Research: Romance

amusement park

He looks up at it, then narrows his eyes, "Hmm... are we sure we want to do this one?" 

"What's wrong with this one?" 

"Nothing," Robin shrugs, casually, "It's just that everyone goes on the roller coaster. We should do something for the book that's going to be new. I mean it's a book about..." 

As he says this, his eyes snag on something behind me and he grins, "Let's do that!" 

Raising my eyebrows, I turn around and see there's a bungee swing. My heart leaps into my throat, and lands like an elephant at the bottom of my stomach. Two people are dropped off the platform, soaring through the air as they scream loudly. They plummet in an arch, swinging and bouncing at the bottom before swinging backward and forward again. 

The corn dogs we ate earlier start barking. If you know what I mean. 

"That?" I can hear the shake in my voice, as each scream quakes like tremors in my skeleton. 

Robin is looking at it like it's a tower of ice-cream and he has the only spoon, "That." 

"No." I shake my head, staring at it in complete dread. "I can't. I mean... I can't. I'm." 

I start backing away, as if the ride is a rabid animal about to attack me. My eyes trail all the way up to the platform and I feel like the world tilts underneath me. "That's really high up there." 

"You're scared of heights?" 

"I'm not scared of heights," I manage to tear my eyes away from the ride to level a stern look at Robin, "I mean, I'm not scared of them when it comes to roller coasters or moving objects. Planes, elevators, and stuff. I'm fine when I'm moving it's..." 

"Dropping?" He guesses, and I can tell he is tracking my eyes as they watch the next set of people drop. 

A cold sweat breaks out on my neck, "I went base jumping once." 

He laughs like I've told a joke, but when our eyes meet, he's surprised, "Oh, wow. So then, this should be a piece of cake!" 

I think back to when I burst into tears, strapped to the instructor at the top of a building. Just jump! Just go! I had screamed at him, my body trembling. Even the instructor had insisted I back out if I was that scared, but I couldn't. I had a book to write, and I wanted to know what it felt like. However, while some say facing your fears helps you overcome them, my fear of heights got worse after that day. 

Turns out plummeting off a building does not encourage a lot of security when it comes to facing a biological fear of falling from great heights. It does, however, make for some very vivid nightmares. 

When I return from my flashback, Robin is watching me with a peculiar look. I examine him for a moment, then clear my throat, "You aren't budging on this, are you?" 

He smiles a little, "If you go with me, I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you." 

I narrow my eyes skeptically, "Oh, yeah? What if we die?" 

He laughs at my tone, and tucks me under his arm, "Then I'll make sure I die first by breaking the fall... to increase your chances of survival." 

This does nothing to comfort me, but I let him walk us closer to the ride. Every step feels like a nail being hammered into my coffin. I can see it, the two of us dropping through the air and the cord snapping, or the cord being too long, and the two of us smashing into the pavement like bugs on a windshield. 

"Besides," Robin thinks for a moment. When he looks over at me, those hazel eyes are dancing, "Aren't you a little curious what it would be like?" 

"Dying? No. I think I'll leave the mystery, and my head, intact on that one."