Cliche

A Chapter by Zoey Balderston

Chapter 5 of Love from Above

From my seat on the couch, I can see Janie and Libby crossing the street toward our house through the window. Jeremy stands, quite gracefully I might add, from his seat on the bed and strides over to sit next to me. I sure hope he doesn’t have good enough hearing to notice the pounding of my heart due to his closeness. Suddenly his room starts to rumble, I glance around in confusion, wondering if this is one of those earthquakes I'd read about in my studies. I try to gauge if I should be panicking based on Jeremy’s reaction, but his eyes are full of dread, not fear.

“Uh-oh. I’m right above the garage. That must mean dad’s home,” Jeremy says, looking slightly irked. “Would you like to head out for a walk?”

“Sure, where to?” I ask, standing up and slipping back into my Converse.

“There are some cliffs not too far from here with killer views of the ocean,” He suggests, slowly opening his bedroom door. I nod my head and start to follow him out, but he shuts the door and looks to the window.

“He’s coming up the stairs. If he sees you’re still here, especially alone with me, he’ll flip. How good of a climber are you?” He asks, eyes slowly appraising me in a way that makes my heart skip a beat.

“I think I can manage.” I respond with a teasing smile. Even without using my wings, I think to myself. He opens his window and starts shimmying down the huge plant grate that covers the entire front of the house. Once he is at the bottom, I duck out the window and begin to make my way down. About halfway down the grate, my foot gets tangled in the vines.

“What’s wrong?” Jeremy calls up.

“I think I’m stuck,” I say trying to wrestle my foot free of the vegetation. When I finally manage to yank my foot away, I lose my balance and, with a squeak of fear, start to fall.

For a split second I consider popping out my wings and just floating down to safety, not that a fall from one story up would hurt me too severely, but then Jeremy would see them. Would he be afraid of me? Before I really have a chance to think about it, strong arms have already caught me. Jeremy’s face peers down at me with worry.

“Are you okay?” He asks frantically. I nod, unable to speak for a moment out of fear of it coming out as a squeak, and he lets out a huge sigh of relief. “From now on we will just have to risk the front door.” He says smirking.

“It wasn’t my fault! Your plant attacked me,” I say as he places me back on my feet. I notice the way his hands linger around my waist as if he doesn’t want to let go.

Shocking myself, I feel my hand reach out to hold his. My eyes widen in shock at my brashness and I look to Jeremy to find he is wearing a similar expression. What am I doing?! I’m so stupid! I’ve certainly gone too fast and scared him off now. My inner turmoil and mental kicking myself lasts only a moment before Jeremy smiles luminously and gives my hand a gentle squeeze. I sigh in contentment and, hand in hand, we make our way to the edge of the forest that leads to the nearby cliffs. Jeremy leads the way through the dense vegetation as I focus hard on not tripping over my own feet like the clumsy mess I am. Face planting into the moss would certainly not be the best first impression.

"I've never seen the ocean you know," I say as Jeremy helps me over a large fallen log. "Not up close and personal anyway. Just from pictures and flying overhead." I catch myself, realizing what I said and panic for a moment. "On the plane ride here, I mean." A nervous laugh bubbles off my lips.

Jeremy's eyes soften. "Just you wait, it'll take your breath away."

We reach the cliffs just as the sun begins to set. It is such a romantic cliché. Although, so was the “falling into the safety of his embrace” stunt I pulled back at the house. I mentally roll my eyes at myself.

I stop dead in my tracks as soon as the glistening waves come into view. A sweet and salty breeze cuts across me, setting strands of hair fluttering across my face. I push them behind my ear to ensure nothing blocks this view. Jeremy smiles at seeing my reaction and steers us over to sit on a rock near the cliff edge to watch the sun slowly fall beneath the Pacific Ocean. It’s so much more beautiful than anything the simulations and textbook photos could have prepared me for. I look up at Jeremy and stifle a gasp. The sun is highlighting his features in such a way that he looks to be the Angel here. He senses my, well I can’t really call it a gaze since I was more ogling or gawking than gazing, and turns to me with a smile that melts my heart.

Wait a tick, (Yes, I am a nerd. I love me some Austin Powers) how are these feelings already so developed? I mean, I know Angels feel emotions a whole lot deeper than Humans do, but I’ve still only known the guy for one day!

Hey! What do ya know? The “love at first sight” cliché!

Doesn’t that just figure?

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