Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I woke the next morning to the gentle motions of someone stroking my hair. I smiled and stretched my arms above my head like I do every morning. I opened my eyes to see Eric sitting on the edge of my bed. Taking this quiet moment to really look at him, I realized how much he has grown up over the years. He is no longer the awkward, under-developed pre-teen that I remember so well, but someone more closely resembling a man. At 5' 11", he is only an inch taller than me. The confidence that leaks out of every pore of his body makes him seem so much bigger though. His once scraggly head of blonde curls had long been replaced by a more adult half inch cut all over. The one constant with Eric is his eyes. Even in the multiple baby and toddler pictures I had seen, Eric has always had the piercing blue eyes that must have gotten him countless forbidden cookies from adults in his younger years. One steady gaze with those eyes would always bring out whatever secret I was hiding or convince me that an activity so clearly unsafe is perfectly okay.

"Good morning, gorgeous," he said. His cool confidence in saying this nearly overwhelmed me.

"Hey, you."

I climbed out of bed and pulled on my floor length fleece robe. My robe was so comfortable that, despite the material and the coverage, I would wear it even in the middle of summer.

Eric flopped down on my pillow and laced his hands behind his head. "What do you have planned for today?"

"I don't know," I responded. "A little bit of this and a little bit of that."

"Well, Marie left an hour or so ago with Larry. So how would you like to go somewhere?"

I grinned coyly. "Eric, you wouldn't be asking me on a date, would you?"

He answered this with a joking grin. "So what if I am? Put on something comfortable. We're leaving in an hour."

*   *   *

While I was in the shower, suddenly images and other memories from my relationship with Cody came back to me. However, they weren't the happy memories that someone would have expected. There were memories of being blown off by Cody to hang out with "friends." Due to recent events, I'm guessing that "friends" was more often than not Eccentric Girl. More memories of being treated like a pet or an accessory. Stealthily, memories involving Eric crept their way into my thoughts. Memories of laughing like insane people over nothing. Having ice wars when we still worked together. Deep converstations in the middle of the night when neither of us would sleep that went on for hours.

What does this mean? I thought. What is my subconscious trying to tell me? That Eric, who is like a brother to me, is the one I'm supposed to be with? Isn't that illegal? Why can't I just mourn the loss of Cody like a normal person? Who in their right mind starts doubting a relationship AFTER it is already over?! Ah, I get it. What my subconscious is trying to tell me is that I'm not in my right mind! Fabulous. I'm going insane and I can't even figure it out for myself.

I leaned up against the cool tile surrounding the shower and surrendered myself to the body-wracking sobs that had been held inside me since the funeral. When I had cried so much that I couldn't cry anymore, I promised myself that I wouldn't cry for Cody ever again. I would move on because that is what he would have wanted. Or at least what the part of the Cody that I had known would have wanted.

*   *   *

"Let's try this one more time. Where are we going?" I demanded.

"You know, you always said I make the decisions. You will find out what my decision is when we get there," Eric stated.

"And if I don't like your decision?"

"If you don't like my decision," I heard the grin in his voice, "then you will just have to get over it."

I folded my arms across my chest and put on my best pouting face. Not that putting on a pouting face did any good. As soon as we got into the car, Eric tied a red bandana around my head and stubbornly refused to answer any questions about where we were going.

It was nearly noon. It wound up taking me forever to get dressed because Eric wouldn't even hint at what I needed to be dressed for. So I settled on denim shorts, flip-flops, and an old softball t-shirt with a sports bra underneath.

"Here we are."

The bandana loosened around my head and fell to the floor of Eric's Jeep Wrangler. First thing I noticed was that we were in a make-shift gravel parking lot. Next, I saw the trees. Lots and lots of trees. There was a path leading off two ways into the woods, one straight ahead and one to our right. "Eric," I asked. "Where are we?"

"This is my spot," he said, smiling. "You're gonna need this."

Eric handed me my red, white, and black polka dot bikini.

"Wha--"

Eric flashed a brilliant smile. "You'll see. Go stand behind the Jeep and put it on. I won't look."

While I was changing, Eric wandered around the parking lot. Once I was fully dressed (or as fully dressed as someone can be in a string bikini) I walked over to where Eric was standing. He flashed me a small smile and started walking towards the path that was straight ahead. After walking for a minute or two the trees started thinning out. Thirty more seconds of walking brought us to a sheer cliff that stood about 30 feet above what I assumed was the Tennessee River.

"It's... so... beautiful." I said, completely awestruck.

"It is. I've been coming here since I was able to ride a bike. The perfect place to think. Or to relieve stress."

Before I could ask him how he relieved stress here, Eric pulled of his shirt revealing impressive muscles and launched himself off the cliff, yelling the whole way down. I ran to the very edge, searching the water for Eric's head bobbing along the surface for a full two minutes before I felt a tapping on my shoulder. Afraid I was about to be murdered or raped, I turned around with the best defensive stance I could muster (I do not want to imagine what me trying to be intimidating looks like. I'm guessing not too pretty.) to find Eric standing there, soaking wet and grinning like a madman.

"Wait, What? How did you--? You were just-- And now you're-- Huh?"

Eric laughed. "Did you miss the 'coming here since I could ride a bike' statement?"

"Oh. Okay," I said, still utterly confused about how he got back up the cliff so quickly.

Once I had calmed down, I sat down on the warm, smooth rock and admired the view, convinced the rest of the day would be perfectly normal. Knowing Eric, though, I should have thought differently. As soon as I got comfortable on my rock, he ran off the edge of the cliff again. I looked over the edge, relieved to see his head pop up after only a few seconds.

"Would you PLEASE stop doing that? You're scaring the hell out of me!" I yelled.

"Hmmm... No. Now it's your turn!"

"What!? I don't think so. Count me out."

As I turned and walked away, I heard Eric reply, "Well, I guess everyone is going to know about your tattoo then, aren't they?"

(For your information, I have a small tattoo on the skin right inside my hip bone.)

"What? You know? You couldn't. You didn't! You looked when I was dressing back there, didn't you?"

"What can I say?" Eric's grin was visible even from this distance. "I'm a guy. Couldn't help it."

In a fit of uncontrollable rage, I ran towards Eric. However, in this rage, I forgot the fact that a 30 foot drop separated Eric and I. Looking back, it felt like I was one of those cartoon characters that runs off a cliff and freezes there for a second until they realize they just ran off a cliff and start screaming. I felt exactly like one of those cartoon characters. Once I resurfaced, I was shaking so bad from a mixture of adrenaline and fright that I could barely keep myself above water. A strong arm wrapped around my waist and tugged me toward a handmade but sturdy ladder attached to the side of the cliff.

After we got back to the Jeep, dried off, had a bite to eat, and started heading home, the sun was already setting. Eric let out a low chuckle next to me. I tried to ignore him since I was still upset with him for looking at me while I was changing. When he kept laughing, I whirled my head towards him and spat out a, "What?"

"I didn't look at you while you were changing. I was just going off of a hunch. I guess I was right," he laughed more.

Glad that Eric hadn't seen me in my birthday suit, but mortified that I lost my cool like that, I rode the rest of the way home pouting in silence.