I was fairly sure he hadn’t even noticed it happening.
I was also fairly sure my heart—along with everyone else’s—had stopped.
I’d never seen one of my friends propose to another one before. I’d never seenanyonepropose before.
And here was Chris, ripping his own heart out of his chest and offering it to Alex in front of all of us, not sure whether Alex would accept it or not.
That, I realized, was a kind of bravery too.
Hell, that was probablybraver. The worst possible thing that could happen if I missed a landing or my cord snapped in the middle of a jump or an avalanche caught me was that I’d die.
This could have ended in a broken heart, which was a lot scarier.
“Seriously?” Alex asked after what felt like a hundred years of dead silence.
Chris nodded, biting his lip. I could see how tense he was, I knew that if anyone so much as breathed on him right now he’d collapse in a heap.
And I wanted this to go well for him. More than anything right now, I wanted to see this goright, for him to be happy. If Alex wasthe one, then Chris of all people deserved to have that happiness I could only dream of, that I’d only ever heard about second-hand.
The next few seconds were a blur. Alex surged forward, knocking Chris off the log bench they were sharing, and then the fire was in the way and I couldn’tsee, but I could hear the sound of enthusiastic kissing and I could infer a lot by the look on Marta’s face.
“Yes,” Alex said, voice high and tight, echoing into the cool night air and breaking the all-consuming silence as the two of them burst into relieved laughter. “Yes, definitely, absolutely cannot think of anything I’d rather do,” he said, sitting up, still pinning Chris to the ground. “And youallhave to come, no excuses.”
“We’ll be there,” Marta promised first.
“Yeah,” I added. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
I glanced at Morgan. There was no reason he’d come with me—I could hardly ask him to be my pretend-date for a second time, could I?
But Alex liked him already, and he meant it when he said he wanted everyone there. It would’ve been a shame for both of them for himnotto go.
“Obviously,” Morgan said before I could follow that train of thought any further.
Oh.
He glanced at me, and I wasn’t sure whether I should read it as ayou can break it to him laterglance or aguess we’re doing this againglance.
But the tiny little smile dancing around the corners of his lips suggested it was more the second than the first.
He went back to massaging my ankle like nothing had happened while Chris and Alex picked themselves up off the ground.
“So, uh,” Alex began, his turn to scratch the back of his neck. “Early night?”
The way Chris' eyes lit up was going to stay with me forever.
“Early night,” he agreed, grabbing Alex's hand and dragging him off in the direction of their cabin while Marta wolf-whistled after them, Julie laughing beside her.
I waited until they got inside their cabin before glancing at Morgan again, grinning, and then hauling myself up and dropping a kiss on top of his head out of some combination of habit and a surge of affection.
“I’m stealing their marshmallows,” I said, picking my way around the fire and grabbing the bag they’d abandoned. It wasn’t as though I was in danger of running out, but other people’s food always tasted better.
“Have I been massaging your ankle for the past half hour for no reason?” Morgan asked.
I cleared my throat as I offered him the bag. “Uh. You fixed it?” I tried.
It still twinged, and it was stiff, and I knew it was still a little swollen, but I could make the six-foot walk around the campfire unaided now.
I’d be fine for the first rounds of the competition tomorrow. Just as well.
