Moonrise | Paul Lahote

12

TW: Suggestions of depression & suicide

"INCOMING!!!"

Jenna leaned over the edge of the cliff, watching as Paul curled in on himself, hitting the water below with a resounding smack. It sent a wave over Jared who yelped before leaping at him as he surfaced, dunking him back under.

"Is it cold?" Jenna called down. Anxiousness and excitement thrummed through her, causing her to hop from foot to foot on the ledge she perched on.

"Oh, for sure," came Kim's voice from a few feet below. The girl was peering over her own ledge, an unimpressed look on her face. "It's gonna hurt bad."

A cold wave had swept over the town and that, mixed with the heavy rainfall of that morning, was sure to make the water unpleasant. Which, the pack had decided, meant a perfect day for cliff diving.

"You'll be fine, babe!" Paul shouted up encouragingly as he trapped Jared in a headlock.

"Okay!" Jenna yelled back before muttering, "Here goes nothing."

Just like the hundreds of times she'd done it over the summer, Jenna took a deep breath, expelling all the nerves from her system, leaving only cool determination and the burst of excited adrenaline. Like every time, she let her mind quiet, feeling only the breeze on her skin, the rays of the sun peeking from behind the clouds, listening to the gentle crash of waves below.

And Jenna jumped.

The wind whistled past her as she flipped through the air, straightening out rigidly as she slammed into the waves. The water cut into her skin like knives, forcing a gasp of air from her lips. The cloud of bubbles that had erupted around her was so thick she couldn't tell which way was us. When she tried to swim, she realized that the cold had shocked her limbs, rendering her immobile.

Panic spiked through her. That was until a warm pair of arms broke through the bubble cloud, wrapping around her waist and pulling her into their safety.

Jenna broke the surface with a gasp. "Why the fuck did we decide to do this again?" she groaned, teeth chattering violently.

Paul laughed, the air from his lips tickling her ear as he held her tight. "C'mon, it's not that bad."

"Not for you. You have a body temperature of like a hundred degrees," Jenna whined. "I'm just a normal, weak little human."

"A weak little human who just did a double backflip off a cliff," Paul pressed his lips to her cheek. "That was sick." Jenna smiled in response, happiness making her heart feel lighter than a feather.

They looked up as Kim leaped off the cliff, screaming all the way down. Jared drew her out of the water as Paul had for Jenna but barely gave her time to recover before he splashed a huge wave of water over her, eliciting another scream.

"Really?" Kim complained when she resurfaced. "Can't you just be sweet like Paul?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Jared peppered her face with kisses before dunking her head under.

The four of them made their way back to shore where Emily and Sam lay on the sand, wrapped up together in a blanket. The couple watched amusedly as the girls practically sprinted to grab their own blankets while their boyfriends followed slowly, unbothered by the cold.

"You guys are insane," Emily, cozy and flushed in the warmth of Sam's arms, declared.

"I know," Jenna groaned, shoving a sweater over her head. "Blame the boys."

"But just think, it's only gonna get colder from here. That was probably the last jump of the season," Paul defended, plopping down onto the sand. "Aren't you glad you did it one more time?"