Page 91 of Never Ever Getting Back Together

My heart leaps in my chest at the sound. The voice is distant, but unmistakable. “Skye?” I call back. “I’m here.”

“Are you okay?”

“Uhh. I’m sort of stuck,” I say, looking over my shoulder. Oh Jesus, she looks, uh,verysmall. “I can’t reach the next step.”

Any comfort I felt on seeing her fades when I make out the “oh shit” expression on her face. It’s not exactly what you want your rescuer to look like in this sort of situation. “Can you come back down the way you went?” she calls.

I shake my head.

“Okay. Don’t panic. I’m going to get help,” she says. Her tone of voice is approximately as comforting as her expression. If she wants me to not panic, she’s not doing thebestjob at calming me down.

“Don’t let them bring cameras,” I say. “And hurry, please?”

“I will.” She doesn’t move, though. “Are you safe where you are?”

“I’ve been here for about five minutes now, so, I guess,” I say. “I’m in an awkward pose, though. I’m just gonna…” Istep to the side so I can untwist my hips, and the rock shifts beneath me. I let out a cry of alarm and lurch sideways to return to my original foothold. Nope, nope, nope.

“Maya! Stay there, stay there. I’m coming up. No, actually, I’m going to the top and coming down, it’ll be easier to reach you. Give me a minute.”

I gasp over the pounding of my heart. “Sure. Take your time.”

About a century or so later, she appears at the top of the ledge. “Are you okay?” she asks.

“Oh, sure, I’m great. Having a freaking blast.”

She scales down the first few steps in a matter of seconds. When she turns down to check on me, her jaw is clenched in determination, and her brow is furrowed in fear. “Be careful,” I say.

She draws a shaky breath and lowers herself again. And again. I watch her descent, taking note of which rocks hold steady under her. She isn’t far above me now. There’s a ledge coming up. If she reaches it, she could help me get to it, and we can go up from there.

“Aim for the left a little,” I say. “See the ledge?”

She looks down, and then sucks in air through her teeth with a hiss. “This is too high,” she says, turning back to the black sky. The wind catches her hair, and her shoulders tense.

“You’re doing great,” I say. “You’ve got this.”

“No. Maya—”

Something in her voice sets my instincts on high alert. She’s drawing closer to the cliffside, gripping the rock with white knuckles as her legs buckle at the knees.

“Skye,” I say urgently. “Breathe. You’re okay. You don’t have to move. Just breathe.”

Her shoulders rise and fall as she takes several deep breaths,then several more. Faster, and faster, in a pattern that sounds dangerously like hyperventilation. “I can’t. I can’t.”

She sways where she stands, and she ducks her head forward, squeezing her eyes shut. The unsteadiness of her stance sets off something primal in my spine. I don’t decide to move. One moment I’m standing on my precarious perch, the next I’ve launched to the side, easily clearing the gap I was too scared to attempt before. As Skye gasps for air, adrenaline propels me up. Hand over hand, rock by rock, until suddenly I’m drawing up beside her.

“Hey, I’ve got you,” I say, wrapping my arm behind her to pull her firmly in against the rocks. “We’re going back up. Okay?”

“I can’t. I can’t.”

I’m pretty sure pushing her will only make her panic, so, I stand in silence, my arm still locked around her. It’s much sturdier here than where I got myself stranded. The rocks jut out farther, so we can stand comfortably. If we need to hang here for another fifteen minutes while Skye rides this wave, that’s what we’ll do.

After a while, Skye shrugs her shoulders roughly. “Get off me,” she snaps, and I tear my arm back like she’s stung me. “I need air. I need space.”

There’s only so much I can do to give her space, given the circumstances and all. In the end, I sort of shuffle to the left, and this apparently does the trick, because another thirty seconds later she looks up with focused eyes. “Okay,” she says in a thin voice.

“Okay. Do you think you can climb back up?”

She nods wordlessly and starts moving. I follow after her, making sure to take her tested rocks to be safe, because as it turns out, I donothave a natural talent at rock climbing, andI’m not taking any more risks. When she reaches the top, she turns around to pull me over the edge, and holy shit I have never appreciated how wonderful solid land is. Suddenly, I get the dramatic movie scenes where people kiss the ground. I mean, I’m not going to do it, because gross, but the vibes are there.

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