Dark Beauty

chapter 26

I woke up with a big smile on my face. Just knowing I was hanging out with Jake made me really happy inside. I knew it would be hot today so I put on a pair of shorts and a green t-shirt. Since I didn't know where he was taking me I couldn't wear anything too fancy or too simple. When I went downstairs for breakfast I tried to hide my smile but I think it was pointless.
'Why are you so happy today?' My father asked.
'Had a good dream?' My mother asked.
'I just woke up in a good mood.' I explained.
'Why are you already dressed?' My mom asked. 'Are you going somewhere?'
'I'm hanging out with Jake today.' I told her.
'What about Avery?' My dad asked.
'She is still not feeling so well.' I said. I had talked to her on Skype yesterday and she said she would go to school on Monday but needed to rest a little more. And she wasn't exactly invited.
'What are you doing with Jake?' My mom asked suspiciously.
'I don't know. He said it was a surprise.' I smiled.
'I don't like this surprise thing.' My mom said.
'You don't need to worry.' I mumbled.
'I will always worry about you; it's what moms do.' She explained.
'You just need to meet him and then you'll know there is nothing to worry about.' I said.
'Yes, invite him for dinner any day.' My father suggested looking up from his newspaper.
'Your dad is right. I need to meet him. Are you leaving now?' My mom seemed to like the idea of meeting Jake.
'Yes, it's a whole day date.' I said. The minute I said date I regretted it.
'Is this a date?' My father laid his paper on his lap.
'Did you break up with Lucas?' My mom asked, not even giving me time to answer my dad.
'No, we're just hanging out, and no, I'm still with Lucas.' I explained. 'I said date out of the habit of going out with Lucas.' That was a lie. It's been quite a while since Lucas had taken me on a date. Usually we would go to parties with his friends. They were fun and all, but I missed spending time with Lucas alone. Plus, in the last few parties, it was as if Lucas forgot I was there with him. In fact, at the last party it took me an hour just to find him. Don't get me wrong, I do like parties, but in order to party you have to be with your friends having fun, not alone looking for your boyfriend the entire time.
'Okay, well, go on.' My mother sighed. 'Don't get into trouble.' Was my mother thinking that Jake and I were going to rob a bank or something?
'Don't get home too late.' My father warned.
'Thanks Mom, thanks dad.' I said.
I ate breakfast quickly and then went to meet Jake. He said to meet him next to the fountain. The last time I've been there was when I found Jake drunk. I had passed through that square, but never really sat on the benches. As I sat there waiting for Jake an old woman called Abigail asked me if I wanted to feed the pigeons with her. Since I had nothing else to do, I said yes.
She was telling me something about her grandsons when she smiled and looked behind me.
'Is that boy walking over here your boyfriend?' She asked.
I turned around and saw Jake.
'No, he is just my friend.' I said.
'Hey Leila.' Jake said. He turned to Abigail and shook her hand. 'Hello, I'm Jake.'
'Oh hello I'm Abigail, just met your lovely friend here.' She smiled.
'I see she is feeding the pigeons.' Jake raised an eyebrow.
'Can't leave them hungry can I?' I smiled.
'Well now that your friend is here, you can leave this duty to me.' The old lady said, taking the corn bag from my hand.
'Yeah we should go.' I got up. 'Nice meeting you.' I said to Abigail.
'Nice meeting you too.' Jake said.
'Well if you come here again you will probably find me.' She smiled.
As we left Jake put his arms around my shoulder. 'Didn't know you were also an Old Lady charmer.' He joked.
'She was very sweet.' I smiled.
'So are you.' He said, letting go of my shoulder. 'I hope you like our first stop.'
'I'm sure I'm going to like it'. I smiled.

We were walking to the bus stop when I saw that his hand was full of bandages. How didn't I notice this before?
'Hey Jake what happened to your hand?' I asked.
'Oh my hand, I erm...' He looked at his hand for some seconds. 'I was going to get a glass of water but the cup was kind of out of my reach, so when I tried to get it, it fell on my hand. So now my hand and part of my arm is full of little cuts. In the end, I didn't even get my water.' He smiled. 'These bandages are making it seem worse, it was just some minor cuts.'
Don't people normally pull their hand away when they see a cup falling, you know, out of reflex?
'Well I can buy you water if you want some.' I joked.
'Funny.' Jake gave a little smile.
'So did you have breakfast?' Jake asked.
'Yeah, why? You didn't?' I looked at Jake and he had a little smile on his face.
'I hope you didn't eat much.' Jake said, and pulled me to walk faster.
'What do you mean?' I asked.
'You'll see.' Jake said.
We arrived in this big glass door. I looked up and read, Ifly Indoor Skydiving.
'We're going Indoor Skydiving?' I think Jake noticed the excitement in my voice.
'There is no real skydiving here, so I thought, why not indoor skydiving.'
Everything inside the place was modern, I would say, even a little futuristic. The woman in the reception greeted us with a welcoming smile. Jake gave our names and she checked it on her computer.
'Jake, isn't this expensive?' I whispered. 'Let me pay my part.'
'Hey, this is my treat and I got a special discount, so no worries.' Jake said.
'What special discount?' I asked suspiciously.
'Just a discount.' I was about to ask him to explain better, but the woman told us we could go and that we were going to meet our instructor. It was a good thing we were going in the morning, because there were only a few people.
We entered a big room with a vertical tube in the middle. The room was lit with blue and pink lights and there were some comfy stools that people could sit on while they waited for their turn or just wanted to watch.
The Indoor skydiving consisted of a vertical tunnel with fans on the top that draws air through the place where you "fly", called flight chamber. From what I understood, these fans push the air back down the sides through a place called Return Air Towers a.k.a. RATs. The air is compressed and speeded up inside the flight chamber, which results in us being able to fly. The rest of the explanation I didn't really pay attention; I was too excited. Our instructor explained each step and after what seemed like forever, but really wasn't even that long, we were ready to fly. We were taught body position and hand signals to communicate with the instructor. We were also given a helmet and a jumpsuit.
Okay, how do I explain the feeling of this indoor flying? It's as if I were in the middle of flying and floating, as if I were free falling, but not really. I don't think I have the words to describe, only that's incredibly amazing. I was nervous, but at the same time I was having so much fun, that when I started to get the hang of it, all the nervousness left my body and all that was left was happiness. Jake and I took a photo, and we each kept a copy.
'Jake, that was incredible, thank you so much.' I hugged him as we left.
'I'm glad you liked it.' Jake said smiling. 'This was our first stop.'
'So what's the second stop?' I asked.
'You'll see.' He smiled.