Time seems to pass slowly as I cling to the wall, I can hear Austin talking to the instructors and calling out to me but I'm not listening. All I'm worried about is making sure I don't fall and trying to get control of myself.
I have my eyes squeezed shut and trying to slow my breathing when I feel a hand on my arm and I jump at the contact. My eyes fly open and I see Austin on the wall beside me.
"Hey there sunshine." He smiles sweetly at me, almost cautiously while he takes in my appearance. Like an adult talking to a scared child.
Well, he kind of is.
"I'm scared of heights." I manage to choke out a small nervous laugh. He frowns at me and reaches over to rub my back, but draws his hand back when he feels me tense up.
"No, don't touch me." I say shakily, still in panic attack mode. His eyebrows are drawn together; I assume trying to determine how to get me down safely.
There's no way to get me down safely. I think to myself.
"Okay, before we start trying to get down why don't we talk for a while?"
WHAT?
I stare at him warily. "What's there to talk about? I've already ruined our date."
He surprises me with a low chuckle. "You haven't ruined anything, the only thing that would ruin it is if I can't get you down and you have to stay up here forever." He smiles jokingly at me and I give him a small smile.
"Good, now how many red holds can you see from your point without looking down?"
"How many red ones? Why does that mater?" I ask as I'm already starting to take a quick glance around.
"Doesn't matter why, I want you to count them in your head then tell me how many you see."
I look around a little more without looking down. "I see eight red holds."
He nods in approval and continues his game, making me count green, yellow, blue, and purple.
Before I know it my heart rate is down and my breathing is normal. He talked me down from my panic attack by calmly distracting my brain into focusing on something else.
"Okay, now I'm going to climb over the top of you and I want you to turn around and cling to me like a baby monkey. Got it?"
I nod in agreement and he reaches over me to another hold, which is surprisingly easy for him due to his eagle like wingspan. Without thinking I quickly turn around and wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his abdomen.
"You know this wasn't how I pictured our first time embracing." He raises an eyebrow to me as my cheeks flush and I lean my forehead into his shoulder.
"I'm going to walk us down, just hang on to me okay?" I nod signaling my understanding and tighten my legs more.
And he pushes us off the wall.
I scream in his shoulder as we fall a short distance and we come back to the wall, he kicks pushing us back into nothingness and he laughs. Only a few seconds later I feel us land on the ground and I look up to the strangers clapping. Whether to applaud Austin saving me or trying to support me I'm not sure, but my face goes red in embarrassment and I burry my head in his shoulder again.
The instructors unclip our support ropes and Austin carries me over to the side to a bench and sits down, leaving me straddling his lap. He gently puts his hands on either side of my face and sits me up to look at him.
"Why didn't you tell me you were scared of heights?" He whispers looking concerned and guilty.
I fiddle with my fingers that are still interlaced behind his head. "I didn't want to ruin the date you planned. To be fair I did have a few ideas on how to back out but they all made me look crazy." I smiled shyly at him and looked down at his shirt to avoid eye contact.
"You're not crazy, and I already told you that you didn't ruin anything. I come here often, and I thought it would be funny to 'defy physics' since I'm your physics teacher." He says with a smirk before leaning in and planting a kiss on my forehead.
"As much as I would love to sit like this all night, we have reservations." He says in a low voice. "Get your harness off. There's a women's washroom right around that corner, I had the lady up front get you a locker. Go get ready for our second adventure."
-
After I got dressed I met Austin back at his car and he started driving us to our next destination. I knew it wouldn't do me any good to ask where we were going so I just sat back and waited.
I kept sneaking glances of him from the corner of my eye; man did he look handsome. He was wearing a charcoal grey suit with, surprise surprise, a navy blue tie and black dress shoes.
"Would it be weird if I said you look handsome in a suit?" I say shyly and he gives me a lopsided grin, dimples flashing underneath his short beard.
"Speaking of your suit, I'm glad I picked an outfit that was relatively fancy." I said, tugging the hem of my dress down my legs.
"Actually, I had a backup outfit. When your eyes were closed in the lobby I handed the female employee your bag to put in your locker. I snuck a peak at what you were going to wear. So I wore my suit and we're going to the first reservation I made." He stopped for a second to down shift and take a right turn. "If you had packed something less formal, I had an outfit for that occasion and a second reservation with a less 'elegant' atmosphere." He looks over to me with a triumphant smile on his face, flashing perfect white teeth.
"I'm not sure whether to be impressed or angry you looked in my bag. You never go through a lady's bag, Austin." I say humorously.
"You never look through a lady's purse, Riley. They never said anything about a bag." He throws me a wink before pulling over to the curb and putting the car in park.
My door opens and an older valet driver sticks his hand out to help me out of the car. I look up at the sign and notice it says "Carushas" in bold red letters.
The entire front of the building is glass, tinted so dark you can't see anything inside.
Austin holds his hand out and I put my hand in his letting him lead the way through the front doors. We walk inside and the entire restaurant is clad in deep colors such as dark reds and blacks.
There are potted trees and plants in the foyer and lit candles on each table, a large chandelier gives light to the small foyer.
Austin gives his last name and the hostess brings us to a booth towards the back of the restaurant. Our waiter swings by with a bottle of some kind of fancy white wine and pours us both a glass.
I take a quick look around while Austin and the waiter talk about wine. There is not one pair of blue jeans in this entire place and I feel completely out of my league. Granted I look the part in my dress and heels, but I don't know proper rich-people-eating etiquette.
"I'm going to be honest and say I've never been here before, but I've heard great things." Austin says as he skims over the menu.
After several moments of looking at my own menu I was lost, I didn't know what most of these dishes were and half of them I'm pretty sure are in a different language. It brought me to an idea.