67 Summer Nights (Unedited)

Chapter 18

There was one week left before I returned back to my life in the United States. I missed American food, my friends, and my California weather. Yet I knew that I'd forged a way of life here in Sweden, and leaving meant leaving Anders behind.

But today I wasn't going to think about that. Today we were going to a trampoline park.

Anders picked me up and drove us JUMP. I was a little worried that he was going to get hurt worse, given that his arm was broken.

I also couldn't get it out of my head that he did extreme things when he was upset.

We waited in line to pay admission then walked in. There were dozens upon dozens of trampolines all connected by brightly colored cushions.

Kids were bouncing around everywhere, screaming and squealing in delight. We walked over to the cubbies to leave our shoes behind.

I loved places like these!

Once we had our shoes off, we ran off to the nearest trampoline. I couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Anders bouncing up and down with a clunky cast on his arm.

There was something so endearing about him wearing that. It made him look like a bird with a broken wing.

He chased me onto another trampoline and tackled me down. Suddenly a group of kids landed on us, keeping us as the bottom of the pile. I managed to wriggle out and tried to pull Anders out.

Another wave of kids knocked me down and we had no choice, but to surrender to this sea of kids for the time being. They finally dissipated and moved onto another trampoline. Anders was on his back, out of breath. I crawled over to him and sat beside him on my knees.

"I thought I wasn't going to make it." he laughed.

"Me either. I took a knee to my ribcage." I said, softly rubbing my side.

"I took a knee somewhere else."

Ouch.

I helped him up, then we moved into the zone where there weren't as many kids. Trampolines were up against the wall giving everyone a chance to run body first into the wall. Anders was the first to try it and went flying backwards into another trampoline.

That looked like fun. I sprinted towards the wall and bounced right off. I landed right next to Anders, bursting into giggles.

"Are you okay?" Anders, asked, rubbing the side of my head.

"Yeah," I laughed.

"You hit that really hard."

"I have a really hard head."

He leaned over and kissed my cheek, then rolled onto his feet and brought me with him onto the next trampoline.

Anders wasn't able to do any of the obstacle courses because he had only one arm to work with, but that didn't seem to deter him. I was a little worried that he might break his arm all over again or worse, break something else.

I pulled him back as he tried getting up on to the platform to start on an obstacle course.

"Wait," I began. "You can't do that with just one arm."

He pried his hand away and shook his head.

"Of course I can. It's not that hard." he assured.

"But you could get hurt. Maybe you shouldn't do it."

"I'll be fine." he insisted.

"Anders, you could break another arm. If you lose grip, you won't be able to regain it. Please, let's just move onto another trampoline."