“Ready to climb a wall?” He looked eager and energized.
“I guess so. I’ve never climbed before.”
“Piece of cake. You’ll do great.” He locked his helmet to the side of the bike.
I followed him into the gym, scanning my student ID as we passed by the counter. The gym’s policy required all students to pass a Belay Test before climbing the wall. I had never taken a single Belay prep session, but Beau had a way around the obstacle. One of his friends worked at the gym and said I could climb.
Last week, Victoria had taken Chris and Ed on a two-on-one repelling date. Each one of the bachelors, in his own way, had helped her face her darkest fears of heights, unidentified spiders, and helmet hair. During the entire episode, I couldn’t help but think Victoria was exaggerating the terror of the mountain wall. It looked like it was all just an act to get the men to wrap their arms around her. How scary could it be to climb down something that you were belted and strapped in to? That show was so fake.
“Ready to do this?” I looked over and Beau was already halfway in his gear.
“Sure.” I stepped over so that the gym assistant could start wrapping my legs, arms, and waist in harness straps. The tighter the straps became, the more I started to worry.
I watched as Beau jumped and reached for the highest bolt and began scrambling up the wall. It looked effortless as his arms and legs moved from peg to peg. He was almost at the top of the wall before I took hold of my first anchor. I pulled up, trying to find the next ledge to support my foot. This was harder than it looked. Beau waited for my painstakingly slow ascent.
“Glad you could make it, movie star. Ready to head back down?” He looked over his shoulder and flashed me a smile.
My eyes followed his target and I realized how far from the ground we really were. The people at the bottom of the wall looked like there were toddlers. Holy shit. My palms started sweating and my mouth went dry.
“London? You ok? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“We’re high, Beau. Up here. We’re really high.” I closed my eyes tightly and tried to breathe through my nose, but couldn’t tell if I was getting any air, my head was fuzzy.
“Whoa. Hold on. You’re fine. Don’t worry. We’re going to get down from here together.”
I’m not sure how he moved behind me since my eyes were closed, but I felt his arms slip under mine and his chest was resting tightly against my back.
“Just take a deep breath, and we’ll walk down the wall together.” His voice was reassuring.
I felt my body lean into his as I exhaled a pent-up breath.
“Good. You’re doing great. Keep breathing just like that. Here we go. You can hold on to me if you need to. We’re headed down now.”
I grabbed his arm. It was taut and strong.
What seemed like at least thirty minutes passed before both my feet were firmly planted on the Fetzer Gym floor. I unwrapped myself from Beau’s protective cage before unclipping the harness. I grabbed my bag and headed straight for the locker room.
The few handfuls of water I splashed on my face steadied my nerves. I looked at my reflection. I was pale. I pinched my cheeks and used a few scratchy paper towels to dry my face. Luckily, I had brought a change of clothes. These were sticky from my sudden panic attack. I changed as quickly as I could and ran back out to Beau, hoping I didn’t look as horror-stricken as I felt.
“You ok?” His dark eyes looked pitiful. Had he been out here the whole time worrying about me?
I smiled. “Yes. I feel like an idiot, or should I say exactly like Victoria? Isn’t this what happened to her in the last episode? It took two bachelors to coax her down the cliff. I’m starting to think I shouldn’t have been so hard on her. I’m sorry I freaked out up there.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. No big deal. Happens to everyone. You were great. You made it down in one piece.” He smiled. “I don’t know if you’re still up for it, but since we’ve got another doubleheader planned, what do you say to Margarita Madness at La Playa?”
“Si, senor. I could use one of those.”
La Playa was one of the lesser-known Mexican restaurants in town. Actually, I had never heard of it. But Beau said they had ninety-nine-cent margarita specials and karaoke tonight, so it seemed like the perfect addition to our fake dating escapades.
I waited in the booth while Beau ordered two fish bowl-sized margaritas on the rocks. He laughed with the bartender, and they both glanced at the pretty blonde singing Total Eclipse of the Heart. She was belting out the notes, managing to stay on pitch despite the guys at the table in front of her catcalling her every move.
Beau placed a frosty margarita in front of me then slid into the opposite side of the booth.
“What do you think of La Playa?”
I looked around at the red pepper lights hanging from the ceiling and our entertainment. “It’s good. I like it. Anything that’s about the beach and the sun sounds good to me.” I took a gulp of the lime drink. I still felt a little on edge after the rock wall fiasco.
“I feel bad about the wall. I shouldn’t have pushed you to climb. I guess there is a reason they want people to pass the test before climbing.”