Vignette Summary: A born and bred mountain girl, Mia convinces Diego to go on a hike with her.

Tags: Humor/Slice of Life

Word Count: 1,130

Date: Saturday, April 27th, 2013

Time: 11:36 am

Location: Cahuenga Peak, Los Tokyo

"Kitten, is this 'short hike' of yours almost done yet?" Diego whined, lagging about 15 feet behind Mia. "Because we're two hours in now, we haven't reached the summit, and we still have to schlep our asses back down."

After much cajoling, Diego agreed to join Mia for a hike on this cloudless and sunny Saturday morning instead of relaxing at his apartment, watching TV, and drinking coffee like he wanted. Diego enjoyed it at first, exploring many shorter and lower incline hikes nearby, but he started having regrets as they hiked this steeper summit for of an hour.

"Keep the pace, old man!" Mia called back. She turned to face him, walking backwards up the hill. "I thought you said you were in shape."

"I am," he asserted. "I'm more of an indoor cat though. I like air-conditioned gyms not sweltering cliffs."

"Well, I'm more of a mountain lion. You know where I used to live. Besides, didn't you grow up in a tropical climate? I thought you loved the heat."

"I mean, I like it better than the cold, but I spent most of my childhood wishing it wasn't so damn hot all the time."

Mia turned back around, walking straight ahead. "Oh, quit your whining, old man," she teased. "We're almost there."

Diego sighed. "It'd be great if you stopped calling me that. At least my nickname for you is cute."

"Some old men are cute. Sitting on their park benches, with their little hats, feeding their birds."

"So, that's the image you had in mind when you started calling me that?"

She shook her head. "No, with you I thought of hearing aids, walkers, and high-waisted pants."

"You know, there was a time before we got together where I thought you were nicer than me. Obviously, I was wrong about that."

"Don't dish it out if you can't take it. I seem to recall that you were the one who started the age jokes. Or do the words 'coffee candy' mean nothing to you?"

Diego chuckled softly. "Yeah, that was a good one." He took a swig from his thermos. "We better be getting close because I just ran out of coffee."

"I still can't believe you brought coffee on a hike. Have you heard of water?"

"Iced coffee is perfect for a hot day. And, when you can't metabolize caffeine, water and coffee are practically the same anyway."

"Your teeth probably don't feel that feel that way."

"I brush three times a day and get my teeth whitened," Diego countered. "My teeth, as you know, are pearly white."

"You're so vain. You probably think this song is about you…" Mia sang poorly.

Diego laughed. "I thought you didn't know any older songs. You were too busy basket weaving and churning butter in your windowless log cabin to keep up with pop culture."

"Butter churning only happened once a week," Mia corrected. "Not every day."

Diego laughed again. When he made that joke, he didn't actually think she churned her own butter growing up but was tickled that his absurd statement turned out to be true.

"And Reina told me about that song," Mia continued. "I learned the lyrics just for you." She looked back at him and stretched out her arms. "We're here! What do you think?"

He stopped and put his hands on his hips, looking around. "Yeah, it's alright."

"Just alright!" Mia exclaimed, outraged.

Diego grinned. "No, it's nice." He pointed. "Is that the Hollywood sign over there?"

Despite many landmarks and cities of the continental region getting renamed after Japan purchased California, Hollywood was one the locals fought tooth and nail to keep. Its name and its sign were far too iconic to change. Luckily, the government agreed.

"It is! Did you want to hike there too? I'm pretty sure this trail connects to that one."

"Uh, that's okay. Maybe another time." Diego was all hiked out for the day.

"Okay," Mia lamented. She pulled out her phone. "Let's take a picture."

She looked around her again, selecting the best landscape for the backdrop of their photo, and they huddled next to each other. She held her phone out as far as she could, preparing to take a selfie, when Diego grabbed it from her hand.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"My arms are longer."

She snickered. "Of course. I forgot that my short, feminine arms are incapable of taking a photo."

He cocked his head to the side. "We'll get more of the scenery this way."

She reluctantly nodded back.

After taking a few shots, Diego handed the phone back to her and Mia reviewed the photos. "I think this is the nicest one," she said. She showed it to him.

"It's a good one. Hey, send that to me, would you?"

"You want to frame it or something?"

He laughed. "I wasn't planning on it but now I might. Put it right on my desk, for everyone to see. Better yet, I'll keep a cropped photo of you in my briefcase. I'll stare longingly at it while I'm battling it out in the trenches of the courtroom."

She rolled her eyes. "Just when I thought you couldn't get any cornier."

"Yes, God forbid I want to have a photo of me and my girlfriend together."

"We could have more photos together, but you never want to take any."

"That's because you want to take selfies at my apartment. Those moments aren't worth immortalizing."

"What is?"

Diego held his arms out. "Stuff like this. Landmarks. Cool things. If we travel somewhere, I'll take lots of photos with you. Okay?"

"Okay. Where will we go?"

"The rest of Japanifornia, Europe, the States, South America, Africa, everywhere. I've only been here and the Dominican."

Mia smiled. "Sure."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere. I've only ever been here." She thought for a moment. "I was always curious about Boston though."

Diego scoffed. "Really? Of all the places in the world, that's where you pick?"

"I don't know. I heard a lot about it. I'd like to see the home country too."

"I'll get my accent ready." He cleared his throat. "How you like them apples? You think you're better than me," Diego said, in a stereotypical Boston accent.

Mia snorted. "How do you do that?"

He shrugged. "I think you've underestimated how many TV shows and movies I've watched."

"I don't think that's possible." Mia looked out at the trail and back at him. "Race you down?"

"We've raced, and you've won," he already conceded. "Congratulations." Diego was never a big cardio guy.

"Where's your competitive spirit?"

"Back at home with my TV and my espresso machine."