14. Nora
14
NORA
A fter about an hour in the pool, the goosebumps on my arms turn into shivers. The nights still get down to about sixty degrees this time of year, which isn’t that cool—unless you’re wet and cold-natured like I am.
Alex doesn’t seem bothered at all by the temperature, and I feel a bit bad about being the first one to get out. It’s obvious that the pool is his happy place but he follows me without hesitation.
“You don’t have to get out,” I say, wrapping a towel around my shoulders. I try not to stare as he scrubs the other towel over his hair, his raised arms giving a very clear view of his defined arms and lean, muscled torso. I saw the membership card for a gym attached to his keyring earlier, and it seems he uses it regularly.
I watch, transfixed, as a drop of water slides from his collarbone, and I imagine it throwing up its hands and screaming with delight as it traverses the roller coaster-like peaks and dips of his muscles. I look up to find him watching me with a smirk. My face instantly flames as I clear my throat and look away. Thank goodness it’s too dark out here for him to see how red I must be.
Almost as if my thoughts of the darkness summoned it, the floodlights that illuminate us suddenly blink out and the backyard goes black. The night is overcast, obstructing any moon or starlight that might have helped us out. A squeak of alarm squeezes out of my chest.
“Well, this is interesting,” Alex says, his voice surprisingly calm. “I hope we lost power.”
“What? Why would you hope for that?” My voice sounds strained to my own ears and I draw in a breath, trying to calm myself. I’m not a huge fan of the dark, especially in an unfamiliar place.
“If it’s not an outage, the only other explanation is that someone turned them off and since I’m not expecting anyone, that would mean we have an intruder.”
“An intruder?” My heart rate kicks up to NASCAR speed and I feel my eyes widen in the darkness. I jump at a bump on my arm and lash out, smacking bare skin with my palm.
“Ow!” Alex yelps. I feel his hand grip my arm firmly, not enough to hurt, but enough to keep me from slapping him again. “What was that for?”
“You said there’s an intruder and then I felt someone touch me,” I hiss.
“I didn’t say there’s an intruder.” He sounds exasperated. “I’m like 95 percent certain it’s just a power outage.”
I stifle another squeak. That’s about 4.99 percent less sure than I’d like for him to be.
“What do we do?” I whisper.
I feel him lean in closer until his breath tickles my neck, his hand still warm on my skin. “Why are you whispering?”
“So the intruder can’t hear us.” Obviously , I refrain from adding. Now is not the time for sarcasm, not when our lives are at stake.
“Nora, there’s no intruder, but if you want, you can wait here while I check it out.” He sounds amused now, much to my annoyance. Why isn’t he taking this seriously?
“No, we should stick together. Bad things always happen when you separate.” It’s like he’s never watched a movie before.
“Okay, if you say so.” His fingers slide down my arm, making me shiver, and he tucks my hand into his. “I’ll go first.”
Alex tugs me forward, and I follow him cautiously, placing each step carefully to avoid tripping. It feels like we’ve walked half a mile when I hear a thump and Alex lets out a grunt of pain.
I scream and yank his arm, pulling him backward, away from the danger. My heel catches and I stumble, falling backward onto the grass. The air whooshes out of my lungs as I land hard and Alex smashes down on top of me with an oof sound.
He immediately rolls off of me, and I can just barely make out his outline as he sits up and leans over me. “Nora? Are you okay?”
I open my mouth but no sound comes out as I wait in a state of semi-panic for the breath that was knocked out of me to return. Finally, I gasp and sputter as the tightness in my chest lessens. Alex eases his arm behind me and helps me to a sitting position.
“What…what was that?” I wheeze. “Is someone there?”
“No, I stubbed my toe on a raised flagstone. Why did you pull me down?”
“I…I thought someone was attacking you.”
Alex laughs, the sound vibrating through me where his hand still rests on my shoulder. “For the last time, Nora, no one is here but us. We’re almost back to the house now. I can even see the firepit. I’m going to go get a flashlight and I’ll come back for you, okay?”
“No!” I say sharply, then soften my tone. “I don’t want to be left out here alone. I’ll come with you. I can do it.”
I push myself up and aim for the glow of the fire pit that Alex pointed out. I reach for his hand again, his steadiness comforting, even though at this point, I’m fairly certain he’s right about there not being an intruder. My scream from a minute ago would have either scared them away or drawn them out to murder us, I would think. Now I am simply focused on making it back to the house. I feel like a pioneer traveling through the wilderness, finally approaching warmth and safety. I’m sure I’ll look back at some point and cringe at the dramatic nature of my thoughts. Being overly dramatic is a cousin to overthinking, and I’m great at both. But for now, all I want is the comfort of the house, power outage or not.
Just as we step up onto the patio, the electricity returns, and it takes a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light suddenly streaming from the French doors. I melt into a chair in front of the fire, wrapping my towel around my shoulders like a blanket.
“Merciful heavens,” I groan as I lean forward toward the warmth of the flames, resting my elbows on my knees. “That was a nightmare.”
I look up to see Alex shaking with silent laughter, his fist pressed over his mouth. I glare at him, and he holds his hands up in a placating gesture, doing his best to contain his mirth.
“I’m sorry, Nora, I really am. It’s just…that was wild.” His mouth stretches into another grin and despite myself, I feel the corners of my own mouth tipping up. Now that the adrenaline rush of the last few minutes is waning, I can kind of see how what just happened might seem comical to an outside observer. I’m not ready to laugh about it just yet—the panic is still a bit too fresh in my mind—but I can’t be mad at Alex for finding the situation humorous.
Alex sits in the chair across from me and pulls his foot up to examine his injured toe. Aside from the bruised appendage, he doesn’t appear any worse for wear. I’m impressed by how calm he was in the face of the unexpected—both the outage and my panic. I’m sure he was expecting neither of those things. And he was much more comforting and understanding than he had to be. I can still feel his hand in mine, warm and strong as he led me to safety.
My breathing is almost back to normal now, and the fire is chasing away the goosebumps quickly. All-in-all, it appears we escaped unscathed.
I slowly stand. “I think I’m going to go change into some dry clothes.”
Alex nods, but he looks concerned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m okay.” I smile to reassure him. “But I’ll tell you one thing—no more night-swimming for me.”