Page 52 of Valley Girls
It wasn’t all—that drawing of people that she’d stumbled across wasn’t a route map. She frowned and raised her eyebrow. “Bullshit.”
He snorted. “Like you’re not. Full of bullshit, I mean.”
“I’ve been very forthcoming.”
He rolled his eyes. “I think it’s safe to say we both have things we don’t like talking about.”
She stuck her tongue at him.
He leaned forward and laughed.
The silence was awkward. She rubbed her ear.
Walker stayed maddeningly quiet as he stared at her with this grin half-cocked.
“What?”
“You don’t like safety,” he said, that shit-eating grin still plastered on his face.
She primly picked up her burger. “And you’re full of crap if you’re trying to convince me you’re safe.”
“I’m not safe?”
Her gaze flicked to his. That pulse of intensity in his blue eyes.
His eyes, which tightened at the corners.
She wanted him. Badly. It’d been easy in West Virginia—to avoid this. This real thing she couldn’t help but feel when looking at him. No one had been the things Walker was. A boy from places she knew the shape of, who’d made his mark in a world still foreign to her. Maybe that’s why he had that shell around himself always. Maybe it’s what made him full of it. She bit her lip and tried to come up with words to talk to the boy from Ohio. But she didn’t want to talk about who she’d been in West Virginia either; and instinctively she knew that to get intimacy, she’d have to exchange it.
That wasn’t what she wanted. Not right now. He was right.
She was afraid.
Eighteen
It was obvious that they’d already been climbing. Petra and Adeena stood by the ranger station of Camp 4, where they’d told Rilla they’d meet her. Their pants were smudged with chalk and dust, and their hair windswept. It wasn’t that Rilla expected to be invited on the long routes that far surpassed her skill level—but she hated that she wasn’t. It made her feel every inch of her space on the fringe of the group. If they were the gods of Yosemite, she was yet mortal, craning her neck up to look high into the golden sunshine, at places she couldn’t touch.
Literally.
Walker stopped the bike, and Rilla lightly hopped down. Maybe it was the way Adeena’s and Petra’s eyes went wide, watching her hand slide down Walker’s arm. Maybe it was just that she had enough experience climbing to be able to want something more than just tagging along. Whatever it was, a sudden determination flooded her veins—she coulddosomething worthy of the gods. She was ready. She wanted it. This evening’s climb was the perfect chance to show them.
“Where you guys heading?” Walker asked.
“To the Camp 4 walls for some Yosemite educating,” Adeena said. “Our girl here is doing pretty good.”
“Doggie Diversions?” Walker asked.
Rilla assumed it was the name of the climb Dee and Petra had selected.
Petra nodded, shaking out her braid. “You want to come? This teaching a gumby thing is good for my technique. It’s giving me an edge.”
Gumby.Rilla didn’t want to be a gumby anymore. She wanted to belong.
“You can keep your edge,” Walker said, with an eye roll. “I’ve got a meeting. The weather report is in and we’re gonna get nailed. If you see anyone heading out, tell them to stay put. I don’t want anyone stuck on the wall.”
“Hopefully everyone looked it up,” Adeena said. “But we’ll tell anyone we see.”
“Thanks.” Walker kicked off the bike. “See ya,” he called over his shoulder as he pedaled away.
