Duke slid the shifter into park. I hopped out and jogged around the back of the car, feeling particularly good in that very moment. I grabbed the door handle and opened it for Lennon. She looked at me with clear confusion. Something told me she wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of chivalry, and I made a mental note to make that our norm.
As she swung her legs out and hoisted herself up from the car, her gaze landed on the station in front of us. It took her a moment before she snapped her head toward me. “Are we doing what I think we’re doing?” she asked.
A smile spread across my face, and without a word, I nodded, already walking toward the base and tipping my head for her to follow.
“Is this place even open?” she called after me.
Turning around and walking backwards, I said, “I called in a favour. One of my friend’s parents owns the place, so he came out to give us the instructions, hook us up, and let us jump tandem.”
Her jaw dropped, and I thought this might have been the first time I’ve truly stumped Lennon. And I loved it. “You’re insane. Isn’t it dangerous to bungee jump at night?” she asked.
The question had me smirking to myself. “Not so much dangerous as reckless,” I said with a wink.
It was dark out, but she rolled her eyes so hard I saw the whites shine brightly. Even so, she wasn’t arguing, which meant I had her attention. That had been my goal all along—keep her interested, keep her learning to trust me, keep her on her toes the same way she kept me on mine every day.
I reached the door and opened it for Lennon. She stepped cautiously inside the small building. Off in the corner stood Allan, my buddy, the thrill-seeker himself. This had become his summer job between school, and every now and then he picked up extra shifts when they were short. I figured he kept coming back solely for the experience himself.
It was also a bonus that he didn’t know much about my health condition, so I was able to play things off without raising any red flags.
Allan ran us through the spiel—how to get suited up, the process of what we were doing, the safety measures that were in place, blah, blah, blah. I was interested, sure, but my eyes stayed fixated on Lennon, who was soaking it all in. She looked enamoured as she stepped into her harness and Allan tightened the straps around her.
After a triple check of our gear, Allan locked us into the cord secured to the bridge we were now walking out onto from the base. My heart picked up its pace as fear began to swirl inside of me.
I didn’t let myself think about what would happen if I died on the tandem with her. That would freak her the fuck out. Jesus—I couldn’t have thoughts like that running through my mind.
No, I had to think great thoughts. Happy thoughts. What if she wanted to live after this? What if she had fun? What if she smiled the biggest smile? What if she wanted to be with me someday in the future, all because we took this leap together?
I was going to be just fine—mainly because I was doing this with her. I looked over at her in the dark as the spotlights barely missed us, casting light overhead instead. She looked calm, almost at peace. It felt eerie, standing there in the darkness suspended over a gaping valley hundreds of feet below.
Allan directed us toward an opening up ahead. My legs began to shake as we approached the ledge, the unknown waiting just beyond the drop. I knew it was high, and I knew it was safe, but there was something about jumping into the abyss that felt dangerous. My fight or flight response kicked into high gear, screaming at me to stop—to retreat.
I inhaled a deep breath and looked over at Lennon. She was a vision of perfection. A fragile kind of beauty I’d never seen in a person. She was a mystery, a puzzle missing pieces, a riddle I needed to solve.
As we stood there, connected side by side, she laid her palm out, upright. I looked down at it, almost confused, unsure if she really wanted me to hold her hand when we were already so tightly bound together.
“Come on, Asher, let’s get fucking reckless together.”
The devilish grin on her face was one I adored so deeply, so I laced my fingers through hers and smiled down at her.
Allan gave us a thumbs up as he checked our equipment once more. He informed us he was going to count down from three, and when he hit one, we’d jump together.
“Three!”
I looked over at Lennon. “Let’s do this, little siren.” She grinned again.
“Two!”
“See you at the bottom,” she said confidently.
“One!”
And with that, we both leapt forward off the ledge into the pitch black. It felt like we’d stepped off the edge of the Earth and into the deep, dark unknown. Air rushed past us as we screamed at the top of our lungs. I wasn’t sure if I was screaming from fear or if it was purely involuntary. The experience was life-changing, something I’d never known existed on this planet.
Lennon screamed in what sounded like pure joy. Pure excitement. It was as if someone had breathed life into her the moment she fell.
When the cord rebounded and sprung us back up into the air, I’d never felt adrenaline ease out of my body as quickly as it did in that moment. My body finally realized we were safe, and I was able to look at Lennon fully.
She looked back at me with the greatest smile I’d ever seen. Earlier, I’d told myself that if I died, then it would have been enough. But seeing the look painted on her face, I realized I wanted to stay alive to experience as many different things with her as I could.
