Cole guides me up the edge of the stream to the rushing waterfall. “Here’s a good place,” he stops and points to how the riverbank juts in, close to the spray. “Do you think you can manage by yourself?”

I gulp at the idea of him helping me, naked, under the water. The idea is nerve-racking and… exciting. I can’t deny the flush of heat that’s racing through my veins right now.

I bite my lip and nod, “I’ll be fine,” I hope it’s true. The last thing I need is to fall down, naked and splayed out in some awkward way. Nothing says sexy like that.

I push the thought away. Who said anything about being sexy? I wouldn’t know how to be sexy if I tried.

Sweet - sure.

Funny - I have my moments.

Cute - all day long.

But sexy? It’s not me. When the other girls at college went out on Halloween dressed as ‘sexy’ versions of everything, I dressed up as Pikachu. I mean, in hindsight it was a terrible idea, but Pokémon Go was all the craze and… yeah, not sexy.

Cole leads me as close as he can without getting us soaked. I can feel the mist of the waterfall on my face and a chill runs over me.

“It’s cold,” I shiver.

A slow smile spreads over his thick lips and my body warms back up, “It really is. But, it’ll get you clean, and that’s the main thing, right?”

As another spritz of dew hits me, I’m not so certain. Are globs of mud in my hair really that bad? Maybe I can learn to live with them.

I sigh with resignation and begin to peel off my jacket. Cole turns around and busies himself with his hiking bag. He keeps his back to me as I strip from my filthy clothes and try to build up the courage it will take to get me under that glacial water. I peer back at Cole but he still hasn’t moved. Not a muscle. He really is a gentleman.

I start to move forward and he holds up his hand, but keeps his head facing away from me, “Here’s some soap. I’ll leave the backpack here and fill up some water bottles downstream. It’s got the clean clothes and a towel for you inside. Holler when you need my help, okay?”

“Thanks, I got this,” I try to convince myself it’s true, but as my body breaks out into gooseflesh, I know it’s going to be harder than I imagined to convince myself to stand under that freezing stream of water.

I creep to the edge of the waterfall and look up at the misty rainbow the droplets are making over the side. It would be amazing, if it wasn’t so damned cold. Inching forward further, I lean over and let the waterfall pour over my head.

“Ahhh! Oh my God! That’s painful!”

“Are you okay?” I hear Cole call out.

“Yeah, just might get frostbite, that’s all,” I yell back.

I can hear him laughing over the water rushing around me. “It’s not funny!” I cry out, but I know if the shoe was on the other foot I’d be laughing too.

Leaning forward again, I force myself to keep my head under the stream until I don’t see any more debris or dirt fall from my hair. I quickly lather my hands and run them through my locks and over my shaking body. It’s the moment of truth. I’ve gotta rinse off. I take a deep breath, “Okay Abbie, on three,” I mumble to myself, “one, two, three!”

I don’t budge. Not an inch. Nope.

Instead, I watch the water endlessly fall from the sky and tremble. All right, standing here is just prolonging the inevitable, let’s do this! With a gulp of air, I step under the icy blast and scream. The water is so cold it feels like little razor blades nicking my skin. I quickly step back, and lose my balance. Stumbling backward I put too much weight on my sprained ankle and my legs crumple under me. I fall back toward the ground. Oh no! It’s happening! I really am going to end up naked and splayed out on the ground!

Strong hands catch me and pull me back up to my feet. I’m too grateful to feel self-conscious about my nudity.

“Thank you!” I instinctively press my forearms against my breasts to cover them up and Cole lets me go, only to pick up the towel and cover me up. He hovers over me, and I lean into him, telling myself it’s to keep me warm, not because his body feels so amazing against mine.

Cole looks down at me, he drags his thumb down the side of my face and slides a thick strand of my wet hair from my cheek, behind my ear.

His eyes travel my face and settle down onto my lips, I don’t move, I don’t breathe, I just feel my pulse radiating through me as I wait. Is he going to kiss me?

Crunch! Snap!

“Oh no!” I yelp as we both jump and twist around toward the noise behind Cole. Is that Cecil? Did he track us down? My heart is pounding faster in my chest and has nothing to do with Cole’s mouth almost covering mine.

A doe and her baby step out from the forest and watch us carefully as they reach the river’s edge. The mama never takes an eye off us as she and her baby quickly lap up some water from the crystal clear stream. I’ve never been so close to deer before. Growing up in an apartment in the city didn’t bring a lot of wildlife into my life. They’re so magical. Suddenly the mother deer lifts up her big ears and the two of them bolt off, springing through the woods and out of sight.

“Wow,” I breathe the word. I look up at Cole, but he hasn’t been watching the deer, he’s been watching me. I can’t help but squirm under his half-cocked smile. “What?” I feel like he’s looking into me. I feel so vulnerable, so exposed, and wearing nothing but a towel and wet hiking boots isn’t the reason.

“Nothing,” he finally answers, looking like I’ve ripped him from a deep sleep. He runs his thick hand through his sandy hair and looks down at where he’s scuffing his boot into the dirt. “How about we get back. I think we’ve got everything done here, right?” He won’t look at me. It makes me feel like I’ve done something wrong, but I have no idea what.

“Um, okay, sure,” I agree. “Just let me get dressed.”

This time Cole doesn’t just turn his back and wait for me, he turns his back and walks away. “Okay, give me a shout when you’re dressed and I’ll carry you back,” he doesn’t turn his head back to yell at me.

Did I do something? Is he upset with me? For the life of me I can’t think of why. Confusion eats at me as I try to quickly slip into his clothes. I can’t believe how much the idea is bothering me.