I stopped, catching my breath and stretching my legs as we looked out onto the vast view of land below.
“Told you I’d beat you,” I said between heavy breaths.
“Fucker,” she said. “Only by about three seconds. I’m going to get you one of these days.”
“I know you will.”
We rested at the top for a few minutes. I crossed over and sat down on a big, reddish rock, looking at the world below. It was like a painting.
“You’re running like you’ve got something to prove today,” she said.
“Nothing to prove.”
“You’ve been striking out at the bars and you’re taking it out on me here,” she said. “I guess that’s a good thing.”
“Can’t strike out if I’m not even trying,” I said.
“It’s been that bad, huh?” she asked.
I shrugged one shoulder, pulling in a long breath. “I turned a hot guy down last night,” I said. “A really hot one.”
“Then clearly he wasn’t good enough,” Liz said with a shrug.
I picked up a fallen branch nearby, drawing circles in the dirt path in front of me. “Sometimes I think I might just be better off alone.”
“Oh, great, this again,” she said.
“What?”
She rolled her eyes, reaching over and giving me a pat on the back. “Okay, buddy.”
“What?” I said. “Don’t okay buddy me and pat me on the back like a kid.”
“I have to. You’re doing the whole ‘better off alone’ sob story.”
“It isn’t a sob story,” I said. “I really mean it.”
“You say you want to be alone, but really, you’re just lonely.”
“I just don’t think the right guy for me exists,” I said. “I have this weird life on my own, and I love my weird life.”
“The right guy will love your brand of weird, too.”
“Well, I don’t think I’m going to find him.”
She peered at me, shaking her head. “I’ve had that same thought about a hundred times in my life, too, you know. And you know what? Every time I have that thought, it means I’m about to fall in love, and I just don’t know it yet.”
“Bullshit,” I told her.
“It’s true,” she said. “When I met Henry, I swore two weeks prior that I’d never date again.”
“Then you guys were crazy for each other for a year before you broke up with him.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “But we’re still friends.”
I laughed. “Henry is a pretty cool guy.”
“See? Even if things don’t work out, it’s always worth trying.”
I shook my head. “I mean it, though. I’m done trying for now.”
“Was the guy from last week that bad?” she asked. “Luke Warren got rejected once, for one time in your life, and now you can’t stand trying to get anybody else?”
“I didn’t exactly get rejected,” I said.
It had been almost a week since my night with Cameron. I’d been trying very hard to push it out of my mind, and I hadn’t mentioned what happened to Liz.
“I thought you said he was cute, but divorced, and so he couldn’t possibly want your dick.”
“Well, he didn’t want my dick. Until I tried to leave the bar,” I explained, “and then he was…”
She raised an eyebrow at me. “Changed his tune, huh?”
The image of Cam in the parking lot of Red’s Tavern flashed through my mind. He’d been so close to me, pressing his body up against mine, his lips inches from mine. Needy.
“He was... all over me.”
“Hah,” Liz exclaimed. “So you did get lucky that night? Good for you.”
“His name is Cameron. Cam. He’s a piece of work. Almost gave me a goddamn heart attack out in the tent.”
“You had him in the tent?” she asked. “You’re kidding.”
“I know,” I said. “It was probably a mistake. All this week, I keep waking up expecting to see him there. I basically ruined the tent for myself.”
“Shit, Luke,” she said. “You’re not waking up with night terrors, are you?”
I looked down at the ground, kicking a rock to the side. “Not night terrors. Haven’t had those in a while,” I said.
“Good.”
“But I have been waking up… needy,” I said. “And I hate it.”
“So call up Cam again,” she said.
“No. God no.”
“Why not?”
“He has… kids. An ex-wife. And no desire for more.”
“Baggage,” she said.
“I guess so. He just has a whole life, and I’m not a part of it,” I said. “Not looking to be, either.”
“You’re waking up lonely, huh?”
I let out a long sight. “Yes. And it’s very stupid.”
“Not stupid. That feeling fucking sucks. But it doesn’t mean you should give up on finding somebody.”
I glanced over at her, hesitating. I knew that what I was about to say would give her way too much gloating power. “I’m thinking I should finally join your little group.”
Her eyes went wide immediately. “No way.”
“Don’t read too much into this,” I said, waving a hand at her. “It doesn’t mean I’m going to participate all the time, or do the stupid little group activities. But… sure. I’ll join up.”