Chapter's song: All about us by Jordan Fisher

"I should have seen this coming." Mark chuckles as he kneels down to take out all the equipment necessary to climb the wall. Because apparently, I need to climb a wall once in my life, and Mark thought it would be amazing to go for it today. At six AM.

Crossing my arms, I take a deep breath. "This is an ungodly hour to be up." I'm not admitting that the view is amazing. There's green everywhere and we're the only people here. Probably because of the hour, but the silence and the crisp air are relaxing.

Mark brought a large backpack with a bunch of stuff, like ropes, harnesses and other stuff that I have no idea what it's for. "Is your suitcase magical or something? All those things couldn't fit in it." It's true, when he stepped out of his apartment, he had a small suitcase.

His looks at me for a second and I try to ignore the way my stomach tightens. "I always do rock climbing when I'm here." He turns away to his equipment and my eyes follow his every movement. I can't help but stare at the way the muscles in his arms bulge. I have to give it to him. He has nice arms. Nice, toned arms.

I remember how whenever he came with Emily and Scott, he always disappeared. I assumed he was hooking up with some girl or something. I never realized that he could be rock climbing. Then again, I didn't think much of him at the time.

What if all my life I've had this bad-boy image of him and he's not who I thought he was?

My brows are furrowed when I hear his voice. "Are you ready?" I gaze at him and his eyes are much bluer than ever before. My mouth feels dry and my pulse accelerates. He's all ready with the equipment and he's holding one of the harnesses for me. Biting my lip, I gaze up the wall. It seems daunting, to be honest. Scratch that. It's fucking scary.

"How tall is it?"

Mark takes a step closer, his eyes are glinting and his smile is confident. "It's not too tall. Thirty-two feet at most. But I'm going to be with you all the way."

Thirty-two feet? Not too tall? He's insane, that's what he is.

I raise my hand. "I have a confession to make."

His smirk widens. "Uh-huh."

"I'm afraid of heights."

He brings a fist to his mouth and coughs one time. "You bungee-jumped."

Shrugging, I look back on the wall. "Yeah, jumping is one thing, climbing a wall is another."

"How so?"

I know he's trying really hard not to laugh at me, I can see how he's holding his laughter by the way he's pressing his lips in a tight line and holding his stomach. "That didn't require physical effort, dude."

He can't hold it any longer, and he laughs. Hard. I roll my eyes and cross my arms waiting for him to finish laughing at me.

Still hiccuping, he leans one arm on the wall. "Look, I'll climb and explain to you what you need to do, step by step. Also," he gazes to the top, "I want to place this ropes up so we have a safe climbing. I'm really making it easy for you, Kate."

"What if I don't want to do it?" I narrow my eyes. It really pisses me off when he laughs at me. Which is like, all the freaking time.

He shrugs. "Then, you'll just have to wait for me as I take my breakfast up there," he gestures to the top. "And it's a really darn good breakfast that has to be eaten slowly, but it also has to be earned."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

He gives the harness. "Get this on while I start to climb."

Huffing, I stare at him. "I haven't said yes!"

He smiles a beautiful, breath-taking smile that reaches his eyes and makes my heart flutter. "It's a really good breakfast, Kate." I hate how my stomach flip-flops every time he says my name. It's unnerving and quite distracting and I want it to stop. He doesn't wait for me to answer back, he gives me the harness and starts to climb the wall. I put it on and then turn to look how he's doing and I can't look away.

Oh my gosh. It's the best view ever. I'm glad he's turned away because it takes me a moment to realize that my mouth is open and I'm literally drooling. In my defense, Mark is wearing track pants...and they're tight. And he's fit. Quite fit.

He starts to babble something but I'm not paying attention. How can I? He's so distracting. After five minutes, I gather that he's explaining all this rock-climbing stuff, so I try to actually listen. He talks about the crevices and nooks, and how I need to be in sync and relay on my own body to do this and a bunch of stuff that I don't really understand. I'm only thinking that he must be crazy for bringing me here, but that I must be crazier for agreeing to it.

It takes him almost twenty minutes to climb that wall, and I'm pretty sure that it would only take him about ten if he hadn't explained anything. I can't help but wonder why on earth is he adamant on being such a nice person to me. Why me? I roll my eyes at him half-the-time we're together, and I'm no impressed at him for being a prince or whatever. Yes, I'd crushed on him when I was a teen, just like 90% of the female population. But for some reason, he's here, and he's trying to make me try new things, and he's being patient and...too nice.

He secures some ropes up there and then he jumps down and rappels so damn easily that I start to feel self-conscious.

"Are you ready?"

No. "You make it seem easy Mark but I'm pretty sure it isn't."

His gaze is deep as he takes a step closer to me. He grabs my harness and pulls me to him. My breath is stuck down my throat as he grabs one of the quickdraws and attaches it to my harness. "I've got you, Kate."

My heart skips a beat at his words and then returned in full-force as he finished securing my harness, always looking at me with those scorching eyes. 

I so want to kiss her but I can't. I move away from her before I do something stupid that might jeopardize this whole friendship thing. And that's the thing, I don't really want to be friends with Kate but I do want to know her better. I want to know everything about her.

I guide her through the first steps. How she needs to grab to the rocks and how she needs to push up, and I try not to ogle at her as she does. She groans and my heart rate spikes but I keep quiet. I feel like there's a fine thread I'm walking on and I don't want to screw things up.

More than I usually do, anyway.

"Do you want to play a game?" I'm right next to her and she turns to me with wide eyes, giving me an are-you-out-of-your-mind look. I shrug. I need to distract myself.

Her right arm is shaking too, so this whole distraction might be just what she needs. "Now?" her tone is strained and I try my best not to smile at how cute she looks.

"I do like to spice things up." She looks away as she pushes herself up, but I catch a 'bloody-murder-you' out of her mouth. "Twenty questions. I go first. Are you in?"

She grunts in response and my lips quirk up. "What's your favorite color?"

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Come on, Kate. Move your left arm to that little nook over there." She does as I said. "Your favorite color?"

She pushes herself up and her right leg wobbles a little bit. I grab her as she exhales. "Golden."

I make sure that she's holding on before I let her go. "Your turn."

She glances down and I see her brows furrow. She hasn't really climbed much. We could jump back down and call it a day without any danger. A trail of sweat is covering her forehead. "I hate you," she mutters under her breath before rolling her eyes. "Your favorite color."

I suppress a smile. "Pink."

She eyes the rocks and grabs on to the one higher beneath her reach. I want to object, but I don't. I place myself right next to her in case I need to grab her. Pulling up her leg, she reaches the rock and takes a deep breath while still holding on the rocks as if her life depended on it.

"Pink?" her voice is breathless and my stomach clenches.

I wink at her. "I'm just making sure you're actually listening to me." She presses her lips together. "Navy blue is my favorite color."

She licks her lip. "Why am I doing this?"

I point her what rock to grab next. "Is that your question?"

"I don't want to play this stupid game. I just want to get up there. I'm bloody hungry."

We both gaze at the top. "You'll get there Kate, I know you will."

"What's the point of this?" She moves her left leg and pushes herself higher, following the little trail of marked stones I'd left behind when I used the chalk powder.

"It's a reminder that in life you have to work hard and push yourself to the limits to reach your dreams."

She blinks at me. "Who the hell are you?"

I laugh at that. "Climbing brings out the philosophical side of me!" Her lips tug up. "And I'm also trying to impress you with my wisdom."

I hear her chuckle as she climbs higher. As if I can impress her.

Hey guys! So, I'm editing Perfectly Imperfect as is it and I won't be able to update until I finish editing. I did want to post something, so here it is. 

Thank you so much for evertyhing! Love you guys!