"-okay take a right here and the trail should be up there." seb mumbled as he pointed further ahead
nini smiled brightly as she walked alongside the blonde boy, wanting to be in front to take in the sights around her first.
"we haven't even started the trail?!" ej groaned, carlos agreeing with his exhaustion from walking for a merely five minutes
ricky shook his head with a smile as nini giggled
"look!" she squealed "there's the trail!"
"okay, how long until we get to the cliff edge?" gina asked interested with a smile as she adjusted the strap of her rucksack
"maybe about..." big red checked his watch "thirty to forty-five minutes?"
"if certain people don't slow us down." ashlyn grinned, looking right at carlos and ej who rolled their eyes in response
they all continued walking, nini soon coming to a stop to adjust the rucksack on her back that she was carrying, not entirely used to holding something this heavy - erica had insisted that she'd take snacks and a few extra belongings in case of any danger - which added quite the weight to the small girl.
"hey, you good?" ricky asked as he arrived towards her, letting gina pass as she dragged ej further up the trail
nini huffed but kept a smile on her face, nodding eagerly "yes! it's just a little heavy-"
"you wanna trade? mine doesn't have much in it." he suggested, gesturing to his back
the girl shook her head "oh, no, it's alright. i want to experience everything being a normal girl comes with, and if that's a sore back for half an hour, then so be it."
ricky chuckled as they both continued the trail at the back of the line, nini looking around her in awe
"it's so beautiful." she breathed, hearing chirps of the birds around her from the trees towering over.
ricky looked at her for a few seconds "...yeah..."
he quickly cleared his throat and looked in front of him when he noticed her move her gaze around again as they continued the way
"so, i'm guessing you didn't do much hiking back in...?"
"autonia." she reminded him, finishing the boy's sentence as they walked "and, no not at all." she laughed "i wasn't even allowed to be in the garden unsupervised."
"wow..." he exhaled "that's a little extreme..."
nini nodded "tell me about it."
"why not though? i thought there were like-gates around a castle to prevent people from entering."
"you'd be surprised the lengths people go to in order to retrieve something they want, ricky bowen." she told him as they arrived down a rocky path
ricky took a deep breath as he followed ej and carlos up the rocks, climbing carefully over a small barrier as he looked back at nini who seemed to be struggling
"here," he said, holding his hand out
nini looked up at him and smiled sweetly, reaching to grab ahold of it as she felt her heart race at the touch and climbed up
when he finished assisting her, she exhaled deeply and looked up at him "thank you..."
he nodded as he returned her gaze "you're welcome..."
they both looked down at there joint hands and pulled away from each other shyly before nini cleared her throat and let out a light laugh to diffuse the sudden tension
"let's not keep the other's waiting or ashlyn might get angry." she giggled
ricky smiled instantly at the sound, nodding "yeah, come on."
the group all hiked their way through the woods with seb and big red leading them.
ricky and nini stayed at the back of the line, talking about all sorts of topics that came to mind and they never stopped. ricky couldn't help the smile on his face when seeing just how excited nini was to see more of salt lake city's nature points and stopping to take pictures; which of course included using ricky's phone just for the sake of annoying him.
"here we are!"
nini gasped at the beautiful view of a waterfall colliding down with a clear lake in front of her; the sight supported by large rock edges.
she noticed that there was a path made up for people to hike; continuing the trail or stopping at the top to jump into the water.
the group all set their bags and belongings down on the flattest side of the lake; taking out their towels and other utilities and laying them on the ground
"i'm going first!" gina exclaimed excitedly as she took her top off to reveal her black swimsuit before she rushed towards the path
"hey wait up!" big red and kourtney beamed as they ran after her
ricky laughed as he took his grey sweatshirt off, putting it down before sitting on his towel while nini sat on the edge of the lake.
he looked over at her to see her already changed out of her green dress and wearing a white swimsuit that had a bow tied tightly at the back of her neck and watched as her face lit up as she reached her hand down to dip it in the water
ricky's trance was interrupted soon, however when he suddenly felt a packet of chips hit him on the side of the face, looking over to see carlos and ashlyn grinning
"stop staring!" the red-head whispered
ricky felt his face heat up and scoffed "i'm not!"
"honey, you look like peter parker when watching mj from afar." carlos joked
"well-"
"hey ricky!"
the boy whipped his head around to see nini excitedly turning to face him
"let's go do it!"
"do what-"
"geronimo!!!"
the group all turned their heads as they watched big red dive down into the water with a big splash, soon coming up for air with a bright grin on his face
"that!" nini smirked as she stood up
ricky opened his mouth "oh! no...no no, i'm okay-"
nini sighed "come on! i promise it'll be worth it!"
"it looks like falling to my death-"
"big red just did it and he's fine." nini told him "come on!"
"nini-"
"pleeeeaaase?" she pouted "i wanna go cliff diving with my best friend!"
ricky looked at her for a few moments before sighing and soon standing up, taking his shirt off as she jumped happily
"okay, wait if that's all we need to do to get you to-"
kourtney stopped talking instantly when she saw ricky's glare, the rest sniggering in reply
"yay!" nini squealed as she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the path
"i'm regretting this." he muttered with every step they took
"oh hush, you'll be fine." she chuckled, still holding onto his arm as they made their way to the top
ricky gulped nervously when seeing how high up they were, looking down to where the rest of the group were sitting as the loud sound of waterfall echoed through his ears
nini looked up at him, seeing him frightened from where they were and she turned to face him
"i know it looks scary-"
"yeah that's all," he replied sarcastically with an eye-roll before hesitantly turning around "how about i just meet you down-"
nini shook her head with a small smile as she reached for his hand, intertwining their fingers which made him freeze and turn to look at her
"we'll jump together. okay?"
ricky exhaled slowly "but-"
"and if we die, you'll get to haunt my spirit." she joked
ricky couldn't help a small smile and shook his head "funny."
nini nodded proudly with a smirk as she pulled him gently towards her near the edge "we're doing it together, okay? just trust me."
ricky glanced down at her, seeing her eyes full of hope as she slowly nodded "okay." he breathed
nini's smile widened at his confirmation before slowly swinging their join hands "okay, on three. one..."
"two..." he said nervously
"three!" she exclaimed as they both jumped far out, bringing their hands up as they yelled out with the feeling of the air colliding upwards with their bodies before hitting the water with a loud splash
they both resurfaced with a loud breath as nini kept her eyes closed for a few seconds, laughing before she opened one eye to see ricky with his wet curls over his eyes
he pushed them back as he exhaled, the two keeping afloat with their free hands as their others were still joint to one another
"that was exhilarating!" she exclaimed excitedly
ricky laughed and nodded "it was pretty cool."
"pretty cool? youtube is pretty cool, that was amazing." she told him "i'm happy you did it with me."
he looked back at her, their eyes meeting as he nodded "i'm happy you made me."
she blushed slightly before noticing they were quite close to one another.
ricky looked at her face and slowly brought his hand up to the side of it, his thumb tracing over her cheek to push away the wet loose strands of her hair before it lingered there for a moment
nini stopped breathing as she returned his gaze, feeling her skin burn like fire at the feeling of him.
he glanced down at her lips involuntarily that made her swallow nervously parting her mouth slowly before a loud splash overcame them, the two closing their eyes and pulling their hands away, backing up from one another as they looked over to the right to see seb and gina resurfacing
"that was awesome!" seb beamed
"what's up guys?" gina asked with a raised eyebrow, looking between a flustered ricky and startled nini
the two both avoided each other's gaze and cleared their throats
"n-nothing-"
"i'm going to get some food..."
nini's eyes met ricky's for a split second before she slowly swam away towards the edge of the lake, ricky exhaling deeply as he went back underwater, feeling the cold overtake him before he resurfaced and wiped his face