What You Do To Me (Unexpected Love) (33 page)

             
“Wear your workout
Capris,
if you brought
them. If
not
,
some type of work out clothes.” I didn’t say anything, but turned and
with my coffee, I
walked into the bedroom.

             
When driving
to my
surprise,
Derek and I didn’t talk
, but we jammed out to the radio. Derek was one of the few people I
sang in front of without being embarrassed
about how I
couldn’t
carry a tune.
When an
Awakening
song came on, I tried to play it off and was about to start singing to the song, but as soon as Alex’s voiced was heard, I turned the radio off. Derek just looked at me, but didn’t say anything or try to turn it back on later.

             
When our road came to a small airstrip in the middle of the
country,
I looked over at Alex. What are we doing? I didn’t see anything but a grass runway and an old metal air hanger. When we
stopped,
I saw the sign. An immediate smile was on my face. I unbuckled my seatbelt and jumped out of the car. Derek was out of the car as quickly as I was. “Are you kidding me?”

             
“Nope, number three will be off your list by the end of the afternoon.”

             
Tears were in my eyes. I have always dreamed about skydiving, but David always made me feel bad about wanting to do
it
, actually guilty, telling me it was selfish to do with kids. I couldn’t beli
eve Derek was doing this for me,
God, how I loved him.
“There is one thing.” I looked at Derek as he said that. “I’m jumping too, I have too.
Technically, you’re
still doing it without me.”

             
“Of
course, it’s
okay
; t
his
is amazing, thank you, thank you for everything you have done for
me,
Derek. I owe you so
much and will never be able say it in words.”

             
“
Well,
if you can’t show me in words, I know how you can.” I punched him. “Owww, seriously you need to stop hitting
me.
You
punch like a guy.” Derek grabbed my hand. “Come
on,
we have a class to attend.”

             
We walked into the hanger and the instructor was waiting for us. His name was Bob and
he was
in his
mid-50
’s and
was
very friendl
y. He got us into jumpsuit
s,
filled
out forms
,
and
then sat us down and went over the safety of jumping. He talked about our jump packs and we watched a video of people on the plane, jumping and landing.
W
e met our jump
partners.
The
guys who would be connected to our backs during the jump
. Everything seemed so unreal. I had to remind myself to focus a few
times,
because I was feeling overcome with emotions.

             
Before we got on the
plane,
I quickly used the bathroom. I didn’t know if my bladder would hold once I was out the door of the plane. I didn’t know how scared I would be at that moment of free fall.
Once we were in the plane, I started to feel panicked. David’s words haunted me and I was feeling guilty for being selfish. I shut my eyes, trying to close out the thoughts. Derek reached over and grabbed my hand. I looked at him and his face gave me the reassurance I needed. I started to relax,
well,
as much as I could when preparing to jump from a plane.
Before I knew what was
happening,
the side door to the plane opened and we were all standing. Derek looked over at me smiled and yelled, “
After you,
princess.” I hated when he called me that, but I smiled
anyway
, I was so excited.

             
My jump partner was behind me, nudging me to the door. I stopped moving for a second. He leaned in and asked, “Want to go out backwards, me first?” I couldn’t reply, but
nodded
my head yes. I wanted to do this, but I couldn’t take the initial step to jump. He turned us so his back was to the door and I was facing Derek. We were out the door before I knew what was happening. At
first,
my stomach felt like it left me, but then returned once we were in a steady free fall. The amount of wind that was rushing into my mouth and nose was unbelievable. I had to remind myself
not
to
panic.
At
first
,
it felt like water rushing in when you jump into a lake or pool. Once I was
used
to it, I
enjoyed
it,
because it
was almost peaceful and exhilarating at the same time.  When the parachute
opened,
it was a slower, steadier drift. The landing wasn’t bad, not as rough as I expected. I
had
just unfastened from my partner when Derek landed. I couldn’t help it,
even though,
he wasn’t unfastened yet, I ran to him and jumped on him,
throwing
my arms around his neck and
my
legs around his waist. I was so happy and I felt so free.

             
When we got back to the car, I still had a smile on my face. I had such a high, something
I had
never really felt before, nothing to this level. When we were in, Derek took out a piece of paper, unfolded it and handed me a red marker. “
Hey,
how did you get this?” It was my list and it was in my house tucked away when I left, at
least,
I thought it was.

             
“Lexi grabbed it and mailed it to me.” I shot Derek a look. “You need to talk to her,
because
it’s probably killing
her,
knowing you jumped and you aren’
t telling her how great it was, but I’m not saying anything.” At that, Derek handed me a red marker. I crossed
off
number three on the list, right under number
two,
the
Awakening
concert. I rubbed my finger over the line through number two and closed my eyes. Derek reached over and grabbed my hand. “You should call him too, but again, I’m not talking about any of this.”

             
“For someone not talking about anything, you seem to be doing a lot of
it.
”

             
“Fine,
lunch, and
then surprise number two of the day.” I looked at Derek and wondered if anything could top
skydiving.
It
was amazing.

             
We had lunch at Chipotle
Mexican
Grille, which was
one of my favorite places to eat. After I finished my burrito
bowl, I
sat back content and happy. “Wow, I never saw anyone orgasm with food.”

             
“
What?
” I
asked
Derek.

             
“Watching you eat is like watching sex, almost better. I’m surprised you didn’t
orgasm.
I think you did with that look on your face.”

             
“Shut up, it’s been at least a month.”
Oh,
my
God.
Did
I just tell Derek the last time I had
sex?

             
“What,
really?
With
who? You didn’t,
Abby. No
wonder you are so hung up on him.” I couldn’t even look at
Derek.
I blew out a breath and laid my head back. “Well, he could be your one night stand,
so
cross off number eight while
we’re
at it.” I shook my head and then put it in my hands.
“Seriously, I don’t want to know
anymore.
That
is why you need Lexi back in your life.” He then
stood,
grabbing our stuff and tossing it in the trash a few feet away. I still didn’t want to look at him. “Come on,
we’ll
be late for our next appointment and we can’t be.” Without saying anything, I lifted my head and rose to my feet, slowly following behind him. Why did I say that
aloud.
I hope I didn’t hurt him.

             
Once we were in the car, I looked at Derek. “I’m
sorry;
I shouldn’t have said that, it slipped.”

             
“Abbs, I figured
it had happened.
I saw you
two
looking at each other the day at the game and the club,
and
you had
what I
wished
we had. Instead, I’m the brother and
you’re
my annoying little sister.” I slapped at his shoulder. “I figured anyway, why else would he visit Tiny Town?” Derek could never say the name of my town, but always
referred
to
its
size.

             
“Whatever,
where’s
my surprise?” Derek didn’t say anything, but looked with raised eyebrows and a smile.

             
About twenty minutes later, we were parked outside a tattoo place. I
couldn’t
believe he
took
me
there
.
I had
always wanted a tattoo, but
was
too chicken to get one. I had no clue what I even wanted,
well,
I did. I
had
always talked about a Celtic design to go with my heritage, thinking my dad wouldn’t be so pissed then.
I hadn’t even realized Derek exited the car. Next thing I
knew,
he was opening my door
and
telling
me
to get my ass out of his car. Ladies walking by looked at him like he was a complete asshat, but he
wasn’t. He
was the sweetest guy, even with his crude mouth.

             
I walked in and Derek told the guy at the front I had an appointment with Adam. The guy shouted
back,
and Adam, a guy about my height with a beard and full arm sleeves came around the corner. I imagined there were more tattoos, but with his jeans and shirt, I was only allowed
to see from
the elbow down. I was
quite
devastated by
that
.

             
“Adam, this is Abby,” Derek then turned to me, “
Abbs,
this is Adam.
He’ll
be the one to permanently ink you.”

             
Adam reached out and we shook hands. “I hear
you’re
a virgin.” I looked at him, my mouth opened. “Skin, virgin
skin.
”
They
both started
laughing
at me. I shot Derek a look of shut the hell up. He was still slightly laughing, but not as
much
.

             
We walked into Adam’s room and he had a few Celtic pieces laid out for me to look at. They were good, really good. I knew the signs, one was
the Celtic symbol for
family,
the
Celtic
triple spiral, and
the last
,
the
Celtic Knot Mandala
. I loved all thr
ee, but I went with the Celtic Knot Mandala
, because it represented what I was trying
to do
now with my life. It
beckoned
a person to fall into it for a glimpse into the inner workings of their lives. It
allowed
one to see how the
decisions
that are made in our lives are not just affecting us, but also the lives of those around us. Looking
closely,
I
saw
that Adam had
worked the
girls’
name into the Mandala.
 
             
“Now, where do you want it?” Adam looked at me, but
it didn’t take
long,
because
I knew right where I wanted to get it.