Innocence

Bike Ride Gone Wrong?

Macy shut off her phone and put it in her pocket. She looked outside her window one more time. Then she got on her light grey converse shoes, put on a dark grey sweater, and opened her door somewhat cautiously. Jade seemed to be in her room so Mace shut her door, went to the front door, and went outside to meet Jem.

Jeremy was waiting for her where he said he would. He was next to a couple bikes, one black and one blue, and holding a few helmets of matching colors. "I hope you don't mind? I would rather bike than walk." Macy was smiling from ear to ear. She loved biking! "Oh for sure! I'm always up for a bike ride. You still get your legs moving, and the bonus is the wind in your face." Jeremy grinned at her enthusiasm. "True, so what color do you want? Sorry, we didn't have a lot of 'happy' color choices."
"It's fine. I'll take the black one."
"Really?"
"Yeah! I mean why not?"
"True, okay then here's your helmet of matching color."

Jem tossed her a black smooth helmet. Mace sat on her bike waiting for Jem to get his helmet on. He kept fumbling with the straps. "Oh my gosh, could you even take any longer?" Macy said with a mocking voice, and trying to suppress a smile, and failing. She got off her bike and nudged the kickstand down with the toe of her shoe. She stepped towards Jem and he automatically backed up. "Come here, I'm not going to pinch you."
"No, but you might hit me for taking forever."
"Me? Never." Macy said, her voice dripping in sarcasm.

Jem rolled his eyes as Macy clicked the buckle together, finally. She looked at Jem's blue eyes, lighter than usual. She stepped on her tip toes and kissed his nose, then turned around before Jem had even the phantom of an idea of what just happened. "Hurry up and get on your bike. We're never going to make it to the library at this rate."
"Oh whatever! Says you!"
"I'm sorry, I wasn't the one taking eight hours to figure out a bike helmet."

Macy turned and looked back at him smirking. His only response was to stick his tongue out. Macy laughed as they started biking. She was in the lead at first, but Jem soon took over so they didn't get lost. Macy's hair was blowing in the wind, and she was laughing. See the reason she loved biking so much was because she loved feeling the wind on her face and loved feeling like she was free.

Jeremy's watching her and in his mind he's just thinking, 'Man, I love this side of her. She's so happy and her smile is so bright.' Jem slowed down a little as they came to the end of the sidewalk, but Macy wasn't paying attention. "Macy! Slow down!" Jem shouted. Macy had passed him and she saw the sidewalk ending. She also saw cars coming, but all the biking and wind in her face made her feel so free she figured she could make it.

Macy raced her bike. Faster. Faster. Faster. She went over the curb and swerved behind one car, raced her bike in front of the other, and completely dodged one coming around the corner. Jeremy just stood wide eyes at the other end of the road. Jem waited for the road to clear and cars to pass. When he finally crossed he immediately jumped off his bike and raced to Macy. "Oh my God! Why'd you do that? You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"But I didn't. And I'm not hurt, am I?"
"Mace, that's not the point. The point was that was reckless as hell."
"And? The worst that could've happened is I could have died."

The words slipped out of her mouth before she could rephrase, or even rethink what she just said. Jem was stunned speechless. "What do you mean, 'the worst that could happen?' Don't you want to be alive?" Macy stayed quiet. Her head was pounding, and all the adrenaline that had been in her before slowly left. "I- I don't- I don't want to be alive if I have to deal with everything up here." Mace pointed at her head. "You wouldn't believe the kinds of thoughts I have."
"I thought you were getting better! I thought we were having fun."
"So did I, but as soon as you're having the best time of your life, that's when the thoughts like to come the most. When you're happy and hanging out with friends. The thoughts like to ruin everything.."
"Macy..."