Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Logan

There are certain moments in life when I realize how much I overestimate myself. The bet that I made with Emily about being able to climb the Qurnat Sawda (which is the highest summit in the Levant region) is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

Obviously, my logic went as follows: what is a mountain anyway? It's basically a bump on the ground. A gigantic one. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, here's what went wrong:

1. There's actually, like biologically speaking, less oxygen up there, which would explain why it's so freaking hard to breathe.

2. It's freezing. No, not the "24 F" freezing that I've grown used to while living in New York. The temperature is about 6 F, and that's too cold, even for me. Did I mention that I'm extremely underprepared?

Actually, this would explain the smirk on Emily's face as she watched me walk outside of my room this morning wearing jogging pants, a t-shirt, and my NYU hoodie. That's a cruel thing to do, even to someone like me.

3. The mountain is freaking high, as in ten thousand, one hundred, thirty-one feet high.

I let out a long exhale, although my chest is freezing and I'm pretty sure I will catch pneumonia as soon as we reach back home. However, I have two options. I can either lose, go back to my warm bedroom, have phone sex with my girlfriend, and do the dishes for the entire freaking month, or I can win.

Of course, the only pleasure that winning would give me is watching Emily lose and do the dishes for a whole freaking month. That's just the kind of pleasure that I can't give up, even if it costs me my health and potential life.

"Hey, Peter Pan, are you sure you don't need a hand here?" She shouts from up there. How the hell is she so fast? I mean, I knew she was a mountaineer, but she's still human! Also, after yesterday's hang out, I really feel that things changed between us. In a good way.

She kind of seems more open. She's still a bitch, but I don't know, something changed. I can't pinpoint it yet.

"No thanks, I'm good," I manage to make out.

"Well, people are going to be celebrating the New Year soon if you keep going at this pace."

"Ha ha, very funny. You're just worried that you're going to lose."

"Are you sure you don't want a jacket?" She teases.

Okay, here's another part I forgot to mention. Remember when I said that she didn't warn me about the clothes? Well, that's not exactly true. She gave me a weird look and said, "You're not wearing a jacket."

And my stubborn ass laughed at her and said, "I'm a New Yorker, we don't get cold."

That's when she smirked and let me have my way, and I hate her for it very much.

I swallow back a groan as I try to climb through this rock but it's steep and I've been trying very hard not to look under me; I have the feeling that there's a gigantic never-ending black hole under me and if I look, I'm most likely going to faint and die.

When I finally set foot on normal ground, one that isn't filled with rocks or snow, I let out an exhale of relief. Thankfully, Emily decided to wait for me.

"How long till we get there?" I ask, staring at the summit. It looks relatively close. I might actually make it out alive.

Her gaze follows mine before suppressing a smile. "That's not the summit."

Huh?

She notices my stupefied expression and laughs. "Logan, we still have about three hundred feet to climb."

Oh.

Fuck. I am royally fucked.

Her eyes dance in amusement as she takes in the shock on my face. "It's okay, doing the dishes for a month isn't so bad."

"I'm not giving up."

This seems to catch her off guard. "You're not?"

"Nope." I hate myself so much right now.

"Okay, fine by me."

I swallow my ego and pride aside. "...I could use the extra jacket you brought, though."

I eventually meet her eyes again. I'm taken back by her smile; it's the first time she's not even trying to suppress it by biting her bottom lip or faking a frown.

Instead, her grin is wide and I can't help but notice how pretty her smile is... Especially with her hair falling softly from her ponytail, her rosy cheeks contrasting her pale skin, and her brown orbs slightly red because of the cold. I don't know, maybe I caught pneumonia after all.

But she removes her backpack and throws me a jacket. "You're such an idiot."

I know.

I shamelessly moan in relief when I put on the jacket. Finally, God, I was freezing. Why didn't I do this earlier? Oh, right, my stupid fragile ego. Once I zip it, I turn back to her. "Okay, I'm ready. Let's go. I'm so excited to make you do the dishes for the next month."

My steps are quicker, and I find that for some reason, my body is overdriven by Adrenaline. Maybe knowing that I'm sort of one thousand feet away made me acutely eager to just get it over with. Or I may be trying to impress Em by getting my shit together. Both are very plausible explanations.

The closer we get, the more Emily becomes cooperative. She gives me her hand to help me climb up certain areas. She doesn't smirk when I take her hand either.

However, we get to a part where the rocks are so thin that I need to cling to a rope. And that's the part where panic hits me. Fuck, we're so high. This is crazy. If I make one wrong move, I-

"Logan, just take a step."

"No."

I half-expect her to snap or call me a pussy (which is fine because pussies are not a sign of weakness anyway), but instead, she turns back towards me and pauses, "It's okay, I know you're scared. Trust me, there's nothing you can do that will actually make you fall. Those ropes are so tightly knotted that you could let go and try to throw yourself down and you still wouldn't actually fall. Okay?"

That sounds reassuring. But I have trust issues.

I take another look at the nothingness below me and my stomach churns. Holy fucking shit, I did not expect that the highest mountain in the Levant region is actually this high.

My eyes meet Emily again and although we're both wearing thick glasses, I know she can see right through me. My stomach churns and I feel the overwhelming need to puke. Fuck.

"Take a deep breath. Shut your mind. Don't think about the what-ifs. Just focus on your body, okay? Feel your feet in your shoes, feel the rope around your legs and waist, take it all in. Feel the cold air sticking to your face, the rise of your stomach as you breathe in, and the fall as you breathe out. "

So I take a deep breath and close my eyes, focusing on the fabric wrapped around me. I clench my fists tighter around the rope and force my shaking leg to take another step.

"That wasn't so bad now, was it?"

So I do it again. This time, I let my step be a little wider. I breathe out, feeling my heart raging inside. I feel something wet inside my pants. "Holy shit, Em. I might have wet my pants."

I one-hundred-percent did wet my pants.

She laughs. "It's okay, we all wet our pants the first time. I got you extra ones in my backpack. Three more steps and you're there."

"You're a Goddess." Okay, three more steps. Here we go. My legs are shaking so violently that I'm worried I might actually slip but then, I see how close I am to the solid grass, I can almost touch it. So I force my legs to take another step. And another.

Until Emily reaches out with her hand to grab mine and helps me up.

When my feet finally touch the grass, I can't help but scream in relief. Holy fuck, I made it. The first three seconds are just a surreal feeling before everything hits me all at once.

"Holy shit."

This is the official view site, which is surreal. The mountains beneath us, the clouds, the sea,  it's almost as if I'm standing on top of the fucking world. I spin around only to see other summits around. "No fucking way. This isn't real."

Her lips twitch upwards.

"Fuck, Em. This is better than cocaine"

"It is, isn't it?" I can hear the smile in her voice.

"I can't believe I did it. That was insane. Can we do this again? Holy shit, please let's do this again and I'll try not to be such a baby this time."

She laughs. "I can't believe I'm saying this but you weren't so bad."

"Nah, you're just being nice."

She shakes her head, "You'll see on our trip next week. Some people faint, others get panic attacks. You just wet your pants."

"About that... I was totally kidding."

She raises an unimpressed eyebrow. "Of course," Sarcasm drips through her voice.

The truth is that I might have felt something warm in my pants, but I promise that's it. Nothing else. "Do you want to feel it?"

She frowns before pushing my shoulders slightly. "You're disgusting."

"You like it."

"I really don't. In fact, I don't think I can adequately express how much you repulse me."

I decide to mess with her a little bit. So I walk closer and take off the mountain glasses on my face so I can look her straight in the eye. Once I'm close enough, I notice the height difference between us, which is kind of weird because I'm used to Mar's freakishly tall figure.

But with Em, I actually have to lean down to be able to look into her eyes. Her deep brown eyes have strands of gold in them. My thumb moves the strand of hair behind her ear and lingers there for a second. Fuck, her hair is soft. So soft. I notice that she's holding her breath which makes me bite back a smirk.

My thumb softly moves behind her ear, drawing small circles, trailing to her sharp jawline before stopping at her lips. Soft, plump, red. God, she's beautiful. My face comes closer and our breaths touch. Our lips are inches apart when hers part.

"You're still disgusting."

You have got to be kidding me.

Her lips curve into a smile before pulling away. I have never gotten a stronger urge to groan. What a fucking tease.

"You're annoying," is the only smart response that comes to my mind. Don't judge me, I'm standing on one of the highest mountains with a girl I might be crushing on. Keyword: might.

Or, I'm just sexually frustrated because the last time I got laid was like, a week ago. Fuck. She's enjoying this way too much. Heck, I'm enjoying this way too much. There's just something about her. She's so... She's so pure.

"Wait, you do realize that you're going to be doing the dishes for the next month, right?"