‘But that’s all we did,’ she added, swinging her legs back and forth. ‘I went for a little over the clothes actionbut he’s a romantic, he wants to go slow. It was very chaste, girl scout promise.’
‘Were you ever a girl scout?’ I asked.
‘No, but I have a girl scout uniform?’
To be filed under things I didn’t really need to know.
‘So why do you want me to third wheel it on your date?’ I poured then chugged an entire glass of juice. Orange juice was good. Orange juice was calming. ‘Also, shouldn’t at least one of you be working? How come no one ever works in this town?’
‘We’re all self-employed.’ She held out her hands for the orange juice, wiggling her fingers, and took a swig straight from the bottle. ‘I rescheduled some things, nothing that can’t wait a day, and Ren works for himself. He like, builds houses, did you know he builds houses?’
‘Yes, I know Ren builds houses.’
‘With his bare hands.’
‘I imagine he sometimes wears gloves.’
She tilted her pretty face upwards with consideration. ‘I don’t know, he has these calluses but they’re not like CrossFit calluses, they’re like manly calluses, like he’s been chopping down trees or—’
‘You said you’re going hiking?’ I cut her off before she could go into any more detail about Ren’s hands. There was a limit to the uplifting power of orange juice.
‘Yeah, I’m not sure where,’ she replied, tapping the Apple watch on her wrist and hopping down from the counter. ‘But we’re leaving in thirty minutes.’ She straightened her sports bra and adjusted the matching leggings. This time they were a deep forest green andshe had a blue and brown plaid shirt tied around her waist to match the pristine-looking hiking boots on her feet. ‘Ren overslept, that boy is not an early bird.’
‘You’re leaving in thirty minutes,’ I corrected, noting one more thing Ren and I had in common. ‘I’m going back to bed. And what’s a mud room?’
‘Please, Phoebe?’ She hit me with those big brown eyes again and I felt my resolve weaken. ‘Saturday night only went so well because of you. If you hadn’t told me what to say, I never would have got this far. I think you would really enjoy it or I wouldn’t ask, and I know Ren would love to see you.’
And I would really love to see Ren.
‘Hiking sounds very intense,’ I said as I put the empty bottle of orange juice back in the fridge for Suzanne to deal with. She loved it when I did that. ‘Don’t you need walking boots and backpacks and sticks and things? I’ve only got my trainers.’
‘We’re not going to climb a mountain, it’s more like a nice outdoor stroll,’ she replied, teaming her most wheedling tone with her most convincing smile. ‘The only reason I’m wearing these boots is because they look great with this outfit. I don’t do those crazy hikes, only the cute fun ones.’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, looking out at the sparkling swimming pool. ‘I had big plans today.’
‘To do what?’
‘Nothing.’
‘No, I’m sorry, I’m putting my foot down,’ Bel said, shifting into personal trainer mode. ‘You have to come hiking, you need to get outside and get some fresh air. It’s an LA rite of passage. And I promise I can controlmyself, there will be no PDA. There will be minimum PDA. I’ll warn you when to look away.’
I was torn. Some fresh air might be nice and hiking was on my LA bucket list. Better to go with people than end up getting lost, running out of water and being eaten by a family of mountain lions which was truly the best-case scenario I could come up with when I thought about venturing into the wilderness alone. But even the mildest suggestion of PDA was enough to make me reconsider. We all had to go sometime, what better way than to feed a family in need? Really, it would be stupid not to go. Petty. Was I really going to let my little holiday crush on Ren get in the way of having a nice time? Because that’s all it was really, a crush. He wasn’t even my type. I’d always gone for Clark Kent over Superman, an indoor cat kind of a man. How could I possibly be in love with a lactose intolerant, semi-vegan twitcher? The bird watching kind, not the streamer. That definitely would have been enough to put me off.
‘Please, Phoebe?’ Bel pleaded and pressed her hands to her heart. ‘I’ll never ask you for anything else ever again even though I think maybe I said that when I asked you to help me with the mermaid thing, but this time I really mean it.’
‘Fine,’ I replied as she jumped up and down, clapping her hands. ‘But are you sure I’ll be safe hiking in trainers?’
Pulling me into a hug, she gave a quiet cheer, the muted roar of an invisible crowd. ‘I, Bel Johnson, super swear and pinky promise you will be one hundred per cent safe and will not even fear for your life for one single second.’
‘You promise?’ I asked, looking down at her sturdy hiking boots then over at my waiting Converse in the corner of the room.
‘Yes,’ she replied, straight-faced, all business. ‘I guarantee you will not die on this hike.’
‘I’m going to die on this hike.’
‘You’re not going to die,’ Ren said. ‘Switzer is one of the safest hikes in the Angeles Forest. You’ll be fine. Even in your sneakers.’
I gave Bel the glaring of a lifetime. Somehow, in less than half an hour, we had left Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States of America, and found ourselves deep in the wilderness and I was not prepared.
