“I’m gonna have to get you out more often,” Drew says when we reach the top, and I’m half a breath from keeling over and becoming one with the cement. I just smile and nod through my battle against my lungs as they struggle to get the fuck away from me.

“Next time, might I suggest a hot spring?”

Drew laughs, but he’s already steering me toward the edge before I can catch my breath. I understand why he wanted to come here, though. The view really is spectacular—all of Denver, the mountains, it’s the real deal. But holy shit, there’re black spots in my vision, and I gasp, “Do you have water?”

He shakes his head. “We can get some after we go back down.”

Back down?

“Let’s get a picture,” he says, pulling out his phone. “We can just do a selfie if you want.”

I nod, but what I want is a gallon of water and my bed. And maybe a massage because my legs are going to be in pain for the next month.

He drapes his arms around me and puts on the selfie cam, and I wince. I look like I’ve just gotten spat out of a tornado.

He smiles. “Say cheese!”

“More like please, as in, please don’t take a picture of me looking like a mixed bride of Frankenstein.”

Drew laughs again and snaps the picture. He slips his phone back into his pocket and says, “I think you look cute.”

I roll my eyes. “No, you don’t. Literally no one thinks I look cute right now.”

He smiles. “Relax, Noah. Not everything has to go on the Diary. It’s just to remember this day, you know?”

And I sigh because I kind of want to collapse from exhaustion, but a part of me feels like I should be grateful. Fake date or no, he planned out this whole day for us, and here I am complaining because leg day is literally never and I didn’t think to ask what to wear before I left the apartment this morning. But if he wants to remember this day even beyond posting for the Diary’s followers, that means he genuinely enjoys spending time with me, right? That it’s not all just staged?

And maybe he’s right. I don’t have to post everything on the Diary even if that is the reason I put myself through this torture. What matters is that we’re building up our relationship according to the steps, and that’ll be important in the long run.

“Do you want to head back, or do you wanna take in the view some more?” he asks.

“Let’s look some more.” There’s no way in hell I’ll survive the return trip if I don’t get a chance to catch my breath.