“New guy!”
Mabel strides up to me with a wide smile. “You’re my hiking partner, let’s walk.” She slips her arm through my arm, it’s weird because my arm was literally hanging by my side, and starts to pull me up the mountain. “Oh, uh, okay.” I stammer, looking behind me to the rest of the group. Lola has a smirk on her face but Elle and Jude look like they sucked on lemons.
I had sort of hoped to talk to Elle on the hike.
I wanted to talk to her about….I wasn’t sure.
If I was being honest with myself, I just wanted to talk to her. We walked in silence for a while, me and Mabel leading the pack. “So, how are you liking the Farm?” A smile tugs on my lips. “I’m enjoying it. I’m ready to get started.” Mabel hums at my response. “And Elle? She’s treating you okay?”
Oh no.
Did she know I was feeling things?
Did she know that I was a creep who got a flipping boner from a small joke and a peak at some silky skin.
Crap crap. Jude was going to throw me off the side of the mountain for being so unprofessional.
“I just ask because it’s a big change for her. She likes her space and Paul told me about the boxes.” She whispers the last word like it’s a secret. I huff out a breath and shake my head. “No, Elle’s been great. I feel terrible I’ve had to intrude in her space, honestly. It’s impressive how much she does for the Farm.” A quirk of a brow was Mabel’s only response, I was too afraid to say anything else so we continued in silence for a few more moments.
It’s been almost 30 minutes in silence but I don’t mind.
My head has been on a swivel trying to take in all the beauty of the nature surrounding us. “Let’s stop for a minute.” Lola calls from behind me. I slow my steps and do a quick stretch of my neck. Mabel steps toward the edge where it looks like some stone has been molded into a little bench.
Neat.
Elle storms up the hill and sits down next to Mabel, she leans against her older sister and rests her head on her shoulder. “It’s so nice today.” Elle mutters as she closes her eyes. I take an extra moment to admire her, her hair is pulled up into a claw clip but there are loose strands that should look messy but not on her.
She is a queen and this mountain is her kingdom.
An amused cough pulls me from my musings and I startle when I see Mabel’s eyes laser focused on me. Crap. She totally caught me ogling her sister. “It is nice today, little sister.” Mabel winks at me before pulling a water bottle out of her pack. “Here, hydrate.” Elle grumbles but takes the bottle from her sister and takes a deep drink. I really, truly try to not watch her throat work as she rehydrates herself but I can’t help it.
She is captivating.
“Dude.” Jude must have made his way over to me while I was staring. He shoves a water bottle into my hand and I happily take a sip. “Take it from me, you’re being way too obvious.” I nearly choke on the water, not expecting that from him.
Jude chuckles and raises his hand, intent to smack my back but I jump out of his reach. This dude’s pat on the back is like some peoples straight up punch. “I’m good, I’m good.” It comes out raspy but another sip of water clears my throat. Lola and Mabel are straight up laughing at me and it’s crazy, their laughs sound exactly the same, I wonder if Elle’s is similar.
I wonder if I’ll ever get the chance to hear it.
“Alright, let’s get going. This mountain ain’t going to climb itself.” Lola claps her hands once before she starts the hike once again. Jude fell into step with Lola and Elle heads up right behind them without another word.
Lord help me, I could not walk up the rest of this mountain with Elle’s perfect backside leading the way.
“You like her.” Mabels’ tone was full of mirth and I swear my heart stops.
“What? Huh? Noooo, who? I don’t know what you mean.” My ears are burning with my embarrassment at being caught twice in less than 10 minutes. I wasn’t even fully sure what my feelings were but I would deny deny deny. Especially when my accuser was not only Elle’s sister but also technically my boss.
Mabel bats her hand through that air, wiping away my denial like it’s nothing. “Oh, stop. It’s clear as day.” She finally stands and I look up at the sky. I can’t look her in the eyes at this moment, my subconscious is obviously giving things away that my conscious isn’t aware of and I can’t handle it.
“You know, I think you could be good for her.”
“What?”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but our wonderful sister is slightly rough around the edges. I think you could be the thing to smooth her out.”
My shock at Mabel suggesting that I might be good for Elle is washed away with annoyance at her insinuation that Elle needssmoothing out.“Elle is wonderful, period. She doesn't needanything beside someone who respects her enough to support her.” I barely contain my scoff as I turn and start my way up the mountain again, hiking partner be damned.
“Oh yeah. You’re perfect.” Mabel makes quick work of catching up to me. “Her ex, Loop, was always trying to smooth Elle out. Never understood that Elle is Elle and that is all she needs to be.” Elle dated Loop? Enough to be considered an ex. Oh, I did not like that one bit.
