Chapter 6
six
The trampoline park was empty. Even though it was 10 a.m. on a Wednesday, I’d assumed there’d at least be a dozen young kids running around getting their germs everywhere. But it was just Liam, Ava, Tripp, their content creator, Kyle, and me. We had the place to ourselves, and I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that. On the one hand, the witnesses to my embarrassment would be minimal. On the other hand, there wouldn’t be a rush of tiny humans distracting everyone from watching me.
I still didn’t understand how the trampoline park would help prepare me for a bungee jump, but I’d much rather start here than head into my first challenge without an ounce of preparation.
“Here,” Tripp said and handed me a pair of neon yellow and green socks. I turned them over in my hand and stared at him blankly. “They have grippers, so you don’t bust your butt out there.”
“If they think silicone dots on the bottom of socks will keep me safe, they haven’t met me.” I smiled and took the socks. “But safety first!”
Liam rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Ava and Kyle. They were setting up lighting and going over the shots they wanted to be sure to capture. I tried to ignore their conversation, but every few seconds, one of them would say my name, and I’d strain to listen.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Tripp asked.
I glanced up at him, startled. I hadn’t seen him approaching. “Pretty sure you can guess without dropping a coin.”
He laughed and placed his hand on my shoulder. The unexpected touch startled me, but at the same time, butterflies filled my stomach. He gave it a gentle squeeze and pulled away quickly. The butterflies lingered. “This should be the fun part. But I’m sure you’ve already imagined a million ways you might die today.”
“Or snap my spine. I didn’t know a trampoline required so many warning signs. Or a three-page safety waiver.”
“Lawyers can ruin the fun in just about anything.”
“I did consider that career path for a while.”
“A lawyer who kills fun?”
“A lawyer who keeps the world safe,” I said, smiling. “Though, you piss off the wrong person and—” I traced a line across my neck with my finger. Tripp shook his head when I lolled my head to the side and stuck out my tongue.
“Well, I for one am glad you chose marketing. You’d have been a wonderful lawyer, I’m sure, but your creativity would’ve been wasted.”
I ignored the simultaneous rush of pride and embarrassment at his compliment and shrugged. “So, what’s the plan here? Is someone going to just shove me into a foam or ball pit? Do I just bounce on a trampoline until my fear of jumping off of a bridge magically fades away?”
“Something like that, yeah.” Tripp grinned.
“Fantastic. Let’s get this over with.”
I followed him out into the empty park. Kyle, Liam, and Ava trailed behind us. I was acutely aware of their whispered commentary and the fact that the camera was not only rolling but also fully focused on me.
Up until this moment. I’d been able to pretend my shiny, happy self wasn’t the actual face of this entire campaign. Every reaction, every fear, every vulnerability of mine would be on full display for the nearly two million people that follow Take the Lead on social media. I wasn’t sure which was more terrifying—doing the challenges or being made to look like a scared fool on social media in video and photographic content that would live much longer than me. At least no one knew who I was outside of our existing client base and my friends and family, and hopefully, we could keep the client exposure to a minimum. I shuddered at the thought of presenting marketing plans to a room full of people who had, for example, watched me pass out while riding a rollercoaster.
Tripp led me out to one of the smaller trampolines. I took a tentative step onto it and immediately pulled back. While, logically, I knew the ground was solid, it felt like anything but. The pliable material looked like any flat surface, but the minute my body weight applied any hint of pressure, it gave way. My heart thudded in my chest. Liam snorted and made a snide remark under his breath. I couldn’t quite hear him, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out what he’d said.
A hand wrapped around mine. I glanced down and found my fingers intertwined with Tripp’s. His palm was warm and rough and reassuring against mine. He gave my hand a sturdy squeeze before he tugged me forward. I lost my balance for a moment, but his other hand landed on my hip and immediately steadied me. A flood of warmth inundated my senses. It was so strong that I barely noticed the trampoline under my feet. What is happening? Is he getting butterflies too? No, I’m sure he’s just being supportive and making sure we don’t get lame content. With Tripp guiding me, I walked to the center of the trampoline.
“I’m going to stay still. Just jump when you’re ready.” His voice was so quiet that only I could hear him. There wasn’t an ounce of judgment or ridicule in his voice. Liam and Kyle were both snickering behind us. I could hear Ava quietly scolding and trying to shush them. “Ignore them and focus on me, okay?”
It was ridiculous, though. This was a small trampoline in a completely controlled environment. There were absolutely zero reasons to be scared and worried. Kids did this kind of stuff with wild abandon all the time. Well, kids who weren’t me. They didn’t worry about broken necks or double bounces that broke bones or a trampoline ripping wide open sending them careening onto a concrete floor. This was fun. Or it should be fun.
Honestly, I wasn’t even sure I knew how to jump. When was the last time I’d tried? Probably during some plyometric exercise in one of those workout DVDs that Ava talked me into doing back in college. Even then, I always followed the low-impact modifier. Jumping led to jiggling and the wild freedom of all of my bits and pieces. Suddenly, I became hyper-aware of the camera on me catching every inch of me. I’m not usually self-conscious, but I also wasn’t used to being the face of a campaign.
“I can’t do this,” I whispered to Tripp. “This is a bad idea. I don’t know how to jump, and everyone is going to make fun of me and laugh when they see this video.”
Why had I agreed to this? Tears welled in my eyes. I felt like such an idiot—both for my reaction and for my inability to just freaking jump.
“This is so stupid,” I said. “I’m stupid.”
“Breathe, Sadie,” Tripp said. He leaned in close, and his lips grazed my ear. If I hadn’t been in the midst of a mild panic attack, I’d have melted under the contact. He placed his hands on either side of my waist and started bouncing. I shook my head as the ground beneath me gave way to our weight. “I know you don’t know me, but try to trust me, okay? I’ve got you.”
Without thinking, I nodded. I’ve got you . His words melted something frozen inside of me. My body warmed. I felt my knees loosen and bend. My feet didn’t leave the surface, but slowly, I began to bounce along with him. After a minute or two, he jumped a bit higher. When my feet finally left the ground, he released his hold on my hips. I grasped his hands and held onto them as we began to jump higher. We fell into a rhythm. The more we jumped, the more my mind relaxed. I let go of his hands and was surprised to find I was enjoying myself. Tripp backed away from me and eventually stepped off of the trampoline. I started laughing.
I caught Ava’s eye and smiled back at her. “Look at you!” she mouthed at me. Her face beamed with pride.
I jumped for what felt like hours. I bounced from one trampoline to another, zigzagging across the park. It was freeing, how loose it all felt. At some point, I even forgot about the cameras and audience. I was just having fun.
“Okay, that’s enough trampoline content,” Liam said, yawning. “Let’s move over to the climbing area.”
Wait, what? I slowed my jumping. I turned back to the group and found Tripp’s smiling face. Like Ava, he looked like a proud parent. “Why do I need to climb?”
“So, you can jump off their little platform,” Liam said and smirked. “Think you can handle that?”
No, not at all . I wasn’t about to tell him that and give him the satisfaction. Liam seemed to be enjoying my discomfort which made me dislike him and want to prove him wrong.
“Sure,” I said.
We moved our setup across the park. A small fenced-off area filled with rock climbing walls, pedestals of various heights, and something that looked like a baby bungee jumping platform awaited us, and I wondered why we hadn’t started here. Just looking at the area made my heart and mind race. I conjured up dozens of images of snapped ropes and my body lying prone and broken on the hard floor.
But I kept it together as Tripp helped me into a harness and stepped into his own. “How do you want to do this?” he asked.
“I don’t.”
Tripp laughed and shook his head. “We can either start small and work our way up to the platform jump, or we can start there and just focus on that.”
I scanned the climbing area and weighed my options. I could delay the inevitable and give Liam a dozen extra opportunities to laugh at me, or I could just go for the one thing I wanted to do least. Neither option appealed to me. I chose the path of least resistance … and humiliation.
“Let’s just go for it.”
Tripp nodded with a grin. “Good choice.” Once again, he grabbed my hand. This time, I was prepared for the contact. I noted how well my hand fit in his, and then promptly shoved the thought aside. He led me toward the ladder. It was only about eight feet up, but it looked like Mount Everest from where I stood. A lump rose in my throat as I looked up at the metal I’d soon be climbing.
“Only one of us can go up at a time,” Tripp said.
“What? No, I am not going up there alone.”
“Technically, only one of us can go up because there is only one rope.” He held the offending rope in his hand and showed it to me before he clipped it to the carabiner on my waist. “We’re going to break the rules today, though.” He started to climb the ladder.
“Wait!” I shouted louder than I’d intended. “You need to be attached to a rope too! It’s not safe without it, is it?”
Liam gave a loud snort of laughter. I turned to glare at him. All I wanted was for his boss to be safe. What was so funny about that?
“I’m not jumping,” Tripp said, “I’m going to go up with you, and then I’ll climb back down to help you land on the ground. We’ll repeat that until you can do it on your own.”
I wanted to protest more, but he started climbing the ladder. I stared up at him and willed my feet to move. I wrapped my fingers around the step in front of me and placed my foot on the bottom rung of the ladder. I’d climbed things before. At barely five feet tall, I was used to climbing step ladders and standing on things to reach medium-height shelves. So, I pretended that was all I was doing. This was just four small stools stacked on top of each other. Four small step stools. I repeated this over and over with every step. When I reached the last one, my eyes blurred with tears. I blinked them away and met Tripp’s gaze.
“I was expecting more of a fight.” He took hold of my arm and helped pull me up. II remained crouched for a moment before standing to join him. I kept my gaze locked on his face. I feared if I looked anywhere else, like down, I’d completely lose it.
“I had to turn my brain off,” I said once I’d composed myself. “It helps that the ladder is sturdier than the trampoline.”
“When you’re ready, I’m going to climb back down.” He grabbed the rope in front of me and tugged it. The rope gave a little but remained firmly attached to the ceiling. “This is long enough to get you to the ground, okay? It’s strong enough to hold 800 pounds. You are safe.”
“Safe,” I echoed. There wasn’t an ounce of trust in my voice.
Tripp leaned in and whispered into my ear. “Between this rope and me at the bottom, you’re safe, Sadie. Okay?” The confidence in his voice filtered through my ears and into my brain. I let his words circle a few times in my mind until I’d memorized the sound. “I’ve got you.”
“Safe.” This time, I almost believed it. Tripp guided me a few steps forward but stopped shy of the edge. He locked his eyes on mine one last time and waited until I gave him a small nod. Then, he climbed back down. My eyes followed him back down the ladder and then to the ground below me.
“When you’re ready.”
“Jump?”
“That’s the idea,” Liam said. I ignored him and focused on Tripp.
Wrapping my hands around the rope, I pulled it just as Tripp had. It felt sturdy. I dared a look over the edge. Instead of seeing the ground, I saw Tripp smiling up at me. You’re safe, Sadie. I’ve got you. His words echoed in my mind. And I actually believed him. I trusted this man I barely knew. I didn’t let any other thoughts enter my head. I trained every ounce of energy onto those three words and the man who’d uttered them. Then I stepped forward.
My feet found the air…
And then I was falling.
Before I could even react, I was on the ground and Tripp had his arms around me. He hadn’t needed to catch me—the rope had done a good enough job—but he was a man of his word. He’d been ready and waiting for me.
“Damn!” Liam hollered.
“Holy crap,” Ava said. “She didn’t even hesitate.”
“Heck yeah, sis!” At that, my head snapped to the right. Seth, my brother, was standing beside Kyle. A look of complete disbelief was plastered on his face. What is he doing here?
Tripp read the puzzled look on my face. “He said you all had dinner plans tonight and wanted to know when we’d be done so he could pick you up.”
That little scheming brat.