He shrugs. “Statistics.”
“Well, now we’re taking the train home. No way I’m getting in that death box again.”
“All right, you two, let’s stop all the death talk. You’re going to scare off the others,” the one instructor says.
“Oh! Are you Australian?” I ask excitedly, pushing the dying part to the back of my head for a second.
“Born and raised in Brisbane. We travel all over for skydiving. I’m Billie.” He sticks out his hand for me to shake, then offers his hand to Jack. “And this here is my mate, Oscar, but he’s Kiwi, clearly inferior.” He laughs, and Oscar rolls his eyes, probably used to his mate’s antics.
They seem like a fun duo.
After we’ve gone through the video and lesson, we start getting suited up. Billie looks between me and Jack a few times.
“Jackson, you’re with Oscar. You and I are too big together with the equipment, Oscar will be a better fit for you, and I’ll take the gorgeous Annabelle.”
The second he says it, I bite my lip to hold back my chuckle when Jack freezes beside me. “One second,” he says, before turning us away. “No fucking way are you going with that creep. We’ll come back another day.”
“Why, because he called me gorgeous?” I roll my eyes.
“Don’t roll your eyes at me, Annabelle. I don’t want you going with him, and I’m not kidding. I’m going to lose my shit,” he grits through his teeth.
“Well, you set this up, and we don’t have another day.” I put my hands on my hips, ready for battle. I finally worked up the nerve to go, and now he wants to back out.
“All right, you two, we gotta go. Ready?”
“Yup!” I call and walk away from Jack, knowing I’ll pay for it later… hopefully in the bedroom.
I won’t lie. Usually I hate this possessive, jealous shit from men, but again, for the first time in my life, knowing because it’s Jack, it’s turning me on.
Not that I’ll ever admit it to him. That’s a tiny little secret I’ll keep just to myself.
The small prop plane takes off, and my eyes widen in horror.
This is some scary shit.
Maybe I’m not as ready as I thought.
I turn toward Jack. “I’m scared,” I mouth, wishing I wasn’t attached to Billie so I could sit with him. I don’t like being unable to hold his hand right now.
“You can do this,” Jack yells over the engine. “Or we can turn this plane around and go home. It’s up to you, B. I’ll be happy either way.”
“This is the point almost every person wants to turn around,” Oscar chimes in. “Have you ever gone off a diving board?” When I nod, he says, “No matter how many times you go off the high dive, you always get that sinking feeling in your gut, but once you jump, you’re wondering why the hell you were scared in the first place. It’s the same thing here. I promise.”
I look at Jack, then back to Oscar when he speaks again. “You’ve already paid, so it doesn’t matter to us,” he says, laughing. “But, I could see how excited you were to do this, and I’d hate for you to miss out on the feeling skydiving gives you. I promise the second you’re out of the plane, all of this anxiety washes right away.”
I look back at Jack, his face neutral, not giving away anything because he wants me to make this decision all on my own. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do it!” I yell, trying to pump myself up.
“Perfect timing. It’s go time,” Billie says, and everyone laughs when my jaw drops.
He propels us toward the opening, and I do everything but look down.
We have to go first since we’re the lightest, or at least that’s what Billie said. Apparently Jack and Oscar will fall fastest because of their weight distribution.
I glance back at Jack one last time. “You okay?” he mouths, and I nod, trying to swallow my fear.
I want to do this.
With a wave, Billie pushes us out of the plane, and we’re off. And just like Oscar said would happen, my anxiety disappears within seconds.
