Page 9 of A Little Bit Wild

“What now?” She asks, looking around.

“I’m going to roll the parachute back into the backpack, and then we’ll go find Huck. Did you still want to do the bungee jumping today or come back a different day?”

The skies are starting to darken, but if we hurry, we might be able to do the bungee jumping before it starts to rain.

“Can we come back?” She asks, and I nod.

“Of course. I’ll try to get it scheduled with Huck before we leave.”

She nods, sitting in the grass as I gather up the parachute.

“You’ve really done that a million times?” She asks, and I laugh.

“Well, maybe not a million, but we did it a lot in training and then on some missions. Some friends and I would just go do it for fun too.”

“It was… cooler than I expected.”

“That’s what I love to hear,” I tease her, and she throws a leaf at me.

“Did you always want to be in the military?” She asks me after a moment, and I shrug.

“I wanted to get out of my small town. There weren’t many jobs there, so if I didn’t want to work at the local factory, I would have to leave. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, though, and I didn’t have the money or the smarts to go to college.”

“I don’t believe that,” she says softly, and I shrug.

“I never liked school all that much.”

I saw the Yale sweatshirt yesterday. My girl is a genius, but as I admit that I wasn’t the best at school, I see no judgment on her face. It makes me relax more as I start the process of folding the parachute back into the bag.

“School was all that I was good at. I’m terrible at making small talk. I never saw the point in drinking or going to parties. It may surprise you, but I’ve never had that many friends.”

“Well, now you do,” I say, and she smiles.

“Can I help with anything?” She asks, but I shake my head, waving her off.

“I’ve got it.”

We enjoy the cool breeze as I finish up. The sky is quickly darkening, and the sun dips behind some clouds.

“Why don’t you head inside? I have a feeling that it’s going to start pouring any min—”

Just like that, the skies open up and it starts to pour. Aria laughs, and I reach down, pulling her to her feet. She holds my hand, and we run back to the West Coast Extreme office building together.

“Just in time,” Huck says as we run inside.

“I know. That storm came out of nowhere.”

He nods, and I drop the parachute back in the supply room before I head up front.

“We’ll have to reschedule the bungee jumping,” I tell him, and he nods.

“Come back anytime. I’ll talk to you later,” he tells me, and I wave before I grab Aria’s hand, and we race out to the parking lot.

She stops suddenly, and I look back, wondering if she got hurt somehow, but she’s smiling.

“Is dancing in the rain crazy?” She asks me, and I grin.

“Sure,” I say, pulling her into my arms.

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