Mend Me? ➸ hemmings a.u

9. Weightless

A/N: I'm heavily inspired by John Green, he's freaking amazing. So if you've read/seen tfios you'll notice a small part of this chapter is based on Hazel and Gus' idea of oblivion.

He placed the two crates on top of each other and stepped up on them. "I'll go first then help you over," he said as he pulled himself over the wall and landed on what must have been more crates he'd placed there. "Luke," I said warily when he disappeared over the other side. "Come on!" He encouraged. And with shaky hands and feet that felt like lead, I stepped onto the wobbly crates and reached for the top of the wall. "I'm too short!" I called and he laughed, stepping back onto his crates and pulling himself up so he was sitting with one leg on either side of the wall. I took his hand and he pulled me up, helping me force my left leg over before he jumped back down. He could tell I was hesitating to jump onto the crates on the other side, so he stood up on them again and wrapped his arms around my waist. He pulled me down and I stepped on the crate momentarily before jumping onto the dirt ground. "Where are we?" I asked and he placed a finger on his lips, "my little Terabithia," he said and I giggled. He started walking and I followed him through the trees and branches. "As long as neither of us end up like Leslie," I laughed darkly and he turned to me, "do not remind me of the saddest moment in movie history." I laughed and continued following him. The sun was nearly fully set, creating the eeriest mood and atmosphere. The sound of the cars was gone, replaced with the sound of leaves crunching under our feet. "I hope you realise you're the only person I've shown this place to," he mumbled and I shook my head, "why?" I asked. "I think you deserve it the most," he said and I smiled, "thank you."

The branches suddenly cleared and an open, cold breeze hit my cheeks. "Here it is," he said, scratching the back of his neck. I stepped forward and saw that the ground ended ten metres away from me. "Woah," I whispered in complete and utter awe. I stepped closer to the edge and saw that there was water below us. The light of the moon was reflected in the calm, little waves and I turned back to him in shock. "This is so beautiful," I pulled my hair back and turned to face the water again, which was a good seven metres below us. "Isn't it," he walked over to the edge and hung his legs over the side, swinging them. "Sit?" He asks and I panic. I've never been too fond of heights. He noticed me shaking and stood up again, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and leading me forward. "Luke, no," I stammered out and he rubbed circles into my back, "you'll love it when you sit down." I breathed in deeply and sat down next to him, reluctantly hanging my legs over the edge. "See," he said, and he was right. It kind of felt like I was floating, like I was on a magic carpet just hovering in mid air. I laughed suddenly, which seemed to startle him. "If my parents saw me right now!" I exclaimed and he laughed with me, "it feels good without shackles, doesn't it?" He asked and I nodded.

I gathered up the courage to look up at him, and when I did, he was already looking at me. His eyes were locked with mine momentarily before they drifted to my lips. He bit his lip ring and turned back to look at the water. "Ava," he barely whispered. "You're out of your shackles," he began and I smiled. "That is true. And so are you," I said and he smiled. "It feels good to walk freely, does it not?" He looked back up at me, but his sweet and innocent look was gone. The mischievous glimmer had returned with a vengeance, and I felt like I was staring directly into the eyes of Loki. "Yes?" I said, feeling uncertain. The same feeling of excitement and nerves bubbled in my stomach and chest yet again. "Have you ever wondered how it would be to fly?" He asked as he looked up into the sky, which was no longer disguised with the artificial brightness of the street lights. I marvelled at the stars for a moment before I realised what he was suggesting. "No," I crawled away slightly and he grinned cheekily, "you want to," he teased and I shook my head adamantly. "No. Freaking. Way." He sighed and stood up. "Well I guess I'm leaving you up here alone," he said, taking his shirt off. "Woah," I said and he laughed, I could see him blushing even under this light. I sat there, admiring his body more so than I did the stars. "Come on," he pleaded, holding out his hand.

Damn it. I really wanted to fly. I stood up, and with pure adrenaline and carefreeness pumping through my veins, I pulled off my shirt. The excitement I felt in my stomach had spread throughout my entire body, and I felt like it was being emitted through electric sparks out of my fingertips. My heart pumped relentlessly and my lungs screamed in excitement as I kicked my shoes off. "I hate you, Luke Hemmings," I said as I watched him kick off his shoes also and pull down his pants. "I admire you, Ava," he said as I reciprocated his actions and threw my tights into the pile of clothes we created. "What if we die?" I asked and he laughed. "The water is clear and deep enough, I've swam in it before," he said and I nodded. "You ready?" He asked and I let out a shake breath. "Mhmm," I squeaked out as I took his hand and walked with him right up to the edge.

"Ava," he said quietly, and the shakiness in his voice told me he was just as nervous as I was. "Do me a favour?" He asked and I looked him in the eyes. "When we jump," he began. "Look up. Look up so that when we're falling, you'll just see the stars. I want to see if we forget," he told me. "Forget what?" I asked and squeezed his hand lightly, which made him smile and squeeze back. "That we're jumping off a mini cliff," he chuckled. "That we're about to crash into water. In that moment, will we forget where we are? Or who we are? Or that time or space even exists?" He rambled on and I'm not even going to lie. In that moment, staring at him looking up into the stars with a look that didn't care about school, didn't care about his family, the future, the past, what's happening next week, what's happening in fifty years, or after the inevitable oblivion of the human race and everything we've ever created or ever known, I fell in love.

"Luke," I said and he fell back into reality. "Three," I said and he tensed up. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "two," he managed to say. My entire body felt like lead, and my heart just wouldn't calm down! I froze and suddenly found it difficult to breathe, my lungs were being held tight with metal clamps. "Ava," his other hand traced over my cheek and jawline. I closed my eyes and smiled.

One.

And I guess Luke's assumptions were right. We jumped together and I flung my head backwards to look at the stars. The moment we were floating before the fall felt like forever. I heard nothing. For the first time in my life, I experienced true and complete silence. The stars were all I could see in my vision, and it felt like I was in outer space. I felt like I was a space, always having existed and always to exist. I felt rebellious and in trouble, like I'd just been busted witnessing something the universe wanted to keep its little secret. I felt like I was traveling through time, like this was some sort of a portal. And I felt weightless, just like that ATL song, and it was definitely more than enough.

But throughout all this, something kept me firmly grounded and tied to the concepts of reality.

And that was Luke's hand. He held onto me tightly the entire time as we fell through the air. And I felt our two beings existing within this fictional space of some other dimension. Then suddenly I felt an ice cold pain shoot through my toe, and then I was completely submerged. I saw Luke under the clear water beside me, the moon light and the water printed beautiful wave-like patterns on his body, and I wondered if he admired them on me as much as I did on him. We resurfaced and Luke immediately started pulling me towards shallow water. "I felt weightless!" He shouted as we swum together to the rocks. "Me too," I said and he looked at me with the biggest smile I'd seen on him, and he was showing off his dimples again. We managed to climb up onto a rock, and after we'd caught our breaths and calmed our beating hearts, he looked at me with a look of utter adoration. "Thank you," he said, water droplets trailing down the features of his face. I nodded, "I admire you, Luke."