Chapter 51: A Little Bit Of Jealousy Hurts

Immediately everyone gathered at the summit as they reached the top, spreading out across the rocky viewing platform.

Sarah, the woman who’d led them up, moved to the center and began explaining with enthusiasm.

"This is why we love this place," she said, gesturing to the panoramic view. "On a clear late afternoon like today, you can see for miles. Those islands out there are part of a volcanic chain that formed millions of years ago..."

One of the other hikers who’d come along... a middle-aged man who wasn’t part of Wren’s group raised his hand.

"Ah Ma’am, Can we take pictures?"

Sarah smiled warmly.

"Of course you can! What would be the point of climbing all the way up here if you couldn’t capture the moment?"

Everyone smiled and immediately started pulling out their phones and cameras, moving around to get the best angles.

Wren walked forward, observing the sturdy metal railing that surrounded the viewing platform to prevent people from falling off. He placed his hands on the cool metal and looked out over the horizon.

The sun sat low in the sky now, just above the water line and turning everything golden.

"It looks really beautiful." He muttered under his breath.

Seeing the sunset from up here was amazing... it was absolutely worth all that climbing. Wren felt the urge to take a picture and post it to his status.

’Ah yeah... all of my contacts are on this trip with me.’

He turned back to look at the rest of his group, then turned forward again. From the summit, the Celestine looked like a toy boat.

He could see tiny waves hitting the beach and people playing volleyball looking like dots from this height.

"Why don’t we all get like a group picture together?" Leah’s voice cut through his thoughts. She’d lifted up her phone and was looking at the others expectantly.

She was clearly referring to Wren and the rest of their friend group specifically, and honestly Wren didn’t mind the idea at all. A group picture to commemorate this moment... reaching the summit together and watching this sunset would be pretty amazing.

Something they could look back on years from now.

He turned around to face the others.

"Yeah, I’m down for that."

Toby adjusted his glasses and nodded. "Why not? Sounds good to me."

"But who’ll take the picture?" Leah asked, looking around at the group with a slight frown.

After all, someone had to hold the phone for the shot if they all wanted to be in it. They could ask Sarah or one of the other hikers, but—

"I can take it," Isabella interjected smoothly while stepping forward and Leah’s face lit up.

"Really? Thank you so much!"

Isabella smiled behind her face mask, though her eyes showed the expression clearly enough.

’It’s better this way,’ She thought.

She didn’t really know these people beyond Wren, and besides, even if she did... she didn’t want Marcus complaining if they happened to post the picture online somewhere and she was visible in it, even wearing her face mask and hat.

He was paranoid about her public image, about brand management and all that nonsense especially if there were men in the picture so it was better to just avoid the potential lecture entirely.

Leah handed over her phone gratefully.

"Thank you so much again... You’re a lifesaver."

Isabella nodded and took the device, then gestured for everyone to gather together. "Alright, everyone come closer. Let’s find a good spot with the sunset behind you."

The group started clustering together in a loose formation. Isabella turned around, switching Leah’s phone to landscape mode, and bent down slightly to get a better angle.

""Okay, everyone get into position. We’ll do a test shot first to see if the framing works."

There was immediate chaos as everyone tried to arrange themselves.

Zoe pointed at Wren accusingly.

"Since you’re a tall fucker, you should stand in the back so you don’t block anyone."

"What? No way!" Dani objected immediately, hands on her hips despite being a full foot shorter than Wren. "Wren should stand somewhere where he gets ample screen time! He’s like, the main character of this trip!"

"The main character?" Zoe’s eye twitched. "This isn’t an anime, Dani. It’s called logical arrangement based on height."

"I—what?! That’s not—you’re projecting!"

"Ladies, ladies," Toby tried to intervene, holding up both hands. "There’s enough Wren to go around. We can rotate positions—"

"Nobody asked you, Toby," both girls said simultaneously, then glared at each other. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Priya was trying to position Derek somewhere that wouldn’t emphasize his stomach, while Derek kept insisting he was fine anywhere while Leah was adjusting her hair. Zach was attempting to find the optimal spot for his jawline to catch the light.

Isabella cleared her throat loudly and everyone stopped and looked at her.

"I’ll do the arranging," she said with quiet authority. "I know a bit about positioning for group pictures."

She’d won dozens of racing competitions, and after every major victory her entire crew had to come outside for official team photos. She’d learned from professional photographers about optimal positioning though she didn’t mention that.

"Tall people in the back, staggered so everyone’s visible," Isabella instructed, moving people with firm guidance as she used their names. "Ren-Ren, Derek, Toby... you three should be in the back row. Zach, you should be in the middle row left. Priya, middle center. Leah, middle right. Zoe, Dani... front row with Miss Diana in front row center. Everyone angle slightly toward the center. Toby, take off your glasses too... they’ll reflect on Derek, so you just need to turn forty-five degrees left."

Within two minutes, everyone was arranged perfectly.

She stepped back and returned to where Leah was standing. "Can you unlock your phone?"

Leah quickly input her passcode. "Done..."

Isabella raised the phone.

"Alright, say ’cheese’ on three. One... two..."

"Wait, who says ’cheese’ in the year 202—" Zach started.

CLICK!

Isabella snapped the shot immediately, catching everyone except Zach looking happy and natural, while Zach’s mouth was open mid-complaint and his eyebrows were furrowed.

It was perfect.

She checked the result on the screen and smiled slightly. It was actually a great photo... everyone looked good, the composition was excellent, and the sunset provided gorgeous lighting.

She walked over and extended the phone back to Leah. "Here you go."

Leah took it eagerly and immediately gasped when she saw the picture. "Oh this is amazing... you’re seriously a lifesaver."

"No problem," Isabella said simply. The group broke up after that with the people drifting back to take their own individual photos or just enjoy the view. Wren started to turn toward the railing to watch the sunset some more...

Isabella took hold of his hand and pulled him away.

Several of the other girls noticed immediately as Isabella pulled Wren to the side of the platform, away from the main group, to a quieter spot where the railing overlooked an especially dramatic section of coastline.

"Isa?" Wren said, a bit surprised by the sudden contact.

"Ren-Ren," Isabella said, squeezing his hand a bit. "Let’s take a picture together, okay? Just the two of us. Y’know... to commemorate this moment."

She gestured toward the sunset with her free hand. "We can face the sunset. It’ll make a good shot."

Wren raised an eyebrow slightly but smiled.

"You want a picture together? Sure, I don’t mind."

Isabella felt her heart beat a little faster. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her own phone, then glanced at the screen to unlock it—

There were dozens of missed calls from Marcus... Twenty-three, to be exact and probably twice that many texts.

’Once again, I’m on vacation. I deserve this much at least.’ She thought firmly while swiping away the notifications and opening her camera app.

When she was back in Caldena, she would listen to as many rants as Marcus wanted. She’d nod and let him complain about the movie he was shooting, about how difficult the cast was, about whatever drama was happening on set. She’d be the supportive girlfriend she always was.

But right now? Right now she wanted to have fun... She wanted this moment...

Isabella pulled Wren down slightly since he was taller than her. She removed her face mask and pulled back her cap a bit so her face was actually visible in the shot.

They both smiled at the camera, standing close together with the golden sunset and endless ocean behind them.

CLICK!

She took the picture and immediately looked at her phone screen with a small genuine smile spreading across her face.

They looked good together. The lighting was perfect, their smiles were natural, and there was something about the way they stood close to each other that felt... right though he still looked like a model.

"Thank you, Ren-Ren," she said softly, putting her mask back on.

"Anytime," Wren replied, and she could hear the smile in his voice if that possible.

...

A few minutes later, Sarah’s voice rang out across the summit, stopping the various conversations and photo sessions.

"Alright, everyone! We need to start heading back down now if we don’t want to be late getting back to the beach!" She checked her watch. "We need to return the hiking gear before the Celestine announces its departure. Don’t want to get stuck up here overnight!"

She said the last part jokingly, but there was an underlying seriousness to it. The ship really would leave without them if they were late.

"Everyone pair up with your hiking buddies again... the same person you climbed up with. Stay together on the way down and watch each other’s backs."

Wren and Isabella naturally grouped together again.

Diana and Zoe reluctantly paired back up with each other. Leah moved next to Dani. Priya grabbed Derek’s arm. Toby and Zach found themselves together once more, much to Zach’s visible dismay.

Sarah moved to the front of the group with her expression becoming more serious and professional.

"Listen up, everyone. Climbing down isn’t as easy as climbing upward, especially as the light fades. Gravity works against you going up, but it works *too much* in your favor going down... you have to actively control your descent or you’ll build up momentum and lose your footing. Watch where you place your feet. Test rocks before putting your full weight on them and take your time. There’s no prize for getting down fastest."

She started down the trail with Toby and Zach right behind her as the first pair. The rest of the group followed in a loose line, spacing themselves out for safety.

The descent started smoothly enough. The trail was the same one they’d climbed up, just in reverse, but it felt completely different going down.

The angle was steeper than Wren remembered and the light was fading faster than he’d expected as shadows were lengthening dramatically.

Diana was about six people back in the line, with Zoe reluctantly hiking beside her as her buddy but Diana wasn’t paying attention to the trail or to her daughter.

She was watching Wren walking down in front of her next to that girl with the face mask.

Watching how close they walked together, How Wren would occasionally reach out to steady Isabella on tricky sections and how Isabella laughed at something he said.

It made her insides hurt.

She shouldn’t be jealous... She had no right to be jealous. But still... they’d had sex just last night, tangled together in her bed and now he was all over another woman like nothing had happened between them.

Diana’s jaw clenched and she wasn’t watching where she was going.

Her foot came down on a loose rock that shifted under her weight. Her ankle twisted violently to the side with a sharp spike of pain.

She let out a cry of alarm as her balance went completely with her body tipping forward as her arms windmilling uselessly.

’I’m going to hit the ground face-first—’

Strong hands caught her before she could fall.

Wren had somehow crossed the distance in an instant, moving faster than ever and grabbed her around the waist. He lifted her upward properly, steadying her against his chest.

"Are you okay?" Wren asked, his voice filled with genuine concern. His eyes searched her face while looking for injuries.

Diana’s face twitched... partially from the sharp pain shooting up her leg and partially from the sudden proximity to him, from his hands on her body again.

"I think... I think I sprained my ankle..." She managed to say in a strained voice.

"Don’t worry..." Wren said immediately, his grip on her tightening supportively. "I got you."

Sarah had stopped and quickly made her way back up the trail to them. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

"I twisted my ankle..." Diana said, closing her eyes against the pain. "It really hurts. I don’t think I can walk on it."

Sarah knelt down and gently examined Diana’s ankle through her hiking boot.

"It’s not bleeding, which is good. Can you put any weight on it?"

Diana tried and immediately winced, pulling her foot back up.

"No... It hurts too much."

Sarah stood and looked at Wren thoughtfully, then at Diana.

"Can you carry her down? If you can manage it, that would be faster and safer than trying to support her while she hobbles."

Wren didn’t hesitate. "I don’t mind at all. I can carry her."

"Alright then." Sarah nodded with her expression apologetic as she looked at Diana. "I’m sorry this happened. We’ll get you down safely, don’t worry. Just hold on tight."

She turned and continued leading the group down the trail. Everyone moved past them, giving Diana concerned looks as they went.

"Mom..." Zoe said quietly, her usual annoyed expression replaced with genuine worry. "Are you okay?"

"I’m fine, sweetie...." Diana said though her voice was tight with pain. "It’s just a stupid accident. Keep going, I’ll be right behind you."

Zoe hesitated, then nodded and continued down with the group, though she kept looking back over her shoulder.

Wren adjusted his grip and carefully lifted Diana into a secure carry with one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back. She was lighter than he expected, or maybe the adrenaline was making him stronger.

"Hold on tight..." He said softly.

Diana wrapped her arms around his neck, her face close to his. Even through the pain in her ankle, she couldn’t help but smile a bit.

"Don’t let me go," She said quietly. "Please."

Wren smiled at her... that genuine warm smile that made her stomach flutter all the time.

"I’m not going to let go. Promise."

Diana let out a slow breath and closed her eyes, pressing her head against his chest. She could hear his heartbeat and despite the throbbing pain in her ankle... she didn’t dislike this, not even a little bit.

His main focus was entirely on her now.

Wren began the careful descent with his footing steady even while carrying her full weight. The trail was tricky, but he moved confidently testing each step before committing.

Diana kept her head pressed against his chest with her eyes closed resigning herself to feeling the motion of his body as he climbed down the hill they’d ascended together earlier that afternoon.