‘All right?’
And there he is, coming up the path with that damn smile. He’s wearing a light blue sweatshirt and dark blue jeans. A red backpack hangs over one shoulder.
Effortlessly hot.
‘I had to get something.’
‘No worries. How’s it going?’ I wave and he leans in at the same time for a quick hug. His breath is hot on my neck for the briefest of seconds and I suppress the giddy shiver that ripples down my chest.
‘I’m good, yeah. Ready for your surprise?’
Please don’t faint.
I nod because I don’t trust the medium of speech.
‘Good. Well, get ready for a hike. It’s up there.’ He gestures with his perfectly toned and tanned arm, beyond the top of the estate, to the mountain.
I nearly slip a few times as we head up the mountain path. As we pass through a gap in the fence, I see a steep footway worn into the grass. I start sweating.
Why did I wear green? Pit stain alert!
I tie my jacket round my waist and follow Paul, placing my feet where his have been. ‘Much further?’
He turns back and flashes a grin. ‘Nah. I can’t believe you’ve never been up here.’
‘Yeah, weird.’ As a child I’d daydream about the dragons and elves that might live on the other side of the mountains that tower above the estate. Even now, I can’t quite picture what lies beyond the point where the mountain touches the sky.
‘Don’t look at the view yet,’ says Paul, as we turn and start walking along a verge in the opposite direction. I steal my eyes away from the city. I can sense the space on the right side of my body though. It’s like the world is getting bigger and bigger.
There’s a comfortable silence between us, mostly because I’m having to take deep breaths to sustain this objectively easy walk. I need to join a gym.
Never!
The day is still bright, but in an hour or so it will be dusk and I worry about how we’ll get back down in the dark. I trust Paul though.
My hero.
I snort a laugh that I turn into a cough as he looks back.
We pass through another fence. ‘Here we are,’ he says, smiling.
We’re in a field. It’s flat enough that we must be quite near the top of the mountain. In the middle is a single tree. An oak, I think.
‘Nice,’ I say, and my cheeks stretch from my smile.
‘Check out the view.’
I turn my head and I fully gasp. The view from Nanny Bet’s house is pretty good, but this is incredible. I can see the entire city, nestled in a valley, starting with the estate beneath us and stretching out east to the mountain on the other side. There are stadiums, graveyards, long twisting carriageways, a few tower blocks and the twinkling glass of the buildings in the town centre. Through it all, cars move like multicoloured ants.
‘Wow.’
Paul is grinning. ‘Pretty sweet, right?’
‘I…’ My chest expands as I take a deep breath. All tension from the uphill trek falls away. ‘It’s beautiful.’
‘Surprise,’ he says.
Butterflies are raving in my stomach as I turn to face him. ‘Thank you.’
