Page 79 of Straight to Me

“It’s slippery!” I shout.

“It’s by a waterfall. Stop stressing. Pull yourself up.” I’m not stressing. I’m being completely rational. This is ridiculous.

“Pull Mads!” he directs.

“I am! Stop being so bossy.” He laughs, his hand still pushing my bum. Getting the hump, I try my hardest to do it myself without his help.

“You’ve got it.”

“Let me go, I can do it.”

I turn my head back to the rock, briefly shutting my eyes and wondering what on earth is going on here. I’m not a quitter by any means, but my heart is pounding harder in my chest with every minute that passes.

Looking over my shoulder, there's a small line of people waiting for me to hurry up so they can start their climb. It would be easy to say I don’t want to do this anymore, to go back down and walk the long way round, but I desperately want to prove to myself that I’m capable.

VP stops pushing my bum but remains right behind me the rest of the way up. Every now and then, I look back to him to check if I’m doing it right, checking if the foothold I chose is safe. Each time he gives me a slight nod or a small smile of encouragement. It’s nice, motivating even. I know I’m the one doing the hard work, but knowing if I fall, he’d catch me, somehow drives me to carry on.

Ten minutes later at the top, I feel so relieved for it to be over, I slump on a rock catching my breath. My arms burn, my clothes are wet, but I’m immensely proud of myself. VP hasn’t even broken a sweat; he made the climb look effortless. I’ll admit the waterfall was no Mount Everest, but it was an achievement for me, nonetheless.

Walking on, making way for the people coming up behind us, VP takes my hand in his.

“Told you you could do it.”

“Wasn’t easy though,” I huff, exhausted.

“No, but if everything was easy, you’d never be challenged, would you?”

Thinking for a moment, I reply, “True.”

I smile as we walk. I can see why he’s the VP. He looks at me, rubbing his thumb across the back of my hand. “What?” he asks.

“Nothing, just thinking." He smiles, waiting for me to continue. "You’re a calm man VP, got a very rational way of thinking. You know what to say and do to get things done.”

He looks down. “Not all the time, Mads.” From the corner of his eye, I see him look at me.

“Are you referring to what happened when you came down south?”

“You might not be ready to know that whole side of me just yet.” His temple twitches as his teeth grind together. His face suddenly harder than it was.

I haven’t allowed myself to think about that side of him. My feelings have distorted what’s right in front of me to suit what I want to see. Still, I can’t help but feel like I’d feel the same about him, even if I knew all the darker parts.

“Well, knowing what you told me doesn’t change how I feel about you,” I say as his hand squeezes mine. “What is it you’re always telling me? Don’t overthink it. Maybe, don’t overthink what I should and shouldn’t know. Just enjoy us.”

Turning my head to one side, I raise my eyebrows and decide to lighten the mood a bit. “We’ve all got our secrets, some bigger than others, but I’m not afraid to tell you my darkest one.” VP raises an eyebrow. “I warn you. It’s a big one. You’ll think I’m crazy after finding out.”

“I think you need to tell me,” he says genuinely intrigued. “I need to know if I’m dating a crazy woman or not.”

“Well, you already know that ghosts scare me.” He blinks, probably thinking I’m about to reveal I see dead people or something. “Well, the truth is… I have an irrational fear of zombies.”

“Zombies?” He suppresses a smile.

“Yep. See you’d think it was bad enough that I'm a grown woman who's afraid of ghosts, but my real phobia, the thing that paralyses me with cold-blooded fear… is zombies. That’s my big secret. You can’t tell anyone now.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it! Your secret is safe with me,” he says holding in a laugh. “Okay, but just so we’re clear, you know they’re not real, right?”

“I know. I just manage to convince myself that whenever I’m out in the dark they’re going to start chasing me. Like they could appear anywhere at any moment, you know?” His eyes open wide, his lips parted in disbelief.

“Uh no, Mads. I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he laughs.

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