Bella Danza | #Wattys2015

T h i r t e e n

T h i r t e e n 💃 September 14th

"Ready to hike?" Ben asked as he parked the car in a mediocre parking lot surrounded by the forest. I could instantly hear the waterfalls when I got out of the stuffy car and grinned at the sound of them.

"Hiking?" I shook my head at Ben. "We didn't bring any stuff for hiking."

Ben rolled his eyes at me and lent down, hitting a button on his car door. The trunk popped. "Says you," Ben retorted, and then winked at me as he shut his door. With a raised eyebrow, I shut my door after him and we both walked to the trunk.

Sure enough, there was hiking gear inside the trunk. The "hiking gear" came in the form of a large blue backpack. Ben grabbed the backpack and swung it over his shoulder, wrapping it around himself. "We've got water and snacks in this baby," Ben said proudly, patting the bottom of the pack.

I nodded. "I see," I said. Ben shut the trunk and we began to walk to the opening of the trail. "Have you ever been?" I asked, nodding forward to the falls. We couldn't actually see them, but based on the noise that they were making, we knew the general direction of where they were.

Ben shook his head with a shrug. "No. I've never really been in Michigan, but I have been in Wisconsin, which is basically the same thing."

I snorted at that and rolled my eyes. "Hardly," I shot back, shaking my head. "Michigan is way better than Wisconsin. Don't kid yourself." I said, and flipped my hair over my shoulder to add sass to my comment. Ben chuckled deeply.

"Need I remind you that us Wisconsin people practically invented cheese?" he said, raising an eyebrow at me as if I couldn't beat that.

But I could, and I did.

"Need I remind you that us Michigan people practically invented cars?" Ben cocked his head to the side and nodded, giving me that one. "And, besides," I told him, "you guys talk weirdly."

Ben laughed. "We talk weirdly?" He shook his head. "What do we say that's so weird?"

"Say 'dragon'."

Ben shot me a look, cleared his throat, and said, "Dr-AY-gon." I laughed instantly, expecting him to say it this way. Thomas also pronounced the word "dragon" like this, putting too much emphasis on the "a". He also pronounced "bag" and "wagon" weirdly.

"I'll give you that one," Ben nodded, "but not before you tell me what sort of coloring utensils kids use to draw in their coloring books with."

I frowned. We were now stepping onto the trail's front. "Eh," I said, thinking out loud, "cranz?"

Ben laughed. "It's 'cray-ons'. Not cranz." He told me, making fun of the way I pronounced the word.

I shook my head. "I'm betting you say the same thing when you're not thinking about it." I countered. Ben cocked his eyebrow up at me, grinning from ear to ear.

"Wanna bet on it?" he offered, stopping in his tracks to hold out his hand. I looked at it and then nodded, shaking it.

"You're on." I agreed.

We made small chat as we made our way through the hald mile trail until finally we had reached the Lower Falls. I sighed at the sight of them and Ben instantly stopped talking to take them in. Because it was Wednesday and September, there weren't many people around, which just brought out the beauty of it all even more.

"Wow," I gasped softly. Ben followed me to the railings that had been set up surrounding the river and the falls. "It's so gorgeous." I smiled. Ben nodded in agreement, not saying anything.