Page 22 of The Wing
“We do?”
I commit to it. I didn’t realise it until now, but I want a photo with him. “Yep, we did the hike together, so we need a photo together in front of the view. Pretty sure it’s a rule.”
Liam purses his lips but walks towards me. “Okay, if you want to.”
“I do.”
Liam stands beside me, and I drag him closer and sling my arm around his shoulders, tucking him into my side and resisting the urge to kiss his red cheek. I hold my phone in front of us, turn the front camera on, and angle it to get both of us and the glacier in it.
“What happened to smiling?” I ask when I notice Liam is staring at the camera blankly.
He shakes his head. “Sorry.” His mouth widens, and I snap the photo, both of us with grins on our faces, and my arm around him. Too bad I can’t bend down and kiss him. The photo makes us look like a couple, and a twinge goes through my chest at the thought.
Even if he does kiss me and we fool around a bit, I’m flying to South Africa in a week, and I live in Auckland. It’s stupid to be thinking like that. Like we could be a couple. He probably wouldn’t want to deal with the media anyway.
“There, now you’ll have a photo to prove to Daisy you hiked. I’ll send it to you later.” I slip my phone away and step around the boulder and sit on the grass in front of it, leaning against the stone.
Liam scoffs and sits beside me. “She’ll think you kidnapped me.”
“I’ll convince her when I see her next.” Thoughts creep into my head about next week. Will I still be having issues throwing when nothing’s wrong? Will I be worse? My heart rate ticks up, and I shake myself. No. I don’t want to think about that. I glance at Liam. His hair glows in the sun, cheeks still tinged red from the hike. No, I don’t want to think about it all now. Not when Liam’s sitting beside me.
Liam scoffs. “Good luck. Last time we hiked I swore it off.” He unzips his backpack and digs around until he finds his sandwich and notebook.
He swore off hiking? My chest warms with a feeling I can’t place. “You swore off hiking? What made you come today?” Please let it be because of me.
Liam freezes momentarily as he flips his notebook open, and his eyes dart to mine before he continues setting himself up. “For one, I didn’t think you’d be comfortable driving around here.”
“You could have dropped me off.”
“True, but then you would have thought about why you’re here and spiralled about why you’re here, which would not have been productive.”
I blink at him. “How’d you figure that out?”
Liam rolls his eyes at me and raises an eyebrow. “Did you spend all of yesterday staring out the window?”
“Maybe.”
“Pretty sure you know every plant in my garden by now.”
“Not every plant,” I mutter. Are my issues that obvious?
“Has today helped?” he asks as he fiddles with his notebook.
I nudge my sneaker against his. “Yeah, it did. Thanks, Liam… I wasn’t sure about coming here to stay with someone I’d never met, but I’m glad I did,” I say quietly without looking at him.
“So am I.”
I glance up and meet his bright eyes and look away when heat zips through me and my throat goes dry.
“Eat.” Liam points at my backpack and clicks his pen on.
I follow his order and fish out the sandwich he made for me and guzzle water while I people-watch. There are only two other groups since it’s still early for a Sunday, and they’re doing what we are. Eating and watching the landscape shift in the wind and sun. Every so often a gust of wind comes and the waterfalls contort into an ‘s’ shape like someone’s bending the water to their will. Maybe Liam can include it in whatever he’s writing. He’s scribbling away in his notebook and has already filled three pages. I’m glad we continued to the end if it’s giving him so much to think about. Maybe I helped him, too?
Liam is more engrossed in his writing than he was at the first lookout, so I dig out my e-reader and start rereading my favourite book. I know exactly what’s going to happen, so there won’t be any surprises while my head sorts itself out, and I think it will be a while before Liam resurfaces.
“What are you reading?”
I jolt out of my book and squint at the bright light from the sun reflecting off the water. There are different people scattered around now, and it’s starting to get busier. I turn to find Liam staring at me, craning his neck to see what’s on my screen.
