Untitled--Pierce

It all started with a girl. I know, I know I fell into the cliché that the guy always goes to the extremes to get the girl, but when I first saw her sitting on the bench that day, looking so absorbed in a book that it seemed that nothing else in the world mattered I felt my heart seize. She just seemed so... magical. So to indulge in the feelings of infatuation, I decided to go sit at that same bench about an hour earlier than I had seen her that day.I waited at that spot for two weeks but eventually she came back. I was anxious at first, but after some time I launched into a number of small talk topics, acting completely on nerves at that point. Eventually, she told me her name was Olive Powell and that she loves the vibe of the area so she tried to read there in her spare time. After about two hours of talking, I managed to work up the courage to ask her for her phone number. Despite my anxious rambling she surprisingly input her number into my phone, making two weeks of waiting feel completely worth it. Later that night, I texted her, and at first it took her a while to reply, but gradually we started to have steady conversations for about a month. In that time period, we “went out” a few times. Although I was never sure whether it was a platonic thing or something more. Still, I was just happy to spend time with her. On one of these “dates”, we went to see a movie at a nearby movie theater. On the drive back from the movie we were discussing one of the best action scenes in the movie where the main character jumps out of a plane. In the middle of the conversation she turns to me with the moon and streetlights illuminating her face in an angelic glow, and says something that would later fill my body with dread: “You know I want to do that.”
“You want to be an actress?” I ask her, glancing at her before returning my eyes to the road
“No I want to try skydiving. It looks really fun, I’m just too scared to do it.” She replies still looking over at me. This led me to do one of the stupidest thing in my life. “Oh we should do it some time it’s a breathtaking experience.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. I had gone skydiving once before with a group of my friends, and it did scare me so much that I hyperventilated, literally taking my breath away. Still I just dug myself into an inescapable hole by not only suggesting that I love skydiving, but I made the stupid mistake of offering to go skydiving with her. We talked about it the whole ride to her apartment and a few days later she called to tell me that she was free to go skydiving in three weeks. Of course that would’ve been the perfect opportunity to confess that I lied, but I figured that after skydiving I could just confess my feelings for her.

She’d be so hyped up on adrenaline that she’d agree to anything I said! It seemed foolproof. All I had to do was go skydiving with her, jump from 10,000 feet in the air, and try not to look horrified as I was careening through the air. That sounded easy enough. So I told her I would be free on that day, and I mentally psyched myself up to jump out of a plane and place my life in the hands of a piece of nylon for the next 3 weeks. Eventually, against my best wishes, D-day came. We drove over to the skydiving facility and after about 50 minutes of training and practice jumps, we took it to the air for the main jump. I looked over at Olive and saw that she was looking over to me and the experienced skydiver I was attached. Realizing that she wanted me to go first, I steeled myself with courage, I thought to myself “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” and I told my instructor that I was ready. Upon hearing that news he threw himself out of the plane with me in tow. If I’m honest, all thoughts of Olive left my mind right after my feet were no longer in contact with anything. I wasn’t sure if I heard screaming off in the distance or if that was just the wind rustling past my ears. The cold air pressed against my body as I plummeted towards the earth, filling my body with dread and terror. After about 30 seconds that seemed to last a lifetime, I reached for my parachute cord and yanked it and braced myself for the sudden decrease in my velocity. Nothing happened. I started to panic and pulled it again and again frantically, feeling the fear swell in my body. “ This is it” I thought to myself. “This is where fear of rejection and lying get you.. As a red stain on the ground and a headline on a newspaper. Man this sucks.” As I began to come to terms with my death, my reserve parachute kicked in and I felt my body jerk upwards. I met Olive on the ground a few minutes later. I did end up going through with the plan and confessing my feelings to her. She said she’d go out with me, probably because of the adrenaline. We ended up dating for three months. I can’t help but think: Was a mid air panic and a near death experience was really worth dating her?