Six Days: Book One in the SIX Series (12 page)

           
“So, it seems
you have a thing with water,” I said, smiling.

           
“Yeah, weird timing for you to read it
while we’re here I guess.
But maybe I do, I don’t know. Do you ever
think back to when you were a kid sometimes, and it seems like you were a fish,
right? Always in the water, people’s pools, the city pool, lakes, ponds,
sprinklers, whatever. Kids are fearless about that stuff, right? I would have
jumped in water anywhere. Maybe it’s the splash, or the way it makes you feel
like you’re moving in slow motion, I don’t know. But then you grow up, which is
already a buzz kill in itself, right? And now when are you ever in water? I
mean sure, occasionally for some planned event, once a year on vacation, or the
Fourth of July when you visit the lake. But it’s never the same. So I don’t
know, I guess… I just want to always feel like that. Like I can find the same
joy I had as a child jumping in a puddle. I mean, none of that has anything to
do with the
tattoo,
I’m just referring to the water
thing. The song lyrics are more of a metaphor I guess. Like life, you get
pulled under, and people think that’s all there is to it. They don’t think
about the rest of it, the point of it, you know? Damn, I am really rambling,
right? I’m sorry,” Griffin said shaking his head.

           
“I like listening to you, actually. You just said more in
those two minutes than you really have since I’ve known you. It’s nice,” I
said, looking at him sincerely.
 
“What do
you usually write your songs about?”

           
“Everything, really,” he replied, shrugging his
shoulders. “Maybe I’ll play something for you sometime.”

           
“That sounds perfect,” I said, standing up so I could
break my concentration on him. My proximity to his bare skin was beginning to
be too much. I felt warm near him, and too distracted. Griffin stood up next to
me.

           
“So, diving contest? Flips?
Cannonballs?
Belly flops?” Griffin asked, gesturing towards the water below.

           
“Let’s see who can jump the farthest,” I replied, taking
a few steps back. Griffin followed my lead and stepped back as well.

           
“Same time?” he asked with a raised brow.

           
I nodded, and we each took a running leap. We jumped off
the edge of the rock, plunging into the water below.

           
“Not bad,” I said as we surfaced, noticing I was a few
feet further out that him. “Do I get a prize?” I asked teasingly.

           
“Yes. You get to keep those very practical, very sexy
shoes,” Griffin teased back. I splashed him.

           
“Hungry?” he asked.

           
“Famished.”

           
“Good. I’ll go set up our lunch,” he said, swimming
towards shore. I floated on my back, taking in the warm sunshine and the blue
sky. It was such a perfect, carefree day, as if the rest of the world around us
had stopped completely.

           
I came up out of the water and Griffin was already
spreading out food from the cooler he brought. He was always so prepared, so
planned. It made me smile.

           
“So, any plans tonight?” Griffin asked, handing me half a
sandwich.

           
“Well, I’m supposed to go out with Mallory. I guess
Johnny wants to try out some new place tonight? I just assumed you’d be there,”
I replied.

           
“Yeah, I may show up later,” he said, leaning back to
take in the sun.

           
Why was he always so nonchalant when it came to making
plans?
All of these adventures were planned out perfectly, but otherwise he
was always late whenever we hung out with the whole group. That is, if he ever
showed up at all. I wondered how someone seemingly so normal could make me so
crazy at the same time.

           
As we ate our lunch the park became much busier. It
filled up mostly with groups of teenagers, probably excited that school was
finally out for the summer. We talked about music, food, and Mallory’s plans
for the bakery we had been working on. After we ate, we swam for
awhile
longer in the pond and watched the kids jump off the
giant rock. They seemed so young, so carefree, like they had life all figured
out already. I realized that was exactly what Griffin was talking about, and it
made more sense to me why he wanted so badly to regain that feeling of youth
and lack of responsibility. I wondered though if, as an adult, that was even possible.

           
Finally around four, we decided to head back so I would
have time to clean up before our night out. Griffin had to take care of a few
things at work, but he promised to meet us out later that night.

           
The drive home was nice. We had the windows down and the
music turned up. I was finally grasping the words of some of the music Griffin
liked, and he was always attentive to playing the ones I would mention liking
for a particular reason.

           
“So, how about a speed round of
questions?
No deep personal stuff, I promise, just the basics,” Griffin
asked, turning down the music.

           
“Sure, what do you want to know?” I asked
,
intrigued by whatever he wanted to ask me about.

           
“Favorite food?” he asked, starting off simple.

           
“Easy. Potatoes, any form but preferably mashed with
cheese. What about you?” I replied.

           
“Pizza.
I know, boring and
completely obvious for a guy,” he said shaking his head.
“Favorite
movie?”

           
“
The Notebook
.
I’m as
sappy as it gets when it comes to that type of thing, like most women.
You?”

           
“Well,” Griffin paused, “that gets into personal stuff,
so don’t ask me about it if you haven’t seen it, but
Life as a House
.
It’s amazing,” he said, looking over at me.

           
I shook my head, indicating I had never even heard of it,
much less seen it.

           
“Okay, we can put that on our to-do list sometime. Next
question, favorite place you’ve ever been? Like a spot that you just love,” he
said, smiling, clearly enjoying this game.

           
“Wow, I’ve never really thought about that one. These are
getting progressively harder,” I replied, not sure I had really been enough
places to already know the answer to something like that. As I tried to think
of something, anything, sadly the passenger seat of Griffin’s car was in my top
ten. I knew I could never utter that out loud.

           
“You can get a pass on that if you’re not sure. We can
come back to that one. Sorry, we can keep them easier. Favorite holiday?” he
asked.

           
I shook my head. Griffin probably thought I just had a
tough time deciding which one I preferred, when the truth of it was I had never
even really liked holidays. They were a lonely reminder to me that I had no one
to celebrate anything with. Grant forgot my birthday two years in a row, so
even fake holidays were out.
Oh great, here come the thoughts of ending up a
cat lady with a dirty house and ugly cat sweaters.
I shook my head again,
clearing my thoughts, not sure how they were even leading me in such a dismal
direction off of just one question. “That one is hard
too,
no one has ever asked me any of these. Is that weird?” I asked.

           
“Not weird,
no
. But I wonder why
no one has, that is the kind of stuff I would love to know about you.
To
know
you, if that makes sense.
What do you love,
Addie? Name five of your favorite things, random things. The first few things
that come to mind, and then I’ll stop asking you questions,” Griffin said,
looking at me with a sincere expression.

           
“Well, a random list… Let’s see.
Sappy
movies, eyelashes, the sound of rain on a window, a good poem, and people who
appreciate the use of coasters.
I’m sorry, too random on that last one?
Is it weird that is one of the first things that popped in my mind?” I knew I
should have stopped talking in that moment, but for some reason I just kept
rambling. “I just think coasters are important. Grant, that’s the guy I ran
away from before coming here, he didn’t get that and it always bothered me.
Like, just use the damn coaster, right?” I shook my head and covered my mouth.
“I don’t even know what I’m saying. I should stop.”

           
Griffin busted out with laughter. “You are an interesting
girl, Adelaide,” he said with a smirk. “Can I ask you just one more question?
Even if it’s a personal one?
You can say no if you want.”

           
“Well I don’t think this conversation can get any worse
for me given my rambling about coasters, so ask away,” I said laughing.

           
“What was the thing you loved most about Grant?” Griffin
asked bluntly.

           
“I, uh, well, that’s an interesting question. I didn’t
see that coming,” I said, pausing for a moment to think about it. I expected
numerous thoughts to enter my mind, as if perhaps I could make a list of things
I loved about the one person I used to be so closed to. Instead, all I felt was
emptiness, and I could only think of one reason. “He promised me he wouldn’t
leave me, I guess. That seemed good enough,” I said softly, feeling a little
uncomfortable about this conversation. “The ironic thing about it is that he
abandoned me before ever actually leaving, which somehow was so much worse. Can
we talk about something else? What about you, what are five of your favorite
random things?” I was eager to shift the conversation to Griffin.

           
“I could list a bunch of them, let’s see.
Coffee, for sure.
Watching sports on
Sundays,
that
would make the list. Ooh, the sound of a lawn mower on a Saturday
morning.
 
I don’t know what it is about
that sound but it’s so comforting to me, waking up to that noise. It’s like a
way to be reassured that the world around you is okay. Like everything is
completely normal. Does that make sense? I miss that sound a lot actually, now
that I live downtown. But it used to be one of my favorite sounds to wake up to
on a Saturday morning.”

I
nodded my head, smiling at how well thought out of an answer that was.

“Also
the part in every song where there is a perfect lyric, like it just speaks to
you. You know how every song I make you listen to I always have to point out
when it’s my favorite part? That exact part is one of those moments for me, one
of those things I just absolutely love about music,” Griffin said smiling.

           
“That’s only four things,” I pointed out.
“Name one more.
Something random, like
coasters.
Like something specific to you that someone else may not think
of.”

           
“Easy. One of my favorite things in life is that split
second right before you kiss someone for the first time. That second right
before it happens. ‘
Arany
masodik
,’
that’s what my grandfather used to always say. I think it means ‘the golden
second’ or something like that. He was Hungarian. He always told me growing up
that it was one of the greatest things in life, that brief second right before
a kiss happens. He told me that split second was more powerful than most other
decisions we make. I always liked that about him,” Griffin said smiling.

           
I smiled too. I really enjoyed listening to Griffin talk
about something most guys never said. He was unusual, emotive when he wanted to
be, yet so carefree and
laid
back otherwise.

           
“He always told me that’s how I would know I found the
right girl. Apparently when my grandfather was young, he dated my grandma for a
bit and then went off to war. They lost touch for
awhile
after that and he dated other people in the meantime after returning home. When
he ran into her again and they rekindled what they had, he said he always knew
in that split second right before he would kiss her that she was the girl,”
Griffin continued. “My grandma passed away from cancer a few years ago, and I
still remember my grandpa talking about it, even then. He kissed her one last
time about twenty minutes before she passed, and he said it was the same as
kissing her when they were just seventeen.”

           
“Wow, that’s quite the story,” I responded, appreciating
the sincerity with which Griffin spoke.

           
“I know. Crazy, isn’t it? Do you think that really
happens anymore?” Griffin asked, glancing over at me with curious eyes.