"We have climbed upon this hill and now I will die upon it," my brother groaned.
Kason chuckled. "Jaxon, we've been hiking for twenty minutes."
He nodded. "Yes, and it is winter. This isn't what you are supposed to be doing when there is snow on the ground."
"We just want to get pictures of the view before we leave this afternoon," Aria told him.
I silently agreed with my brother. Hiking halfway up a mountain was not on my list of favorite activities when there was a snowstorm on its way. I was shivering more with every step.
"Since when do you enjoy hiking in twenty-degree weather?" he asked her.
"Since I got thousands of followers on my social media accounts for my photography."
Jaxon looked at her in confusion and just stared as she trudged further up the mountain. Neither of us got on social media accounts. We had accounts from before we moved, but we stopped going on them when we Shaking his head, he followed after her, Holden and Marla. I found myself glancing at Kason before following after them. He gave me his usual, amused grin he has when he is entertained by my brother.
Kason and I haven't talked about what happened the evening before and we haven't kissed since. Not that we've had the opportunity though. Our friends seemed to be everywhere.
Later than sooner, we made it to the top of the small mountain and Aria pulled her camera out of her little black backpack. I found a boulder to sit on and rest while she took all of her landscape photographs over a ledge on the hill. The boys started pulling out waters and snacks out of a small drawstring bag my brother had carried upon his back. All three of them were digging in like animals.
Twenty minutes later, Aria had taken all the landscape pictures she wanted, and we all somehow ended up having a photoshoot. We took turns taking pictures of each other and with each other.
Aria was now shooting Jaxon and Marla. She crouched down in front of me to get a different angle with the sky behind them. I watched her subtly scratch her wrist. As her sleeve pulled up when she raised the camera, I saw that her skin was red and raw. "Hey, Aria, let me see your wrist."
She looked at me over her shoulder and chuckled. "Why?"
I pointed to her left hand. "It looks like you have a bad rash or something."
At my words, she looked down and pulled up her sleeve. A large red rash stretched from the tip of her wrist to the middle of her forearm. "What in the world?" she spoke.
"That looks bad," Kason observed after overhearing us. "Hey, Holden?"
Holden looks over at us and down at her arm. "Is that poison ivy?"
Kason shrugged. "It looks more like an allergic reaction."
Marla and Jaxon had both gathered around, too. "Are you sure it's not an allergic reaction to poison ivy?"
"I didn't think I was allergic to anything," Aria mentioned.
"Well, I think you are allergic to something," I told her, shivering from the cold.
She groans before clicking her camera and taking another picture. "I'll be fine."
"No, I think we should go get it checked out," Holden said, eyeing her arm. "It looks bad."
She rolled her eyes as Kason agreed with him. "Holden, go ahead and take her somewhere to get that checked out. "We can stay back and pick up our mess. We'll meet you back at the hotel." Holden nodded and reached for Aria's hand."
"It's not that urgent, we can all go together," she said, not taking his hand.
"I'd feel better about it if we went now," Holden told her. They looked at each other and shared a moment. They were getting closer again after the incident at the party. I couldn't be happier for them.
She sighed, defeated. "Okay." She accepted his outstretched hand and let him pull her to her feet.
"Go ahead. We'll meet you back at the hotel once you get that checked out," Kason said.
Aria handed her camera to me, which I accepted, and she turned with her boyfriend to walk down the hill. "Wait, I want to go, too," Marla said.
Holden and Aria nodded. "Alright."
"I'll stay back and help Kason and Lydia," Jaxon told his girlfriend. She nodded and the three of them proceeded down the snowy hill. "Be careful!" he called after them.
Once our friends were out of sight, we started picking up all our wrappers and water bottles. I grabbed Aria's small backpack and carefully slid her camera into the pocket made specifically for it. A ring filled the air, but it quickly cut off. I looked up and a moment later, the same thing happened. I watched Kason pull his cell phone out of his pocket and look down at the screen. "Who is it?" I asked him.
"My dad," he answered. "The signal keeps jumping in and out though."
I nodded and when he glanced at me, a small smile stretched my cheeks. He smiled too, then pushed his phone back into his pocket. I didn't miss the glance my brother made between us. His eyebrow was raised like he was trying to figure something out.
After we picked everything up, we started making our way back down the hill. Things weren't awkward between me and Kason, which I was thankful for. As we hiked back down the hill, Kason and I kept glancing at each other. I couldn't help it. As cliché as it was, he made me feel all giddy insane.
"Why are you two acting weird?" Jaxon's voice filled the empty silence.
I looked at him while grabbing onto a tree to keep from slipping as I made my way around a small bolder on the path. "What?"
He glanced between us again. "Did something happen between you two?"
I looked at Kason and found him smirking. "No, why?"
Jaxon narrowed his eyes. "I have a theory that something did."
"Why?" I questioned.
He stepped around the bolder as he followed mine and Kason's lead down the path, looking skeptical the whole time. "Because you two are acting oddly happy with each other's presence." I raised an eyebrow at him, causing Kason to laugh. "I'm trying to have a serious conversation here."
"And I'm trying to subtly avoid it," I told him honestly.
He grinned. "Ah, so something did happen." I looked at Kason, waiting to see his reaction. He just looked at me and smiled brightly. "You kissed didn't you?" Jaxon questioned.
This really wasn't how I wanted him to find out. It wasn't supposed to happen. I mean, I didn't regret kissing him, but it was only putting Kason in danger. And that, I regret.
"Oh my, gosh, you actually did," he realized, his eyes widening.
My heart was racing. I don't know why I was so nervous for Gavin to know what happened. It wasn't my first kiss. It was just happening in a different situation this time. We weren't supposed to be making deep relationships with people right now and somehow both of us had broken that rule.
"If you do anything other than kissing, I'm going to have to kill you, Kason."
Looking between my brother and Kason, I searched for any tension. My brother seemed quite serious but relaxed, and Kason was just grinning. "Good thing we just kissed then," Kason said.
My brother turned toward me as I picked up my pace down the hill. I wanted nothing more than to get out of this situation. "When did you plan on telling me? Does anyone else know?"
"I don't know. And no, you're the first to find out," I informed him.
He nodded, but looked at Kason and shook his head. "I don't know how I feel about this, man. For all I know, you'll break her heart."
Kason looked at him and looked sincere. "I'm not going to break her heart."
Jaxon's expressed didn't change. He was serious and I could tell he was wary about what had happened between me and Kason. As my brother, he was already protective, but after everything we had been through and everything that had happened to us, he did everything in his will to protect me anything and everyone. He was constantly cautious and always worrying. "I won't take it too lightly if you hurt her," he told Kason. "Don't make a promise you can't keep."
***
Thanks for reading!
What did you think of this chapter? I love reading and replying to your comments:)
Any predictions?
Will this change Jaxon's and Kason's relationship? Will Jaxon still be able to relax around Kason, or will he be worrying about Lydia and Kason's future, the same way he might be worrying about his own?
I will try to post another chapter around this same time next week.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter:) If you did, please VOTE!