the plain and the simple | theburntchip

chapter eleven

When we got off the last train I had a sure idea where we were going. "Zip-lining?!" I asked excitedly.

"For sure, you're not afraid of heights are you?" I laughed at this question.

"No, but if I were I think it'd be too late to ask." We arrived at the front desk and Chip payed.

We skipped the training course since we had both gone through this before. Cal used to take me it was something I missed and was glad that I was with him again. When we started Chip got his go-pro ready. "This is going to be so great." I spoke.

"I loved this when I went with Harry, Gib, and Simon." I climbed up the wobbly ladder with Chip following closely behind. 

"I used to go with Cal all the time." We continued chatting for a bit until I went down my first line. I couldn't help but smile. I loved how quickly it went and the short adrenaline rush it gave you until the next run. We got to the last run and I was starting to feel sad for leaving already but it was fun while it lasted.

"Chip i'm stuck!" I laughed. I had turned around and couldn't get myself facing forward.

"You'll be fine I promise." I noticed I was close to the ground and almost had a heart attack when I felt someone catch me. 

"Holy shit!" I couldn't really move since I was in a harness but I did have a noticeable jump.

"Calm down it's just me." I was turned around to face Cal. He helped me undo my harness and I wrapped myself into his arm. 

"When did you get here?" I asked excitedly. I know it's only been a few days since i've last seen him but it was still a surprise.

"Not too long ago. Chip told us that you were here and we're all getting Nandos after." Cal had Sarah wrapped under his arm and I smiled at her. We had met a few times before but we weren't exactly close.

"Sounds like a cool plan." I snapchatted Chip coming down the last line and he unhooked himself.

"Let's go return these harnesses." I directed. We all walked to the front desk together and dropped them off. We decided to just walk to Nandos since it was quicker than taking the underground.

"Cross! Go! Go! Go!" Cal shouted as we all ran across the street. Chip abruptly picked me up bridal style halfway across.

"Chip!" I laughed. "What're you doing?" He set me down when we got across.

"I was saving your life." He joked.

"You're a dork." 

"You wouldn't save my life?" Cal pretended to be offended.

"No cause you have to save mine!" Sarah exclaimed.

Chip and I laughed at Cal and Sarah's continued argument. I glanced over at Chip every once and a while during the comfortable silence. It was like flash cards memorizing the features one bit at a time. And God, were those great features to study.

We finally made it to Nandos and had to wait a while before we could be seated. So in that time we just sat and chatted. When we got to our table everyone knew exactly  what they wanted to order.

We were almost done with our meals and I was talking to Cal and Sarah about their trip to Copenhagen. "The weather was actually really nice. Even though the trip was short I enjoyed it." Sarah was going on about how much she loved it.

"Yeah, Denmark's cool. You should go some time." Cal suggested. I was too caught up in the conversation that I didn't notice at first when Chip set his hand on my upper thigh. My voice hitched. Apparently it was noticeable because Sarah asked about it.

"Are you alright?" She asked swallowing a mouthful of food. I could almost picture the grin on Chip's face and glanced over to prove myself right. I smiled at him.

"Well, I'm getting tired i'm gonna finish this up and get home." I was collecting my things when I saw a new waiter come around. He was terrifyingly familiar. 

I shrunk down and my seat and blinked away the tears, pushing out the breaths that my lungs were holding in. Why wouldn't they let me breathe?

"Chloe are you okay?" Chip looked very concerned but Cal was grabbing Sarah and trying to rush us out of here. All the voices mended together as one and I couldn't understand much of the words but Cal was picking me up and carrying me out as Chip payed. Sarah followed closely behind but all my mind could focus on was crying into Cal's shirt. He sat me down on a bench outside and helped me gather my breaths.

"What's going on?" Chip asked.

"She's having a panic attack." Sarah told him.

"I know that but why?" He kept asking more questions and I felt bad because he was so confused.

"That's her choice to tell you, especially with this one. But right now we need to get her back to my flat." Cal called a cab and we all fit in to get back home.