The Secret Struggle

A Saturday With Thomas

The week had gone by interestingly. I'd woken up Monday morning on my bed but had no idea how I'd gotten there. I also had a blaring headache and had to take some aspirin before I headed over to class.

I eventually learned that I'd basically gotten drunk. I guess considering I wasn't overly big and hadn't really ever drank before. Apparently I'd had two drinks while talking with Thomas and it had really gotten to me. Luckily Noel had been with Thomas' friend and they'd come back over to basically say they were leaving and that Noel was wanting to go home as well. They'd found me on the ground and taken me out to the car. Thomas had driven me home considering my car was a manual and Noel couldn't drive one. They'd even carried me to my room. That would have been quite the feat, at least in terms of not getting noticed. Because I hadn't heard anything from anyone about it.

It was Saturday and time for a date with Thomas. And all-day date in fact. Apparently he was taking me out for breakfast and then had a nice day planned for us but hadn't told me anything beyond that.

It was going to be nice to get out for a day. My week had been really busy. Most of my time was spent doing free homework, and what little time I did actually have was Noel dragging me out to do things which just really left me exhausted. Plus, I was kind of excited to hang out with a boy for a change.

I put on one of my more modest skirts. It wasn't one the school would particularly like, but it was definitely less revealing than any of my mini skirts which just left me feeling extremely uncomfortable. Not to mention dirty and impure and everything like that.

I then put on a pretty blue blouse that I had gotten from shopping with Noel. It was really inappropriate in any way, but it made me feel good about myself so I really liked it.

At around 8:55 I got a text from Thomas telling me that he was here and that I should come out. I got a little over excited and hurriedly through my purse and a few other miscellaneous items in my little bit larger back and then left my room and headed out to his car.

I got in and then we were off. He took me to a really neat restaurant. It was family-owned and rather new. I'd heard about it before but had never really checked it out or anything.

After having a really nice breakfast, he took me up away from the city and too this really neat place that had hiking trails all over the place. We weren't quite into the mountains, but the tall, towering foothills were just as steep and crazy.

Thomas showed me a trail that was a pretty decent hike. It was around three miles round trip and apparently went back to a really neat waterfall. That shocked me a little bit considering how barren the foothills looked. They almost looked more like a desert than they did like mountains. And for the most part deserts weren't full of water, and I certainly wouldn't have thought they'd have a waterfall.

When we reached the waterfall, I was speechless. It was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. It wasn't a deserty backdrop, but instead one that was littered with trees. The water from the creek that flowed through, and which the waterfall was a part of was enough to keep the ground around it fertile enough for these trees to grow and provide some wonderful color to the area making it like an oasis in the middle of the desert. I was pleasantly shocked.

Thomas smiled at my reaction. "It does seem a little out of place, doesn't it? I definitely wasn't expecting to find this when I started hiking around on these trails. The foothills sort of hide what's out here behind them. There are some other cool things on some of the other trails, but this is by far my favorite."

"I can see why. It's beautiful and quite breathtaking. I'm so glad you brought me here. I just wish I'd brought a really camera instead of this rather crummy one on my phone." We both laughed as I took out my phone and tried to get a good picture.