Breaking Pointe

Chapter Eight

“Gee, I’m a tree!” he said excitedly, and creased his brows when she didn’t respond. “Like... geometry,” he prodded, looking defeated.

Arabella burst out laughing “I know.” she smiled, and he grinned right back.

“You had me worried for a second there. Why did the chicken cross the road?”

“To get to the other side. I can guarantee that I know WAY more cheesy jokes than you do.” 

“You thought those were cheesy?” Tyler asked, pretending to be insulted.

“Why did the bicycle stop moving? It was two tired.” she smiled.

“You didn’t even give me a chance to guess!” he protested, and Arabella stuck her tongue out at him.

“Wait, what’s that in your eye?” he asked, looking concerned.

“What? Where?” she asked, getting concerned  herself. She blinked rapidly but didn’t feel anything.

He cupped her cheek with his hand and looked deeply into her eyes. She felt her cheek get hot where his hand touched it. As he looked deeper and deeper she lost her ability to move. 

“Oh wait, that’s just a sparkle,” he winked, and her jaw dropped. 

“Hey! That’s not a cheesy joke, that’s a cheesy pick up line” she said to her lap, blushing as she crinkled up her empty hot dog wrapper. He chuckled and touched her hair affectionately, but thankfully left it at that. Any more and she was sure she would hyperventilate and pass out. How embarrassing. He had finished his hot dog a while before, so he took her wrapper and they walked over to the trash can to throw them away. 

“Hey Tyler, how did the turtle cross the freeway?” Arabella asked with a mischievous smile. 

“How?” he asked, waiting for the punch line.

“I’ll give you a hint. Take the f out of free and the f out of way.”

“Ree.... the f out of free...” he thought, pushing his eyebrows together in concentration. “Ella, there’s no f in way.” he said and this time his jaw dropped and he laughed hysterically. He scrunched his nose up a little when he laughed. “That’s terrible! There’s no effing way! I can’t believe you just made me say that! Oh, you are SO going to pay for that one.” 

He chased her around and tickled her, both of them laughing like crazy people. He tickled her sides and she doubled over laughing. She turned around to playfully push him away and ended up with his hands around her waist and both of her hands on his chest. His happy smile was just inches from hers and he looked into her eyes again. This time, though, he wasn’t joking. He pressed his forehead to hers, getting closer and closer. Their breath, his just a little like cinnamon, mingled together. She felt her hands, like they had a mind of their own, reach up and tangle themselves in the soft curls on the back of his neck. What was it about him that brought her out of her shell and possessed her to be so brave? Usually she was a total chicken...

“Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side!” said her mother’s voice in her head. She froze.

Five year old Arabella giggled and her mom chased her around the room tickling her and eventually scooped her up and pressed their foreheads together. Arabella saw her own light blue eyes mirrored in her mother‘s. “You’re the only one that laughs at my jokes anymore, A.” she smiled, and the memory faded away...

Arabella opened her eyes to see Tyler kneeling above her, very worried. Great, she had passed out. Yikes. Luckily he had been holding her so instead of falling and hurting herself he had set her down gently on the grass. Parts of the memory came back to her and she started to feel anxious. She needed to get back to the tree before she had a panic attack or passed out again.