Free Falling ( Book One: Gravity)

“Yeah, where are you?”


“Sitting in my car around the corner. Should I start walking that way now?”

My mind told me to tell him ‘No’ and to abort the mission, but I was still unable to mend the connection between my brain and body. Maybe I’d try that again next week, so for tonight I was going for it.

“Yeah, I’ll be downstairs waiting.”

I hung up and put my phone on the nightstand. My light was already off, so I opened the door and peered out into the hallway. There was no sound at all coming from the direction of my parent’s room. I eased out and crept down the stairs like a burglar in my own house. As I approached the door, I could see AJ’s silhouette as he walked up to the porch. I hurried to open the door to bring him in out of the cold. He was smiling from ear to ear when he entered. “I can’t believe you really wanna do this?” He whispered excitedly.

I rolled my eyes at him and pulled him behind me as we slowly climbed the two flights of stairs to the attic. We moved to the back of the room and sat on the blue couch – our eyes were locked on one another. It was hard to believe that things were finally going to be back to normal again. We’d be able to hang out after school and at Karl’s house on weekends. Seeing him in the controlled atmosphere of school hadn’t been anywhere near enough for me.

“Are you nervous?” He asked quietly. “Cause if you are, it’s not too late for us to leave and go somewhere else.”

This was by far the most dangerous thing we’d ever done, but my mind was already made up. I answered his question with a kiss. With our lips interlocked and moving together excitedly, I removed his coat and shirt. He stood and removed the rest of his clothing hastily. When the snow melted from his hair, beads of water caught the light from outside, glistening like crystal as they dripped down onto his bare skin. He pulled off my t-shirt and pajama pants and laid me down on the couch as he slowly kissed from my neck to my chin and finally reaching my anxious lips. It felt like it had been so long. My fingers pressed into the skin on his back as I did my best to control myself. I could hardly keep my body from shaking underneath his.

Suddenly, the doorknob to the attic rattled causing me to jump. Stupid me forgot to lock the door! At least that would’ve bought us time to dress and come up with some sort of story to explain why AJ was up here with me. Maybe I would’ve said that he’d just come by to talk or something along those lines. Granted, I still would’ve been in trouble, but not like I was about to be.

AJ lifted himself off the couch instantly and we pulled on the clothing that we had time to grab. I heard footsteps on the stairs and I could hardly control the shaking in my hands as I struggled with my shirt. By the time my mom reached the top of the stairs that was all I had on and AJ stood beside me wearing nothing but his jeans. My head was down as she flicked the light on and came to her own conclusions about what AJ and I were doing.

The embarrassment that I felt was unbelievable. I couldn’t lift my eyes to look at her or AJ. She took a minute to speak, but then finally whispered my name in a disappointed tone. There was no mistaking what was taking place. I imagined that she was observing my pants and AJ’s t-shirt slung carelessly onto the floor – plus my hair was a mess. A tear ran down my cheek as I sat before my mother in the most compromising of situations.

AJ shifted uncomfortably and folded his arms over his bare chest. I imagine he was wrestling with whether it would be best for him to leave, or if he should stay for my sake. Mom turned to walk back down the steps. “Both of you downstairs. Now!” She hissed without turning around to look at either of us. Her footsteps even sounded angry as she walked down the stairs. I finally turned in AJ’s direction. He was still looking at the floor expressionless.

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