Chapter Eleven

I woke up to a hotel's telephone, ringing. I was still sleeping, as I was trying to locate the phone with my hand, which I soon realized was useless, and that I must open my eyes to find the phone. The phone was on my right, and so far, away. I sighed in disappointment and threw my body close the phone. Picking it up, I groggily answered, "What?"

The boy on the other line took a second. He was probably taken aback by my manly gorilla morning voice.

"You ordered a wakeup call," he said shyly.

"No, I didn't." What was he talking about? I reached for my mobile and looked at the digital clock said it was 7am. Someone is pranking me.

"Yo0u're boyfriend ordered it for you."

"What are you talking about, Michael is back…Oh…", it finally dawned on me what he was talking about, "Oh, he's not my boyfriend. And, yes, um, thank you."

"No problem, miss. Have a nice day."

"Yeah, you are too." I put the phone down and contemplated going back to sleep. I mean it's 7 am. Then, I looked around the room, and remembered why I was here. And it wasn't to sleep.

I took a shower and was in the process of putting some clothes on, when I heard Zachary knocking on the door.

"Come in."

He really should just stop knocking and get him another key card for my room.

"Good, you're up. Here, this is your wetsuit, and wear some sandals or shoes that won't get off your feet, even if they get wet. I will bring some towels, and we'll get the rest of the equipment there. So, let's get some light breakfast, because we don't want any puking on the raft boat."

"Yup." I took the swimsuit and went to the bathroom to put it on. Once I did, we left our room, as I trailed along, behind him.

We filled our stomachs with some fresh fruit and tea and headed some direction. Again, with the tea. I was starting to like it and crave it. Maybe, that was one of the effects of the treatment. Well, whether it was or wasn't I was starting to enjoy it.

Zachary led us out of the hotel, and up the mountain. I guess this can count as mountain climbing. I checked it out in my head. I remembered I put on some bottle of sunscreen in my bag, so I pulled it out, and started applying it, while hiking up the mountain.

"Tell me if you get tired, we can st….," he turned around and saw what I was doing, "What are you doing?" he laughed.

"Applying some sun scream, it's hot, it's sunny, and my skin is sensitive? Shouldn't you be applauding this, you know, being my doctor and all?"

He laughed, "Touché." Man, he has a sexy laugh. Stop it.

The road we were walking was narrowing and leading through the forest. I could hear the birds singing and could see the sunlight trying to break through the thick branches.

"Do you actually know where you are going?"

He turned his head back, but continued leading the way, "Of course I do. We're meeting Tom at the boat, so come on, sleeping beauty. We have some rivers to tame."

And he was right. At the bottom of the forest, there was Tom and a couple of people, waiting for us. They were on the rocky beach, next to the river, and they were gearing up. Zach helped me climb some big rocks, and soon, we both joined the group.

"Ah, Jessica, good morning, are you ready?" Tom greeted me with a big smile plastered on his face.

"Yup, as ready as I'll ever be."

"Ok, good. So here are the helmets, and everything else you need, if you haven't got."

I was putting on my helmet when I heard a female voice coming towards us.

"Zachary Sanders, what are you doing here?"

I turned my head to match the voice to the face, and what a face that was. She was beautiful. With green eyes and red hair, she looked fierce. Her long, tall legs walked over to Zach. I looked at him, to see his reaction, but his back was turned to me, and he was standing further away, talking to some people.

"Oh no," I heard Tom say.

"What do you mean 'Oh, no'?" I leaned closer to him.

"She's trouble."

"Why? Is she, like, bad at this? If she is, I'm not doing this."

"No," he laughed, "She's trouble for Zach."

Oh.

"Oh. Old girlfriend?" I zipped my suit tighter.

"Something like that."

He was mysterious, and I was curious. And a little jealous. Why was I being jealous? I had a wedding to prevent when I finish with these little adventures. I don't need to be crushing at an emotionally unavailable sexy guy. Besides, I can't compete with that. The women's a model, probably. I saw Zach break from the group, to talk to her. Curious to hear the conversation, I moved closer to them.

"What are you doing here, Lydia?" His tone was serious and demanding.

"Water rafting, just like you. I love this place, and thanks to you. Memories, Zach, memories," and hers was flirtatious.

What memories was she talking about? I wanted to know.

This was interesting. But, as they were getting to the good part, their conversation was interrupted by Tom, yelling at all of us, "Ok, guys gather round. Some people here have done this before, some haven't," he looked at me, "and for those who haven't, listen to me. When I say row, you row. We need to do it together and be synchronized. If I say duck, you duck. There are a lot of low branches in some parts of the river, and we don't want anyone to go overboard. Basically, you listen to whatever I have to say. Ok? If someone begins to go overboard, let me know, and try to help him out. But let's make sure that doesn't happen."

I nodded. My heart started to pump faster. Good, the adrenaline. Therefore I came here. I looked at Zach, but he was still talking to Lydia. I guess he doesn't have to listen to instructions, but if he falls overboard, I'm not helping him in.

We all gathered in one place and formed a line to enter the water boat. As I was standing, and waiting in line, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see Zach's smiling face.

"You good?"

"Yeah, I'm good."

"I'll be sitting right behind you. Did you listen to Tom's instructions?"

I nodded. Then, I heard the vixen behind him, "Zachary, you're not going to introduce us?"

He sighed.

"Jessica, this is Lydia. Lydia, this is Jessica. Happy?"

She extended her hand awkwardly, since we were all standing in line, and she was standing behind Michael. I shook her hand, "Nice to meet you."

It wasn't nice to meet her, but my family raised me with manners, and I will use them.

"You look young to be his girlfriend," I mean, was she serious? It was none of her business whether I was his girlfriend. I felt a slight disappointment that I couldn't say I wasn't. Again, I need to stop with it.

"Lydia. It's enough. We're not doing this here."

"I'm just observing."

"Observe later and keep the observations to yourself."

Damn, boy. You've got some comebacks. It shut her up, and I hid my smiling. I carefully entered the boat, sat my ass down, and was given a paddle. It was heavy and big. I hoped my biceps weren't out of order, because I needed them for this. I felt Zach adjust himself behind me, and he squeezed my arm in the process.

Tom repeated his instructions, and the next thing I knew, we were flying. This boat was going down the river, and fast.

"Paddle, paddle…." I heard Tom's voice yelling at us.

I'm paddling Tom, I'm paddling as hard as I can. It took me a couple of moments to synchronize my movements to everyone were going left, then right, then left, then the boat would bounce a little, hitting a small rock.

"Duck."

We ducked. There was a big branch in front of us.

He kept yelling, "And, paddle, and paddle."

"I am paddling," I murmured under my breath. I was getting tired, but I will be damned before I quit these. Even though it was so physical, It was so much fun. And there was so much water. Everywhere. Constantly ending on my face, and in my eyes. It was so hard to try and wipe the water out of my face, and paddle at the same time. But I managed.

"I though he said Class II rapids?" I screamed at Michael, but just got back a muffled laughter.

I was having so much fun. I was fighting for my life, and not to fall off, but it was worth it. This was what I came for. Maybe, not for my face to drown in splashing of water, but it was an occupational hazard. When the riptide calmed down, and we approached the end, the excited screaming of everyone settled down, and we all looked around the river, enjoying the scenery.

I heard Tom, "Now you can all slow down the paddling, and enjoy the scenery." He read my mind.

Beautiful. Just beautiful. I remembered then that I should have brought my phone to take pictures, but Zach assured me that one of the guys in the boat was a photographer and was taking pictures. As I turned to see, if what he was saying was true, I saw a man pulling out his camera, and doing exactly so. He was documenting it all. When he turned to film me, I smiled, and peace signed him.

After I was done goofing around on camera, I turned around, and I closed my eyes, enjoying the sun, and the calmness of the river. My heartbeat was normalizing, and my muscles started to ache.

I wondered if anyone here was aware of my condition. If they did, they probably wouldn't have allowed me to come. I wonder if Tom knows. If Zach has told him. A sick girl is a hazard on it's own. I looked at Zach. He was already looking at me, and his eyes were sparkling. It was the sunlight, probably. The sun was shining so bright, and his face looked beautiful. Even with his long blonde curls sticking to his wet face, he looked beautiful. Damn it. I was falling for him. No, I wasn't. I am allowed to think someone's beautiful, without reading too much into it, right? He is good looking guy, and I know how to appreciate it. That's it. Nothing more. Just ecstatic assessment. I wasn't catching feelings. I wasn't falling for him.

My mind was a battlefield for my thoughts.

"You ok?" He asked me again.

"Yeah."

I heard Lydia murmur something, to a guy next to her. Ok, that bitch and I are going to have some words, soon.

We walked back to the resort, and he turned to me. We were at the reception, waiting for our key cards.

"Why don't you go and rest for a few hours, and I'll get you later."

"Ok. And what are you going to do?" then I realized it wasn't my place to ask, "Sorry. It's none of my business."

He just smiled at me, took the key card, and left me, without answering my question.

He was meeting that Lydia woman, wasn't he? I felt instant rage. Ok, I need to cool off. Who he sleeps with, is none of my business? I need a warm shower, cause if I stay any longer in these wet clothes, I'll probably end up catching pneumonia. And, we can't have that happening. Not until we are finished with this trip.

I entered my room. I tried calling Gina, but she was offline again. I needed to tell her about today, but I guess I'll leave that for tomorrow. My body and my muscles were aching, and I need a warm shower. I walked into the bathroom and took another look at the huge bathtub/ jacuzzi and changed my mind. Sorry shower, we'll hang out tomorrow.

I spent about, well, good 15 minutes trying to find the tap when I realized it was a sensor. While it was feeling in with hot water, I found some colorful bath bombs, and dipped one in. Then I heard the skype on my phone, ring. It was Gina. She probably saw the missed call. I calculated I had 10 minutes to talk, until the bathtub, filled up with water.

"Heya, girl, where have you been?"