"Careful, now. The trail's steeper from hereon."
Sansa stared at Sandor's extended hand. They were well on their way up the seventh waterfall, and she was already getting tired. Damn all attempts to be girly and demure. She just wanted to get this hike over and done with, and maybe if they finish early, she'll still have time to strangle her sister for talking her into this.
"Thanks," she muttered as she placed her hand over Sandor's larger ones. She ignored the slight shiver that ran up her arm; as if tiny little needles were pricking her skin from the fingertips and up the length of her arm. She wondered if Sandor felt it too, and she was suddenly overcome by a flash of embarrassment.
Sandor held her hand as they trudged all the way up the dusty trail, ignoring the fact that Gendry and Arya were playfully nudging each other as they led them up the steep trail. Despite the sun beating down their backs and the dust and mud sticking to their shoes, their other two companions seem to be having a grand time.
"Ugh, I hate those two right now," Sansa mumbled as she went up the stair-like rock formation. It only allowed a single line of hikers on this part, so Sandor had to stay behind and see to it that someone would catch her in case she misses a step and slips. "How can they be so cheerful when we're sweating like pigs on a treadmill, it's disgusting!"
"What's disgusting? Sweaty pigs or your sister and Baratheon?" Sandor said, although there was a light teasing tone to it.
Sansa couldn't help but laugh at this. "Okay, that was well-played. I didn't think you have any humorous bone in your body."
"I do have a reputation to uphold."
"Ahh. I promise to keep it a secret."
"Come on, slowpokes!" Arya called out to them. "We're almost there! We can hear the seventh waterfall already! Hurry up!"
Sansa rolled her eyes. "I swear to the old gods and the new, I will strangle her when we get back to the hotel! I'm going to sleep for days after this."
Sandor had the audacity to laugh. "I'm sure you will. But you have a flight to catch in two days, so I don't think sleeping for days would be possible."
"Then I'll sleep for two days."
"You've got a point there, little dove."
Sansa suddenly came to a stop. She stared at him, her head tilted to the side as if she was perusing his very soul. "You've called me little dove several times already. Why?"
He met her stare with his, unflinching. "That's how I see you. Your sister is the little wolf; feisty and anxious and fearsome. I see you as delicate and graceful and pure…like a little dove."
"I'm not that…pure," she mumbled before turning around and proceeded up the trail.
"Hmm," was his only reply, and Sansa chose to ignore it.
"Oh my god! This is amazing!" Sansa cried out, having forgotten her earlier threats about strangling her sister. "Wow."
Arya grinned. "I know, right? This is amazing!"
They were staring at the highest cascade of water from a several feet drop from the top. Each waterfall they encountered was higher than the previous one; the pool below got several feet deeper too. The roaring of the waterfall was louder up here, but still it was quiet enough to relax however contradicting that may sound. Maybe hypnotizing was more apt a description.
It was just the four of them there. None of those they earlier encountered on the way up made it to the seventh waterfall. They probably quit between the fifth and the sixth, but the four of them gamely trudged on despite their protesting muscles.
"This is so worth it, don't you think?" Gendry asked as he leaned down to meet Arya's lips for a kiss. He found himself grinning along with her when the kiss ended. "You would have been sorry if you decided on staying at the hotel."
"Tell that to Sansa," she said, looking over to where her sister and their friend were happily chatting atop a huge rock. "Hey, San! Do you feel like going for a dip?" she called out to her sister, who in turn nodded excitedly.
The sisters quickly took off their tank tops and shorts, leaving them only in their swimsuits. Gendry and Sandor stood by the rocky embankment, staring at both sisters as they carefully went in the water to check how deep it went.
"What the fuck! It's deep!" Arya screamed in fright as she quickly waded closer to the edge.
"Careful, babe. Hang on, I'll be there," Gendry said, finally shedding his shirt and leaving just his shorts on. "You coming in, Clegane?" he grinned at his friend, giving subtle hints about keeping close to Sansa.
Without a word, Sandor took off his shirt and placed it beside Gendry's on top of their backpacks. Surprisingly, the water was cool but not startingly cold. It was clear from the shallow end and darkened at the deepest part, right where the cascade of water fell. There was a cave-like opening behind the cascade of water, and this did not go unnoticed by the four of them.
"You feel like checking that out?" Sandor nodded towards Gendry, who immediately gave Arya a kiss and a promise that they'd be back for them soon.
"What? You can't just go traipsing in there! It looks dangerous!" Arya protested, holding on tightly to Gendry's arm.
"We'll just check that place out and we'll come back for you both soon. We won't even be out of your sight, see? You can see us from here," he said, slowly trying to pry her death grip on his arm.
He gave her another kiss before quickly swimming away, with Sandor right beside him. Both Stark girls sat on the rocky embankment and watched as both guys got off the water, climbing over the rocks and right through the cascade of water. Gendry shouted out to Arya and waved both hands to signal that they were alright. Arya and Sansa waved back and gave the thumbs up sign.
"Sandor seems like a nice guy," Arya said a while later. They just sat atop a rock, their legs wading in the water. It was crystal clear from where they sat, and Arya could see Sansa's pretty manicured toes and the rocky and sandy floor beneath.
Sansa sighed. "Yeah. He's quite nice, actually. It's a shame, though."
"What is?"
"That I'm leaving for the Vale in two days."
Arya turned to Sansa then and studied her. She looked so relaxed and carefree, which was quite unusual for her. Her older sister was usually stressed out from the pressure of wanting and needing to dance, mixed with the usual guy problems and some other trivial stuff that girls stress about. Lately, she seems more relaxed and carefree that Arya would tease her about kidnapping her sister Sansa in exchange for this alien clone.
"Do you think you and Sandor could make this work? You know, a long distance kind of thing?" Arya asked.
Sansa shrugged. "Arya, it's not as if we're seriously dating or anything. It was just a movie and now this trip. Besides, I don't think anything romantic will come out of this considering I only have two days, remember?"
"But does Sandor think that?"
That gave Sansa pause. "I don't know, really. What about you? How would you and Gendry handle a long distance relationship when you finally have to go back home?"
"He's mentioned something about either flying to see me on weekends or applying at a university in Winterfell and move. But I don't know, too. We're not thinking about that so much...yet."
They were silent for a while until Sansa asked, "Do you think this is something on a totally different level? I mean, there's the I love you, you love me kind of thing…but there's also the I love you, you love me and I can't live without you so let's get married and have babies kind of thing?"
Arya laughed, although it was a nervous kind of mirth. "Now where did that come from?"
"Answer me, damnit."
Arya looked down and studied her toes in the water. She couldn't look her sister in the eye for fear of being judged, but she mumbled her response all the same. "It's the kind of thing where I sometimes think little black-haired, blue-eyed imps running around the house could be the best thing that could happen to me."
"Oh my god, Arya. You're so whipped."
Arya scrunched her face in anguish. "I know, right? I'm so fucking in love with Gendry Baratheon and sometimes I can't help but think about giving him babies when we're making love! It's pathetic!"
Sansa laughed at her sister's agony. "It is pathetic, Arya. But romantic, all the same. I'm happy for you."
Arya snorted. "Thanks, sis."
They stopped talking when they noticed the guys were swimming back to them. Sandor reached them first and then Gendry awhile later, who immediately sat beside Arya.
"There's not much behind there," Gendry said, shaking the water from his hair, reminding Arya so much of Nymeria. "Just a little opening behind that curtain of water and then nothing. Although we think jumping from up there would be the highlight of this trip, wouldn't it?"
They stared at where Gendry was pointing. It would be a scary drop, but the water was deep enough for them to land safely in. Feeling nervous but adventurous still, they quickly walked up the remainder of the trail that would lead to the top.
"I don't think I could ever move from this bed," Arya groaned as she lay there watching Gendry don a shirt and some shorts after his shower.
"If I didn't force you to get your ass in the shower, you would still be stinking of sweat and dirt right now," he said, drying his hair with the towel. "I just might have to make you sleep on the couch then."
"You love me enough to sleep beside me, stinky, sweaty and all."
"Ha! That's what you think!"
Arya rolled over so she was facing him. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, flipping through channels to find something decent to watch on TV. She lazily crawled over on her knees; encircling her arms around his middle and placing her chin on his shoulder. She placed a light kiss on the side of his neck and laughed softly when she heard him sigh.
"Will you not love me still when I'm ugly and stinky and annoying?" she asked, her words muffled by the side of his neck.
"Naaah. I only love you for your pretty face and your amazing body. Once you're ugly and stinky and annoying, not that you aren't annoying yet," he said, earning a smack on the arm for that. "But once you're all that then it's goodbye, Arya Stark."
"And once you're rid of me, I'm sure you're going to be calling for that girl Bella and you'd gladly ring her bell for her," she muttered before letting go of him.
Gendry turned to her with a frown. "Who's Bella?"
"Stupid!" Arya said, moving further from his grasp. "Bella's the girl at the reception desk along with Amy, who actually is the nice one."
Gendry's face scrunched up in confusion, much like an idiot trying to recall something that he actually couldn't. "I don't remember someone named Bella?"
Arya gave him the eye roll. "She's the one who offered to bring you breakfast in bed, stupid! The one with the humongous boobs that she kept flaunting in your face!"
"Ah! That girl's name is Bella? Who cares about Bella? You're the only one telling me about this Bella and I don't even remember much about her. And what about you and Edric Dayne?"
"What about me and Edric Dayne?"
"Weren't you talking to him on the phone as soon as we got here yesterday?"
"So? Edric's my friend."
"And Bella's no one."
"Are we having this conversation right now?"
"No, I don't want to talk about Edric or Bella or ringing bells, whatever the fuck that means."
"Me neither."
"Shut up and kiss me then."
"Okay, Gendry."
"I had fun today," Sansa said as she laid on the bed. "Thank you."
"I had fun, too," Sandor replied from his spot on the floor. "At least that's something memorable you'd bring home with you when you leave."
"Yeah…" Sansa said, although words came no more.
"Will you…will you call me, still? You know…when you're back home?"
His question came out as a whisper, and Sansa had to strain her ears for a bit so she could understand what he was trying to say. When it dawned on her what he was actually asking for, she became a nervous wreck.
"I don't know if this would be a good idea, Sandor. I don't want to keep you hoping that a long-distance relationship would be the best thing for us right now. I don't even know the odds of a long-distance relationship ending up successful."
"We don't have to be like that, you know. Just…just keep contact and be friends? Who knows how that'll end up, but I do like you, Sansa. I just hope we keep being friends after this then we'll see how things will turn out. No pressure, no commitment."
It took Sansa a while to answer; carefully weighing his words and considering the circumstances. She whispered her reply before sleep finally came over her.
"No pressure, no commitment."
"You got everything with you?" Robb asked, picking up Sansa's pink luggage and putting it in the back of Jon's car.
Sansa nodded. "Yeah, I think." She turned to Arya and asked, "I didn't leave anything in the room, didn't I?"
"Nope, you're good."
Sansa took a deep breath and exhaled. "Right. So let's go?"
Sansa was leaving King's Landing, and Arya hated to admit it but she will miss her sister. They might not have been close siblings like Jon was with Arya or Robb was with Sansa, but these past couple of weeks made them closer than they ever were back in Winterfell.
Sensing Arya's eyes on her, she quickly turned and embraced her sister. "I'm going to miss you, Ar."
"Me too, San."
"Don't make me cry," Sansa whispered in her ear. "I just spent the last ten minutes painstakingly putting on my eyeliner so don't ruin it."
Arya laughed. "I doubt you ever do anything painstakingly. Everything about you is effortless."
"Shut up! I'm starting to cry now, you idiot!"
Arya quickly let go and sidled next to Gendry. "Fine. I'll see you soon, sis. Don't forget to call once you've landed."
Sansa nodded. She was about to get in the car when she noticed Joffrey standing by the front door, not even a word of goodbye for her. Signaling to her brothers for just one quick moment, she walked up to the middle Baratheon brother whom she once deemed as the most annoying of the three.
"Not even a goodbye from you?" she asked, walking towards him, with brows raised.
"I didn't think you had time to hear a goodbye from me," he replied with nonchalance.
"Hmm. Still a jealous brat."
"I'm not jealous," Joffrey quipped, making Sansa laugh.
"Just come here then and give me a hug!"
Without further thought, Joffrey took her in a tight hug. "I'll make sure my dog stays in contact with you."
Sansa playfully smacked him at the back of his head. "Stop calling him dog or hound or anything like that! He's actually quite nice!"
"I was kidding, okay!" They broke off the embrace and Joffrey said, "Come visit us during breaks, okay?"
"You won't get rid of me so easily!"
Sansa walked up to Gendry next and gave him a hug. "Take care of my sister, alright? And don't you dare make her cry or I'll make sure you won't be well enough to see another day. Got that, Baratheon?"
Gendry gave out a nervous laugh. "I hear you loud and clear, my lady."
"She's utterly, hopelessly, deeply, madly in love with you so I hope you'll only keep her that way."
"I hope everyone stops giving me threats because I'm utterly, hopelessly, deeply, madly in love with her too."
"Good."
When she finally stepped inside the car, waving from inside along with Jon and Robb, she blew Arya a kiss and said, "Don't let go of this one! Gendry's a keeper!"