Page 62 of Reinventing Cato
“Me, please,” Cato said.
Vigge hid his surprise. But as Cato stepped towards the ladder, Vigge caught his arm, pulled him round and kissed him. Just a quick press of lips, but his heart went crazy. Did that public display of affection, brief as it was, make up for freaking out a while ago?He hoped Cato’s slow smile meant it did. Though the smile disappeared when Vigge added, “Make sure you land in the net.”
It made him more nervous watching Cato than it did doing it himself. Cato didn’t look down or wave, nor did he hesitate. The moment Alvo called, “Hep!” Cato leapt with the bar and Vigge took his picture, then filmed him. Tess was shouting encouragement while Vigge’s heart raced. He hadn’t realised he’d been holding his breath until the moment Kip had his hands securely wrapped around Cato’s wrists, then he exhaled noisily as the two of them swung together. Cato even managed a somersault to land on the netting—though that might not have been deliberate—then crawled to the edge and flipped backwards to the ground. When he reached Vigge’s side, Vigge put his arms around him.
“Oh my God,” Cato whispered. “I can’t believe I did that. I did do it, didn’t I? I didn’t just swing and fall?”
“I’m thinking instead of NASA, you should apply to Cirque du Soleil,” Vigge said. “I took a video. It’ll work as an audition tape.”
“Ha ha.”
When it was Vigge’s turn, he did the catch with no problems and wished they had longer. Two hours had flown by. He’d like to do it again, but he wasn’t sure about Cato. It hadn’t occurred to him that Cato might not have a head for heights.
They changed back into their jeans and headed for the car.
“Do we need to redefine the worddate?” Cato asked.
“Why?”
“I think I had flying trapeze way down the line as date number 1,512. I’d be seventy-four, old enough to say I’m too old for that crap.”
Vigge chuckled. “I don’t like to be predictable.”
Cato fastened his seatbelt. “Nor do I and I think you won’t be surprised to hear that that was the most exciting date I’ve ever been on.”
Vigge smiled. “Me too.”
Cato elbowed him. “It’s the only date you’ve been on.”
“So?”
“I’d like to say the only way is up from this point, but I think that wasupenough.”
“Not keen on heights?”
“Don’t tell me you noticed. I thought I’d done such a good job of hiding it.”
“Sorry. I should have checked.”
Cato’s hand landed on his knee and squeezed. Vigge tightened his grip on the wheel.
“I amnotgood with heights, and even worse with edges. So that platform was petrifying. Throwing myself off it was terrifying, but apparently, I’m a natural. Who’d have guessed?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Did I not just say that was the most exciting date I’ve ever been on? But you’ve set the bar so high, it’s going to take me a while to come up with something equally terrifying. What are you frightened of? Restaurants? Pubs? Walking in the countryside? Cows?”
Vigge chuckled. “You expect me to tell you?”
“Well, I might have gone for kissing you in the middle of a crowd of people, but you wrecked that one by kissing me in front of everyone before I climbed up for the last time.”
“I didn’t want you to die with me not having kissed you in public.”
Cato squeezed his knee hard enough to hurt. “Do you like spiders?”
“Love them.”
“Rats?”
