Page 78 of Promise Me Nothing
“There’s a bunch of stairs on a path around the backside,” he says between pants. “We used to have a designated driver who would drive us around to the top end. It was a lot easier than climbing up every time. God, I always forget what a bitch cardio is.”
“I knew you were a gym rat,” I say.
Wyatt barks out a laugh, still panting. “Well, at least I know now what you were getting at earlier about my being ‘athletic,’” he says with a smirk.
I blush, looking back down the hill.
We’re both silent for a second as we get our breathing under control and I try to build up the nerve to drop down.
“It feels bigger up here.”
He nods. “Yeah. That’s normal.”
“How many times have you done this?”
“Today? Three times. In general? A few dozen, but that was before I moved away.”
“Does it get easier?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t think doing something hard ever gets easier. You just get more brave once you believe you can accomplish what you want.”
“What if I fall and everyone laughs.” I ask.
It’s a rare moment for me, this kind of vulnerability not normally something I put on display. But there’s something about Wyatt that I can’t put my finger on. Something inside me wants to trust him. That he’s the type of man who would catch me if I fell. Believes that he won’t make me feel stupid if I say the wrong thing.
Sure, our interactions have been a bit strange so far. But maybe strange is what I need right now.
“Then they laugh,” he says, and my head whips over to look at him. He shrugs at my reaction. “If you fall and they laugh, then you’ve fallen and they’ve laughed. It doesn’t mean you can’t laugh too. That you can’t join in and be a part of the group.”
But I’ve never been invited to be a part of the group. That little nugget Idon’tsay out loud. The last thing I want to tell the equivalent of the hot popular jock is that I’m the stinky kid no one likes to talk to.
How do you find the courage to be yourself when the you you’ve always been was never accepted before?
I sigh, look at Wyatt. “Do you think I can do it?”
He tilts his head back and looks up at the sky. “Knowing nothing about your skills and capabilities? Yes. If there was ever going to be a person that could totally blow my mind right now riding down the dune? I don’t doubt it would be you.”
I smile. “I like that.”
“What?”
“The way you see me.”
His eyes search mine for a minute before he clears his throat and takes a step away from me.
It isn’t until then that I realize how close we’d been standing.
I shake it off and take a seat strapping the board on to my shoes.
Then I stand and give one last look at Wyatt.
“Here goes.”
Tipping the end of the board over the edge, I slice down the hill, curving wide and then cutting back, drawing a big, flowing zigzag down the dune.
It feels like forever, but in reality I know it passes in seconds, and as I make it down to the bottom, sliding to a stop in front of Lucas and Paige and everyone else, the blood pumping in my ears eases just enough for me to hear everyone cheering.
For me.
