“You’re incredibly adorable when you’re angry,Amapolita.”
I froze. He did not just call me?—
“Sorry, guys. A little problem on line two, but we’re all good now. We can continue on our adventure now. Hope, you want to go next?”
I was just about to unleash my furious thoughts onto Jay when Tony came running back up the trail again.
“Yeah, um. I’m ready.” I shot one last irritated glare at Jay, who was not even trying to stifle his little smirk.
I stomped toward the platform ledge, and Tonythankfully was quick to clip me in and send me flying through the trees again.
I had never been more grateful to be soaring hundreds of feet above the ground. I took the two-minute ride over the trees to compose myself. And when I landed on the other side, with watery eyes and trembling legs, my coworkers were there to greet me.
“What took so long?” Tyler asked, coming over to me with slight concern in his expression.
Jay was being insufferable, I wanted to say, but I held back.
“Tony had to help someone on the previous zip-line,” I explained, just as Jay and Tony came barreling down the line behind us.
I took my spot between Tyler and Macey again, grateful for some protection from the dentist's sarcastic retorts.
We hiked through more dense trees until we reached our last and final zip-line. Tony gathered everyone around for the final run, clapping his hands with a big smile on his face.
“Alright, my friends, we’ve officially made it. This is our final part of the tour!”
Everyone cheered. I gave a half-hearted little whoop, mostly glad that it would be over soon.
“This is a little different than the previous ones. Because it’s such a long stretch and more of our lightweight friends might get stuck in the middle, we are going to go tandem to ensure everyone gets across without a hitch.”
“Tandem?” Erica asked, voicing my immediate thoughts.
“That’s right. Two people will go at a time. Can I gettwo volunteers to demonstrate? How about Macey and Tyler?”
Tony plucked my life preservers from my sides, and they obediently went over to him. Tony went on to explain how to hook their harnesses together, then how to hold onto the other person to prevent injuries and safely go down the line. Basically, from what I gathered from the demonstration, one person would be in front, the other behind, but the two harnesses were clipped together.
My preferred partners were already paired on the platform. Who would I feel comfortable being that close to?
I was beginning to panic, and I felt like a little kid again, back in school, desperately trying to find a partner after the teacher had yelled out to form groups for an activity.
“Okay, now remember, my friends, this is all about getting out of your comfort zone. Trusting your colleagues and doing hard things together,” Tony reminded us as he finished explaining everything.
Then, instead of calling out for us to choose partners like I was expecting, he just started pointing.
I felt the color drain from my face as I heard him start naming off pairs.
“Devin and Shelby. Erica and Jenn. Dr. Jay and Hope.”
It had been chosen. Tony’s stupid finger had pointed right at Jay and me, determining the worst possible scenario.
“I’ll be going down by myself, but that’s because I’m an expert at this one,” Tony winked.
I almost debated begging Tony to let him be my partner, but it was too late. Jay would never let me live it down if he knew I was trying to get out of doing this with him. Ihad to act like this wasn’t a big deal. Somehow, I had to get through the next three minutes.
I watched all my colleagues laugh and joke with one another as they tandem-rode the last zip-line. Each team that departed had my heart beating faster and faster. Before I could even grasp what was happening, it was already Jay’s and my turn.
“Ready?” Jay’s voice was suddenly right behind me, and I jumped a little in surprise.
“I’m ready,” I barely choked out.
