It's gonna be a longg chapter, so dividing into two as always!!

The truck slows gradually, tires crunching over gravel instead of pavement. I look up from the blur of trees outside the window, frowning a little.

"...where are we?"

Aiden doesn't answer immediately. Which is never a good sign. The road's gone narrow now. More dirt than actual road. Trees everywhere. Tall and crowded together, branches crossing overhead like they're conspiring.

Very murdery atmosphere.

The truck finally stops near a crooked patch of woods that looks like every horror movie opening scene ever created.

I stare out the windshield. Then at him. Then back at the woods.

"...Aiden."

He unbuckles calmly.

"Hm?"

"If you kill me out here," I say slowly, "Emily's gonna make one of those Netflix documentaries about you."

He grabs a plastic bag from the floor.

"Damn. I always wanted to be famous."

"I'm serious."

"Okay but if they cast someone ugly to play me, haunt them."

I get out reluctantly, eyeing the woods.

"Why does this look illegal."

"It's nature."

"Exactly."

He snorts and starts walking.

"C'mon."

"No, because this is how white people disappear."

"You are white."

"Not spiritually."

That gets an actual laugh out of him.

The ground turns uneven almost immediately. Roots everywhere. My shoe catches on one and I stumble hard enough to nearly eat dirt.

Aiden looks back.

"...you good?"

"No. I saw my entire future."

"You're being dramatic."

"I almost died."

"You tripped over a stick."

"A malicious stick."

He shakes his head, grinning to himself. He just keeps walking. I can hear something now though. Faint at first. Then louder.

Water.

I frown.

"...where are we going?"

Aiden glances back at me. Then suddenly takes off running.

I stop dead.

"What the hell—"

"C'mon!"

"AIDEN."

He's laughing already.

I start running after him because apparently I've lost all self-preservation instincts around this guy.

"HAS THIS GUY GONE INSANE?"

"You're literally following me!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU'D DIE WITHOUT ME."

"That feels backwards somehow!"

Branches smack against my arms as I push through the trees after him. The ground slopes weirdly here, all loose dirt and rocks hidden under dead leaves. I nearly slip again.

"AIDEN—"

He looks back while still running. The sound of water gets louder suddenly. Not just a stream anymore. Bigger.

"What?"

"WHY ARE YOU—"

Then the trees break apart.

And—

Jesus.

Water crashes down over a wall of dark rocks maybe twenty feet high, spilling into a huge pool below. The whole thing glows gold where the evening sun hits it through the trees. Moss climbs over the stones. Water rushes white against them hard enough that I can feel the sound in my chest.

I stop moving.

Aiden climbs onto one of the rocks dramatically, nearly slipping immediately. He throws his arms wide anyway.

"Welcome," he announces loudly, "to the only good thing in this entire town."

I stare at him.

Then the waterfall.

Then him again.

"...what."

He points at the water proudly like he built it himself.

"Tada."

"You had a secret waterfall this whole time?"

"It's not secret. You just never go outside."

"That's fair actually."

He beams like I just complimented him. The water keeps roaring behind him, sunlight flickering across his face every time he moves.

It's stupidly pretty here.

That thought settles weirdly somewhere in my chest, so I focus on the fact that Aiden's already pulling his hoodie over his head.

I blink.

"...what are you doing."

He tosses the hoodie onto a rock.

"Swimming."

I stare at him harder.

"In October?"

"It builds character."

"It builds pneumonia."

"You're so negative."

"You're taking your clothes off in forest water like a Victorian child about to catch tuberculosis."

"That is such a weirdly specific insult."

He kicks his shoes off.

"Relax, Hale."

"I am relaxed."

He gives me a look that says nobody here believes that.

Then he turns and starts climbing barefoot over the rocks. I watch him mostly because I'm waiting for him to slip and crack his skull open.

The waterfall crashes loud behind him, sunlight catching in the spray every time he moves. His hoodie's gone now, hair messy from the wind, grin too bright for somebody standing one wrong step away from accidental death.

Halfway up the rocks, he glances back at me.

"You ever played video games before me?"

I hesitate.

"...not really."

"Told you."

He points at me triumphantly like he won something.

"What about stargazing?"

I look away toward the water.

"...yeah, but—"

"Fishing."

"That barely counts as an activity."

"You literally smiled."

"I did not."

"You absolutely did."

I can still remember it for some reason.

The lake moving softly under the morning light. Lily yelling because she thought every fish was "the biggest one in history." Aiden laughing so hard he almost dropped the net.

Something catches quietly in my chest.

Annoying.

I shove it down.

"...fine," I mutter. "It was okay."

Aiden climbs down onto a lower rock closer to me.

"Gaming," he continues, counting on his fingers now. "Stars. Fishing."

He looks at me for a second. Softer suddenly.

"And you liked all of them."

The water rushes around the rocks below him. Wind pushes cold mist against my face.

I open my mouth automatically.

"Yeah, but this is differen—"

"So trust me, Hale."

He says it quietly. Not teasing this time.

Just simple.

Then he holds his hand out.

And god.

That stupid grin.

Not even a normal smile either. Slightly crooked. Hair falling into his eyes because he keeps forgetting to cut it. Sunlight catching on his face through the trees in broken pieces.

He looks—

happy.

Like this was never supposed to be a big deal. Like me being here isn't complicated. That's the part that gets me, I think.

The ease of it.

I stare at his hand a second too long. Then sigh hard through my nose and start pulling my hoodie off.

Aiden's entire face lights up immediately.

"Oh my god—"

"—Don't. I can still leave."

"You won't."

The stupid thing is he says it without ego.

Just certain.

Like he already knows me enough to know that.

I hate how much that does something weird to my chest.

I shove my shoes off harder than necessary, then yank my hoodie over my head.

Cold air hits my skin immediately.

Aiden watches me with this stupidly pleased look on his face like I just accomplished something incredible instead of basic human participation.

"Wow," he says softly. "Personal growth."

"Shut up. I can still leave."

"You won't."

The annoying thing is he says it so casually. Like he already knows.

I glare at him while tugging my shirt off too.

"This better not awaken anything in the mosquitoes."

Aiden snorts.

"You sometimes say the weirdest things."

"I'm under stress."

He laughs quietly and steps closer, holding his hand out again when I start climbing across the rocks. The stones are damp and uneven under my feet. Water rushes loudly below us.

I almost slip immediately.

Aiden catches my wrist before I fully lose balance.

"Okay," he says. "See? Survival instincts. Proud of you."

"I hate this already."

"No you don't."

His hand slides from my wrist into my palm naturally while he helps me up onto the higher rock beside him.

Warm fingers.

Cold air.

My stomach does something deeply annoying. I ignore it with the determination of a soldier going to battle.

The rock overlooks the water below us. From up here the waterfall looks bigger somehow. Evening sun spills gold across the surface in broken moving streaks.

The drop suddenly looks—

very real.

I peer over the edge.

"...that's high."

"It's literally not."

"If I die, I'm haunting you specifically."

"That feels fair."

The water crashes below us hard enough to mist against my face.

Aiden looks over at me, grinning.

"Ready?"

"...not really."

He nods thoughtfully.

"Love the honesty."

What am I doing? Seriously.

This is stupid.

I don't do things like this.

I work. I go home. I survive the day. That's the system. That's how things stay manageable.

Not—

whatever this is.

Standing half-dressed on a rock beside a waterfall with Aiden Reyes holding my hand like dragging me into chaos is a completely normal Saturday activity.

My heart's beating too fast. Not just from the height.

Aiden squeezes my hand once.

Quick.

"Okay," he says. "On three."

"Oh god."

"One—"

"This is genuinely unsafe—"

"Two—"

"I'm serious, people crack their heads open doing this—"

"Three."

And then we're falling.

I yell immediately. Not dignified yelling either.

Actual panic yelling.

"AIDEN—"

The water slams into us freezing cold and suddenly there's nothing except noise and cold and the shock of it hitting every inch of me at once.

I come back up choking violently.

"OH MY GOD."

Aiden surfaces beside me laughing so hard he nearly goes under again.

"YOU'RE ALIVE."

"I CAN'T FEEL MY SPINE."

"Don't worry," he says, still laughing. "Pretty sure it's still in there somewhere."

"THIS IS HOW FROZEN PEOPLE FEEL."

"You've never met a frozen person."

"I AM one now."

Water crashes around us while Aiden keeps laughing like this is the greatest thing that's ever happened to him.

And maybe it is.

His hair's soaked flat over his forehead. Water dripping down his face while the sunset catches gold against his skin every time he turns his head.

I splash him hard across the shoulder.

He gasps dramatically.

"Okay. Wow. Aggressive."

"You tricked me."

"You jumped willingly."

"You counted too fast!"

"That sounds like a you problem."

I try glaring at him. It doesn't really work when I'm shivering and trying not to smile.

Aiden notices immediately.

His grin gets bigger.

"Oh my god."

"Don't."

"You're having fun."

"I'm surviving."

"That's not what your face says."

"My face is a liar."

"That explains a lot actually."

I bark out a laugh before I can stop it.bA real one. Too loud. It bounces weirdly around the rocks and disappears into the sound of the waterfall behind us.

For a second I just—

pause.

Because it sits weirdly in my chest. Almost like it's wrong. Wrong to feel lighter, to feel...this when everything is a mess.

Aiden ducks underwater suddenly.

I blink.

"...where did he—"

Then he pops back up several feet away with both hands dramatically raised.

"I caught a fish."

"There is literally nothing in your hands."

"It escaped."

"You're so brave."

"Thank you. It was emotional for both of us."

I laugh again. God. It comes a bit easier now.

Aiden wipes water out of his eyes and climbs onto one of the lower rocks near the waterfall.

The evening sun catches behind him, turning the spray around the rocks gold for a second.

"Observe, you're next," he announces.

"Nope."

"Too late."

"This is gonna end horribly."

"Have some faith in me, Hale."

"You slipped walking down here."

"That was the old me."

"That was twenty seconds ago."

He ignores me completely and jumps to the next rock anyway.

For one glorious second he actually lands it perfectly.

Then immediately pinwheels sideways with a yell so startled and high-pitched that I completely lose it.

I double over laughing.

Actually doubling over.

"Oh my god—"

Aiden disappears into the water with a massive splash.

Then resurfaces coughing.

"That rock attacked me."

"You screamed before you even fell."

"I always rehearse before the big performance."

"God, you're an idiot."

He shoves wet hair back out of his face, still sputtering.

"You're a terrible lifeguard, by the way."

"I was laughing too hard to help you."

"Wow. While I was in agony."

"You looked like a deer trying roller skates for the first time."

"...that feels weirdly specific."

"I stand by it."

He stares at me for a second. Then starts laughing again too.

And something about that moment—

the water rushing around us, the sunset slipping lower through the trees, both of us laughing so hard we can barely breathe—

makes everything outside this place go strangely quiet.

No diner. No home. No mom. No dad.

No Landon.

No constant tight feeling sitting behind my ribs every second of the day.

Just cold water. Wet rocks.

And Aiden being an idiot on purpose because he knows it makes me laugh.

I float back a little, letting the water carry some of my weight. The sky above us is turning orange now.

Aiden notices me watching it and immediately points upward.

"See? I bring enrichment into your life."

"You almost died thirty seconds ago."

"But you had fun."

I open my mouth automatically.

Then stop.

Because—

yeah.

I did.

Aiden sees it happen on my face before I even say anything. His expression softens a little around the edges.

Not teasing now. Just softness. Like this was the goal all along. Not the waterfall. Not the jumping.

This.

Me being okay.

"You know," he says casually, floating onto his back beside me, "you smile different when it's real."

My stomach does a weird little flip. I splash water at his face immediately.

"Shut up."

He sputters laughing.

"THAT IS A NICE THING."

Aiden laughs again, softer this time. The sound settles warm somewhere under my ribs. And I hate how easy this feels now.

How easy he makes it.

At one point he climbs halfway up beside the waterfall itself, balancing badly on the rocks.

I squint up at him.

"Aiden."

"What?"

"You look like you're about to become a local news story."

He spreads his arms dramatically.

"Take a picture of me mentally."

"You look insane."

"I look cool."

"You look one strong breeze away from a concussion."

"Rude."

Then he attempts some kind of jump that clearly made sense only in his own head.

His foot slips immediately. The noise he makes on the way down is somewhere between a scream and a confused goose.

I laugh so hard I accidentally inhale water and start coughing too.

Aiden resurfaces beside me, equally dying.

The sky above us is turning orange now through the trees. Everything smells like water and moss and cold air.

It feels far away from everything else. Like the town stopped existing for a while.

Aiden suddenly lifts his head.

"Oh, wait. C'mon."

I blink at him.

"...what now."

"You'll see."

"That sentence has literally never made me feel safe."

He snorts and starts climbing out of the water. I groan quietly watching him.

"My legs stopped functioning thirty minutes ago."

"Skill issue."

"Don't say that to me."

He climbs onto the rocks barefoot, then turns and holds his hand down toward me again.

I stare at it.

Then at him.

Then take it anyway.

His grip tightens immediately while he pulls me up beside him. Water drips from both of us onto the rocks while we climb higher.

Aiden keeps looking back to make sure I'm following.

Or alive.

Hard to tell.

"Careful there," he says when I slip again.

"I'm trying."

"You're moving like an elderly man."

"I work double shifts."

"You're seventeen."

"Exactly."

He laughs softly and reaches back automatically again when the rocks get steeper.

The woods open more the higher we go.

By the time we finally stop, we're above the waterfall completely.

And—

Jesus.

The whole town stretches out far in the distance between trees glowing orange under the setting sun. The water below us catches light like shattered glass.

Wind moves through the branches overhead softly.

Everything looks slower from up here.

Quieter.

Beautiful in a way Westbrook usually isn't. I step closer to the edge carefully.

Aiden turns toward me.

And stops.

I glance over automatically.

He's smiling.

Not the loud teasing grin.

Not laughing.

Just—

looking at me.

Like he likes seeing me like this. Taking everything in. Wind pushes damp hair away from his forehead slightly.

The sunset catches against his face warm and gold.

"Pretty, right?" he says quietly.

I nod once.

"Yeah."

But I don't really look away after saying it. Because he's still looking at me like that.

Open.

Soft around the edges.

And my stomach does something it absolutely should not do.

My chest too.

Something low and strange and fluttering that makes me suddenly very aware of:

the water on his skin.

how close he's standing.

the way his smile changes when I look back at him.

It hits me all at once and I look away too quickly.

My heartbeat feels wrong.

Too fast.

Aiden doesn't say anything about it.

Thank god.

He just nudges my shoulder lightly.

"C'mon."

Then drops down onto one of the rocks near the edge, stretching his legs out in front of him.

I sit beside him after a second.

Not too close.

Closer than before anyway.

The waterfall rushes below us while the sun keeps sinking through the trees.

For a while neither of us says anything.

The sky keeps changing slowly above the woods. Orange melting softer and softer into pink. Light catching on the water below in broken shimmering pieces.

The air's colder up here.

My hair's still damp enough that wind keeps pushing it into my eyes.

Aiden picks at the edge of his sleeve absently.

Then, after a long quiet stretch, he says softly,

"Hale."

I look over.

He's still staring ahead at the sunset instead of me.

"My grandpa used to bring me here when I was little."

His voice sounds different suddenly.

Quieter.

Not sad exactly.

Just farther away.

"When my dad died," he says, "my mom had to go back to work pretty fast. In the city." He scratches lightly at his jaw. "And Grace was younger so she took her."

The water crashes below us steadily.

"I used to throw these insane tantrums whenever Grandpa came to pick me up from the school." A tiny laugh slips out of him. "Like full public embarrassment level. Screaming. Crying. One time I hid under a gas station table because I didn't wanna leave with him."

I snort quietly before I can stop myself. Aiden grins a little.

"Yeah, well. I was dramatic."

"You still are."

"That's true."

The smile fades softer after a second.

"I just..." He shrugs lightly. "I dunno. I thought if Mom didn't wanna take me with her then maybe nobody really did."

Something twists low in my chest. Aiden keeps looking at the horizon.

"Grandpa used to bring me here whenever I got like that. Said it was Dad's favorite place in summer." His mouth lifts slightly at the corner. "Apparently he used to bike here with his friends all the time."

I can weirdly picture it. A younger version of Aiden's dad flying down backroads during summer break.

Same grin as him probably.

Same eyes.

"Grandpa complained the entire way though," Aiden continues. "'This generation doesn't appreciate nature.' 'Everybody's addicted to phones now.' Meanwhile I was like eight holding a juice box."

That gets a laugh out of me. Aiden glances over briefly like he was waiting for it.

Then looks back at the sunset again.

"But every time we got here," he says quieter now, "he'd ask me why I kept saying nobody loved me."

The wind moves through the trees overhead softly.

"He used to tell me to look at the sunset."

Aiden gestures vaguely toward the sky. Orange light spills across his face.

"And then he'd ask me something." His voice softens. "Lemme ask you the same thing."

I don't say anything.

Aiden's fingers tap once against his knee.

"You said your mom's never told you she loves you."

My throat tightens immediately. I look down at my hands.

"Does that make you any less lovable?"

The words settle somewhere painful before I can stop them.

Aiden gestures toward the sunset again.

"If I stand here and say this is the ugliest thing I've ever seen..." He shrugs lightly. "Does that suddenly make it less pretty?"