"Oh come on, it couldn't have hurt that much."

I glared at him.

"Okay, maybe it did hurt that much."

We were on the road. I assumed he was driving us back to his place because the surroundings were unfamiliar to me. There were barely any buildings on the side of the road - and, if there were, they had either been burnt down or abandoned. There was an abundance of trees around us and in the distance was the silhouette of a large mountain. The road was lengthy and seemed never-ending. We were headed straight ahead, driving towards a mountain that would never come.

All of a sudden, he pulled into a corner on a road I didn't recognize. There were barely any people around us. Every now and then, a car would pass by. After that, what followed was silence. I could almost envision tumbleweeds drifting by like we were in an old cowboy film. 

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah," he stared, turning to face me. "But I still have a couple of hours left and I don't want to leave without showing you my favourite place.. only if you're up for it."

I looked down at the time on my phone screen, "Sure. I have time."

"Cool," he beamed before hopping out of the car. "We're going to be walking there."

I didn't protest or question him. I climbed out of the car and stood next to him as he checked whether he'd locked the car properly or not. Then, he turned around and began walking towards the thicket ahead of us. I watched as his slender figure disappeared behind the copse and I raced after him, nearly out of breath already. This was an unpleasant reminder of how unathletic I was. 

"Sorry, do you want me to slow down?" he asked when he noticed how I was struggling to keep up with the pace of his lanky spider-like legs. 

"You move like a spider," I blurted out. "Your legs resemble those of the-"

"Daddy long legs," he completed for me with a smug grin. "Guess that's why they call me daddy."

I was unamused.

We walked past the dense array of trees, through thick foliage and large cobwebs. I grew acquainted with a few large mosquitoes on my way there as well. Warren, on the other hand, seemed to be having a breeze. He didn't even flinch when a palm-sized spider landed on his shoulder whilst organizing its web. He simply called it a 'gentle fella' and set it back on the tree it came from. I was petrified. 

"How much further?" I whined after a good ten minutes of what seemed like aimless wandering. 

"We're here," he stated, pushing away some foliage before disappearing behind the trees once again. I picked up my pace and followed him. 

I stopped. 

"Oh my God, it's beautiful."

In front of us was a lake that extended miles and miles from where we stood. The water was so clear we could see the rocks underneath with schools of fish swimming about. The water in the lake was still, but every now and then, a wave would wash up to the surface and we watched as the water particles raced each other to the rocks before disintegrating into spume.

Warren took a seat on one of the bigger rocks, "I came out here once with Devin. I thought I'd forgotten the way."

"So you're saying we could've gotten lost?" I snorted before taking a seat beside him and staring straight ahead at the water that licked the rocks before retreating. 

"Do you know how to skip stones?"

"I'm a pro at it," I boasted before grabbing a small stone from the wet mud and standing up. "Watch and learn, amateur." I neared the edge of the lake and threw the stone at an angle nearly parallel to the water and watched as it skipped about seven times before sinking into the glassy lake underneath.

"Woah, that's neat!" he commented before attempting to skip a stone himself. "And.. that's six! Almost beat you."

I grinned at him before taking a seat again, "Tell me more about Devin."

He bent down to pick up a handful of small stones, "Well.." I watched intently as he neared the edge and began skipping a few stones again. "He liked numbers. He liked dinosaurs a lot.. and apple juice."

I let out a chuckle, "I love apple juice."

"Apple juice is inferior to orange juice."

"Wrong."

"You're wrong."

"No, you are."

"I'll grab that spider and put it on your head."

"I apologize. Apple juice is inferior to orange juice."

That sent us into a laughing fit. After we'd gotten over it, he walked back over to the stone he was initially sitting on and took a seat. He was staring ahead. I followed his gaze and watched as the sun gradually met the lake and began to sink in it, the sky now tinted with streaks of purple and pink that faded into a vibrant orange; birds flying by in the form of tiny little silhouettes. The breeze from the lake kissed my skin and pushed my hair away from my forehead. I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the water crashing onto the stones; birds chirping silently in the distance; the wind blowing the leaves of the trees behind us in the direction it was headed. 

I let out a deep breath. 

I wanted this moment to last. I wanted to stay here forever - with the lake, the wind, the birds.. and with Warren.