Us Against The World

Prologue

My arms strained as they support my dangling body twenty-five feet off the ground. I cling to the faux wooden log that makes up the Alpine Tower. I am stuck hanging halfway between the ground and the top of the tower.

Why did I volunteer for this? My short legs have gotten me in trouble again. Not only could I not reach the last foothold, but I am swinging my legs around aimlessly to find another one. To no avail, I remain stranded. I'm not a very adventurous person, but I am susceptible to peer pressure, so when the other counselors suggested a night climb of the Alpine Tower, I went along with it. At first, I had no intention of 

"Megs! What's the hold up?" I hear a voice from below shouting up at me. It's George, the head counselor. He volunteered to stay at the bottom as the anchor person, orchestrating the various ropes and supports. 

"I can't find a foothold!" I yell down, panic sticking in my throat. 

"Cal, get up there and get Meggie down." I groan internally. Anyone but him. Anyone but the guy whose heart I broke mere hours ago. 

I hear his efforts to quickly climb to my rescue. I feel him reach me within thirty seconds. In the dark, I haven't been able to see anything, which is why it's been so hard for me to find a foothold.

"I'm going to clip our harnesses together." He says in a stoic tone.

"Honestly, Cal. I don't need that. I just need help finding a foothold." He ignores me and clips us together. When it's snug, I wait for him to keep climbing up the tower and I just hold onto the rope, pulling along with it, so he doesn't have to take my full weight and his. 

A week ago, I wouldn't have felt so uncomfortable to have him help me, let alone be near me. A week ago, it felt like the summer's impending end wasn't looming so near. 

Next week, Cal would be going off to college at the end of the week. This was his last week at camp, but I'll be staying for another two weeks until public schools go back. 

I really didn't want to end our relationship. I was somewhat forced to between Cal's mom and my mom. Cal doesn't know that his mother talked to me, but it's better off that way. I don't need to start a rift between him and his mother before he leaves. 

Both moms thought that we needed to take the time apart to focus on school. I would be starting my senior year the following week just as Cal started school at the University of Colorado in Denver. 

When we get to the top of the tower where the zipline is located, I relax into Cal instinctively. He tenses up behind me and I immediately get a rush of guilt. 

"Cal, I'm so, so sorry." I don't meet his eyes as I say it. He clips me into the zipline and unclips me from him. "Cal," I say with my voice breaking softly. He holds my shoulders and gives them a light squeeze, guiding me towards the edge of the tower. 

"I thought it was supposed to be us against the world." With that, he had nothing else to say, so he let me go.

As I fly down the zipline by myself, all of the emotions I've been holding in are released. At the end, my friend, Palmer, catches me. She notices that I'm crying, so she unclasps me from the harness and sends the zipline back up so Cal can come down. I fall to the ground, sobbing inconsolably. Palmer is the only one of the other counselors who knows that I broke up with Cal tonight. 

Before Cal can zipline to us, Palmer gets me up on my feet and drags me behind her back to the employee cabins. I drop down on the bed, barely missing the mattress. I'm clearly not paying much mind to my own safety, but I can't focus on anything except for the uncontrollable shaking that my body is doing. 

Palmer sits beside me on the bed and lets me cry into her shoulder. There's a knock on the door at some point and Palmer leaves my side to answer it. I hear the old wooden door creak open and Palmer steps outside. 

"Hey," Palmer greets.

"Is she in there?" The voice is muffled, so I can't tell who it is. 

"It's really not a good time right now."

"Oh. Okay." Palmer closes the door and returns to my side just as my sadness overwhelms my body again. If it was Cal, Palmer knows not to say anything about it. She definitely made the right move by not letting him in if it was him. 

~*~

I scarf down my breakfast the next day, trying to make it out of the mess hall before anyone tries to talk to me. I'm unsuccessful in my attempt. 

"Meggie." I feel the bench move as he sits down. "I came by last night. Palmer said it wasn't a good time." I look up, surprised that it's not Cal. Although I don't know why it would be. He seemed to make it clear last night that he didn't want to talk to me.

"Theo." I look at his face, comforted by the familiar features there. Theo had a thin, yet muscular face. His grey eyes were full of understanding. Cal, or another counselor that heard from Cal, must have told him why I disappeared last night. 

Cal appeared in the mess hall then, glancing once at me but then turning away. He bro hugs one of his friends and generally acted like nothing was wrong. 

So that's how it's going to be, I think sadly.

Theo glances in the direction I'm looking and I feel him shift in his seat. 

"Megs, do you want to get out of here?" 

"Yes, please," I reply, quickly picking up my tray and placing it on the return carousel. Theo follows me as we walk out the door into the warm air. I notice his sandy brown hair lighten when the sunlight hits it. He leads me toward one of the many walking trails. We stay silent for a while, but eventually, I break the silence, deciding to bring up the subject of Cal. 

"I'm sure you already know, but Cal and I broke up last night." I look up into Theo's face and it doesn't move, which confirms that he already knows. "He's going to college next week."

"W-was that why?" Theo asks. I assume he's nervous to bring it up in case I start crying.

"No. There was some other stuff," I say. "I mean him moving definitely was a part of the decision."

"Oh." Theo doesn't say anything more. He's always been pretty awkward about things, especially when it came to me having girl problems. We have been friends, through school and summer camp, for five years. 

Cal, Theo, Palmer, and I all started as counselors the same summer after we turned 16. Although we were all the same age, I was a grade behind the other three. My birthday just fell past the date that I was able to enroll in Kindergarten, so I had to wait another year. Theo was the only one I already knew that summer from attending camp the years before. When camp ended, we continued our friendships at school and became four peas in a pod. Eventually, Cal and I confessed our attraction for each other and the past two years, we dated exclusively. 

Now, everything was so uncertain with Cal leaving for Colorado, Palmer leaving for NYU, which was only an hour away, and Theo going to the community college nearby. They would all be making new friends and I was going to be left in their dust. They all have been reassuring me for months that it wasn't going to happen, but I know how life works. It goes on.

Theo reaches a hand out to wipe away a tear that I didn't realize had fallen. His arms open and I stepped closer, letting them encircle me, pushing me into his muscular chest. Another bout of uncontrollable crying overtook me and Theo held me up when my legs got weak. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed his midsection. I don't know how long we stood like that or how many people walked by, surely giving us strange looks. 

Then, I thought I felt Theo's lips on my forehead. I jumped back and his arms released from around me. He was staring at my face. He took another step forward and trapped a stray hair behind my ear. He kept inching closer, aiming for my lips. I felt a panic rising in me as he approached, but I let him kiss me anyways. And it was a nice kiss. Just a nice kiss.