"So where is it we're going exactly?" Dahlia asks as they walk down the dock, trying to distract Jenna from staring over at her mom and aunt who are playing singles tennis. "Is there even a trail or are we just going to like...have to push our way through that jungle?"
"Jason told me about a trail that's down the beach that way," Jenna points to her right, but her eyes are still on the tennis court, watching her mom. "He said there's a huge, beautiful waterfall an hour or so in. It's what inspired me to take a hike in the first place."
"Oh," Dahlia nods, annoyed even by the name Jason now, and she still can't pinpoint why. But at least she's distracted enough to be not staring at her mom anymore.
"Jeez, Dahlia, not in public! My family is right there! " Jenna laughs loudly, wrapping her hand around her arm while they walk along the beach, right past the tennis courts where her mom is glaring at them in annoyance.
"What the hell was that?" Dahlia whispers, confused as they keep walking along the beach.
"Don't you remember my amendment to our deal from last night?" she nudges her, plastering on a huge, fake smile. Then, as soon as they get far enough down the beach that there are trees blocking the view of the tennis court, she pushes her off of her and the smile drops. "Your new job is to be disgusting with me, and vice versa. We're gonna show her just how happy two College students can be. And it's especially gonna kill her since she hasn't been sexually active in forever, and her underachieving daughter is getting banged multiple times daily."
Dahlia hesitates a moment, squinting her eyes, before replying, "Yeah, but you aren't."
"Shut up, Dahlia, that's not the point," she huffs, shaking her head. "The point is I don't need extravagance and money to be happy, but she can't see that. I'm perfectly happy living a mediocre and average life. So we're just rubbing that exact thing in her face."
"So...you're rubbing in her face that you're dating a mediocre and average girl, too?" Dahlia looks down at the sand, smiling a little so she doesn't think she's hurting her feelings. Even though she kind of is.
"You know I don't mean it like that," Jenna's voice softens slightly, her furious exterior transitioning to a regretful one. "God, I talk about my mom being a superiority-complex-ridden classist, but that's sort of what I'm acting like I guess. I just meant you go to college too, and you're dating me, so it's like..."
"No, I get it," Dahlia waves her off, shrugging. "I was just messing with you. Is this the trail you were talking about?"
"Uh...yeah, it is," she nods, taking in a breath. She can tell she feels bad, but she just wants this conversation to be over, really. She feels stupid for even starting it, but she thought she was going to fight her on it or at least deny it-not agree with her.
Dahlia leads the way, walking ahead of Jenna and holding back overgrown limbs and branches for her. They don't talk much; the awkwardness of the previous conversation still hanging in the air. And the silence, of course, makes her start overthinking and worrying.
She thinks about Jason, and then about the four times she and Jenna have kissed, and about the...situation from this morning.
First off, there's Jason. What is it about this guy she hates so much? She can't figure it out. He's good-looking, nice, down to earth. She shakes the thought away and moves onto the next, which is...
Kissing Jenna. She keeps going back to that in her mind, going over the one from last night most of all. She kissed her so hard and passionately, that it almost felt real. But then when they parted and she stormed off, she noticed her family there and everyone else staring at them, and she was rudely ripped back to reality. She hates her, yes, but damn she's a good kisser. Not that she's ever, ever going to tell her that, because she would die before giving her the satisfaction. But still, it's unfortunately true.
"Thinking about me naked or what?" Jenna asks, giving a small smile as she now holds back a branch for her, somehow getting ahead of her
while she was in her thoughts.
"You wish, but no," Dahlia laughs a little, the awkwardness from earlier suddenly disappearing as their usual bantering dynamic makes another appearance. "Just...stuff."
"What stuff?" she pushes, and she sighs. Typical Jenna-she can't just leave things alone. Ever.
"Just Maddie and my mom. I was just thinking about how I needed to call them when we get back-let them know how everything's going." Dahlia replies, completely making it up on the spot.
She has to either 1) learn how to lie better, or 2) stop lying altogether, because Jenna always knows she's lying, and she always knows that she knows she's lying.
"Mhmm," she nods, but she just sighs and bites the inside of her cheek as she follows behind her. There's no way she's going to tell her the truth, so she'd rather just keep her thinking she's a liar instead.
They walk for fifteen, twenty, thirty more minutes in mostly silence, with only a few "wow"'s and "that's beautiful"'s in between. They cross a huge, long, beautiful bridge, climb across rocks over a river, and then finally-after pushing back a gigantic fern leaf that's blocking the trail-see the gigantic waterfall they've been searching for.
Both of them stand there in mesmiration, sweating and smiling, unable to even believe their own eyes. There's a lake where the waterfall runs to, and it's surrounded by big, green plants, and purple, pink, yellow, and blue flowers. The waterfall is loud and relaxing, and she smiles and pushes her hair back, feeling like she's in a movie. It's the most beautiful thing she's ever seen. Ever.
"Holy shit," Jenna laughs out, jogging over to the edge, before peeling her clothes and shoes off. Then, looking over at her, she asks, "You gonna get in or just keep watching me get undressed?"
"I was looking at the water, not you," Dahlia replies, now walking over herself. Even at Jenna's comment, she still can't wipe the smile off of her face that's been plastered there in admiration since she's seen the waterfall and its surroundings. "I want to say it's beautiful, but that seems like a really, really unjust understatement."
"Agreed," Jenna smiles, looking around her and taking in a long, deep breath, before diving in. She kicks her shoes off, and reaches over her shoulders to pull her shirt off then shorts.
"I'm coming in!" Dahlia laughs, stepping backwards a little, before making a run for it, jumping, and grabbing her legs mid-air so she can make a bigger splash. Then she hits the water, the coolness of it suddenly surging over her. She swims back to the top, smiling as she resurfaces and pushes her hair back, taking a breath as her eyes find Jenna.
"My family may be psychotic, but they do know how to vacation," she smiles, splashing her. They have to talk louder because of the noisy waterfall. "Can you believe this view?"
Dahlia looks around, grinning and swaying her arms to keep herself afloat, listening to the birds and the water and fully taking all of this in.
"I really can't," she laughs, then her eyes stop as she looks at Jenna. She's smiling, looking all around. Her hair is messy and wavy and all in her face, and her skin is wet and glowy and beautiful in the sunlight, and she's suddenly fighting the urge to gulp.
"I say we swim for a few more minutes, and then go get a closer look at that badass waterfall," Jenna turns to her, smiling and pushing her hair back.
"Yeah," Dahlia nods and laughs, blinking away her hypnotisation. What the hell was that? "Yeah, let's do that."
So they do. They swim for about half an hour, actually, before Jenna suggests they start their trek to the waterfall. They pull themselves out of the water, and Jenna ties her hair back and leads the way. Their bare feet press into the warm grass as they walk along a hill to get up to the waterfall, glancing around themselves to enjoy the scenery, too. Then they finally find an accessible ledge, so Jenna tosses her bag down on the ground, and begins to climb.
"God, I've always wanted to stand behind a waterfall!" Jenna laughs, and Dahlia almost has a heart attackwatching her fearlessly step from one huge rock to another. She's not even worrying at all about the two hundred foot drop below her that she could have easilyfallen down on if she had even barely misstepped.
"Can you, like...help me? Please?" Dahlia asks, her eyes wide as she clutches the rocks beside her for dear life. She doesn't even dare look down, because she's pretty sure she'd pass out.
"Huh?" Jenna turns around then, before seeing the fear in her eyes. "Oh shit, are you afraid of heights?"
"Um...a little bit, yeah," she nods, her breath shallow as she tries not to panic. "I just didn't really, you know, think it would be this far up."
"Let's go back down and find somewhere else then," she nods, thankfully not making a big deal about it. She's actually surprised she isn't. "I'm sure there's another ledge farther down or something."
"No, it's...it's okay. We both looked and there isn't, and I know you want to do this," Dahlia swallows, both of them now having to practically scream at each other to be heard over the water.
"Are you sure?" Jenna looks at her, slightly surprised. She just nods and takes in a deep breath, and right before she goes to make the leap, she holds her hand out to her.
"If you tell anyone about this you die," she tells her, her hand outstretched for her to grab for leverage.
"Yeah, of course," Dahlia nods, smiling a little as she nervously grabs her hand, counts to three, and then leaps over to the ledge with Jenna. She lets out a sigh of relief, smiling at her as a silent thank you. She laughs and shakes her head, still holding onto her hand as she leads them further across the rocks. She's never seen her smile this much.
Eventually they make it underneath the waterfall, mist in their faces as they press their backs to the rock and stare out at the water in front of them. Dahlia turns her head and looks at Jenna, their hands still clasped together as she notices her eyes shut, and her head leaning back against the rock in relaxation. She smiles as she watches her, somehow able to relax more, too.
She's also surprised that she's still holding her hand, buthe would be the one to look like a jerk if she pulled back now, after she was only doing it to help her anyway.
Jenna blinks her eyes open then, looking in her and noticing her staring. She clears her throat (even though she herself can't even hear it over the waterfall) and looks away, pretending she had just caught her at theexact moment she had glanced at her. Then she unclasps her hand from her, and Dahlia instantly feels bad.And she feels like a creep.
"Feel it!" Jenna yells in Dahlia's ear, but she still doesn't understand what she said until she turns to look at her, and sees her hand extended out, feeling the water with it. She's grinning as she grabs her hand and pulls it forward, both of them now feeling the cold, fresh water running across their skin.
"This doesn't even seem real!" Dahlia laughs, looking up at the waterfall, feeling how strong the pressure of the running water is on her palm.
"Huh?!" Jenna asks, leaning in closer. Then she gets next to her ear, yelling "this doesn't even feel real!" even louder.
"Oh, I know!" she nods, laughing. Then Dahlia extends her other hand under the water, and after Jenna notices, she follows suit, too, both of them laughing. Then, without warning, she pulls her hands back, curves them around her mouth, and screams at the top of her lungs. Dahlia can barely hear it, but the fact that she can even hear it at all must mean that it would be painfully loud if it weren't for the waterfall. But she guesses that's the appeal of it.
"You go!" Jenna turns to her, using the waterfall to splash her.
She's a little embarrassed at first, knowing Jenna's watching her, but when she puts her hands to her mouth and closes her eyes, she just smiles and screams at the top of his lungs, too. She feels the vibrations from it in her lungs, her throat, but the fact that she can be as loud as she wants without anyone even hearing it is somehow...freeing.
She feels exhilarated; her heart is racing, her breath is heavy, and her adrenaline is pumping.