Finding My Normal

Ch 8: Sang in a Tree

He's still far away so I decide to be a bit devious and climb the tree next to me so I can watch him while he takes his jog. My assignment can wait for later. Right as I step out onto a branch so I can sit myself down it cracks and I begin to fall. I let out a yelp and teeter backwards towards the leaf ridden ground.

I brace myself for the fall; trying to land on my feet so I can tuck and roll. I get scared at the last second and close my eyes and get ready for impact. As I make impact with the hard surface, something catches around my waist preventing me from rolling to avoid serious injury. With my eyes still closed I start assessing my body for injuries. Head, check. Arms, check. Legs, check. Feet....wait a minute my feet never hit the ground! I feel like I'm on my back and yet it doesn't hurt. If I landed on my back I should have had the wind knocked out of me at the very least. I open my eyes slowly thinking I must have died or something to not be in any pain after falling. That's when I realize the hard thing I fell on was not the ground, but Nathan's chest. His blue eyes are looking at me with worry and I can only imagine what he's thinking. Before he gets a chance to question my insanity I speak up.

"Hi." That's it. That is all I was able to squeak out of my mouth. Those blue eyes and the feel of his muscles wrapped around me are enough to render any girl speechless. Luckily he moves the conversation forward.

"Are you okay? You came out of no where. What were you doing up in the tree?"  He asks me.

Oh great! What excuse can I give for being in the tree. I'm sure he won't accept 'wanting to have a better view of you jogging' as an answer. I decide to just answer his first question.

"I'm fine, you caught me"

He smiles at this and starts walking through the trail. "I'm Nathan by the way."

"I'm Sang, I'm new on the block."

"I know, I saw the moving truck outside your house a couple weeks ago. I was wondering when I was going to meet the mysterious girl next door."

Mysterious? What does he mean by that? I let it go for now, "Umm, Nathan? You can put me down now."

"Not until we get you somewhere safe to make sure you can't fall again."

I quiet at this and see we have just passed my house and are approaching what looks like his backyard. He opens the gate and I see that he has a pool.

"You have a pool, that's awesome!"

"Yeah, you swim?"

"I used to, I haven't in a long time."

"Why not?"

He stops walking as he asks the question and all I can do is stare at the glistening pool trying to figure out how to tell him I haven't been swimming in so long because I haven't even been outside!