To the Stars and Beyond

Chapter 5

I'm sitting on the floor of the aerial gym taping my hands when Davis walks in.

"You're late." I tell him.

He doesn't bother answering, just holds out one of the coffees he's holding.

"I told you I don't like coffee."

He clicks his tongue, "That's not what Eleanor said."

I glare at him in response, "You talked to Elle about me?"

"Well I couldn't get anything out of you." He points out, "I didn't even know she was your aunt."

I stand up and move to the center of the gym where the safety net is usually laid out for trapeze. The prop crew moved it this morning so that Davis and I could have the floor to practice aerial ropes. "We don't have to know everything about each other, Davis. It's not like we're friends."

He throws out his arms, nearly spilling the coffees, "I thought we were! Did you just forget about that whole night? Was that even you? Cause you're acting like a completely different person than you were then."

"You were drunk Davis," I remind him, "You probably don't even remember that night as well as you think you do."

He scoffs, "I was tipsy at worst. I remember everything from the drunk puking on your shoes, hearing about your best friend, telling you about my sister, buying you new shoes, watching the sunrise, walking you home. I remember it all Mal-"

"Stop." I interrupt him, "I think we should just pretend none of that ever happened. As far as I'm concerned, you don't know me and I don't know you, and it should stay that way. Now can you please just start teaching me?"

Davis grumbles something as he puts down the coffees. He grabs a roll of tape and starts wrapping his fingers while walking over to me. "So aerial ropes are pretty simple. There's usually two ropes with hand loops at the ends. When you're just practicing, they are attached to heavy sandbags that will suspend you in the air. To stay on the ground, just use your strength to pull the sandbag up. Make sense?"

I nod, "Sure."

"But during an actual performance, there will be guys backstage controlling the ends of the ropes instead of sandbags so you don't have to worry about all the counter balancing.

He tells me how to loop one of the ropes around my wrist so that it's secured. Following his instructions, I start running in a small circle. On his command, I relax my arms and let the sandband pull me up. As I soar around the gym, I can't help but feel like I'm flying. Davis gets me to hit different positions until I eventually lower myself to the ground.

"That was good." He says, meeting me where I landed, "Now, do you trust me?"

"Well, I kind of have to, don't I?"

He shrugs, "I suppose."

I watch as he takes the rope from me and twists it around one of his hands before wrapping his other arm around me. Before I know what's happening, he's sent us both up into the air.

"Davis-" I squeak.

He looks down at me, "Trust me, Mal."

We swing around the room and by the time I'm actually starting to feel comfortable and enjoy myself, we're back on the ground. I quickly pull away from him the second our feet touch the floor.

"How was that?" He asks me.

I shrug, "Fun."

"Bravo!" Boswell claps loudly, "That was magnificent. Now let's add a little flare."

Apparently neither of us had noticed him come in, because I see Davis jump a little at the man's voice too.

"Oh, Boswell," I say, "Davis brought you a coffee this morning to thank you for all your hard work."

I see Davis shoot me a glare as Boswell exclaims, "Ah merci, mon chéri!" And takes a sip of the coffee Davis bought for me.

Boswell spends the next few minutes drinking his coffee, and explaining what he has planned for our act. It includes a trapeze section at the beginning, which will shift into an aerial ropes section.

He then starts off by getting us to attempt an aerial ropes trick that he calls the Swing Link Spin.

Davis and I start out by each holding a different rope and swinging ourselves in opposite directions. As we pass each other, our free arms connect and send us spinning around each other, twisting our ropes together. We link legs to stop the rotation before I step up onto his shoulders. I take a deep breath and then spin myself around his rope to disconnect them. We both stop moving almost entirely and are stuck facing each other as we descend towards the ground. Being less than a foot apart, I can't help but stare into his eyes.

I didn't notice when I first met him because it was dark, but his eyes are a warm brown with little flecks of gold. When he blinks, his long dark eyelashes brush his cheeks, leaving one single lash behind.