Love Aint Always Pretty

Chapter 36: 36 Videnda

Videnda

- the things that should be seen or visited, especially if because they mark the character of a person or place; "What is to be observed"

Origin: Latin

36

"We're here!" Channing calls out to us.

Nick and I started walking closer to Channing and we were finally here. I could already hear the sound of the waterfall and when I stood right next to Channing, the view was always breathtaking. I missed this place too much and I'm just glad we're back here. This time, Nick is with us.

Channing starts walking on the downhill pathway, closer to the waterfall while Nick helped me walking down. We finally reached where Channing was and it was evident on his face that he was excited as I am. All of us put our bags down on the ground and Channing isn't wasting any time cos he's already taking his shirt off. His body didn't change at all. He looked at me.

"Come on guys. Let's waste no time and have fun." Channing says to me. Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

Channing walks up to a higher spot, the same spot where we'd jump off together.

"Do you remember this spot Annie? It's where you'd always beg for me to jump with you." Channing smiled.

I blushed. "Yeah. Thanks for the embarrassment today Channing."

He laughs. He takes a few steps back before running towards the edge and finally jumps to the waterfall. Channing was an excellent swimmer, back in high school the swimming team asked for him to join but he chose football. I clapped for Channing anyways. Now I'm even much more excited. I started taking my shirt then slipped my shorts off my legs. Now that I'm wearing my yellow bikini, I noticed that Nick was just staring at me.

"Aren't you gonna swim?" I asked.

"Come on Annie! Take a solo jump. It's safe." I hear Channing.

"You know I have weak knees." I said.

He laughs. "Nick can jump with you. Come on guys. We're here to have fun."

I gazed at Nick. "Will you jump with me?"

"You jump. I jump." He said.

I smirked. "Titanic."

He slightly smiled and he starts taking off his shirt. Both of us headed to the spot where Channing jumped off and now my knees are shaking. It's been a long time since I came here standing on this spot and I still get scarf every single time. I hear Channing laughing while he was floating down below us.

"Still scared Annie? I just can't believe you right now. Come on and just jump baby girl." Channing cheers.

"Just give me a second." I say.

"Your second always turns into a minute then more minutes. Just jump. I'm here, you're safe. And you're jumping with Nick so it makes you safer." Channing said.

Suddenly I feel Nick holding my hand and I just can't look away. He's looking at me while he takes a hold tight on my hand.

"I'm here. Let's jump." He said to me.

Both of us takes a step back and I exhaled heavily. I can do this. I can do this. I'm not scared. I cheered myself. Nick and I started running to the edge while I was letting myself scream and scream until we jumped off. We started falling down together and my scream was getting hysterical and hysterical as I was about to dive into the waters. The adrenaline rush.

Splashed.

I flapped my arms and I feel someone pushing me up off the water. I breathe for air and I see Nick pulling his head off the water too. Channing was screaming for me, cheering that I jumped. I smiled at him while he starts calling me names. I splashed water to him and he takes a deeper swim. I was paddling like a dog while Nick was swimming closer to me. He looks around, looking out for Channing. I smiled.

"You okay?" He asked.

I nod.

His hands grabbing my waist, pulling me closer to him and he steals another kiss from me again. He quickly pulled himself away when he saw Channing right across us. "Can we find some peaceful place here?" I hear Nick say.

I smirked. "Nick, I don't want Channing to be suspicious of us. You don't want to get caught remember?"

Nick let's go of my waist and I feel Channing swimming closer back to us. I smiled at Channing, making sure that nothing was going on between me and Nick. He always teases me when he catches me off guard or senses something and now that he knows how I feel for Nick, I need to be careful. It's not that Channing is a talker, but I just don't want Nick to sense something about what I truly feel for him.

The afternoon went by faster than we thought, it was filled with fun and I was enjoying too, with the both of them. Channing and I would jump off together and he'd swing on that sprouting vine before doing a backflip dive to the waterfall. As for Nick, he was just sitting on the shore, watching me and Channing having all the fun.

"What's wrong with your man?" Channing asks while he swims closer to me after taking a jump.

"He's not my man Channing."

He laughs deeply. "But seriously what's wrong with him? He doesn't like me?"

"He's just always like that. He's really distant to people and could you please stop looking right at him? He'll know we're talking about him." I said, swimming away.

"Where are you going?" I hear Channing call out to me as I decide to join Nick.

"I'm getting tired." I yelled back.

I walk my way to the shore with Nick's eyes looking right at me. He licks his bottom lip and bites it. That expression on him always gets me turned on. It's sexy as hell. I sat down right next to him and both of us were looking at Channing enjoying his time on swimming. I wonder why he didn't pursue swimming, it makes him a lot more famous cos his hot body will always be shown to women.

"You two are really close." I hear Nick say.

"Yeah." I smiled at myself.

"Were you... Were you his first too?"

I laughed and pulled my head up to him. Damn he looked so serious when he asked me that so I looked away cos he wasn't looking at me anyways.

"Yeah. I was his first. We were each other's firsts in everything." I said out.

"And you're not bothered about... Still seeing him? I mean, this is too casual. You both act like you've never fucked each other before." Nick blurred.

I smirked. "What's with these ambush questions Nick?"

"I just find it amusing. You were each other's firsts but you're still friends."

"We've chosen to stay friends Nick."

He glances at me.

"He knows me better. I know him too. He's just there for me when I need him and I think our past didn't really affect us. By us, I meant my friendship with him. I love Channing as a friend and I know he loves me too." I added.

"Will you two ever... Get back together again?" He asked me while looking at me.

"I don't really know. I think not. But who knows right? Maybe? Someday?" I laughed. "Our friends always teases us when I'm with him cos we were still close and they said Channing couldn't let me go that's why he wants us to stay friends."

I still feel Nick looking at me. "What's with that look?" I asked.

"Owww don't tell me you're jealous." I playfully teased him.

"I'm not allowed to get jealous cos we're not in a commitment." He said.

Ouch. Why does he have to be so straightforward? His words really hurt deep.

"But if I was only allowed to get jealous, I would get jealous Savannah." He added.

Holy crap my heart just had wings all of a sudden and it's flying far away.

Come back!

His winter blue eyes straight at me and I'm out of words what to answer him. I'm blanked. I don't know what to say. I don't know how to react to that. I don't know how to respond. I lost the ability to think. Here I go again. Loosing myself cos of Nick when I shouldn't be setting my hopes up and have false hope.

"Are you jealous right now?" I asked him seriously. Finally recovering by what he just said to me.

We were still staring and I waited for him to answer. Please answer me Nick. Please tell me you're jealous. I've been trying to make you realize that you're jealous when I'm with someone else. Please Nick. His lips finally parts, he's going to answer me. He's..

"We gotta get going guys."

Shit Channing. Great timing.

Both of us looked away from each other as I sigh inwardly. He was about to say something. I moved my head to Channing.

"Did I disturb that was something important?" Channing asked.

I shake my head. "No."

He nods. "Alright. We better go now, we don't want to get caught in the dark inside the forest."

The three of us started heading to our bags and grabbed some dried clothes. Since Channing's bag was right next to me, he stands right where I am. Nick was far from us and I see Channing glancing over him.

"Bro." Channing called out.

Nick pulled his head up while Channing starts standing right closer to me.

"Could you turn around? Annie's going to change. At least I have a stand here between you and me cos I'm her ex-boyfriend." Channing said.

I hit him secretly and he gazed at me.

"What are you doing?" I asked him under my breath.

"Protecting you." Channing looks back at Nick and he turns his back at us.

Channing, Nick has already seen me naked a lot of times. The subconscious part of my mind screams.

Channing looks back at me.

"Turn around." I said to him.

"Baby girl come on we've done this a lot of times. You can always trust me. I just want to make sure there are no other people around us."

"Channing. We're alone. We're the only people around here." I mumbled.

He exhales. "Okay."

Channing turns his back to me and I started taking my underwear and bra off then I slipped into my dry clothes. When I was done, lot was their turn to change and to be fair, I turned my back to them too. When they finished, we started walking back to where we parked the cars and passed through the forest together. Nick and I were walking together while Channing was just right in front of us.

All of a sudden Nick pushes my hair behind my ear while we were still walking through the trees and I quickly turned my head to him as I kept gazing at Channing.

"You're still pretty." He mouthed to me.

My brows are creasing but I'm still smiling like an idiot. The minute we got to the cars, we thanked Mr. Fletcher and paid him for the hours we were gone. I decided to ride with Nick and Channing was just fine about it. I decided to eat dinner outside but then Channing said he was already too tired that he really wanted to go back to his hotel right away so I respected his decision.

As for me and Nick, we dropped by some drive-thru in McDonald's and I was famished after all the swimming. We decided to eat it in my dorm and hoped that Tracy wasn't still around.

"Savannah." He calls out.

"Yes?"

Both of us were stepping inside the elevator and he pressed the floor where I was staying in. We were alone inside the elevator and he was just looking at me.

"What is it Nick?" I asked.

"I really don't like it when Channing calls you baby girl." He muffled softly.

Did I just hallucinate or what? Oh my goodness, those words doesn't seem to go along well with my heart right now cos we are alone in the elevator and it's making me feel floating. I liked it. I liked what he said. I liked it so much. It was evident on my face that I loved what I heard cos I couldn't stop myself from smiling like a complete retard.

There you go again Nick, making me love you.

__________

SFTC:

Dark Matter - Andrew Belle