his hand on my shoulder and spins me around to face him once again. “Let’s go.”
“Leave me alone,” I reply, using my arms to push him back. Except, Kayden is an athlete. His body is covered in muscles. And so my push has no effect on him. It only affects me.
Somehow, the edge that felt so far away is a lot closer than I expected. “Ari!” I hear him shout, just as I lose my footing and stumble back. Too far back. With nothing to stop me from falling.
KAYDEN HARRISON
Dammit.
Why is she fighting me? Well, I guess she always fights me. She’s been arguing with me since the first time I met her. Partly my fault. I didn’t know how else to get her attention that day, ten years ago. so I pushed her. That was wrong of me. And yet, I didn’t learn.
I picked on her after that.
Never truly in a mean way.
Mostly dares. Challenges. Words that weren’t meant to hurt her but rile her up. For some reason, I liked it when she got mad at me. I enjoyed that she didn’t act like everyone else did. She repulsed at the thought of being around me, which just made me want to be around her even more.
I think she’s hated me since the day I unintentionally made her kill her precious little ladybug. I think I’ve loved her since the moment she kicked me in the shin in response.
“Let’s go,” I tell her, spinning her around to face me, hoping the serious look in my eyes shakes some sense into her. Jumping off this rock is ridiculously dangerous, especially in the nighttime while drunk and the water is freezing. No sane person would do this.
“Leave me alone!” she replies. I watch intently as she places her hands on my chest and before I know it, she’s pushing me away.
I get lost briefly in the way her hands feel on my chest, even through my shirt, but I’m broken out of that when I see her stumbling back, going farther and farther than she expected.
I see it in her eyes the moment she realizes what’s going to happen next. “Ari,” I shout and try to get a hold of her, but it’s too late.
She falls off the rock and before anyone can even react, I’m jumping in after her.
ARI COLE
You know that feeling you get when you’re on a rollercoaster? The adrenaline you feel as you climb to the top? The scream you let out the moment you find yourself descending… well that’s nothing at all like what it feels like when you’re falling to your eventual death.
I don’t scream. I feel every second like a movie on slow motion.
Knives. Being stabbed on the back. That’s what it feels like the moment my body hits the water. It’s so deep that I never touch the ground.
Cold is not the right word.
Even freezing wouldn’t describe how it feels to be in this water right now.
I’ve never felt this before.
Panicking, I inhale gulps of water and feel like I’m going to drown. Eventually, my body comes back up to the top and I begin coughing.
Water is coming out of my nose and I still I can’t breathe. That causes me to panic even more.
I scream the moment I feel something touch my back.
“Calm down, it’s just me,” Kayden’s voice says. Wait, Kayden?
I turn around instantly and right before I can ask what he’s doing here, the cough returns.
“You’re okay, just breathe,” Kayden says, and I can’t help but feel weird at the thought of him caring for me.
I manage to get my breathing in order. “What are you doing?” I ask when I feel like I won’t cough again.
“What do you mean, what am I doing here?” he replies, the moon shining enough light for me to see his wet locks.
“Were you jealous I jumped and had to jump too?” I ask, trying to pretend my jumping was totally intentional.
“Are you kidding me right now?” he asks, his tone harsh.
I look at him confused. “Of course not. Why’d you jump?” I ask, continuing to tread water.
“Let’s get out of this water,” he says, his tone resigned as he starts swimming away.
I follow behind him. He looks back every so often to make sure I’m following, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. Why did he jump after me? Could it be that he actually cares about my safety? I shake those thoughts out of my head; it’s Kayden we’re