“Are you ready for this?” Nat asked sweetly as she squeezed my palm. I handed her my folded boxers and T-shirt, staring off the platform as if I were being led to my doom. But a glance at her had me rethinking my negativity. Seeing her look at me like this, I knew I’d be fine.
“Yeah, but you’re feeding me after this.” I hadn’t been able to eat beforehand. Maybe I was more nervous than I wanted to let on.
The small crowd of counselors gathering on our day off had been hooting and hollering since Nat and I had climbed up the ladder. I’d hoped we could avoid the audience, but of course, they knew what today was. Nat squeezed my hand encouragingly, and I did what I promised I would do.
I had to admit, the breeze felt refreshing as I stood next to my girlfriend, whose pink cheeks over my nudity made all of this worthwhile.
She made life worthwhile.
“I like the suit,” Emerson shouted from below, cackling as I struck a confident pose, grateful for the platform we were on. They could probably only see me from the waist up. Nat shoved a harness at me, shaking her head.
“What? I look good naked in the daylight.”
“Yeah, but you look better spread out on my bed at night.” She winked.
Our friends laughed and cheered me on as I stepped into the safety harness on the zipline platform.
Nat made sure I was secured to the cable, her eyes sparkling. “You’re all set, loser.”
“I wouldn’t say I lost.”
She gave me a disbelieving laugh. “Oh, you definitely lost.”
“I got you, didn’t I?”
With that, her face softened, and I kissed her cheek. She slapped my ass before I dove off the platform and into the great unknown, or more aptly, into the life I was more than happy to call mine. My job, my friends, my girl… I didn’t take any of it for granted. Every day, I remembered how lucky I was.
As I floated in the breeze, arms outstretched and naked as the day I was born, someone from down below me said, “I’d hate to be the guy that has to wash that harness.”
Six Months Later
Best friends weren’t supposed to have this many opinions about couches.
“What about this one?” I sat on a perfectly fine leather couch, just like the last few we’d sat on, but Autumn had a checklist.
At first, it was kind of funny, but we’d been shopping here for hours, and I had my own checklist to finish. Although I had to admit, she was right that it was a big decision. She’d declared my job was to picture Nat on the couch with me. That had me thinking dirty thoughts, which distracted me from the taskat hand. It also garnered a look from Autumn that saidReally?each and every time.
“Why not this one?” I asked.
“It doesn’t meet the criteria. Leather is a pain in the heat. Imagine getting your ass stuck to that thing in cutoffs. Nat will thank you.”
“That’s a good point. I don’t want her wearing clothes on this thing very much anyway.”
She mock-gagged before transitioning into snarky Autumn again. “Look, I know the couch you’re buying has to last the next fifty years, so it needs to pass the checklist.”
She had a point. I did tend to use things until there was no use left in them.
I moved to the next couch, which wasn’t leather, and it was one of the approved colors on my color palette, so it had that going for it. “This one’s good,” I said, trying to make it seem like I’d put just as much energy into deciding on it as my best friend had required, but truly, any of these couches would be a significant upgrade to what I’ve been subjecting Nat to since last summer. We’d usually watch movies at her place, on her normal couch.
I smiled, remembering the one time we hung out at my place for movie night when, in the middle ofCrazy, Stupid, Love,she’d gotten up and moved to sit on the floor, telling me without preamble that we weren’t having sex that night.
I took a breath and reminded myself I had eight days to complete the final changes before Nat got back from her solo trip to the Philippines. She’d been most excited to visit Palawan Island to take in the limestone and lagoons.
“Does it have USB ports?” Autumn asked, hunting for said feature. I nodded. She was acting as if I didn’t have these questions memorized by now.
“It does.” I’d been the one to add the USB option to Autumn’s list. I hoped Nat would probably work on the new couch, and her phone was always dying. She made do on the kitchen table, but it couldn’t have been comfortable for more than an hour or so.
Autumn hummed around me. “How about a built-in recliner?”
