Six Days: Book One in the SIX Series (8 page)

           
“It’s orange from all the minerals coming up from the
ground,” Griffin replied, spreading out some towels on the ground alongside the
small pool. “Feel it,” he urged.

           
I plunged my hand into the water, surprised by the heat
of it. At least I finally felt better about stripping down to my bathing suit
tonight, given it was a little cool out. Griffin opened the cooler and pulled
out various plastic containers which made me smile, wondering if his mom packed
them. “Hungry?” he asked.

           
“Starving, actually,” I replied. “Did you pack all
those?”

           
“What do you mean? Of course I did,” he said, sounding a
little confused by my question. He neatly emptied the cooler, laying out
everything on one of the towels he had spread out.

           
“Wow, you just seem well prepared, that’s all. What are
we having?” I replied.

           
“Well I don’t have any leftover crawdad because you ate
them all,” he snickered, “but I’ve got some fruit, some chicken veggie wraps,
which yes, I made myself if you were wondering about that too. Do you want some
wine?” Griffin pulled out a dark bottle and a corkscrew. “Damn, I forgot some
glasses though. See, not a perfectly executed plan. Would it be classy enough
of a scene for us to just take pulls from this straight from the bottle?”
Griffin looked up at me with a shrug. I laughed and sat on the towel next to
him.

           
“So where do I get dressed? I didn’t realize we’d be
somewhere so remote,” I said, reaching for the bottle of wine he just opened. I
took a sip, surprised at how sweet and delicious it tasted.

           
“Well, it depends on how much of this wine you drink, I
guess,” Griffin said with a smirk. “Although, I guess the appropriate answer
would be that I’ll just turn around and you can get dressed by those trees. It
doesn’t seem like anyone else is out here. Would you be okay with that? I don’t
want you to feel weird about it. Otherwise the bathroom is a little ways down
the trail. I’m
sorry,
I guess I should have thought
about that before now.”

           
“I can manage changing here,” I replied, popping some
grapes into my mouth.
“Just no peeking.”

           
I stood up and walked a few feet behind where we were
sitting, hoping the trees were enough to cover me from anyone else who may be
lurking around the hot springs. Luckily it didn’t seem as though anyone else
was around. Moments later I was in my polka dot two-piece, happy the sun was
low enough to dim the light around me. I quickly stepped into the water,
forgetting about how warm it was until the water hit my thighs. My feet
tingled. I hadn’t even noticed Griffin changing, but he was already in his swim
shorts stepping towards the water. We eased into the pool, which
was
only about five feet wide and less than four feet deep.
I stood on my knees so the water was around the top of my shoulders.

           
“Is that a tattoo?” I asked as Griffin took his spot
opposite me in the pool. “What is it?”

           
Griffin half turned his body so I could see the music
notes and the script he had under his arm near the side of his rib cage. I
couldn’t read the words from where I stood. “I was nineteen,” he said,
shrugging. “My dad told me not to, so it seemed like the perfect response.”
Griffin turned back to face me. “What about you? Do you have any?”

           
“No, no father rebellion issues for me. I don’t think I
ever really thought about getting one before. I don’t know that there’s
anything in my life I would feel strongly enough about to put permanently on my
body, you know?” I replied, shrugging. “So don’t make that one of our
escapades. I wouldn’t do it,” I said, splashing water in his direction.

           
For the next thirty minutes or so, the conversation came
easily. We snacked on the food he brought and quickly made it through the
bottle of wine. We devoured the chocolate cake, and Griffin gushed about how
talented Mallory was. We talked a little bit about the bakery and how I was
surprised by how much I enjoyed working there, despite the fact that I really
hadn’t baked much of anything before. Mallory was so much fun to work with and
the decorating came easy to me, a talent I clearly never knew I possessed until
the day I met her.

           
“You look a little flush. Are you getting hot?” Griffin
asked, reaching out to tuck a piece of my hair behind my ear. “Are you ready
for a cool down?”

           
“Yes, I feel like I’m cooking my organs. It is a little
warm in here,” I replied. “What’s the cool down?” I looked up at him quizzically.

           
“Well, the sun is almost down so the temperature is
dropping quite a bit. We’ll have to be fast. Are you ready?” Griffin asked,
standing up in the water. “Will you follow me?” he asked with a shy smile. He
reached his hand out to me. “It would be better if we ran.”

           
I reached up, grabbed his hand, and followed him as he
moved swiftly out of the water. Instead of turning towards the towels, Griffin
quickly led me the other direction, over some dried up dirt and up over a tiny
hill. On the other side of the hill there was a small pond.

           
“Come on, quick,” he said, smiling at me. In one swift
motion he scooped me up and ran down the small hill, setting me down next to a
large tree near the edge of the pond. “Ready?” he said, reaching up into the
branches. He pulled out a large knotted rope that was tied on to one of the
huge branches hanging over the water.

           
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I squealed, feeling half exited
and half crazy. “How on earth would you know that was there?”

           
Without another word, Griffin ran a few feet back with
the rope. He grabbed as high as he could, took a few leaps, and launched
himself up in to the air. Seconds later he landed in the water, creating a huge
splash. I shook my head, laughing at just how crazy this guy was.

           
“Come on!” he yelled, motioning me into the water as he
swung the rope back up to me. Despite my better judgment, I caught the rope on
the first swing, which was a miracle in itself. I shook my head, stepped back a
few feet, and ran towards the water.

           
“
Eeeek
!”
I screamed as I let go, plunging into the cold water of the pond. As I
surfaced, the ground felt sludgy, and I could feel tiny strands of slime
gathering around my calves. “Oh
my gosh
, I need to get
out of here!” I screeched.
 

           
Griffin laughed and grabbed my waist, pulling me to the
edge of the pond. We quickly jogged back to the hot spring and dunked ourselves
in. I immediately felt a sensation like I was being stabbed with pins and
needles all over my body, which somehow made me feel rejuvenated and alive.

           
Griffin grinned and I threw my head back, laughing at the
burning sensation pulsing through my body. Griffin reached out his arm and put
his right hand on my hip. I took a step towards him, unable to turn my gaze
away from his penetrating eyes.

           
In that instant two small headlights appeared, shining in
our faces. “Sorry folks,”
came
an older voice from a
small all-terrain type vehicle. “Park’s closed, it’s eight o’clock. We have to
ask you to pack up.” Griffin nodded at the gentleman who in return tipped his
park ranger hat in our direction. We climbed out of the pool and each grabbed a
towel. The ranger didn’t budge, so we quickly threw on our clothes over our wet
swimsuits and packed up the cooler. We turned to head back down the path to
Griffin’s car. The ranger finally moved his vehicle further up the path to the
last hot spring to check for any other visitors.

           
When we got back to the car, Griffin laid the towels down
on the seats. Our clothes were already soaked through from our wet suits. We both
smiled at each other.

           
“Do you want to stop somewhere and change?” he asked
politely. “I feel so bad we didn’t get a chance to dry off. Time just kind of
got away from me,” he said, holding my car door as I got in.

           
“Don’t worry about it. My clothes are already soaked,” I
replied. “Your plan worked though, I do feel rejuvenated and youthful,” I added
coyly.

           
“Good, that’s what I was hoping for,” he responded,
gently shutting my door.

           
Damn, what was happening?
There was this
electricity I felt every time Griffin looked at me. He was one of the ‘guys’
though, one of the group, so I wasn’t sure this would ever go anywhere.
Just a nice guy, trying to show the new girl a good time.

           
“So what’s on the agenda for tomorrow? Are you going to
let me in on any of this?” I asked.

           
“No,” Griffin smirked.

           
I sat back in my seat, smiling. “So what does it say on
your tattoo? I didn’t really see it, is it a quote or something?”
           
“Just a song lyric,” Griffin
replied, shaking his head. “Probably cliché for a guy who plays guitar, I know.
But I write a lot of songs, and it just seemed poetic to me at the time.
Probably a stupid thing to do, but it was one of those moments where I felt so
alive, you know?
Like I couldn’t possibly be making a bad
decision.
Probably a stupid thing to do,” Griffin repeated, looking over
at me with a shrug.

           
“Are you going to tell me what it says?” I asked.

           
“Guess you’ll have to read it sometime,” Griffin smirked.

           
My cheeks felt flush. I turned up the radio, hoping he
wouldn’t notice. My mind wandered on the way back, thinking of everything that
had happened over the last few weeks. This new life I started felt so distant
from the one I had been living prior to my move.

           
“So the night I met you,” Griffin began, “out on Johnny’s
patio, you referenced ‘one of my dads’ as if you have a few. What’s up with
that?”

           
Oh no, personal questions. The exact thing I’m always
trying to avoid. This was going to be an awkward car ride.

           
“Oh, I just,
well my father had a mishap with the law when I was six, so my mom eventually
remarried. She passed away a few years later, and I had a few other families I
lived with. I got jumbled around a little bit I guess, nothing crazy,” I said
trying to sound casual about it, but realizing that was not really a common
explanation. I was hoping to skim over most of the specifics. I hadn’t known
Griffin nearly long enough to give the full explanation of everything.

           
“So you moved around a lot? Like with relatives?” Griffin
asked politely, trying to understand what I was actually saying.

           
“Not exactly.
I didn’t really
have an extended family, not one I knew of anyway. But I was led to some good
people, and eventually I was sent to a really good school. So yeah, essentially
I had some adults in my life, obviously. Several sets of moms and dads I guess,
people looking out for me. But really, I guess you could say I’ve been on my
own for quite
awhile
. Not one specific mom or dad to
give all the credit to, I guess…” my voice trailed off.

           
“I’m sorry
Addie,
we really
don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. I’m just still trying to
get to know you. Trying to find out where you’ve been all this time, that’s
all,” Griffin said softly.

           
“It’s okay, I understand. Mallory is always asking me
questions too. But it’s hard, you know, spending so much of your life trying to
forget something, but yet that is the very thing people want to know about
you,” I replied sincerely. “Maybe we can just save all this for another time? I
can’t scare you away on day two, or it will be a long week for you,” I added,
smiling.

           
Griffin nodded his head. “Say no more, I get it. The
group is always asking me questions about my relationship with my dad. As you
probably noticed, that’s a sore subject with me so I’m not exactly forthcoming
with all of that either. We can keep it simple, and then maybe one drunken
night you can reveal all your secrets.” Griffin smiled mischievously.

           
“Fair enough,” I replied, comforted by the fact that I
never drank nearly enough to give anything away.

           
The rest of the way home Griffin played some more of his
favorite music, explaining what he loved about every song as it came on. The
lights of downtown sparkled, and I smiled at the welcome feeling of it, as if
this new place was actually starting to feel like home for me. I could
certainly get used to evenings like this, jumping from trees and laughing like
teenagers. Although I really had to admit, the better part of the evening was
more likely Griffin in nothing but swim shorts. By the time we pulled into my
apartment complex, I looked over to see Griffin staring at me.