I Lost Her

"There's hardly anyone here. Maybe this place actually sucks."

Riley smiled. "It doesn't stink. It's just that a lot of people don't know about this place. Trust me, once you get up there you're going to love it. You liked all the other places I showed you, didn't you?"

I plastered a smirk on my face. "Well.."

"You had fun, and you know it."

"Okay, so maybe I liked it. But just a little," I joked as we moved up a few feet in line.

"I thought so," she replied.

We waited in line for about five more minutes as the one fat bastard working the chair lift supervised everything that was going on. I noticed the wind starting to pick up as more snowflakes fell from the sky. Riley began to rub her arms furiously, her nose becoming redder as the seconds passed by, too.

"You're up, you two," the guy told us.

Riley looked over at me before she grabbed my hand and pulled me along so we could take a seat on the lift. We gradually suspended higher in the air as we climbed up the mountain.

"I forgot how high this was."

"Don't tell me you're afraid of heights now. You're not going to like, I don't know, freak out get us killed, are you?" I asked her.

She giggled, lightly shaking her head. "No, I should be okay. I'm just not very fond of heights, that's all."

"Just don't look down," I told Riley.

"I know that. I've been looking at you for the past few minutes anyway." I felt my cheeks grow hot, which wasn't something I was very used to.

We were silent for a few moments after that, things becoming a little bit awkward.

"I don't like snakes. They don't have legs--that's creepy as hell," I offered.

"They're not my favorite either," she said as we came to the top of the mountain. "Well, we're almost there."

"Finally."

It took about another or minute or so until we came to the little landing area and we hopped off the chair lift. There were only about ten other people up here, and they were starting to scatter out and go down different trails.

I saw Riley shiver to my right. "Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah, fine," she smiled. "I just didn't realize it was going to be this much colder up here."

"Maybe we should pick a path sooner than later so we don't freeze to death," I laughed.

She gave her a head a few nods and we walked over to the big wooden sign with the trail names carved into it. It listed how many miles long each trail was, too.

"Do you want to take Blue Spruce?" she questioned.

I was slightly confused as to why she had chosen the shortest trail. She was the one who really wanted to come here and show me around, yet it seemed like she couldn't wait to get off this mountain. Maybe it was the cold weather.

"That one's sort of short. Are you sure you don't want to pick a longer one or something?" I asked her.

Riley looked away from me, then to the ground before she brought her eyes back up to me. "This one has the best view."

For some reason I wasn't completely convinced that that was the reason why she chose the shortest path. But I didn't push it any further, I just gave my head a nod before we started moving towards the trail.

"Hey, did you ever find your dog?"

"Oh. Yeah," Riley nodded. "One of our neighbors found Zeus walking along the street and brought him back. It was the same day I met you, actually. I guess the flyers helped. Thank you."

"For what?" I said as I stuffed my hands into my pockets.

"For helping me put all those papers on the trees. I probably would've been out there forever if you hadn't come along."

"I didn't really do all that much, but you're welcome."

I hadn't really noticed that Riley wasn't right by my side anymore. I guess I was in my own little world. So when I heard her call out my name I sort of panicked when I looked to my right and she wasn't there.

"Landon, can we slow down a bit? I can't keep up anymore."

It was strange. I didn't even think I was walking fast, just a normal pace. But she was a good fifteen steps behind me, nearly doubled over and out of breath.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't realize how fast I was going," I easily apologized as I made my way back to her.

"No, you weren't. It's just--" she suddenly stopped.

I found myself frowning as I reached a hand our to her. "Here, I'll give you a piggy back ride."

"Are you sure?" she laughed. "I'm probably not very light."

"You're kidding, right? You should've seen all those fat kids I had to drag across the field on my back during baseball. They were seriously borderline obese."

She gave her a head a little shake, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips before she slid her hand into mine and climbed on my back. I put my hands around her thighs to hold her up while she wrapped her arms around my neck. I was surprised as all hell that I actually enjoyed being this close to her.

We were silent as we kept walking. The only sound coming from the snow crunching under my feet and Riley's ragged breathing. I let out puffs of air for the remainder of the time until we came to a clearing. Riley untangled her arms from around me and hopped off my back before she appeared next to me, grinning.

"What?" I asked her, finding it hard to keep a smile from my face also.

"Come on," she replied and grabbed onto my hand. She yanked me along as she sprinted towards the edge of the mountain.

"Wow," I breathed. "It is nice up here."

"I hate to say I told you so, but..," she smirked, trying to catch her breath agian. "I told you so."

I stood there, shell shocked, at the view in front of me. You could see the smoke pouring from chimneys on just about every house in town. The street lights were turning on one by one, lighting the sidewalks as the sun started to set. And if you squinted your eyes and looked close enough you could see the tiny waves lapping at the shore and boats making their way to the docks.

I felt Riley lay her head on mine as she let out a sigh. I didn't protest her actions, not at all. I actually found myself wrapping my own arm around her waist.