Shortly after kissing her breathless, Harry meanders off to the bathroom and Eden settles in to a glass of cider. Someone else appears on the stage, belting out a tipsy version of a Sam Smith song. Eden's heart rattles in her chest, stirred alive by a multitude of adrenaline-inducing emotions.

"You sounded really great up there."

A voice that doesn't belong to Harry causes Eden to turn; her eyes lock with a short, muscular man sitting a foot or two away from her, leaning on the polished wood of his own small table and staring back at Eden with a quaint smile.

"Thanks," she hums, unsure of what else to say.

Should I be creeped out by you or not?

"Do you sing often?"

Eden shakes her head with a short laugh. "No, that was the first time I've sung in public actually."

The man's grin grows in fascination. "No way, I couldn't tell," he chuckles. "You're a natural."

"Thank you," Eden beams.

The man sticks out his hand and Eden hesitantly shakes it. "I'm William," he says proudly.

"Eden."

William gestures behind him; Eden hadn't noticed until now but two other tables are pushed up against his and several people are all sat together, laughing and talking and drinking as a group.

"Care to join us?" he suggests lightly.

Eden bites her lower lip, pondering his offer. After a moment she nods, coming to her feet as William helps her drag her table closer to his. She sits down next to him and he smiles genially.

"Where are you from?"

"Florida," she answers, running her finger over the rim of her glass. She nods her head at Harry's empty seat. "My friend is from England."

William's eyebrows raise. "That's amazing. I saw him earlier, where's he at?"

"Bathroom," she laughs. "Introduce me to your friends."

William goes around the table, pointing to each person. His finger first lands on the girl sitting across from him with two eyebrow piercings and cropped blue hair; her attention is elsewhere as she chats animatedly with the others at the table. "That's Holly."

He points to the man next to Holly, looking equally as eccentric as her. "That's Holly's boyfriend, Taylor." Next is a woman with a bright smile and dark, entrancing eyes. "There's Safiya, and next to her is Cal." Cal has olive skin and full pink lips turned down in a slight frown as he listens in wordlessly on his friends' conversations.

Finally, William gestures to the woman sitting on his other side, her mouth moving at a mile a minute as she talks to Safiya and Cal. "And this is Natalia."

Safiya takes notice of Eden's presence first, her dark eyes flitting over and her grin somehow growing wider. This causes Natalia to halt her words and also turn to look at Eden, and even Cal lifts his gaze to meet hers.

"Hey, Will, making new friends already?" Safiya purrs playfully.

"Yeah, Saf, you should try it sometime," Will jeers. "She's the one who was singing Selena Gomez onstage."

Safiya's eyebrows shoot up and she eagerly leans forward on the table. "That was you?" she cries. "You sounded great up there, way too good for a random karaoke night."

"Yeah, we were singing along back here," Natalia laughs, brushing her slim fingers through her shoulder-length hair.

Eden grins shyly, shoulders raising as she shrugs lightly. "Thanks," she murmurs, biting back a smile. "I really like that song and thought it would be fun to sing. You can thank Harry for me going up there."

"Harry?" Will echoes, causing Eden to look back at him. "Is that your friend's name?"

She nods, eyes flashing back just as she catches sight of a tall, lanky figure weaving their way through the smoke. Her head tilts in his direction as he approaches. "He's coming back now."

Harry eyes Eden curiously, eyebrows set in a familiar frown, as he hesitantly slides into the seat across from Eden and next to blue-haired Holly.

"Hey, Harry, I'm Will," William says, reaching out to shake Harry's hand before he can say anything to Eden. Harry shakes it willingly, the frown falling from his lips as he takes in Will's friendly demeanor.

"How do you know Eden?" Harry asks, thankfully sounding curious as opposed to overprotective.

"We just got to talking about her singing while you were gone, thought we'd invite y'all to sit with us," Will says, sipping from the beer in his hands. "Hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all," Harry says, visibly relaxing and already seeming at ease. He waves down to the rest of the table; Safiya is already watching him closely, and Cal's eyes flit from her to Harry as he waves. "Hello, everyone, I'm Harry."

A chorus of greetings and names soars back in response; a naturally wide grin settles onto Harry's full lips, pulling his dimples back into formation, and Eden feels altogether grateful for his easygoing personality. Holly and Taylor briefly exchange inaudible words with Harry while Natalia pulls Safiya back into her conversation. Cal returns to his quiet brooding state, eyes briefly flashing over Eden as she offers him a gentle smile.

"So you said you're from Florida," Will begins, and Eden nods as she sips from her drink. "What are you doing in Richmond?"

"Road trip," she answers cursorily. "We're heading to Niagara but figured we'd take the scenic route."

"Niagara, that's awesome," he grins. He glances over at Harry and says, "You too, man?"

Harry nods, settling back in his seat. "Yeah, haven't been before so I thought I'd tag along with her."

"Sweet," Will drawls. "Couple of adventurers then, yeah?"

Harry shrugs in agreement while Eden releases a loud, short laugh. Her? Adventurous? That's like saying pineapple and pizza make a good combination - the logic just isn't there.

"Something funny?" Will asks.

Eden shakes her head, tracing her fingers along the glass of her drink. "Just, uh, I wouldn't really consider myself adventurous."

"I think you have to be pretty brave to travel cross-country," Will says, sounding rather serious. Her heart jumps at the word 'brave' and she looks up to find Harry already watching her as if to say I told you so.

"I suppose so," she murmurs, smiling small at Harry. He winks at her before looking away.

Will says something else but it suddenly sounds like there are cotton balls stuffed in her ears; his words are muffled, far away, as though he's speaking through a wall. Eden finds herself unable to look away from Harry - unwilling to stop admiring the way his chiseled features catch the shadows dancing in the smoky bar light. He responds to Will, grin resurfacing and eyes dancing with mirth as something makes him laugh heartily. His eyes find hers again, crinkled at the ends as his smile doesn't fade.

"Eden?"

"Yeah?" she blurts, blinking rapidly as she looks back at Will.

His face contorts for a brief moment before he says, "Harry said you've been wanting to go cliff-diving. Is that right?"

Yes, that's Item Eight, she automatically thinks.

She peers at Harry, confused as to how he would know that, but nods slowly. "Yeah, that's right. Why, do you know a good place?"

"Yeah, it's a bit of a drive from here but we were actually all planning on going camping tonight if you guys want to join us."

"Wait, really?" she asks, her words jumping from her mouth before she can stop herself.

"Yeah, you seem like a cool couple, why not?" Will laughs.

Eden's face flushes red hot and she fumbles to correct him. "Oh, we aren't a c-"

"Hey, y'all mind if Harry and Eden come camping with us?" Will calls, drawing the attention of everyone at the table and cutting off Eden's timid words. Holly and Taylor, too engrossed in their own world, don't respond but everyone else replies enthusiastically.

"Yes!" Safiya cries.

"Why not?" Natalia shrugs.

Even Cal nods wordlessly, and Will turns back to face Eden with a huge grin on his face. "Looks like a unanimous yes."

"Almost unanimous," Harry remarks amusedly, nodding his head at Holly and Taylor now playing tongue hockey next to him.

Will rolls his eyes. "Don't mind them, that's a usual occurrence. If they aren't fucking, they're fighting. Lesser of two evils, I guess."

Harry stifles a laugh while Eden continues to blush furiously. "Will, it's nice of you to offer but we don't have any camping gear," she says.

"Don't worry, we'll spot you," he says immediately. "I've got an extra tent in my pickup and I'm sure we can find some blankets for y'all. You in or what?"

Eden bites her lip and glances over at Harry for his opinion.

"It's up to you, Eden," he says gently. "Whatever you want to do, I'll go with."

"I can take you cliff diving," Will says, nudging her playfully.

It's hard to resist the pressure of both Will and Harry's stares on her; besides, it would be another item to knock off the list. One more closer to being finished. One step closer to being brave.

"Okay," she smiles, laughing when Will cheers and shakes her shoulders in glee. "Just for tonight."

"Ah, we'll see about that," he laughs, slamming a hand on the table. "Alright, people, we got two more on board. Pack it up, James River is awaiting!"

Chairs scrape loudly against the floor as Will hops down from his chair, followed by Natalia, Safiya, and a brooding Cal. Holly and Taylor unstick themselves from one another and follow suit; Harry lopes along behind Eden, and she can feel his eyes watching her carefully.

"Are you alright with going?" he asks, keeping his voice low so only she can hear him.

She nods with a sigh. "Yeah, they seem nice enough. But you're sleeping in my tent," she laughs, glancing back at him to find a suggestive grin on his face. "Oh God, not like that!"

"I'm teasing," he chuckles, holding open the door for her as they step into the cool summer evening. Across the parking lot, Holly and Taylor are climbing into a small blue car while Cal, Safiya, and Natalia are crowding into a large black truck. Will is in the bed, pulling at an assortment of camping gear to find the spare tent he mentioned.

"Here you are," he says, tugging the tent from the bed and passing it off to Eden and Harry. "It's about a two hour drive to James River Park, so just keep close and follow either me or Taylor."

"Cool, we'll see y'all there," Eden grins. A nervous bubble is still in her stomach about the thought of driving two hours to sleep outside with strangers and nothing but a thin tent to separate them from her and Harry.

Nobody ever said the line between bravery and insanity was distinguishable.

"See ya!" Will cries, waving before climbing behind the wheel and starting his truck.

Once the tent is safely packed into Eden's car, Will and Taylor wait until she's pulled from her parking spot before turning back out onto the highway with Eden and Harry following closely behind. Harry fiddles with the radio while Eden drives, hands clutched tight around the wheel and lips folded together as she ponders what Will said earlier.

"Harry," she says softly, her voice accompanied by the random switching of the radio and the gentle thrum of her tires on the road.

"Yeah?" he asks absently, not looking up at her.

"How did you know I wanted to go cliff diving?" she asks.

He pauses, eyes flickering up to look at her before he looks back down and returns to playing with the stations. "You told me, remember?"

Eden knows that she absolutely did no such thing, but she nonetheless nods in agreement. The bubble in her stomach grows, but not from nerves.

"Alright, Harry."

~~

dun dun dun...the seed of doubt has been planted!

also yes, hello, i am not dead. i am sooo sorry about not updating in two weeks, i said i had parts from easter and then i just never got around to editing them or uploading because honestly, school has been ridiculous since i got back. but! enjoy this part and i will have the next update in a timely manner, i promise. still working on an update schedule but at this point in the book, i'm not sure it's necessary. we're more than halfway sooo.

anyhow, what has everyone been up to?! i missed yall. and i missed my main girl eden!

fuck look how cute harry is in that gif. my heart can't take it

would you ever go cliff diving? what's the craziest thing you've ever done?! xx