Escaping Reality

Chapter 18: Falling For Her

The question surprised me. Of course, I wanted to spend more time with Lola but I didn't think the turnaround would be so quick. I hesitated, attempting to think of something 'out there' that I wouldn't do under normal circumstances. Spontaneous enough she would think I'm fun but not too adventurous to the point where she would think I'm trying to overcompensate.

"I've always wanted to skydive," I meekly stated, not expecting her to go along with it.

Her eyes flashed with surprise, briefly, and quickly returned to their normal adventurous state as she said "Let's do it. My uncle works at one of the local companies, I'll call him up and see if he can squeeze us in short notice"

"Woah, what are the chances" I stammered back, my body starting to itch with nervousness. I hadn't expected her to agree much less for her to know a place we could that day. Hands nervously fiddling in my lap I sat there while she phoned up her uncle.

He led us through the office which frankly did not ease any of my worries. The office was practically a giant shipping crate with homemade shelving, tacky pixelated skydiving photos, and metal folding chairs. We were brought to the training room in the back where we spent half an hour watching safety videos and tutorials. After that, we were handed some papers basically signing our lives over to the company, and just like that it was time to jump out of a plane. It almost felt too easy to hurl ourselves out of a plane.

I stood there in my sweet neon one-piece suit that looked like it was straight out of an 80's ski and snowboard catalog. There was a good chance that I did look like a giant dork standing awkwardly spaced out. To be fair, Lola didn't look any less dorky. She was outfitted in an equally bright suit that goofily distorted her bodily proportions. We musta been quite the scene. I wasn't one to complain though, anything to increase my chances of survival was suddenly in style to me.

After suiting up we boarded the plane and ascended into the clear Miami sky. It took longer than I thought to get to a jumpable height. The journey was not pleasant. I shouldn't have been surprised to get paired up with Lola's uncle as my jumping mate. I sat between his legs like a child, feeling quite embarrassed. To make matters worse I swear the plane was one or two bolts and screws away from falling out of the sky. It was so rickety I could feel the wind blow through the small gaps throughout the plane.

Finally, we were told that it was time to jump. My heart was practically jumping out of my chest, pulsating more intensely than I had ever experienced before. My throat seemed to tighten and my hands shook uncontrollably. I looked at Lola, fear visible in my eyes, and mouthed that I couldn't do this.

"Suck it up, you big baby, you can do it," she said before she scooted past me, blew a kiss, and leaped out of the plane.

God, I think I'm in love with this woman I thought to myself. Even her air kisses seemed to deliver some sort of electric shock that calmed my anxiety stricken state. It was short-lived. Her uncle told me we had to scoot together toward the exit. Lap to lap we scooted on our butts to the door. No way he felt normal doing this I thought to myself. Never again did I need to butt scoot with a grown man thousands of feet in the air. As soon as we got to the edge my body tensed. It was like sleep paralysis but worse - I was about to be pushed into nothingness.

Lola's uncle leaned over, "Do you need a diaper little man?" he asked followed by a fit of laughter.

I bet he's getting a kick out of this I thought glumly. Or maybe he was just trying to calm my nerves with humor. Either way, I had to respond - I couldn't have him telling Lola that I was a complete pansy when we landed.

"Uh yeah I'll take one, you have them in size 30"

"They're actually one size fits all" he responded smugly before suddenly pushing us out the door.

When I had pictured sky diving in my mind I had imagined a graceful jump out of the airplane, much like diving into a pool. What happened instead was a helpless and frantic fall where I lost complete control of my limbs. We were hurling towards the Earth at speeds that I never thought imaginable. It was like sticking your head out of a moving car but about a thousand times as intense.

I genuinely thought I might die. People always talk about your life flashing before your eyes in moments like these. Not for me, not a single thing ran through my brain. Just pure nothingness with a side of static. It was otherworldly. We were finally brought right side up thanks to some neat maneuvers by Lola's uncle.

Finally, the chute was opened and suddenly all my worries and anxieties seemed to melt away. What had started as intense panic had turned into calm. The wind shot forcefully shot past me whistling as it grabbed onto stray pieces of clothing. Suddenly my attention was drawn to the Earth below. It was incredible to see the world this way. Even in planes, your view is restricted by the little square box you're given. Here I was allowed a full 360-degree view of the land below. It was surreal, this was living I thought to myself. This is why I came on this trip, I was overflowing with joy and couldn't help but let an ear to ear smile out.

Watching the ground come up to your feet is a trippy experience. Lola watched from below with a smile on her face and an eager wave. Given the departure from the plane, I was not expecting an elegant landing. Despite our best efforts, my expectation was upheld. Our landing was like falling down the stairs, but with another person attached to your back. The parachute followed and we were quickly tangled in the colorful nylon material. Suddenly I was back in elementary school playing parachute games. All those games hadn't been for nothing I thought as I effortlessly untangled myself drawing on my years of elementary gym class experience.

I found Lola a couple of feet away on the ground in a fit of laughter. She had conveniently filmed our crash landing and was playing it over and over laughing just as hard each time. There was too much adrenaline in my system to be embarrassed. I embraced her in a hug before pushing her back into the grass prompting my very own fit of giggles. She chased after me and jumped on my back wrapping her arms around my neck, my very own human parachute, however, she probably wasn't as effective as the real ones.

We all shed our suits like snakes shedding their old skin. We stood around for a second watching other jumpers land as Lola's uncle worked on getting my photos developed. After a while, he motioned for us to come back to their office. On the screen were some of the most horrific photos I'd ever seen. I didn't even know that the human face could make some of the expressions that my face was wearing. Of course, Lola was having a field day. We left with the photos going to both of our inboxes and a sly smirk on her face.