The Hardest Fall

“Zoe—” he started as I managed to make it almost to the entrance of the hallway, but before he could finish whatever he was about to say, the power went out, shrouding us in darkness.

“What the hell?”

What the hell, indeed. There was a long eight-second pause where we stayed frozen, waiting for the power to come back on. “Uh…” I moaned, already going into panic mode. “I’m gonna say something, but you can’t laugh.”

“What?” he asked distractedly. He had already pushed away from the kitchen sink and was heading toward the windows, at least that was where his voice came from.

I cleared my throat and hugged one arm across my stomach. “Could it be a thief, maybe? Or thieves, plural? More than one? More than three? I stayed here last semester, too, and there was a series of robberies in the neighborhood. They could’ve cut off the power or something to make it easier to break in. We’re being robbed, I think. I saw this movie once with my dad where…” I trailed off.

It was looking like the few buildings around us had also lost their electricity, and the silver moonlight spilling into the apartment made it possible for me to see Dylan’s silhouette turn to me.

Instead of answering, he opened a window to check out on the street. “Yeah, the whole block is down. It’s fine, Zoe. I—”

“Actually, I’m not the biggest fan of—”

“I think you should ease up on the movies.”

“What?” Was that amusement I was hearing in his voice? “Are you smiling right now?” I asked incredulously.

I heard a low chuckle, but before I could respond to it, the universe decided to wrap everything up with a little red bow. The room started spinning, and I glanced down at my feet in confusion. Was I getting dizzy? I wasn’t that scared of the dark. Then the building started shaking, and my horrified gaze flew to the shadow of my roommate.

“Dylan,” I choked out in panic, an intense tremor in my voice.

Two seconds.

“It’s okay. It’ll pass.”

Three seconds.

I turned back and focused my gaze toward where the door was. Run away or stay? Run away or stay?

Four seconds.

“Dylan,” I choked out again, this time louder and more urgently as I swayed forward. My feet were dying to run—to the door, to Dylan, anywhere, really—and take refuge, but at the same time, I couldn’t seem to move an inch. I wrapped my shaking arms tighter around myself.

It would stop.

I heard footsteps.

I swear to God, if he runs away and leaves me behind, I will—

Five seconds.

Six seconds.

The earthquake stopped at the exact moment I felt Dylan’s front at my back and his hand curled around my shoulder.

“That was weird, but it’s over,” Dylan said casually, keeping his hand on me.

My heart started doing this weird thing it had never done before, big powerful thumps in slow motion. I hadn’t even realized I was holding my breath through the whole thing until I finally released it. My body started shaking as I pulled in deep breaths and let them go through my mouth.

That’s when Dylan put his other hand on my left arm and started rubbing up and down.

“You’re cold,” he mumbled.

Yeah, the dead are usually cold, I thought, but kept it to myself.

I couldn’t even give an answer as I struggled to get my breathing under control. Half an hour before, I would’ve said it was too hot when I was singing. Even the short-sleeved t-shirt I had on had felt like too much at some point, and that was L.A. for you. Now, as Dylan’s hands moved on my naked arms, I felt nothing but cold seeping into my skin. His thumbs slid under my t-shirt every time he swept up.

“We need to get out. We need to get out, right now.” I moved to run straight out the door, but his hands stopped me before I could take more than a few steps.

“Wait—wait a second.” He gripped my elbows and turned me to face him.

“We need to get out,” I repeated, breathing heavily.

Even standing so close to him, I couldn’t see the details of his face, but from the way his head was tipped, I knew his gaze was on me.

“It’s okay, Zoe. It wasn’t a big one.”

“Who says the next one won’t be?”

His hands started moving again, from my wrists, over my elbows, and up, up, up, at a slower pace this time.

“We’re fine right where we are.”

Were we though? Really, were we? I didn’t think so, not with the way the goose bumps prickled my skin where his hands were traveling up and down.

After a few seconds of staring up at the dark shape of his head, I dropped my head and sighed. There was magic in his hands, and slowly their warmth started to warm me up. They weren’t soft, not like my last boyfriend’s had been. He’d used more hand cream than me, which was fine, but Dylan’s hands—they dragged on my skin in the best possible way. I knew I’d remember the feel of them. He was sort of unforgettable.