I sank back into my seat, rubbing my hands on my skirt as if I could scrub away the sticky realization.
“You okay?” Noah asked, his voice softer now.
“Yeah.” I exhaled, shaking off the unease. “Would you really do something like that?”
He was still staring out toward the river, seemingly mesmerized by the movement of the water. The lone kayaker was gone now, left behind as the bus sped around a sharp bend in the canyon. “Definitely. The rush…it’s a good way to let off steam.”
“That makes it sound like you have done it before.”
Noah finally turned to face me fully, a slow smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I’ve kayaked.”
“Kayaked like that?” I nodded toward the river, even more violently tumultuous than the previous section. At this point, it was basically all whitewater and huge, pointy rocks.
“Yeah,” he said casually, as if that was even a remotely normal and reasonable thing to say. Apparently reading my highly dubious expression, which I made no effort to conceal, he added, “It’s not as scary as it looks, not if you know what you’re doing.”
I scoffed and nudged his arm playfully. “I’ll take your word for it, Mr. Adrenaline Junky. And what else do you do for fun? What else gives you that rush?”
His brows furrowed, as though he had to think hard about my question. “I like most outdoor activities, I guess. My favorite is probably surfing, then SCUBA. Sailing. And I like to skydive.”
My mouth fell open. “Wait, you skydive? As in…willingly?”
“That’s how hobbies work, Luna.”
“I know how hobbies work, Noah.”
He lifted one shoulder in an easy shrug, like he hadn’t just admitted to throwing himself out of a perfectly good airplane on purpose. It was fun to see him like this. Humble about something most guys liked to brag about.
“It’s…cathartic,” he said, moving past my snark easily. “You don’t have time to think about anything else when you’re free-falling at one hundred twenty miles per hour. It’s just you and the sky.”
He made it sound poetic, but all I could think of was the splat at the end if anything went wrong.
But, well, a lot of hobbies and sports came with some amount of risk, didn’t they?
“I surf,” I said. Surf camp was the one thing I appreciated about my mom organizing some of our summer vacations. Because she didn’t want me to spend all my time in the kitchen. “Or I used to, I guess.”
Noah studied me for a beat. “Why did you stop?”
The truth sat heavy in my chest, but I shrugged. “Too busy, I guess.”
His gaze didn’t waver. “Too busy to have fun?”
I could feel my throat tightening, and, yeah, I didn’t want to talk about my own lack of hobbies anymore. Besides, his life seemed so much more interesting than mine. “Skydiving, though. Wow. I mean, I would’ve thought an ER doctor wouldn’t take risks like that.”
His expression flickered. “Why?”
I gestured vaguely. “I mean, you must have seen things. People getting hurt in freak accidents. I figured you’d be more cautious.”
Something in his posture changed. His jaw ticced slightly, his fingers flexing against his thigh.
“If there’s no risk, it’s just existing,” he said, voice low. I felt it land somewhere deep in my chest.
The bus took a gentle curve, hugging the canyon wall, the light shifting around us.
Before I could press further, Tay’s voice crackled over the intercom, breaking the moment.
“We’re coming out of the canyon now, folks,” she announced. “And for many of you, it’s spa time! If you don’t remember what time your appointment is, check with me. Some of you might want to grab dinner first, others might want to spend time in the vapor caves before heading to your massage. Afterward, we’ll all check in at the hotel.”
A murmur of excitement rolled through the bus as people began shifting in their seats, reaching for their bags.
