Beyond the Broken Angel

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

— jump with me —

May 1st, 2018

"UM, NO THANKS," Giselle said as she turned down a shot glass held out to her, her voice just loud enough to be heard over the music and chatter of partygoers around her. "I'm not a big fan of alcohol."

"You sure?" Ajay's friend, Yvonne Morrison, said as she retracted her arm.

"Yeah, she's already mental enough without alcohol in her system," Ajay joked, throwing an arm around her shoulders, tugging her closer to him on the log they sat on by the bonfire.

"Oh, shut up," Giselle said, elbowing him playfully. "You know, you're really annoying when you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk," Ajay said, before shooting his hand out and taking the shot glass from Yvonne. He quickly downed it, grimacing afterwards. "Now I'm drunk."

Yvonne laughed to herself. "It doesn't work that fast, you muppet." She stood up from her chair next to Ajay and Giselle's log. "I'm going to go find a water. Anyone need anything?"

"We're fine," Ajay said, Giselle agreeing.

"I like her," Giselle said once Yvonne was out of earshot. "She's nice."

Ajay nodded, watching Yvonne's retreating figure. "I told you that you would like her. Yvonne's been my best mate since primary school."

"Hmm. I'm surprised your nana didn't try to pawn you off to her," Giselle joked.

"Nah, it's never been like that with us," Ajay said before grinning. "Though, Nana did try."

"Of course she would." Giselle's attention got snagged by a body scaling the large wall of rock that overlooked the swimming hole off to their right, her eyebrows shooting up when the figure reached the top. "Woah. Is he gonna jump?" she asked.

Ajay nodded, right as the man reared back to get a running start and leapt off of the small cliff, cannonballing into the water below. The crowd of drunk young adults cheered when he surfaced, and another brave soul began to climb the wall all over again.

"The reason why people are just now getting ballsy enough to jump is because they're all sloshed," Ajay told her.

"Have you ever done it?"

Ajay laughed. "Absolutely not. No amount of alcohol could ever get me up that rock."

Giselle smiled, standing up and grabbing his hand. "Come on, let's go do it."

Ajay's eyes bulged out of his head as she tugged him up. "You must be mad if you think I'm going to climb that!" he protested.

"Oh, you have to!" Giselle begged. "It'll be fun!"

"But we didn't bring swimming suits."

"So what? Clothes dry."

"Yeah, well . . . it's still too dangerous." The light from the bonfire bounced off his scared face, making Giselle laugh at his expression.

"Come on, don't be a wimp," she teased.

He frowned. "It's not wimpy to want to be able to live."