Cassandra walked in front of the full-body mirror to look over herself. She was preparing for her weekend with Harrison, and against her own choice, she found herself feeling a bit nervous. A blue pair of daisy dukes shorts hugged her legs, showing off their length while she paired it off with a tank top. Her hair was styled in a low ponytail with a white headband added for style. She went down on one knee, tying the loose shoelace on her blue and white sneakers before standing to look at herself one last time.

Twisting her body left and right, she made sure she looked okay before she draped the strap of her purse over her shoulder. Since she had time to prepare, she had Julia get everything she needed for the three-day vacation. Sending another nervous look at the watch, she sashayed over to the balcony and looked for the grey car Harrison had described to her.

It took a while, but she spotted the car, pulling her phone out of the purse and sending him an 'okay' text so he would know she spotted him. In reply, an emoji of a smiley face blinked up from the bright screen, making the smile on her face wider than she wanted it to be. Tapping her fingers against her phone, she swayed towards the door then stepped out unto the steps before her mother's voice stopped her short.

"Going somewhere?"

"I told you I would be going on a short trip for the weekend. Remember?"

"Ah, yes. Your plan to take a solo three-day vacation, what a joke. Cassandra. We have spent your whole life living together; I am your mother. That means when you think of something in your head, it has already passed through mine. There is a grey Jeep Grand Cherokee seating outside our gates."

Swallowing, she scratched the sides of her neck with a small drop of her eyes before turning around to face her mother, who was still descending the stairs with swift steps. "Would it help if I said I have no idea what you were talking about?"

"Hmm, okay then, let me refresh your memory. This morning a jeep with tinted glasses parked in front of my house, and my first thought was that it could be someone just parking out our gate. The car has been there forever, and the driver hasn't stepped down and hasn't left."

"I am still lost." And she was losing time as well because her phone did not stop vibrating in her hand for one second. Fidgeting with the zipper of her purse, she dropped the phone into it and smiled apprehensively at her mother.

"I wonder if it's Shantel in the car, but knowing that girl, she would have been out and knocking. Now, you are dressed so button and cute that means there is someone in that car waiting for you that you don't wish to share with me. So, we are going to walk out there and see who it is."

"We?"

"Yes. We."

Thinning her lips, she braced her hands on her hips as her chin bobbed up and down in a slow but meditative nod. Cassandra knew her mother would try, and fail, not to make a big deal about him taking her away for the weekend. Facing that choice, she took the next best alternative to that disaster.

She ran.

Bolting away from her mother, she held the strap of the purse firmly in one hand as she pulled the doors open and stumbled out of the house with a round of giggles bursting from her lips. Frustrated, her mother screamed after her, but Cassandra was sure she couldn't catch up. Taking the steps two at a time as she descended, she skipped past Dylan as he stood to greet her and slipped out of the gate.

Laughing at how ridiculous she looked to her mother, she hit the passenger door with her body before slapping her palm against the windows as she frantically screamed for Harrison to open the door. The tint in the glass hid his expression, but she knew he must have thought she lost her mind as he did what she asked.

"What is going on?"

"Drive." She half laughed and half commanded while beating her hand down on the dashboard out of pure excitement and embarrassment mixed together. Without knowing what happened, Harrison smiled at her flushed face as he turned the key in the ignition and waited for the engines as they purred to life.

As the car rolled out of the house, Dylan and her mother got to the gate as well, and she could see the grin on her mother's face, and it only made her smile more. Grabbling for the seat belt as Harrison sped out to the road, turning and spinning the steering wheel as they drifted onto the road. Feeling surprisingly energetic, she turned and smiled at him.

"Now, will you catch a breath and tell me what the hell is going on?"

The hair in front of her lips fluttered as large puffs of breath sent them flying, so she pushed them behind her ear and rested her head against the chair, "My mother. She wanted to come out with me and get a good look at my driver, so I bailed."

"You ran!"

Harrison outright laughed at her, keeping a hand steady on the wheel while his free hand was draped over his face. Pouting, she playfully drummed her fingers repeatedly over his shoulder.

"Stop laughing, okay. This would probably be awkward to explain to my mother when we get back, so show some little consideration. Besides, all talk aside, this car is amazing."

And it truly was remarkable. The insides of the car were fresh and clean, the seats polished to boot. The driver didn't do the car any harm either because he looked a lot like a summer camper with the baggy clothes he had on him and his favourite hat. His hair was a lot messier than it had been before, so she stretched her fingers and ruffled his hair some more. The dimples in his cheeks deepened, but he didn't stop her. He pinched her cheeks with his free hand.

"I hope you don't plan on bringing work over to our road trip?"

She looked at him for a while, then drew out the phone, so she could shut it off, "Well, I won't be distracted by work until the evening when I turn it back on to check for messages. I'll try not to be a workaholic until then."

The trip out of Santa Montes was wonderful, although the road was deserted; Harrison told her that cars tracked the roads frequently during vacations and festivals. Pushing down on the button for the window, Cassandra smiled as the wind hit her face, the grey provided by the windows was gone, so the forest guarding both sides of the highway had a clear colour.

The green of the trees, high and low, gave a vibrant colour to the forest with the rocks littered around it, making them look like a picture straight from paradise. Soon after their trip clocked two hours on the road, the sun prevented her from enjoying her scene, so she shielded her eyes with a frown.

"Okay?"

"Yes, well, not really. The heat is unbearable; how far are we from your secret spot?"

Sticking his tongue out at her question, his hand travelled to the back of the car and roamed around for a while before returning with a hat that he placed on her head. Turning her eyes to the side mirror, a smile stretched her lips as she took in her look once again. Pouting at the loose hairs on the sides of her face, she used her fingers to push them under the hat.

"You look stunning."

"I do, don't I?" tracking the rim of the hat with her fingers as they moved on, she turned to stick out a tongue to him as well, "So...where are we going?"

"Somewhere, no, some places that we can be alone, talk, enjoy some distance from city life." His free hand slipped around her neck, pulling gently, so she leaned forward and gave him a kiss. He sighed against her as they kissed, holding tightly to her neck and forgetting to watch the road. She tapped his shoulder and pushed him away, palming his cheeks to turn his head to the front of the car.

"Focus, please. I don't know about you, but I would like to be alive after all this."

Without answering her question, he parked the car in a shady spot between two twin oaks. Not wasting a single second, Harrison dropped down from the car to help with her door, giving her his hand as she stepped down. Her right hand stayed on the hat as she looked around to see where he had taken her, then she realized that everything looked the same.

"Where are we?"

"Middle of the trip according to the time schedule." He dropped her hand so he could open the back door and she watched as he dragged a bicycle out of the car, "The rest of the journey would have to be on foot because if I take the car, it would ruin the beauty of the surprise."

There was no point in arguing with him on the matter, she held unto the handle of the bicycle when he passed it to her and waited while he got a duffel bag out from the boot. Holding the bicycle's handle as well, Harrison steered them down a rain-washed path, but he seemed to know what he was doing, so she didn't worry about it. Harrison took up the stance as a bonafide tour guide, telling her about some of the trees and insects that he encountered on his many trips to the forest.

Halfway along the trip, Harrison managed to convince her to take off her sneakers and drop them in the basket so she could enjoy the walk without soiling her brand new sneakers.

"Ah, yes." Without much work, he pulled the bicycle away from her and laid it against a tree then stepped behind her to shield her eyes with his fingers. "Here we are. Watch your step as you move because you could end up eating a lot of grass."

The sound of her laugh didn't echo around, so she knew that the surrounding wasn't a cave or anything like that, but the long grass lining the floors tickled her nude feet. Her fingers crawled up her face and grabbed his hand while she giggled and moved forward.

"Don't open your eyes. Not until I say that you can, keep them shut."

Without thinking, she knew that she had the wildest smile on her face, but at that moment, she could not find the need to care. With the sound coming to her ears, she had pretty much painted a picture of what the place looked like, even before she heard Harrison speak.

"Open them."

Not wasting time, her eyelids opened to greet a sight of Harrison standing with his arms wide open. A large waterfall behind him, decorated with flowers, trees while tiny critters and animals hopped and ran about. Wide-eyed with awe from the site, she forgot Harrison for a while as she stepped around him, with her eyes and ears soaking in every single detail from the beautiful forest garden.

Everything about it was amazing; from the blue-sky looking waterfall that poured from the highest mountain and down into the clearest lake she had ever seen in her life. Aside from television, she never saw places like this. Mostly because when she was on vacation, she never really went out to see the sites.

"Where did you bring me?"

Pouting, Harrison strolled closer to her so he could get his arms around her waist. "Whenever my dad brought me here, nothing stayed wrong in my life. It==The forest fixed every drop of anger and confusion without me even asking for it. Sadly, I don't know the real name or if it even has one."

"Check the internet," she mused, the tips of her fingers playing with the edge of his shirt collar while her body soaked in the serenity of the forest. "I have to admit that it is absolutely beautiful."

A nod showed Harrison's agreement, but Cassandra nearly missed it as he spun her around in his arms and made a path for the waterfall. At the bank of the lake, she took off her shorts and top before stepping into the water and wrapping her arms around Harrison's neck. Gasping, her hand tightened around his neck as he spun her in the water. Smiling at his happy face, she kissed him gently on the lips then on his cheek.

They spent the rest of the morning and part of their afternoon splashing around in the water, taking a ride around the forest garden with the bicycle and eating the little picnic Harrison had brought along. Sitting underneath the shade of a tree in their underwear's, Cassandra laid against his chest, running her lips through his knuckles as they watched nature entertain them. All she could see, all she could feel was serenity.