to the top.
“You know you could just walk up, right?” Tina says.
“No, I can’t. It’s not safe.”
“It’s what I did,” she says.
“Not everyone is built like a superhero, Tina.” I pull on a root that juts out of the ground and hoist myself up a little higher. I’m starting to regret all the times that I declined her offers to work out in her home gym with her.
Tina squats down and holds her hand out to me. “At least take my hand and let me pull you the rest of the way up.”
“No. I can do this on my own. I’ve made it this far.” I look up. If I just grab one more rock and one more tree branch, I’ll be at the top.
“You’ve barely moved in the last two minutes,” Tina says.
I look back. Oliver and Ryan are at the bottom, only a few feet behind me. Oliver watches with his arms crossed, shaking his head. He has a smirk on his face like this is amusing to him. “I can push you up the rest of the way if you want,” he offers.
“That won’t be necessary.” I need this embarrassment to be over, so I grab the next branch and the next rock and pull myself the rest of the way up. When I get to the top, Tina jumps off the boulder and squeals. She holds both of her hands up to high-five me.
“I don’t deserve a high-five for that,” I say.
“You conquered a fear,” she says. “That’s worthy of a high-five.” She grabs my wrist and forces me to slap her hand.
Oliver and Ryan climb the small hill behind me seemingly effortlessly. I decide not to remark on how easy they make it look. Oliver comes up to my side while Ryan takes Tina’s hand. They continue on ahead of us while we follow a short distance behind.
“Good job back there,” he says.
I elbow him. “You were laughing at me.”
He looks genuinely shocked. “I was not.”
“You were smiling.”
He lowers his voice. “Only because your ass looked great from that angle.”
I snort out a laugh.
“But really,” he says. “You may have climbed upveryslowly, but you didn’t give up.”
I smile, looking down at my shoes for a moment as we hike. Even though I don’t want to take the compliment because I still feel embarrassed, his encouragement makes me feel a little better.
I look up at him. “Thanks.”
He smiles at me. I smile back down at my shoes.
We continue up the trail for another mile or so.
