Fiction

All bets are off when Jennifer dares to prove her adventure-seeking boyfriend and his friends wrong

‘IMUST admit, Jen, I never thought you’d go through with this.”

Jennifer diverted her brown eyes away from her cellphone, the smile beneath her sun hat fading fast as Graeme’s words reached her as she was trekking up the hill behind him. “You didn’t?” she asked, unsettled. “To be honest,” he turned around and, despite the load tied to his back, was still as fresh as a cucumber, just as he was earlier that morning when they’d departed for the mountain. “I expected you to have backed out by now.”

Her full cheeks lost their colour. “You were?” Her voice was hoarse and she tucked her phone into her sling bag, halting her ascent to take a sip from her water bottle.

“I didn’t think you’d . . .” he lifted his honey-coloured eyes to the colourful canopies gliding across the clear sky above them, “actually do it.”

Jennifer, too shifted her gaze upwards and observed the paragliders launching off the peak they were heading towards.

A fortnight ago she could never have imagined she’d be taking off from this mountain, let alone flying through the air above the ocean. But opposites attract, as was the case that afternoon when she and Graeme were both on pick-up duty for their respective siblings at school.

Graeme was handsome, an adventure sports club instructor, and funny, unlike the other men people tried to introduce her to.

“What a catch!” her sister had exclaimed and Jennifer felt her status elevated in the eyes of family and friends who saw her holding hands with her real-life action hero when all she loved to do was watch Survivor, The Amazing Race and Fear Factor.

It wasn’t long, however, before she sensed Graeme’s restlessness when they were together. Of course, he was too much of a gentleman to say anything, but she knew the adrenaline junkie would rather be on a mountain or in the sea than sit with the Fairy Godmother of Couch Potato Land and root for strangers on television. The things one does for a man!

‘IN fact,” his lips parted into a smile. “The boys and I had a wager on you.”

Jennifer reached for her ponytail and fidgeted with the tips of her hair. “You took a bet on me?” She could hardly form a full sentence as she panted, still determined to trudge up to the top of Signal Hill.

He flashed another grin. “No money was involved.”

His sarcasm and obvious fitness as he powered on, without a hint of perspiration, beginning to annoy her. “And that’s supposed to make me feel better?”

She furtively wiped her dripping brow with the back of her hand.

He heard the irritation in her voice. “Chin up,” he said with a wink, “it’s not like nobody had faith in you.”

She watched him, hopeful for a second that regardless of his misgivings about her pluck, he still sided with her where his friends were concerned.

“Dave gambled on you. Good thing,” he said with a chuckle, “it was just a friendly bet.”

With that, he adjusted his backpack that held their tandem gear, quickening his pace towards their takeoff site. “Onwards towards freedom!” he shouted enthusiastically.

FREEDOM. Must be Graeme’s middle name. He was forever telling everyone how the feeling of freedom that comes with flying underneath a wing cannot be described, but only be experienced.

Never having outgrown her childhood anxieties, Jennifer refused his invitations to join him on his escapades. The only extreme sports she was going to participate in were the ones she could enjoy from the safety of the lounge.

But as the weeks passed by and it became obvious to her that Graeme yearned for a companion to share in his pursuits and not a whiner begging him to be careful all the time, she began to wonder if she was maybe a boring partner.

Perhaps, she thought, she was dull; just as it said in her old school report cards. Yet, she was far from ready to freefall for him. If she was going to do anything surprising, her feet needed to remain on terra firma.

THE cooking course though was a flop. Botched efforts from an art class were discarded in the bin. The end of signing up for any lessons she saw advertised came when she tripped over her sister’s feet in the dance studio and Graeme had to rush them both to the doctor.

Through all of this he said nothing harsh about her failed attempts at broadening her interests. Feeling guilty about not measuring up to his expectations, she finally agreed to soar into the air with him.

Graeme was the kind of man one does things to hold on to.

Now, however, hearing his reservations about her resolve, she wasn’t so sure. Needless to say, he was correct about everything he said about her but she wished he had just the slightest bit of faith in her.

She ran up behind him and grabbed hold of his arm. “You never betted on me?”

He was startled to see she had caught up with him.

Her big brown eyes stared hard.

“Why would you think I wouldn’t be up for this?”

“You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.” He tried to push ahead along the path. “It won’t even matter in the next hour.” She took a step in front of him, blocking his route forward.

His face was red now and not because of the heat from the mid-morning sun. He cast his eyes at the bushes bordering the trail they were on. Then up at the sky and down at the obstruction in his way. She wasn’t moving.

“What did you expect, Jen?” He gave a nervous chortle. “You’re not entirely Amelia Earhart.” The words hurt. “Let’s not do this. You know I don’t like to . . .”

By now he had ticked her off enough to the point of no return. “I am so sick of hearing you don’t like to argue, so sick of you never saying what you truly feel!” He almost stumbled back. “Say it!” He steadied himself, his eyes searching for her meaning. “You think I’m boring!” He cast his guilty glance at the gravel path, then raised it just slightly to see her waiting with hands crossed beneath her bosom.

“All right,” he exhaled loudly. “Do you know how irritating it is to hear that I might slip off a rock or be bitten by a shark each time?”

She pinched her eyes shut, feeling the tears welling up. “I prayed for your safety.”

“Life isn’t meant to be lived with a seat belt.”

“Accidents happen,” she mumbled and found herself hastening back in the direction they had come from that morning. “So I was bang-on then.” Of course he was right to doubt her. No amount of pep talks, Google searches and YouTube videos on paragliding could suppress her fears, but she dared not change her mind.

Graeme was behaving like a child who had found a new best friend. What was a girl to do? “You don’t have it in you, after all.” Unable to endure his badgering anymore, she stopped her descent immediately.

On any other day she would’ve concurred with him, even laughed at her own inadequacies with him. Today was different, however. Today she had been confident that for once she would carry through with something risky.

SHE reached for her sling bag and retrieved her cellphone then swiped to the photos she’d been viewing earlier. She swung around and shoved the phone at Graeme. “Dave?” he stammered. An astonished look fixated on the photo showing her strapped to his clubmate as they hovered in the sky between the mountain and the sea. “You and Dave?”

A girl must do what a girl must do to avoid behaving like a wimp in front of her man. “I needed a trial run.” There was a long pause as he mulled over this revelation, his face eventually strained with remorse.

She was certain his regret was sincere, but since she’d run downhill and taken off into the air earlier that week with her heart stuck in her throat and butterflies twirling in her tummy, something about their relationship had begun to bother her.

“Maybe we can go for a drive?” he finally said, almost shakily. “Or go to the movies?” She blinked hard. “Jen?” She flickered her eyelids open. “A drive or the movies?” he asked again, pleading almost embarrassingly.

As tempting as the offer was, she took possession of her phone. Turning again in the direction of the car, her mind drifted back to the day she’d ventured out into his playground. Feet dangling above the Atlantic, she was sure as the breeze wafted past her face up there in the sky that it whispered the true meaning of freedom to her.

She placed her feet firmly on the ground and called back to him, “Neither.”

A GIRL MUST DO WHAT A GIRL MUST DO TO AVOID APPEARING LIKE A WIMP