Page 83 of Wandering in Darkness
“Have you been up here much?”
“Not as much as I’d like. I used to hike and camp and do all of that stuff with my family. My sister and I were pretty close and we’d hike quite a bit. But now she’s off having a family and doing adult things while I feel like I’m a bit… stuck,” Grayson says.
I raise an eyebrow. “Stuck? You’ve accomplished so much.”
“Yeah, in my career, but because of it, I feel like I’ve sacrificed everything else. Sometimes I look at my parents’ happy little life and my sister with her daughter and husband and wonder… don’t mind me, I’m just rambling.”
“You can ramble. I like hearing you ramble,” I say. “It’ll be more for you to include in your snail mail.”
“True! My sister and I were such dorks growing up. We would write each other letters and slide them under each other’s door… like really? Could we not just like open the door and say what we wanted to say?”
“What were you writing to each other?”
“Really important things like, ‘Did you eat the last popsicle? The moment you come out here, I’m going to fuck you up.’”
“Oh… vicious.”
“Yeah. Until our mom found one that said just that and told me if I said the F word to my sister one more time, she was going to wash my mouth out with soap. Not that she really would, though. She probably would have just told me I couldn’t have dessert that night or something.”
“Your mom sounds sweet.”
“She is.” We eat our subs while Traveler stares at us like we might have something for him. He’s decided that it’s rather unfair he made the same trek and we didn’t bring him a sub, so I sneak him a piece and then Grayson just gives him a big bite, and then suddenly I’m getting drooled on, which makes me push him off toward Grayson.
We sit and talk and watch the sun go down over the next hour, even though we’re aware it’ll make our trek back a bit rough, but I don’t think either of us wants to get up. I know the second I get up, this moment is over. He’s going to move on with his life, and I’m going to have to move on with mine, but isn’t that the way the world goes? I really can’t complain too much.
“I guess we should head back,” he finally says. “We don’t want a park ranger seeing our car and throwing a fit.”
“True. Oh wait… you didn’t tell me what you wanted me to do since you won.”
“I kind of felt bad rubbing it in your face, given how quickly I won.”
“Didyou feel bad?” I ask with a grin. It’s easy to see he did, but he just grins back at me.
“I mean… a little. I was so fast. I didn’t even have to speed walk.”
“I nearly died.”
“I know you did! That’s why I felt bad!”
“Alright, let’s hear it… what do you want me to do?”
Grayson’s quiet for a second before reaching over and grabbing my wrist.
“Are… are you going to push me down the hill?” I ask.
“Definitely what I had in mind,” he says as he drags me toward him. I’m so confused by it that I end up a bit obstinate. Like… where is he dragging me to and why?
“Are your limbs too stiff to move?” he asks.
“I’m confused.”
He reaches out and physically lifts me up, which can’t be an easy thing to do from this position, and when he drags me onto his lap, I freeze. Is he torturing me now? Is that his plan? Is that what he wants to do with his winnings? Torture me?
I’m still over here trying to process what any of this means when he leans forward, hand sliding into my hair as he kisses me.
I’m too bewildered to respond and I sit still, eyes open, lips not participating.
Grayson pulls back just enough to look at me. “Do you not want to?”
