‘You were a littlepreoccupied.’ He winks, rising from his seat.
We all unload ourselves from the vehicle, gathering outside as the host hands out paper wristbands.
‘You do mine, I’ll do yours?’
He phrases it like a question, but his hand is already wrapped around my wrist, pulling it towards him. He sticks his own wristband in his mouth, balancing it between his lips as he pools all his concentration into securing mine as neatly as possible. Once done, he steps back and sighs, proud of his attempt.
‘Your turn,’ he says, handing me his wristband and holding out his hand.
I try my best, but it’s definitely not as neat as his version. Despite the obvious, he takes his wrist back and smiles at his little wristband with pride.
‘Is everybody ready?’ the guide yells out, silencing the crowd. ‘Okay! I am Jakob, I’ll be your tour guide today. Please follow, stick together, no wandering.’
We dutifully follow the crowd, Noah linking our arms as I attempt to walk as straight as possible, deterred only by the way Noah keeps squeezing me closer. His body tenses in anticipation the longer we walk; by the time the group stops, he can barely keep it together.
‘Top of Hallstatt.’I read the large sign aloud as we follow the group into a cute yellow building. ‘Is there climbing involved? Because I’m wearing a skirt and—’
‘You’ll be fine,’ he says softly, squeezing me even tighter.
We flash our wristbands at the front desk as we follow the crowd through the turnstiles, out the back and into a new line. I stand on my tiptoes and weave around to try to spot the front of the queue, gasping as I realise what we’re waiting for.
‘Cable cars? Ilovecable cars!’
He smiles back at me, bemused. ‘You do? That’s rather niche.’
‘They’re such a fun way to explore a new place. How often do you get to fly over somewhere and actually see what’s below?’
We load into a carriage, shuffling onto our bench for two as we wait for the others to fill it around us. Noah grabs myhand without asking, squeezing it silently as the car breaks free and starts to climb its way up the track. The view is better than I could have imagined. I catch my breath at the sight of the stretching, glass-like river bordered by tall, sweeping trees. Snow-capped mountains paint the background, reflecting against the water and completing the picture-perfect spread around us. The further we climb, the smaller the houses become, outlined by winding roads and placed in bright patches of green. Eventually the traces of civilisation die out. We enter the forest, hugged by bright-green trees to our sides and a seemingly endless expanse of foliage below us.
He gestures to the left as soon as we exit, directing me to a wide set of stone steps, and I follow silently, biting my tongue to stop myself from complaining about having to climb after he explicitly told me that I would not be doing that. But I quickly realise that I’m being dramatic and it’s three half-hearted flights at most. I catch my breath as we cross a bridge and are spat out at a long skywalk, towering over the whole town beneath us. It’s a living contradiction – all so small from here, yet unbelievably grand; a bigger picture that can only be understood from this place right now.
‘Okay, wow,’ I sigh. ‘I see why you wanted to...’
I turn, but Noah is long gone. I spot his figure all the way at the narrowest point, looking out at the view beneath us. As I get closer, I see his stance is far more rigid and fixed than usual. His face is taut as he chews on his bottom lip and stares out melancholically.
‘Hey, you okay?’ I ask.
He doesn’t turn to face me. Just keeps on looking at the glistening lake below.
‘It really is breathtaking,’ he says.
‘Yeah. Thanks for bringing me here,’ I reply.
He stays still, eyes on the lake while my stomach stirs. I can’t take my eyes off him as he sighs and runs his hands through his hair. It’s like he’s flipped a switch and shed everything I’ve come to recognise him for.
‘This was the one place that I absolutelyhadto visit on this trip,’ he says, abnormally still. ‘My aunt Lisa – she went backpacking around Europe when she was a couple of years younger than I am now. A few months in, she was broke and homesick and stopped in this little town for a single day. She got the cheapest room in the cheapest hotel so she could sit down and plan her early route home. But the receptionistinsistedthat she couldn’t leave Hallstatt without visiting the skywalk. She was already over her trip but she did it anyway, and she said it was one of the best decisions of her life.’
I follow his gaze out at the lake. A bird dips close to it, feet skating on the top and sending a cascade of ripples across the water’s skin.
‘I see why she said that,’ I say.
He chews on his lip before continuing. ‘She described this view to me regularly when I was growing up. The trees, the lake, the way the buildings look so small. I feel like this place has been painted so vividly that I’ve already been here thousands of times. Butno descriptioncompares to the real thing. She warned me it wouldn’t and she was absolutely right, as always.’
His hand softly traces the railing in front of him.
‘She was stood right here when she realised that sheneededto capture the moment. Up until that point, all of her travel photos had been of the scenery, the crowds, but never of her. But looking at this view, feeling the way she felt, she had to be in this one. She tapped a random man on the shoulder, asked him to take her picture, they ended up talking the whole way back down the mountain and he convinced her to keep pushing on with hertrip. Fast forward five years and they were engaged. Another two and he was legally my uncle Steve.’
I smile. ‘That’s adorable.’
