Eliza

"Christ," Serena moans. "How much longer until we're there? My feet are killing me."

"Serves you right for not wearing the proper shoes," Leon shouts from the front. He and Tenille are ahead of the pack, leading everyone to the place where the three of us to go cliff jumping when we were teenagers. It's several kilometres away from Tenille's house and hardly anyone knows about this place because the only safe trail is on Tenille's property. There is the odd time where a couple of crazy teenagers will dare to ascend the steep, rough northern side of the mountain, but it's rare. When we were younger, me, Tenille, and Leon used to come up here all the time, and almost every single time, we were alone. 

Serena scoffs, waving his comment off. "I was not about to ruin my bikini with a God-awful pair of hiking boots. What is it with society? You can never find a stylish pair of those things."

"She's going to ruin it when she jumps in," James mutters. "There's no way that thing is staying on."

I cover my giggle with a cough. Although James does have a point, I'd prefer to not lose my soap partner due to laughing at a comment she won't find very funny. In order to distract myself, I glance at the scenery around me. It's a beautiful day and I'm looking forward to spending some time with everyone. Aside from Serena, all of us love to hike and explore the hidden gems of the town. James, Kit, Scott, and Serena have never seen this place before, and I'm happy that we get to share it with them.

"Seriously!" Serena presses. "Where the hell are we going?"

"You're going to love it," I tell her. "When we get there, you'll understand why Tenille, Leon, and I used to come up here all the time when we were kids. The water is so clear that you can see the rocks at the bottom."

"I'm holding you accountable for your words, Eliza," she replies. "If I so much as get a blister and don't enjoy this place, I'm suing you."

"If you're going to do that, can you wait until we've paid off our honeymoon?" James jokes.

Everyone laughs at his realistic joke – travel is not cheap nowadays. We're going to be paying off our honeymoon for months to come.

As everyone chuckles and exchanges jokes, I look around, trying to imprint this day into my head. But when I come to Leon, I notice he's not smiling or laughing. He actually looks...upset. Almost disturbed. For a second, I think he's thinking about his mom, but then I realize that's probably the last thing he's thinking about. I know Leon always told his parents where he was going and what he was doing, but this place doesn't hold any significance in regards to his mom. She never came up here with us. None of our parents ever did. If the cliffs and the lake were a kingdom, then Leon, Tenille, and I were the rulers.

Stuck in thought about what could be darkening Leon's bright personality, I begin to create a list in my head and meticulously go through each detail. I manage to come up with a few: possibly being stressed out about golf or maybe he's agitated because he didn't get his routine bike ride in this morning. The third one, though, is one that hits me with curiosity and astonishment. When Leon told me he was here to support me as a friend, I could tell that he was lying – someone doesn't just show up after two years to support you. And I don't think he just came here to tell me about his mom. So...so it is possible that everything he's been doing, such as leaving me kettle corn in the pantry and making sure I was okay, is for some underlying reason?

My gaze flicks to Leon. He's stopped just ahead of me, next to a tree to catch his breath. Kit is talking his ear off, but it isn't hard to tell that Leon's doing anything but paying attention to whatever his friend is saying. When Leon makes eye contact with me, my breath catches in my throat. The look in his eyes is soft and slightly pleading, but also filled with something I haven't seen in years – passion. The first time he looked at me like that was when he broke his ribs. The last time he looked at me like that was that night by the creek.

I quickly tear my gaze away as my cheeks begin to burn. I hope he can't tell that I was thinking about him. It's times like these where I wish Tenille wouldn't have invited him – it would make everything so much easier if he didn't know I was getting married; if he wasn't here at all. But he is and there's nothing I can do about it. What bothers me the most, though, is that despite our two-year separation, he knows me better than the back of his hand.

Which begs the question...Is it possible that he's still in love with me?

It would be the only possible explanation, even though I don't want to believe it. If Leon still loves me, it complicates things. 

For the next ten minutes, I listen in on the conversation that's circulating between the boys. It's about their game of golf from last week and how Leon kicked all of their asses – including Kit's. It's during this conversation that I notice a little bit of tension between Leon and James. It strikes me as odd – they've been getting along so well, so why the sudden edginess toward each other all of a sudden? I never thought something like golf would be able to create a rift between them. Even so, there is a grim look on James's face and Leon's jaw is slightly clenched while Kit and Scott throw jokes back and forth.

The last push up the trail is difficult; we combat the steep, uneven incline for about four minutes before we're finally at the top of the cliffs. They're not too steep, but just steep enough to fuel your blood with adrenaline before you jump into freezing cold water below. To say you have to be well-prepared for the sudden shock of the water would be an understatement. In order to be able to do this, you have to have been born and raised in Whistler so you're accustomed to the temperature of glacier water.

I stop near a rock that protrudes up from the ground and in the view of the crystal-clear, blue-green water below, the snow-capped mountains in the distance, and the endless kilometres of pine and cedar forest. It's breathtaking. Stunning. And the longer I stare, the more nostalgic I become. Being back here after so many years is bittersweet. Part of me wants to cry over what our senior year could have been like if Leon hadn't of moved. The other part of me wants to smile and sit around a campfire and tell stories about all the crazy things we used to do up here. This place was our kingdom. Our sanctuary. And as much as I love having Kit, James, Serena, and Scott here, having Tenille and Leon with me makes everything better.

"Still manages to knock the breath from your lungs, hey?" Tenille asks. She rests her head on my shoulder as we stare out at the view.

I nod in agreement, still speechless.

"Well," Leon says. He steps up beside me and shrugs his backpack off, which he sets down on a nearby rock. He then proceeds to remove his shirt, revealing nothing but toned muscle and tanned, glistening skin, save for the white scar from when he broke his ribs. "I don't know about you, but I think we should jump together. For old time's sake. Are you ladies in?"

After I'm finished greedily drinking him in, my eyes flick up to his. There's a familiar, playful look in his eyes as his grin broadens. And, without even thinking, I find myself nodding. "I'm in. How about you, Ten?"

"Girl," she smiles. "Count me in."

Tenille and I begin to peel off our sweaty clothes and socks and shoes. When I'm standing in nothing but my bathing suit, shoes discarded to the side, I wait for Leon and Tenille to tell me when they're ready – Leon's still removing his hiking boots and Tenille is trying to untangle the straps of her tank top from the pearls on her one-piece bathing suit. It's beautiful; dark purple with delicate pears between the dip of her breasts. My bathing suit, on the other hand, is a simple two-piece bathing suit that's plain black. It's bland to a lot of people, but I like the allure of black. It's edgy, sexy, and poetic. Besides, I know I look stunning in it.

Curiously, I glance at Leon. I have to admit, I was expecting him to be staring at me. What I didn't expect was for his unique gaze to look so hungry, so filled with want and need that they cause my breath to catch in my throat. Taking a visible deep breath, Leon draws his bottom lip between his teeth and pulls off his last sock. He gets to his feet and joins Tenille and me.

"So," Tenille says, tossing her tank top to the ground. "Are we doing this on three?"

Before I can respond to Tenille, James interjects and I feel his hand come down softly on my bare shoulder. I turn around, coming face-to-face with him. He looks concerned and a little pissed off.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"You're seriously not going to jump off of that cliff, are you? Christ, Eliza. You can see the rocks at the bottom! What if you hit one? It's too dangerous. I don't want you doing it."

"Leon, Tenille, and I used to do it all the time. I wouldn't jump if I wasn't confident in my decisions," I shrug. "I'll be fine."

He tenses when I say Leon's name. "You are not jumping."

That pissed me off. This moment isn't about what James wants. It's about what I want to do. I wrench my shoulder from his grip and take a step back. It's a big enough step that my back bumps against Leon's chest. I stumble a little and his hands instantly find their way to the bare skin above my bikini bottoms. A tremor goes down my spine. His touch is like fire.

"James," I say, letting Leon's touch and my own anger fuel me. "I'm jumping whether you like it or not. If you are that uncomfortable with it, then look away. I may be changing my last name to Adams, but that doesn't mean you own me. And if that's what you think this marriage symbolizes, then maybe you need to take a step back and rethink your perspective."

He gapes at me, looking highly offended. But I don't give a shit. If he's offended, then so be it. We may be a couple, but that doesn't mean he has the right to tell me what to do and how to do it. I have never acted indifferent towards him and I would only hope he'd do the same for me.

Stepping away from James' grip, I turn around and take Leon's hand. His hand is soft and warm, slightly calloused from all the mountain biking and golfing he does. I then take Tenille's hand, trying to suppress the bodily reactions that I'm having to Leon's touch. It feels as though my insides have been set aflame and I'm burning in the most pleasant way possible.

When we're at the edge, the water below us looking as intimidating as ever, I glance up at Leon, a big smile on my face. He smiles back and it brings back too many memories for me to bear. I see us jumping into the water and then rising to the surface, yelling and cheering and saying how we need to do it again and again. I see us shivering as we swim to each other. I feel Leon pull me into his arms and kiss me, the cold water dripping down our foreheads and noses. And then Tenille and I are there, basking in the sun on the rocks down by the water while Leon does a back-flip and makes a perfect landing in the water.

I see the life we had together.

"Ready?" he asks.

I nod, lost in his eyes.

"One," he says.

"Two," Tenille continues.

We take one step forward so our toes are hanging off of the rock face.

"Three!" I exclaim.

And then, we jump. 

As we fall, still holding hands, my stomach jumps up into my throat and my hair billows above me. For the split second it takes between the time our feet are touching the rock face to the time we're submerged in the water, I feel like a teenager again. Someone without anything to worry about and a life that revolves around me and my friends. I feel free. Content. Young.

The water hits me like a brick wall, swallowing me in an ice-cold chill that forces a wave of shock through my body. Initially, it almost hurts. But while I'm swimming back to the surface to catch my breath, I begin to realize just how lovely it feels after a long, sweaty hike.

When I rise to the surface, the first person I see is Leon. The smile on his face is bigger than ever and he's staring directly at me, a light in his beautiful eyes like never before. I smile back at him as years of past memories continue to bombard me.

"We should do it again," I say, my gaze still locked with his. I hear the water splash behind me. I hear Tenille take a breath. But I can't avert my attention away from Leon's sopping wet hair or the way droplets of water run down the bridge of his nose or the way the water laps against his chin.

Leon pulls his lips to one side in a half-smile. "Then we'll do it again, Liz."