Page 33 of Change My Mind
“No, I’ve gotta warm up first. I just wanted to see if I could figure this one out before I tackle it. We should try that one there, in the corner. Not quite beginner, but not that advanced either.” She gestured to the wall in question, speaking without breaking the rhythm of her tuck jumps.
“Should I be doing all that?” I asked when she finally stopped jumping a minute later.
“Are you cold?”
“I did some mobility work before I came out. So not tuck-jump-blood-pumping warm but notcoldcold, either.”
She circled her neck one more time. “Then you’re fine,” she said as she walked past me towards the wall.
I followed for five steps and then came to a halt.
Standing at the bottom of the very wall we were heading towards was Eli.
Because, of course, he was here. At a time when I was hoping to forget all about him. Lucy sensed that I was no longer behind her and turned her head to check on me. Clearly, I did not look well because she walked back over to me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, fine. Eli is here.”
Lucy looked over her shoulder and then back at me. “Are you two okay?”
As far as I knew, yes.
But also, Hallway Gate had happened, and we hadn’t talked about it, so maybe we weren’t.
“Yeah. We are. Just a surprise, is all.” I shook my shoulders and rolled my neck. “Let’s get climbing.”
“Oh my gosh!”
A body entered my path, and I came to a halt before I could collide straight into Kayla.
“Hey!” I tried to inject energy into my voice.
“Eli didn’t mention you were going to be here today! Have you been here before?”
“Eli didn’t know. And no, haven’t been here before. Lucy dragged me along as payback for making her do a hot yoga class.”
Eli choked on a cough as he slowly made his way over to us.
I swallowed thickly as I watched his approach. He was wearing the same black shorts he had on when we went to yoga and a matching short-sleeve T-shirt. All pretty innocuous. Except for the harness, which was framing a part of him I had no business noticing all of a sudden. But I was. It was right there.
“You climb?” Kayla asked. I wasn’t sure which one of us she was asking, but Lucy answered.
“I do. This place is quite new and I haven’t had a chance to get to it yet. You a regular?”
And just like that, Eli and I, spending time with our respective friends doing a somewhat wholesome activity, turned into Kayla and Lucy becoming bosom buddies with a shared love for rock climbing.
Eli cleared his throat.
“Do you climb?” he asked.
“On a regular basis? No. It isn’t the kind of thing that interests me. You should have seen the way Luce was eyeing up that wall over there with the overhang. It truly fuels her. What about you?”
He shrugged. “Kayla thought it would be a fun thing totry. I think she’s trying to find a new hobby so she doesn’t let herself get caught up in her work. She left most of her friends back in Detroit, so she doesn’t have many here. We’ve also tried paddleboarding and axe throwing.”
“Is that what you’ve been doing with your Sundays recently?”
“Yeah. Hated paddleboarding. There was something quite satisfying about axe throwing, though. We should try it sometime.”
