"What the hell are you doing here?"
Miles looked up from his Leaping Lovers Bungee Jump ticket and his heart soared when he laid his eyes on his ex.
"Tris...tan?"
It had been a couple of weeks since their breakup and Miles had been regretting every second of it. But there was no way he could pull Tristan down under with him as he trudged through his family problems. He had no choice but to shut him out.
"Honestly, I should have known something was weird when your sister of all people "suddenly" remembered that she had a fear of heights and asked me to meet Winston here instead. Did she feed you the same excuse?"
Miles blinked a couple of times before reacting.
"Uh, yeah."
Of course. Ever since Frankenstein was able to be Hunter's wing-woman that one time, she crowned herself as matchmaker of the year. He should have seen this coming.
"Well, I don't need this," Tristan mumbled as he started to walk away, but not before the ticket collector noticed him trying to leave.
"Lookie-here, we got ourselves a couple of scaredy cats!"
Tristan spun around with fire in his eyes. No way was he going to step back from a challenge.
"Excuse you? Well, you're wrong buddy because we're not going to let you talk us down, right Miles?"
When Tristan did not get a response, he turned to the brunet, fully expecting the defiant tendencies of his former flame to be set at the highest degree. But instead all he saw was a blank stare.
"Hello!" he called out, waving his hand in front of his face. "Miles, we're not gonna let this guy push us around, are we?"
Miles slowly turned his head to finally look him in the eyes.
"No. No we are not."
"Then let's do this!" Tristan cried out as he charged forward.
Once he was out of Tristan's line of vision, a sad smile tugged at the corners of his lips before he followed him. When they got out on the platform, Tristan leaned over to size up the drop.
"So, is this a solo thing or are we going to be paired with a professional like in sky diving?"
"Oh, we don't let people make the drop alone over here," the instructor said slyly.
"Good, because I wouldn't want to-"
Tristan couldn't finish his sentence as he practically had the wind knocked out of him when he found himself being smashed together with Miles as the instructor nimbly strapped them in the harness.
Miles never thought he would have had another chance to be this close to Tristan. He did his best to suppress a groan by biting his lip, but he was barely managing to not melt into Tristan's body. He tried to look anywhere other than straight into his eyes as he gritted his teeth and dug his fingernails into his palms. But when the instructor placed their arms securely around each other, Miles couldn't stop the pins and needles coursing through his limbs. The feeling of wanting Tristan ravaged him and he was ready to throw all caution in the wind and capture his lips for once and for all before the instructor pushed them over the ledge.
The boys made the jump and for that brief moment the pain and anguish from the breakup stayed behind on the platform. As they soared down, they screamed in tandem throwing away any harboured inhibitions. Unconsciously slipping into old habits, they clinged on to each other for dear life, molding themselves into one another as if it was second nature. Clutching on to his arms, Miles briefly wondered if Tristan was always this toned, or did the time away make his memories start to fade? He realized how important it was to never forget this moment. In the split second that the boys were in mid-air before crashing in the pool, their eyes met for long enough to see the huge smiles that was plastered each other's faces. Upon contact with the water, they splashed around to get out in a fit of laughter as another instructor started to unbuckle the restraints.
Miles couldn't remember the last time he felt so alive.
"So you two planning on booking a second visit?"
Just as Miles was going to inquire if it was possible to buy a set of season passes for the both of them, Tristan spoke up.
"Yeah, I'll be sure to bring my brother here the next time he's in town."
That's true, they weren't dating anymore. The sudden rush was actually enough to knock that detail out of Miles' head. He tried to meet Tristan's eyes to find a clue — something, anything — to find out if the experience had him longing for old times. But by then his gaze was already adverted, and Tristan was already busying himself by wringing out his clothes from the excess water. His back was turned as a clear sign that he had no interest in being there any longer than he had to.
Miles needed to face the fact that this was the new reality that wasn't going to change anytime soon.
"See you in chemistry class tomorrow?" Tristan asked hesitantly over his shoulder, already getting set to go.
"Yeah... see ya."
As Miles watched Tristan walk away, a part of him wanted to leap forward and explain everything. But he held himself back.
Tristan deserved better.