Page 36 of Love Never Happens with your Brother’s Best Friend

I watch Rita as she wades gingerly into the stream, using the stick to probe the way ahead and to aid her balance. She steps down into a deep channel. The water level is over her knees. It’s deeper than I thought.

I hop onto a rock that sits just above the water level. I judge my next step and swiftly place my foot onto a rock that wobbles under my weight, causing my arms to flail around as I regain my balance. The next available rocks aren’t too far away but then the channel whooshes through between my options. I take a moment to prepare my hop, skip, and jump to the other side.

“What’s taking you so long, hot shot?” Rita shouts from the other side of the stream. She’s sitting on her backpack, drying her feet with her socks.

I wave, then make my move. The first rock is steady and flat, but as I push off from it, I slip on the green slime and instead of jumping neatly across, my foot doesn’t make the next step. I fall sideways into an eddying pool to Rita’s shrieks of laughter. I splash around, trying to get a foothold on the uneven stream bed.

“That was spectacular!” she says clapping her hands. “I wish I had my phone to capture that comedy moment. It would gone viral for sure.”

“What’s that you said?” My pants are soaking wet. “Ah, Brodie. Are you hurt?” There’s a huge smear of dark green slime down one thigh.

“No. Sorry. I was laughing too hard… Let me try again. Ah, Brodie. Are you hurt?”

“It’s too late, Rita.” I stagger to a patch of grass in the sunshine, take off my pack, and flop down. “The moment has passed. Hikers are not caring people.”

I untie my soggy boots and struggle to pull them off. Then I peel away my wet-through socks.

“It’s a good thing it’s warm today. You could die of hyperthermia if you fall in a stream, get wet and cold, and don’t warm up again.”

“That’s cheering. Thanks.”

Rita unclips a side pocket in her pack and fishes around for something, while I’m wringing out my socks.

“Do you have dry clothes?” Rita asks as she hands me a towel.

“Yes. I’m not that useless.”

The inside of my pack is, surprisingly, not full of water. I find some dry clothes which were safely stuffed in an inner waterproof bag. I pull out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

“Alright. If I could have some privacy now, while I get changed.”

Rita turns her back to me. I wriggle out of my pants and pull on the cleanish, dry shorts and shirt. Then I pick up a pinecone and throw it at Rita’s head.

“Ouch!” Rita turns around touching the place on the back of her head where the pinecone made contact. “Did you just throw that pinecone, Brodie Kent?”

“Yes. Rita. Yes, I did.”

Rita stomps over to where I am and thumps my arm.

“What did you do that for?” she says. “You’re so mean.”

I hold her wrists to stop her thumping me.

“I’m mean? You were the one laughing as I drowned. If anyone is mean, it’s you, Rita Carmichael.”

Rita’s laughing as she struggles to release my hold. I let go of her wrists and then wrap her in my arms.

“I’m not letting you go now,” I say nuzzling my face into her neck. “We’re going to stay here in the forest forever.”

Rita stops struggling and leans into me. Her arms encircle my waist pulling me to her. We stay holding each other for a while. I breathe in her scent and feel her heartbeat against mine. Rita is first to break away.

“Come on. We should get going.”

Rita puts on her socks and boots, picks up her pack, then races on down the trail that follows a leafy green gully. The stream broadens and flows fast over and around boulders. Then it splashes down into a pool fringed with ferns and dripping mosses. A flat rock at the base looks like the perfect picnic spot. Rita is already there. She has dumped her pack and is standing, gazing at the cascading waterfall.

“Can you believe this place exists for real?” Rita says when I join her on the rock. “It’s just here, accidentally perfect.” She smiles at me then pulls out her water bottle and sits on her backpack, unscrewing the lid.

“It’s special, alright.” I unclip my backpack, dump it on the rock beside Rita, and sit on it. “This whole trip has been special. I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to camp out with me.”

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