Luckily, my survival instinct kicked in and I twisted my body to face the trunk. I wrapped my legs tightly around the branch, then did the same with my arms. Hugging a porcupine would have been more comfortable. Too many things hurt all at once for the waning adrenaline to cope with but anything had to be better than lying broken on the grass. All I had to do now was hang on long enough to figure out the next part and hope my end of the branch didn’t snap.
First things first, I needed to reassure Charlie. I tipped my head back and found him sat on the grass beneath the hulking great shadow of the tree. He rocked back and forth, hugging his knees as his sobs wracked his little body. The poor boy looked terrorised and I couldn’t even give him the cuddle he deserved.
‘Hey, it’s OK, Charlie Bear,’ I called down to him but instead of the soothing sound I’d aimed for, my voice came out hoarse and gravelly. I coughed to clear my throat. ‘Look at me, I’m all right. See?’ His big eyes stared up at me so I offered him a topsy-turvy smile before pulling a silly face. The hint of a grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. ‘I’m really sorry for scaring you, Charlie.’
‘And what about me?’ came a deep, male voice from somewhere nearby. ‘Are you sorry for scaring me too?’
Caught
My squawk would have made any parrot proud and I jumped so fiercely I almost let go of my lifeline. Heart pumping, I hugged the branch even tighter, then swivelled my head in the direction of the voice.
‘Sc—scaring you?’ I stammered.
‘Yeah.’ The hottest guy I’d seen in weeks—months maybe—stepped into view and the raging fire in my cheeks notched up another billion degrees.
Typical.
I had no contacts in, no make-up on, my hair was a frizzy state, my bum was on show for the whole world to see and, for the piéce de resistance, I also happened to be hanging upside-down from a tree.
‘Then I guess we’re even.’
‘Huh? How d’you figure that one out?’ He came to a standstill beside Charlie and locked eyes with me.
Gah, I couldn’t hold my glare, plus I was light-headed from all the blood rushing to my head. ‘You shouldn’t go sneaking up on people like that.’ I tried to sound put out but failed dismally. ‘I nearly fell.’
‘What? Again?’ He winced. ‘I’m not sure my ears could take another rendition.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry. I shall try to fall out of trees with less noise in future.’ I threw in a pout, not that the super-hot guy on the receiving end would be able to see it on account of me staring pointedly at the branch to hide my red face.
‘OK cool, thanks, that’d be great.’ I didn’t need to see his face to know he was smiling and the knowledge did strange things to my tummy. It did even stranger things to my pulse.
‘Happy to oblige,’ I said dryly.
‘You pack one hell of a scream, you know. It could have been lifted straight off a horror movie.’
‘What’s a horror movie?’ Charlie asked.
‘It’s a scary film for grown-ups,’ I replied, shutting down that line of questioning before Charlie latched onto it, then directed my next words at the hunk standing next to him. ‘So are you just going to stand there gawking at me all day or have you actually come over here to help?’
‘Well, it’s not exactly something you see every day, you know…a human spider monkey.’
‘And there was me hoping I was more koala bear than—what did you call it again—oh yeah, human spider monkey? Isn’t that some ugly-looking thing off Ben10?’
‘Er…pass?’ The guy looked back at me blankly but Charlie got the reference and grinned, earning me some more ‘cool aunty’ points. ‘And for your information, I’ve been trying to work out how you can get down.’
‘Great, I’m all ears.’
‘Would they be spider monkey ears or koala ones?’
‘Hmph.’ I refused to dignify his dumb question with an answer.
‘OK, fine. The short answer is that you’re going to have to jump.’ His nonchalance fooled me so it took the length of a heartbeat before his idea of a solution sunk in.
‘I’m what?’ I winced as my voice rose to a shriek, then tipped my head back again to shoot daggers at him with my eyes. ‘Please tell me you’re kidding.’
‘Sadly no, I can’t see any other way.’
‘I…’ The blood drained from my face, which was impressive considering my position. ‘I can’t,’ I whispered.
‘Pardon?’
‘I said, “I can’t”.’
‘Ah. If it helps, you’re not all that high up.’
‘Nope, doesn’t help in the slightest.’ The opposite in fact and I wasn’t sure how much more my heart could take. Nor the rest of my body.
‘Oh, I see.’ He fell silent and for one dreadful moment, I thought he might leave. ‘My name’s Zac,’ he said eventually but something about his voice had changed. He’d adopted more of a soothing tone, the sort that was good for dealing with frightened animals and kids.
‘Golly gee, that’s swell, Zac.’ Not only did I look like a freaking idiot, he—Zac, the gorgeous hunk—had resorted to treating me like an idiot as well. ‘Please forgive me if I pass on the introductions; I have rather more pressing matters to attend to.’
‘I’m a pool attendant, trained first aider, and also a volunteer lifeguard.’
‘Bully for you. What do you want? A pat on the back? I’m afraid I’m a little indisposed right now.’
‘Fair enough. I just thought you might like to know me a bit better since you’re going to have to put your trust in me.’
‘Yeah right…’ I decided to toss his own line back at him and his absurd idea. ‘How d’you figure that one out?’
‘Well, if you can’t jump…’ He paused, presumably to give me the chance to contradict him and tell him I would jump after all. I didn’t. ‘Then you’re just going to have to let go.’
‘Let go?’ A mangled laugh worked its way past my lips. I tipped my head upside-down again and saw the serious expression on his face and my laugh became more of a choke. ‘Were you still standing in the “cute” line when brains were being handed out?’
He grinned. ‘You think I’m cute?’
‘I think you’re insane.’
‘Quite possibly…’ Zac shrugged. ‘It’s your call.’
‘No chance.’
‘Fine. How much longer do you think can you hang on?’ he asked.
‘Um…’ I couldn’t deny that I was tiring fast. Twinges were pinging through my limbs, warning me cramp would set in soon and my fork of the branch had been creaking ominously.
‘That branch doesn’t look too good either,’ he said, confirming my fears.
‘I’m not sure,’ I said, mindful of Charlie hanging on to every word.
‘That’s what I figured. So how about it?’
‘You’re absolutely sure there’s no other way?’ OK, so I was clutching at straws as well as branches.
‘Well there is, but not soon enough.’ His