Page 51 of Fight
“I’m just joking, Helena,” Jake assured her.“You’re light as a feather.”
She giggled before reaching over to kiss him on the cheek. “And you’re the cutest pack mule I’ve ever seen,” she said playfully.
Jake chuckled as they finally approached the vehicles parked in the road’s wide shoulder, which served as a makeshift parking lot for those using the trail. Jake’s black truck was parked between only two other cars.
“Alright little lady,” he said in his cowboy voice as she slid off his back next to his truck. “Here’s your stop.”
Finding her footing, Lena looked up at Jake as he also removed his backpack from his chest, throwing it in the bed of his truck before reaching for her backpack.
She smiled up at him as she handed over her backpack, her blue eyes bright as fiery stars in the setting sun. With the exception of their hike last summer, he’d never seen her look so bedraggled. Or so beautiful. Her black leggings weren’t in bad shape, but her light purple tank top loosely hung off her braless form. They hadn’t been able to find her bra after she threw it at him—it must have drifted down the ravine and they’d laughed feverishly about it as they searched the pool. Her hair was in a frizzy, messy bun and her cheeks were slightly sunburned.
“Thank you, Jake…for everything,” she added with a blush rising up her pale neck and meeting her sun-kissed cheeks. “I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t shown up.”
“I think you would have eventually walked down the trail, Lena,” he said honestly. “And you would have been fine. But I’m glad I was there.”
“Me, too,” she agreed awkwardly, shifting back and forth on her feet.
“Come on,” he instructed, opening the passenger door. “Let’s get you home.” She looked at him gratefully as she climbed into the truck and he closed the door behind her.
They were quiet as they settled into their seats. Jake felt the comfort of their hike fading away to reveal some of the awkwardness of real life. Looking over at Lena staring out the window morosely, he wondered if she was thinking the same thing.Well, that won’t do.
Before reversing his truck and taking off, Jake pulled out his phone and connected it to the Bluetooth, pushing play just before he put his truck in gear.
He gave it a few seconds, right after he heard Lena’s sharp intake of breath, before he burst into laughter as he turned his head and swung his steering wheel to back out of the parking spot.
“Oh no, this isn’t what I think it is, is it?” Lena asked with shrill laughs peppering her voice.
“String Cheese Incident, baby,” he confirmed, steering down the steep road. “Rhythm of the Road, Volume One.”
“Why must you torture me?” she moaned as she dramatically laid the back of her wrist across her forehead, and slouched back in her seat.
“Let’s see, it’s about an hour to get home. So, we should be able to get this whole album in and next time we can listen to volume two.”
Looking at him from under her lashes across the truck, she shook her head. “Next time, I get to choose the music,” she said confidently.
“We’ll see about that,” he said as she shook her head warningly from across the truck.
They were halfway through “Luckie Street Jam” when Jake cleared his throat and looked over at Lena nervously. She was still staring out the window, but with a little half smile on her face—so not moping this time, thankfully.
“Hey, Lena?” he finally said, looking between her and the road nervously.
“Hmm?” She answered, not looking up from the window.
“I know you probably have to work this weekend, but…want to go to the Blue Sky tomorrow night? I’m sure Ian, Morgan, and Annie will be in, too.” Jake tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he waited for her answer.
She turned to give him the full force of her gorgeous face as a smile crept up her cheeks.
“Why, Jacob Lewis, are you asking me on a date?” she said in the same affected southern accent she’d used on him last week. “Along with a bunch of other people to buffer any discomfort such an intimate event would cause?” she added, drawing all the words together as a caveat.
“Yeah,” he laughed as relief flooded him. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”
“Well, even though I think we can handle a dinner at the Olive Garden alone since we’ve spent the past twenty-four hours in multiple states of undress, I’m in,” she stated firmly. “And so are my wing-girls, Annie and Morgan.”
Relief flooded him as he looked over at her with a warm smile and a chuckle. “Well then, little lady,” he responded in his cowboy persona with a wink and a tip of his imaginary hat. “It’s a date.”
Lena felt like she was dancing on a cloud as she walked into the resort the next morning—not even this hideous uniform could drag her down today. She’d taken special care with her hair to make up for all the time it was in a messy bun on the hike. She’d put the top half up in two fishtail braids that met on the back of her head seamlessly. The rest of her hair flowed down her back in nice, clean waves and smelled like her strawberry-scented shampoo. It was so nice to feel fresh and clean again after the hike and all its…related activities.
She stored her bag in her locker and clocked into the computer on the wall. A Muzak version of Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” played on the speakers and she hummed as she made her way behind the front desk where Maggie and Kendra had already arrived and were logging into their stations.
