Page 77 of Promise Me Nothing
And then I push forward on my pedals, propelling me towards where Paige and Lucas are probably singing some hit song fromTrollsor something.
But I can feel Wyatt riding behind me for the rest of the way.
The night turns out to be really fun, the weird interaction with Wyatt aside. We kind of kept our distance from each other for a little bit, which isn’t surprising to me.
I basically flipped out on him because he wanted to apologize for making a joke. I roll my eyes at myself and shake my head.
Sienna told me once that I’m allowed to have real reactions when it comes to men, even if it makes them uncomfortable.
“You don’t owe them anything,” she told me.
And for a while, I heeded that advice. Yanking back and glaring and making myself untouchable worked for me.
But I’m not so sure it does anymore, though I wouldn’t even know where to begin to stop it. To change what feels like a very base instinct
“Come on, Hannah! You have to do it, at least once!”
I glance over from where I’m seated in a camping chair next to a bonfire. Paige and Lucas and most of the group are at the bottom of the monstrous hill, waving me over.
Reluctantly, I get out of my chair and head in their direction, laughing when they start to cheer. I’m going to safely assume they’ve had a smidge too much to drink.
Paige, Lucas, Lennon, Wyatt, and Otto, as well as a handful of people I was briefly introduced to but definitely don’t remember their names, have been going up and sledding down for the past hour. They’re all sweaty, sticky, sandy and a little bit sloshed.
So far, I’m the only one who hasn’t gone. But as the daylight disappears and the chance to board down starts to fade with it, I know that if I’m going to do it, I need to go now.
Once I’m standing before them, the same beer I’ve been nursing for the past hour clutched in my hand, Lucas gives me instructions.
“Alright, so you carry this up the right side and then you board down the left,” he says, grinning from behind his board, Burton tagged in bold down the center of it.
My eyes widen. Burton is expensive stuff. I’m surprised Lucas is willing to ride it down the dunes and get it all scuffed. But I guess that’s just what it’s like having everything you want. And really, cost and value aren’t the same thing.
“It’s not like I haven’t been watching for the past hour,” I say, adding a laugh so he knows I’m teasing. “Why can I only board down the left, though?”
He turns slightly to the side so I can see the sign denoting that the left is the children’s recreational area and the right is the adult exercise area.
“Will I get in trouble tonight if I board down the other side?”
I might not have an extensive history behind me of vacations to fancy ski resorts, but what Idohave is six years of summer vacations to Yuma with Sienna’s family. And boarding down the dunes? That was my favorite.
The sand on the sledding side is packed in tight. To board down confidently on this baby, I need the loose stuff, like on the adult side.
Lucas lifts a shoulder. “I guess not. Why? You planning on doing some tricks for us?”
I shrug right back at him. “Maybe.”
And then I pull the snowboard out of his hands and head off towards the hill, with everyone ‘oooooooh’-ing behind me.
It takes me about ten minutes to get to the top, the first half passing quickly and the second half proving to be a real pain in the ass. I’m heaving in breaths by the time I finally get all the way up.
Cardio like this is so different than long distance running, although I’m sure it doesn’t help that I haven’t really been running since I first got to town, the one or two morning jogs in the one mile loop near Lucas’ house barely enough to make me feel anything.
When I finally stand at the top, I get a little bit of vertigo, though it passes quickly. It’s amazing how high this little mountain feels at the top as opposed to when you’re at the bottom. And now that I’m up here, I’m getting a tiny bit of stage fright.
What if I totally fall on my ass and embarrass myself?
I’m standing there for a few minutes, staring down the dune, when I hear someone walking up behind me.
“Where did you come from?” I ask Wyatt as he steps up next to me and bends over with his hands on his knees, catching his breath.
