“Who remembers the route?” Rachael asks as she hands Tyler and Tiffani some water.
Tyler snorts, dropping his hand to Tiffani’s waist as he points to the trail behind us. “It’s not that damn hard, Rach. Sharp left and then right.”
I notice a sign for the Hollyridge Trail, and I figure this is the path we’ll be taking. Tyler and Tiffani stay at the front, with Jake, Dean, Meghan, Rachael, and me behind them, and we begin our ascent. The trail is wide and decorated with the wonderful blessing that is horseshit.
“That was the worst hour of my life,” I hiss quietly to Rachael as we tag along slightly behind the rest of the group. “Remind me never to go in a car with Tyler ever again.”
She laughs, her feet scuffing the dirt as we head upward. “What happened?”
“He almost killed us because I asked where his dad was,” I admit. My eyes find their way to him. He’s leading us up the trail with Tiffani behind him. “Is his dad, like…dead?”
Rachael almost chokes on her water as she takes a sip, and then she stops walking for a moment to fix me with a horrified look. “God, Eden, no. Mentioning his dad around him is like stepping in front of a loaded gun. You’re asking to be killed.”
We start walking again. “Why?”
“He’s in jail for car theft or something,” Rachael tells me, her voice lowered. She keeps constantly glancing up to check that no one can hear us. “Tyler’s super sensitive about it.”
My eyes drift back up to him. Somewhere deep inside me, I feel a little bad for him. Maybe he was close with his dad and now he’s no longer in the picture. That must be tough. And a divorce on top of that must be even harder.
It doesn’t take us long to reach the sharp left turn that he rudely reminded Rachael of. The trail also goes straight ahead, but we make an almost complete turn around to the left and keep going up. The horseshit disappears after this point.
Dean was right about it being hot, and I’m thankful for the water he gave me. But despite the heat, I don’t mind the hike. It’s good exercise, and the views of Los Angeles are totally worth it. We stop every so often for a breather, and to just stare out over the city, taking in the sheer size of it and how beautiful it looks from above. It’s so peaceful up here.
Eventually we come to a fork in the trail that opens up into two concrete roads, and we take the right.
“Shouldn’t we have gone left?” I ask, noticing how we’re walking away from the sign rather than toward it. It makes me wonder if they’re planning on playing a cruel joke on me.
“No,” Jake says. He slows down and matches his pace to mine, hovering by my side as everyone else ignores me. “Going left takes you back down. You go right and you walk around the back of the sign.”
I take a long swig of my water and then point my bottle to the road ahead. “Isn’t this illegal?”
“Drinking water?” Jake says. “Not that I know of.”
I roll my eyes, laughing a little as I watch Meghan pull Rachael up a steeper part of the road. “Is it or isn’t it?”
“It’s only illegal if you cross the fence,” he tells me. “You can get pretty close from behind it.” He tilts his head back to the sky for a few seconds, and when he glances back down, he meets my gaze. “Sorry about how lame I was on Saturday. I lose all conversation skills after a couple beers.”
I smile a little. I’m surprised he even remembers talking to me, and I’m blushing slightly that he’s apologizing for it. “You weren’t lame. Your questions were.”
“Let’s just start again,” he says, and then holds out his hand. “I’m Jake. You must be that cute girl who’s here for the summer. Eden, right?”
I feel my cheeks growing even hotter. I anxiously bite my lip and tilt my head so that he doesn’t notice. I still manage to shake his hand. His palms feel warm against mine. “Nice to meet you, Jake.”
“So,” he says, “how’s Los Angeles treating you?”
“It’s amazing.” I notice that either everyone else is speeding up or Jake and I are slowing down, because the gap between us and the rest of the group is increasing. I catch Tyler throwing a disapproving glance back at us. I scrunch up my nose and glare after him for a moment. What’s his problem? I try not to let it get to me. “I love it.”
Jake’s eyes smolder as a wide grin plays on his lips. “Is your boyfriend waiting for you back in Portland?”
“No,” I say, and I glance sideways at him. “If you’re trying to be subtle here, it’s really not working.”