When I turn to look at him, he’s fully harnessed into the zip line next to mine with a sympathetic smile.
“Hey,” he says.
I stare at him for a few seconds longer, taking in his concerned brow. I can’t even be angry with him because I know he didn’t follow me here this time.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Not long.” He tilts his head toward the stairs. “Just at the end of my group. Uh, didn’t realize you were here,” he says as though he’s waiting for me to throw a fit about it. “You weren’t on the bus.”
“No. She’s been here for about an hour now,” Jonny butts in.
Thanks, dude.
“So you just thought you’d watch me while I cried into a void and not say anything?”
He shrugs. “You said you wanted space. I was giving you that. I only stopped you from falling because I didn’t want you to hurt yourself.”
Closing my eyes, I try to stop the anger coursing through me.
“I—” I stop. “That's not—”
Jonny clears his throat beside us. “So, are we—”
“One second.” I hold up a finger without looking at him.
Zach clears his throat. “I could—” He stops. Tries again. “If you wanted, I could go down with you.” He says it to a point somewhere past my left shoulder. “Hold your hand or whatever. If that would help.”
I don’t answer. I’m too busy questioning the universe and how it always makes me end up in the same place.
“It might not help. I don't know. I just thought—”
He stops again.
I can feel the tension radiating off Jonny. If Zach goes down without me, I have no doubt Jonny is going to ask me about it since we’ve become family up here, and I don’t want that.
“Okay,” I say before I can think better of it.
He looks at me, suppressing a smile. “Okay?”
I hold out my hand, and he accepts it immediately. My fingers curl around his, and he holds me tight. His hand is steady and warm, and suddenly all the nerves coursing through my body start to calm.
“Don't make it weird.”
“I'm not making it weird.”
“You're already making it weird.”
“Okay.” Jonny steps between us, grinning for the first time since I got up here. He’s probably just happy he doesn’t have to share the platform with me anymore. He looks at me. “Ready?”
No.
“Yes,” I say.
Zach squeezes my hand.
We don’t count. He just follows my lead as I take a step forward and close my eyes.
“Now,” I say, jumping with all that’s in me.
