So a couple of weeks ago I went way down South and climbed my first multi-pitch and my first slab route. It was surreal. I flew down to meet Finch, who had paid for half of my ticket (Call me naive but I didn't realise that accepting this generous offer meant he thought I was in love with him or something..). I arrived and Finch assumed I was staying in his bedroom. This pretty much solidified my recent negative feelings towards him. He was too intense. I politely declined and requested to stay in his roommate's bedroom upstairs. Finch's roommate had gone up North for the weekend after spending a couple of days here (South) surfing with his best friend, we'll call him "Fisch" for now. Fisch was one of the awesome people at the festival I went to a couple weeks prior. I was stoked to hear he was staying the night at Finch's. The thought of being alone with Finch kind of creeped me out.. he was being really full-on and getting all up in my persnal space. Ugh.
We went to a local pub for dinner and Fisch arrived later with some of the nurses and doctors who are friends with Finch. We all continued the night at another pub down the road. Fisch and I were spending most of the night together and I was glad to be away from Finch.
Despite me telling him we are just friends and that I didn't have any other feelings, it seemed as though he wouldn't stop trying to change my mind.
All three of us walked back to Finch's house and made cups of tea, ready for bed; Fisch had an early morning to go surfing and then return home (North), a 6 hour drive; Finch and I were getting up a little later to do some bouldering.
Finch was being really odd and annoying.. he was reading Dr. Seuss books as fast as possible, out loud, whilst Fisch and I tried to have a conversation. We were practically waiting for him to go to bed.. I couldn't stop looking at Fisch.. it was so hard not to make it obvious to Finch that Fisch and I were giving each other "the eyes." Finally Finch said goodnight, and the second his door closed Fisch and I leaned in to kiss. The XX was playing in the background. Bonus points that he had great taste in music (something we have both noticed about each other and now show each other sweet tunes we discover). Fisch stayed with me upstairs in the bedroom, conveniently; his mattress was outside of the bedroom door so Finch wouldn't have known any better.
Fisch left in the morning and I headed out to go bouldering on the beautiful rocky coast. It was absolutely magical.
After a good 4-5 hours of climbing, Finch, myself, and his friend Chuck returned to the car. We found a note from Fisch that said he had been looking for us all morning! Finch had forgotten to leave the house key out so Fisch could get his stuff after surfing and start driving home. Not knowing their arrangement, I saw some toiletries and things near Fisch's mattress and texted him to ask if he had left them, I hadn't received a response before we started climbing.
This was another thing that made me think that despite how intelligent Finch is academically; he appears to lack social or emotional intelligence (if you get what I mean? .. He seems to struggle socially.). Anyway, we called Fisch and organised to meet him at the nearest servo. We got there and exchanged the keys. I was worried that it might be awkward.. Fisch is my idea of someone who is out of my league, so I thought he might be regretting the evening's events. Apparently not. After shaking the boys' hands and saying goodbye, Fisch flashed me a wink and that cheeky smile of his and gave me a big hug and kissed my cheek. I figured if Finch had had any doubts about my feelings, they would now have quickly disappeared.
Now we were headed for the beach where we had been invited to a birthday party by a vivacious dread-locked man by the name of Luke. It was his Colombian friend's birthday and she had told us we were welcome to come and drink, with a chance of some bouldering on the shore with Luke.
When we arrived we were not disappointed. There was plenty of food, beer, and friendly faces. Luke took us to the other side of the beach where a single beautiful boulder stood in the sand.
We stayed there for the rest of the afternoon and then, famished, headed back to Finch's to order some Thai food for dinner.
This is when Finch really ruined the most-part of our friendship. Cornered in the car with just myself and him, he pulled the handbrake, looked me dead in the eyes and said "So what's the deal with you? Don't you like me?" I was stunned and, if I'm honest, a little scared. I spent a painful 10 minutes telling him what I had told him a week beforehand and now had to add the fact that he was making me uncomfortable. To give you the gist of the conversation, some of the things he said were "I am infatuated by you", "I think I have emotional baggage from my ex-girlfriend","I can tell we will never be more than friends." It's safe to say I was feeling all kinds of awkward and uncomfortable. I spent the rest of the evening being relatively quiet and went to bed early.
That morning we headed to John's house. This is the man who was taking us out on the multi-pitch granite slab route which he had bolted himself. I felt safe with this knowledge. But looking up at the huge exposed piece of rock, I almost pissed my pants.
John got me to lead the first pitch and until after the run-out second bolt, I was regretting my decision to climb this thing! John encouraged with things like "slab is all about the mental aspect of climbing.","trust your feet, they will stick.","slab teaches you a lot about yourself, you just have to be confident in your ability to climb this route.. remember, it's just a 15." These things he was saying pushed me through and after the first pitch I was thrilled to be up there. The exposure made you feel alive.
Halfway up the route, the third anchors are inside a small cave. The view from there is absolutely beautiful.
It was so nice to have a breather, take in the view, and get some shade. It was such a clear day, John said it was the best he had seen in years. I felt so lucky to be having such an experience and with the guy who put years of blood sweat and tears into this particular rock so that climbers such as myself could spend a morning up there. It is even better that all you need is 10 draws and a 60 metre rope!
John and I pressed on, Finch and Chuck were climbing super slow! John led the next pitch and allowed me to lead the last. He told me not to worry about clipping the last bolts and just really enjoy being on the rock. He said "don't worry about belaying me once you get to the top!" and then added "Summit or plummit!" and had a giggle. I almost freaked out and then I thought.. this is what I live for. These moments. Just fucking do it! I sped up the last pitch, I felt so natural on the rock, I looked out at the view all around me .. with my heart pounding and with a huge smile on my face, I climbed past the anchors and up onto the summit of that magnificent rock. The view was breathtaking.
After a half and hour treck back down to the car, the boys dropped me off at the airport. I was still buzzing, and starving. I ate 2 toasted sandwiches, drank 2 coffees and 2 bottles of water. The tuckshop lady doubted my ability to eat both sandwiches. Bitch, please! I kid, she was awesome. I practically got third degree burns though from eating and drinking so fast. Worth it.
I realised after checking in that my flight made a stop just before home so instead of a one hour flight it would be at least an extra hour. I was exhausted and longing for my bed but I figured "what's one hour?" Turned into 3 extra hours because a bird thought it would be funny to almost kill everyone and hit the nose of the plane (I was so happy it wasn't the engine and not more than one!). The engineer wouldn't allow the plane to fly so the delay was in waiting for another plane to "rescue" us. To make up for the delay the airport bought us about 20 pizzas (there were only about 15-20 of us on the flight so that was generous!). I forgot about the delay immediately. Sitting at the airport I received a text from Fisch. It made my night. I had thought about texting him but didn't want to be "that girl." He said he had had a lot of fun with me and that we would catch up when I got home. Stoked.
Being that my flight was so late, my lift home bailed out and I made a desperate call for help on Facebook. A good friend picked me up and I finally made it home.
.. I did end up having another couple great days and nights with Fisch, which I will post about tomorrow.
If you made it this far, I commend you.
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
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