We sit on the rock a little while longer, my side resting against Aaron's. His skin is warm and soft, but his knots of muscle are firm under my weight. We let the sun get lazy in the sky, talking and thinking, until it's beating down on us with unrelenting force. The air around us steams and turns humid, making sweat prickle on my forehead. Within seconds, the rock begins to bake beneath us.
"Let's keep going," Aaron says, standing up and straightening his swimming trunks. He stretches languidly, yawning. His eyes glimmer. "Your surprise is up ahead."
"I'm beginning to have suspicions about your 'surprise'," I prod, jumping off the rock. It's begun to feel like an inferno.
"It's nothing like you've ever tried." Aaron takes my hand. "But you'll like it. I promise."
I follow him deeper into the underbrush, already knowing where we're headed. "I trust you," I respond. "And hopefully your idea isn't as crazy as the one I think you have."
"Probably crazier," Aaron responds, smirking.
As expected, we climb up the jaggedly cut rocks to the waterfall. My swimsuit rubs smoothly against my skin, burning the parts of my body that it touches. "I'm getting a bad idea about this," I say slowly, heart pounding. My pulse is almost as loud as the waves crashing in the distance, the view of the waterfall shrouded by trees and bushes. I'm pretty sure I know what Aaron's 'surprise' is, but I refuse myself to believe it. While my attitude may be drastic, my non-existent daredevil side is not.
"You'll love it," Aaron promises. He gives my hand a reassuring squeeze, enough to quell my fear a bit.
The air is misty and cool, a sharp and satisfying contrast from the rest of the forest. The humidity in the air has completely vanished, drowning us in slight breezes and a dewy aroma. I stretch my hand to the side, my skin tingling when miniscule droplets hit my skin. Little asteroids, and I am the moon.
After a long climb, we finally reach the top. I stare at the ground we now trod on, remnants of the other night swarming me in flashes. The pain is a distant memory, but it's a ghost at the corner of my vision, ready to come out to play. I lock it in its playroom, but everyone knows that ghosts can go through doors.
Aaron beckons me closer, setting a hand on my back. The spray of water is like a fountain, rushing up to meet us, and I feel like I'm drenched already. Aaron's loose tank top whips around his chest, and I lock my eyes to the water crashing down below us. His skin is pebbled with little droplets, racing down his arms. With a glance, I realize that mine are similar. I rub the water away, but it quickly reemerges. I rub and rub and rub, but it never leaves.
Aaron notices my hand frantically rubbing the skin off my arm. He sets a warm hand atop of mine, stilling my movements instantly. He says something to me, but over the roar of the waves, his voice dissipates in thin air. "What?!" I scream, close to his ear.
"Take your shirt off!" Aaron hollers back, beginning to thread his arms through his tank top. I stare, gawking. I'm mentally kicking myself, part of my brain yelling I told you so, part of my brain wondering what are the chances of death and another earth-shattering migraine, and the other part committing Aaron's bare chest to memory.
"I'll keep my hands to myself, I promise!" Aaron throws his tank on the ground, shuddering as a fresh spray of water hits him. "C'mon! C'mon!"
Perhaps the nature around me is clouding my judgement, perhaps the cacophony around me is making me drunk. Without a thought, I mindlessly peel my t-shirt and shorts off, turning to him. The cold is instantaneous, making goosebumps spread like wildfire on my arms and legs. I think about what I'm about to do, and I think of Aaron doing it with me.
Would I rather jump a waterfall, or go back home and search the Internet for things to do by myself?
I know the answer instantaneously.
Aaron takes my hand, inching us to the mouth of the waterfall. "Trust me," he says. He squeezes my hand, trying to channel all his excitement and confidence into me, like we're an electric current. It kind of works – at least I have experience in drowning.
"Count of three." Aaron grins, teeth flashing. I wonder if he already feels as if he has a mouthful of water already. I, for one, feel like I've been submerged in a swimming pool.
Aaron raises three fingers. He hollers the number. I stare down at the water below us, plundering down to Earth, wondering if it chose to fall or accidentally slipped off the edge. Can water be suicidal?
Two fingers. My legs begin to quake, and I open my mouth to back out of this. The highest I've ever jumped from is the lowest diving board at the Rec pool. This is that, multiplied by a bajillion gazillion million.
I wait for Aaron to scream ONE, but he doesn't. Instead, he jumps, and pulls me with him.
I don't even know I'm screaming until my throat begins to throb and scratch like sandpaper. My eyes flicker, but for some insane reason, I keep them peeled, watching the world tumble around us as trees don't become trees anymore and are instead strips of green, blending and mushing together. Aaron's grip is tight around me, but he's not screaming, he's laughing and cheering, and so are the waves, raising watery hands to catch us. It's a rush and it's slow motion all tied into one, drifting, falling head first, screaming, silent, my heart in my throat, pulse going boom boom boom boom boom and then we are in the WATER, submerged and wrapped in bubbles like a cloak. Aaron's feet expertly begin to dart toward the surface, pulling me with him, long, muscled arm reaching towards the surface. I feebly kick behind him, sunlight filtering through the tops of the pool, gloating down at us.
Dreaming. My hair floating around me like a halo, strips of seaweed reaching long, spindly fingers to try and snare my toes. My fingers outstretched, reaching for the light. Silent. Silent. Silent all around me until then I am at the surface, the seal at the top of the water is broken, my head crashing back to earth. Gasping, I blink water out of my eyes, sucking in air, legs churning.
Then, I laugh. I laugh and laugh and laugh, and Aaron hoots beside me, wrapping his big giant arms around my waist. "YOU DID IT," he screams to me, grinning widely, twirling us in the water. "YOU DID IT YOU DID IT YOU DID IT."
My heart is nestled safely back in place, but its pulse does not slow by a fraction. It's bursting and golden and pumping adrenaline through my veins like wildfire. My fingers reach up to his forehead, pulling the hair out of his eyes, resting my forehead against his. His blue eyes are all that swamp my vision, and he has little pools of water in himself, in two pretty irises. Our legs are entangled below us, kicking and knotting together, keeping us afloat. Aaron is my life vest, keeping me afloat.
"Kiss me," he says, and even though he doesn't raise his voice, it's louder than the aquamarine world around us. He smiles, leaning closer, eyelids sparkling with water. His eyes are glinting. Devilish. Daring me. "Kiss me, Asher Thomas."
I should hesitate. I should think of all the girls before, all the others that could have witnessed this same thing right now. I should think of Chloe, the heartbreak and pain and agony much like the one in my head. However, I don't question it. I don't think about it. Perhaps the adrenaline is acting like a drug, perhaps my disorder has affected my brain more than I ever imagined. I dive headfirst, like the waterfall.
My lips are trembling and pressing against his, my fingers cupping his cheeks. Even though we are afloat, I feel as if we're drowning all over again. His mouth is warm and insistent against mine, dancing. Pine, water, mint, ash. Fireworks, electricity, manifesting itself into my skin and making me dizzy. Behind closed eyes, I see shooting stars up in the cosmos, dying supernovas and exploding suns around this little Earth, and I'm drunk and I'm drunk and I'm drunk and I
am
ruined.
With a gasp, Aaron pulls away, lips red. "I fucking love you," he says, the words tumbling from his lips. Then he stretches his head back, repeating the same words, but 'you' is replaced with 'Asher Thomas' and he is saying it over and over and over, screaming for the world to hear. Out there, in Antarctica, penguins are hearing his declaration, and so are the camels in the Sahara, and every other animal and human dance and rejoice with us. They sing and clap and it's like the movies, no – it's even better.
"I love you too, Aaron Blakely." My voice is a whisper against his lips, smiling. I've been doing that a lot lately. Aaron has been around a lot lately.
He changed. I changed.
All I can hope for is that it lasts.