Chapter 4 – Tender Hearts

Greer

We rode down the mountain pretty quickly. Definitely back in time to enjoy lunch and not have to rush to zip lining. Mrs. C and Emma had everything set up for us on a picnic table that was set between the two buildings. We handed back our gear and all headed in the direction of the bathroom to wash up. April and Beth went into the one bathroom first. Both washed up and came right back out. I offered for Brenna to go in first and use it, but she had something different in mind. She grabbed my hand and yanked me in their with her. She shut and locked the door and immediately turned to face me.

"If I didn't know any better I would say you look a little bit mischievous with that smirk on your face." I said.

"I have a few things running through my mind." Brenna said as she took one step closer to me.

"Oh yeah? And what might those 'things' be?" I gulped. That little smirk on her lips was pretty much my weakness at this very moment. She could ask me to do anything and I would do it.

Brenna took two more steps closer to me to where she was close enough to whisper in my ear.

Brenna leaned in and whispered, "First, I'm going to take my long slender fingers and place them on your hips, like this." Brenna placed her hands on my hips and I could feel her fingers tighten their grip.

"Then, I'm going to push you back up against the sink, like this." Brenna slowly guided me back to the sink where I was now standing pinned between the sink and her body. It felt so, so, so good. And she knew it.

"After that, I am going to…" She literally had me hanging on every word that was coming out of her mouth. My mind was flashing some of the things I really wanted her to do that I didn't even see it coming.

The next thing I know she spun me around and placed her self in between me and the sink. She began washing her hands.

"… wash my hands with soap and water. Wouldn't want to keep everyone else waiting." Brenna said with that sly smirk and a wink.

My body slumped when I realized I had been teased. I could not believe that I just got totally worked up and she was having a laugh right now. Two can play at this game. I stood up straight and adjusted my shirt. I placed my ever so sweet smile back on my lips making sure that my irresistible dimples were out in full force.

"Oh you are good, Miss Carver. I didn't realize you were a card-carrying member in the Big League. I see your game. Well played." I said as I walked passed her to wash my hands.

"You should have seen your face. I'm not sure what you were expecting, but I totally got you. How can you even be smiling right now?" Brenna said as she leaned in and hugged me from behind.

As long as she was near, that right there was why I could smile in any given moment. I was starting to realize that I wanted to spend more time with her, getting to know her better. It just felt so easy; so natural.

I looked up from washing my hands to see her in the mirror with her chin on my shoulder and her smile beaming right back into the mirror at me.

"I can smile right now because even though you got me, look where you ended up." I turned around so we were facing each other. Her arms were still wrapped around my waist. I placed my arms on her shoulders and clasped my hands behind her neck.

"You, Miss Carver, just ended up exactly where we started. And I am going to show you exactly what I was expecting." I said as I leaned in and captured her lips.

A few minutes must have passed because the next thing we knew, someone was pounding on the door screaming something about a time limit.

We broke apart pretty quickly and both stared at the door.

"Be out in a second." Brenna yelled.

We both checked each other over to make sure it wasn't super obvious what we had been doing.

We opened the door to Instructor Dude looking at us like we had been in there the whole day.

"Chill Bra! We can't just whip it out and pee ya know?" I said in my best surfer accent.

Brenna practically fell to the ground laughing at my attempt to sound surfer like. Dude on the other hand was not laughing. "Sorry Bra, All yours!" I said.

We both walked back over to the table. Everyone else had begun to eat so we grabbed a plate each and began digging into the feast.

"How was it?" Mrs C. asked.

Brenna blushed a little bit and looked directly at her food.

"It was beautiful Mrs. C. The waterfall was my favorite part. It had a hidden spot behind it where you could hide and just see the clear water falling and the image of the scenery around us was blurred but still quite beautiful. I would love to come back to this place again some day. Definitely made an impression on me."

"It or someone?" Beth whispered to April, but not quite quiet enough.

"What was that?" Emma said not quite understanding.

"Oh nothing Emma. Just that Greer here has definitely been beaming since she came back from the waterfall. So I agree it definitely made an impression on her." Beth said with a wink thrown in my and Brenna's direction once Mrs. C and Emma looked our way.

Both of us blushed. They knew. They knew exactly what happened between Brenna and I behind that water curtain. I wasn't trying to hide it, but then again I wasn't announcing it to the world either.

Brenna just kept her head down and nibbled on her sandwich. I think if she would have looked up and made eye contact with the girls her face would have turned even redder. It was cute. She was cute! No, I think beautiful is more appropriate. It had been a while since I felt this way. The excitement of meeting someone knew. If I was being honest, it never felt this way with Hailey. Sure it felt knew and exciting to some degree, but not like this. This was more intense. More real. And I had only met the girl this morning. It was barely lunchtime.

Brenna

That kiss behind the waterfall was amazing. I couldn't stop myself from staring at her. Her hair was wet which made it more the dirty blonde color. Her eyes were sparkling blue. Her lips looked just a bit chapped, but the moment she put them on mine, all I felt was how soft they were and how gentle her kiss was. I had never had a kiss like that with any of the guys I had dated, and definitely not with Kieran. He was always a bit too excited to kiss. He always grabbed my cheeks and not in a gentle way. When Greer kissed me, she gently rested one hand on my cheek and leaned in. I couldn't help but place my hand over hers. Its like I wanted her touch so bad and I didn't want her to remove it. I can honestly say that our first kiss was the best first kiss I had ever had. Incredible is the only word I have to describe it.

I couldn't wait for the next adventure with her. I haven't smiled this much or felt this good in a while. Since April found out about her diagnosis, we have all kind of been in a haze, not quite super negative, but not really positive either. I think Beth is the only one who seems to really keep that smile going. But I've even seen her break down a couple of times. Greer just seems to radiate happiness. Her smile is intoxicating and even contagious. I definitely am happy I met her this morning.

"Are you ready for the next adventure?" Greer asked.

"Are you?" I countered.

"Heck yes! I've been zip lining before. It's so much fun. You are so high up and you just fly through the air. It's pretty awesome." Greer beamed.

"I am definitely ready for this." I said.

Emma called us over to a new Instructor Dude, who had a companion, Instructor Dudette. We went through the safety instructions and then climbed into our harnesses. We were all pretty excited about it. Greer turned around after she got into her harness and did a quick double check of all my stuff.

"Wouldn't want anything to happen to you!" She winked.

I could not stop the smile that came over my lips. We hiked up a dirt trail up into the trees and then we climbed up into this tree fort type structure, which was the beginning of the zip line course. I had never seen Grams so happy. Mom looked a little bit terrified. April and Beth's smiles seemed to mirror Greer's and mine. Since Grams didn't get to go on the ATVs we decided to let her go first. All we could hear was her cries of joy and excitement as she was zipping down the line. Mom was up next. Her cries sounded a little more like horror to start and then it seemed to turn into joy when she realized that she was not going to fall to her death. All of us had a good laugh!

"Me next! Me next!" April said. They hooked her up and off she went. You could hear her excitement immediately.

"So, you two look pretty cute together! I like her Bren! I say she's a keeper." Beth turned and said to us as she was getting hooked into the line. And then off she went.

My mouth dropped a little. I mean I knew that she could tell something was up, but really? Did she really just say that in front of Greer? I could feel the blush just creeping up.

"I swear I haven't said anything to her." I said.

She just laughed. "Brenna, we haven't been entirely super secret about it, and I'm sorry, but I'm sure my ear to ear grin probably isn't helping every time I sneak a peek in your direction."

"I can't stop smiling either!" I said. I reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Which one of you is next?" Instructor Dudette asked.

"You go!" Greer said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes! Remember I've done this before. Besides, I want to see your reaction when you first step off!" Greer said.

All I could do was smile.

Instructor Dudette hooked me up and off I went. It was the best feeling in the world. I put my arms out and leaned back and just glided through the air. It was so much fun! I loved it.

We all got down to the last zip line. By this point Grams was having the time of her life. Mom was even enjoying it even though she screamed every single time she stepped off like she were being pushed off the Empire State Building. April and Beth were both having a great time going back and forth making comments to Greer and I about how cute we were and basically doing anything and everything to make us blush. They succeeded every time. Note to self – this means war!

As I got hooked in and stepped off for the last go, I turned as best I could to smile at Greer. Just as I did, I saw Instructor Dudette lean in and whisper something to her. My cable was turning me back around, but I'm pretty sure Instructor Dudette just kissed her cheek as well. What the hell?

I got to the bottom and couldn't get unhooked fast enough. Beth saw my face and new that something wasn't right. She nudged April, who followed her eyes looking at me.

"Bren, what's wrong?" April asked.

"Nothing, its fine." I said. I didn't necessarily know what happened or even if what I thought I saw happened. I didn't want to freak out or jump to any conclusions. I mean really I just met Greer. I didn't have any claim to her. But I won't lie; I really wanna slap Instructor Dudette and tell her to stay away from Greer.

Greer came flying in and got unhooked. The next thing I know she has grabbed my hand and yanked me away from the group down the path a little bit so we were out of earshot and they couldn't exactly see us either.

She leaned in and kissed me. I pulled back. I wasn't sure what was going on.

"What just happened?" I asked her.

"Michelle, or whatever her name is, basically propositioned me. She said that if I let her she could teach me some things." Greer could not hide her disgust.

"That's it, I'm kicking her ass!" I said as I went to walk back to the others. Greer stopped me by grabbing my wrist and yanked me back into her body. She wrapped her hands around my waist.

"As much as I would love to see that, there is no need. I told her that you and I were together and that anything I needed to learn would be done with you." Greer said with a smile. "I just couldn't get down that line fast enough. She grossed me out and all I wanted was to be in your arms."

I smiled and kissed her. I couldn't help it.

We could here the others coming, so we stole one last little kiss from each other and jumped apart just as they came around the bend.

"Oh will you two just stop acting like you weren't doing anything! Like we all don't know that two were just making out. You both are young! Have fun! Enjoy whatever time you have together." Grams said as she just walked by us.

April and Beth busted out in laughter.

"Wait what?" Mom said. "You two were kissing?"

"Open your eyes Sara. They have been making lovey dovey eyes at each other all morning." Grams said.

My eyes went wide and I looked to my Mom.

"Greer, you mind giving me and my kid a minute." She said with a smile.

"Sure Mrs. C." Greer said, as she looked a little confused as to if she should actually leave me alone or maybe she should stay and help explain. But I gave her a quick smile and she took off down the trail. Mom put her arm on my shoulder and we began to walk.

"So, you and Greer, huh?" Mom asked.

"Mom please don't make this a thing." I said.

"Oh honey, I don't care if you like boys or girls or both. I was just curious about Kieran. Are you two not together anymore?" Mom asked.

"No, we are." I said.

"Hmm! Well just remember hearts are tender at your age and they bruise easily." Mom said. Then she kissed my forehead and we walked down the path toward the others.

Thanks for the follows and reviews! I will do my best to get more chapters out in a timely manner. Work has been a bit busy so it's been a little rough finding time to write. But I enjoy these characters and love writing, so if y'all still want more, I'm definitely up for continuing it.