I mean, I can barely walk without annihilating myself but okay.
We scramble blindly over slick grass, half-laughing, half-screaming. Water soaks through my blouse instantly, cold rivulets racing down my spine. My shoes skid in the mud, my cane slipping uselessly at my side.
I find my footing again, but then the ground gives way into a puddle. My foot slides. I yelp.
Jason catches me under the ribs, hauling me upright in one smooth motion. His chest is a drenched furnace pressed to my soaked back, but I can smell and feel the mud sticking to me from the waist down.
“You okay?” he asks, breathlessly.
For a beat, I don’t say anything, but then I burst out laughing. “I’m drenched!”
His laughter joins mine. “You and me both.”
We cling to each other in the downpour, laughing like idiots as the storm pounds the ground around us.
Then something reckless and fizzy snaps loose inside me, and before I can second-guess it, I kick water straight at him. He gasps and splutters. “You didn’t.”
“Oh, did I miss?” I kick at him again. “I think I got you this time.”
“You’re in trouble now.” He splashes back.
A huge wave of cold water hits me square in the shins.
I shriek in delight and kick water in the direction of his voice.
It devolves instantly into a ridiculous water fight, rain pounding like handfuls of gravel from the sky, our feet slipping all over the soaked trail.
Another splash of water hits me, this time square in the face.
“You asshole!” I gasp.
“Oh, I’m the asshole?” he says, the grin unmistakable in his voice. “I’m not the one who started this.”
I bend to scoop up more water, but I come up with a handful of mud instead. Grinning, I smear it all over his face.
He lets out a scandalized choke. “That was an ambush.”
“War is war,” I declare.
The rain only gets heavier, drumming onto our heads, soaking through my clothes until everything clings to me like a second skin. My hair is plastered to my face. My shoes are making horrifying squelchy noises. I’m sure my blouse is see-through at this point, but for the first time in a long, long time… I feel invincible.
I slip, and Jason catches me under the arms again, but this time he doesn’t just steady me. He grabs my waist and lifts me clean off the ground.
I yelp and laugh, clinging to his shoulders as he spins me in a circle, the world tilting and sliding beneath us. Rain continues to pelt my cheeks, and I tip my head back, letting the drops hit my lips, my jaw, my throat. Joy explodes through every inch of me, fizzing bright and wild, a feeling I thought I’d lost forever.
Jason’s chest shakes with laughter as he turns, still holding me like I weigh nothing. His hands are secure and strong on my waist, fingers warm even through the freezing rain.
“Jason!” I gasp, breathless and delighted. “Put me down!”
“No,” he says through a laugh. “Never.”
I’m giggling so hard I can’t breathe. My legs dangle in the air, rainwater running down my calves. He lowers me to the ground, and the moment I’m steady, he splashes water at me again.
“You menace!” I sputter.
“Like I said, you started it.”
“I did not.”
