Made of Glass Chapter 10

A Chapter by Charlie

Excitement and near death experiences and suspense! A turning point in the relationship promising a good chapter.

I was right he didn’t show up the rest of the night. The next day I was crabby and barking at innocent bystanders right up until he suddenly appeared with a book sitting at his booth. I took a deep breath. It felt like I was only half breathing the whole time he had been away from me.

He looked up while I was enjoying this breath of fresh air and made eye contact with me. The brilliant smile that he used to greet me split his face, but then the most horrible thing happened. It wavered. The corners drooped just a tad and he looked unsure, cautious like he wasn’t sure he should be happy to see me or not. So maybe I wouldn’t ask him about it. If he didn’t want to talk about what happened, I wouldn’t push it.

I skipped over to him willing my smile to remain authentic and not waver in response, “Apple juice, Buttercup?"

The corners lifted back up. It was so strange to me that he should be worried about how I regarded him when so much of my effort was spent trying to get him to think highly of me. It would be so pathetic for me to be acting this way but somehow his hesitancy around me made it feel better. Plus I wasn’t really changing anything about myself. I was being myself around him and he liked me for it.

I really did like him.

“Yes, please,” He looked down at my feet now encased in the death wheels. “How’s it going?”

“I haven't made a complete fool of myself yet!” I said cheerfully. “Plus there are so many sturdy objects around here to stop myself on that I didn’t even need your silly braking methods.”

He chuckled. “That’s good,” He paused looking away from me. “Hey about yesterday. I’m sorry I just rushed off like that. It’s just I . . . It was a family thing,” He put extra emphasis on the last words and looked me directly in eye willing me to understand. I did understand. I probably understood better than anyone else could.

“Don’t sweat it. I told you I was fine,” He was set at ease by my words “I’ll be right back with your drink.”

The worst part about the roller skating fund raiser wasn’t actually the roller skating. It was how busy the bar got. Apparently people from all over campus and the entire area came in to watch girls make a fool of themselves trying to serve people on wheels. I thankfully had gotten pretty good at it so I didn’t drop a trey full of five meals like Sara did. In fact I didn’t have any mishaps. A fact Eddie congratulated me on very heartily. The bad part of it all was that there was no time to talk to Eddie. He sat and read by himself for hours before I could come and say two words to him. He didn’t seem particularly bothered by it but I was certainly disappointed.

Also, the long break from each other’s company that roller week forced upon us, together with the unusual parting after our outing put a little hamper in our relationship. The roller skating lesson was definitely not a date and it definitely wasn’t followed up by any other invitations to hang out again. Not during the week of the fund raiser or the week after or the week after that. It was like all the progress we had been making had been sucked up. I hadn’t ever wanted Eddie to ask me out before, but now I just wanted to be alone with him. I wanted him to want to be with me enough to extend this relationship out of the bar. I should have just asked him myself. I was a strong confident woman. I could do that sort of thing!

Only I didn’t. I waited for him to ask me. Only he didn’t.

We still talked to each other like we always had. Nothing had really changed in our relationship after the fund raiser week. But I really wanted change.

It was made all the worse by the change in my thoughts whenever I was with him. I had always been enthralled by Eddie’s good looks but now it took on a slightly more . . . steamy channel. Rather than just ogling at the way his lips moved when he talked, now I wondered what it would be like to press mine against them. I wondered what his chest was like underneath his perfectly neat attire. I had been in his arms once and felt it and now I wanted it again. I had never had such a crush in my life. There were all these strange feelings and desires and he didn’t appear to be sharing them with me!

If he just wanted to be friends and nothing more with me than I could handle that. It was better than nothing.

But why? Why wouldn’t he want more? I was an attractive girl. He liked me right? Then why was I freaking out around him all the time and he was still acting cool and collected and funny and gorgeous.

Ugh! Stupid boys.

To fix this like all problems I was faced with I would just have to work with what God had given me which was my girlish charms. I didn’t really have any idea how to flirt but I would give it a try. I took it upon myself to send some extra signals this week. I stood a little closer to him when we talked, pitched my voice a little lower so the conversations were more private, and I made eye contact like I had never made eye contact before. I stared him straight in the eye and willed him to understand what I was feeling.

If he was being hesitant because he wasn’t sure I was feeling the same way, things were going to step up. Right here right now.

Two weeks after the fund raiser Eddie had stayed extra late. Long after the last costumers had gone he helped me close up. He was putting all the chairs up on the table and discussing this concert he had gone to with his brother.

For as much as he claimed not to get along with them they sure did spend a lot of time together doing a lot of fun stuff. He hated them and I was still jealous of them.

“You’d love this band, Dolly. I’ll bring you all their cds.”

“I have a hard time imagining you at a rock concert.”

“Oh hell yes, I put on the eye liner and leather pants and totally rock out the whole night.”

He finished his task and joined me at the bar where I was tallying up the cash register.

“Oh please, send me pictures,” I laughed along with him.

When he regained his composure he tried to restore his image. “It’s not really like that. My family owns a sky box at the amphitheater. I sit up there and drink expensive champagnes the whole time.”

“Sounds like great fun,” I would love to come along some time. I should just say that. It would totally get the job done. I didn’t say it. “I was thinking about getting one of those too,” I said jokingly “Right after I sell my soul to the devil.”

I finished up my task and locked up the cash register and then leaned toward him on the bar.

“Aw, don’t do that,” Eddie said with a smile still playing on his perfect lips. “You can use ours. Your soul’s too nice for that. You should keep it.”

“And what do you know about my soul?” I said quietly.

“I know you,” He said simply.

I smiled at the compliment and a pleasant silence descended upon us.

“Let’s get out of here,” he finally broke it.

“Where do you want to go?” I almost did a cartwheel at my success. I was quite the seducer, wasn’t I?

“I think the Copcen River just froze over, it might be skate worthy. Are you as good at ice skating as you are at rollerblading?”

I shrugged. “Never tried,” I was surprised he would suggest a similar activity to what had ended so poorly last time. Maybe he wanted to mend some fences.

He let out an exasperated sigh. “Didn’t you have a childhood?”

Yes, but I spent it cleaning up my drunk stepfather’s vomit and stitching up my wounds. “Apparently not a very fulfilling one.”

“Allow me to rectify that situation. Ice skating tonight and next week we can do bumper cars and then go to the zoo.”

Next week!! Victory!!

“Sounds fabulous. Let me get my coat.”

We drove his car down toward the river. The inside was just as spotless as the outside. The only clutter came from the massive amounts of cds packed into the glove compartment, the pockets behind the seats, and the arm rest between them. Basically any place they would fit that wasn’t the floor was taken up by a cd case. It was especially ridiculous since he had his iPod hooked up to the car and only played music off of there. He started off by playing some songs from the band he went to see but let it go on shuffle after that. I hadn’t fully appreciated how diverse his music tastes were until some classical music started to play followed by disco. I gave him a sidelong glance at that.

“I know. I’m embarrassed, but I like it.”

“What don’t you like?” I picked up the iPod and started to scroll the artists. It was a pointless task I didn’t know enough artists to recognize most of them and get a good idea what his favorite types of music were.

“I’m non-discriminating,” he announced. “If I like something I’ll listen to it and I don’t care what seventies rock bands have to say about it.”

“That’s a noble attitude, I suppose.”

The River was deserted and closed off when we arrived. No big surprise since it was well after midnight and pitch black. Eddie knew a spot a ways down that went under a highway overpass. The street lamps would give us enough light to see our feet. Eddie complained something terrible about hopping the fence to get in but I made a couple references to buttercups and he gave in and followed me over. He complained even more when I picked the lock to get the skates out of the old shed/admissions office. He was all well and good with blackmail but breaking and entering was too much for him.

“I didn’t know you were such a petty crook,” he said as I picked out an acceptable pair of shoes.

“I'm an orphan. What can you expect?”

“I am too and I have morals.”

“No, you were adopted. It’s entirely different. Besides, we’re not hurting anyone! We’ll give it all back. No harm done!”

We ran down to the bank and began pulling on the skates. I tapped the blade of my shoe testing out its strength. “Why do they even let people skate on the river? It seems a little dangerous,” I pondered aloud.

“Some historical reasons or tradition or something like that.”

“Well its easiest to race this way and I am going to kick your a*s!”

“Did I not mention that I was amazing at this?”

Well there’s a shocker. "Makes no difference, you’re going to let me win anyway.”

“Am I now?”

We goofed around for a solid hour till my toes were so cold that they would break off like carrot sticks. Eddie didn’t look affected by the cold at all. He also beat me in all of our races.

“Alright, fine I am willing to admit defeat. You are the superior skater! We’ll have to rematch another time or my limbs will fall off,” I shivered.

“Are you cold?” he seemed unnecessarily concerned.

“You’re not? Are you part Eskimo?”

We sat down on the edge of the bank and Eddie started to remove his skates. He still moved nimbly and gracefully while I shook having trouble undoing the laces.

“No, I am it’s just I guess I didn’t notice how cold it was out here . . .” He said very uncomfortable. “I have my scarf somewhere around here you can have it,”

Eddie had shed all of his excess layers to be more “aerodynamic” as he claimed. I thought that he was just showing off but apparently he had cow hide for skin. I would have declined the offer of help from him but it was really very cold. Also, I had flash backs of old movies where the girl wore the coat of her honey when she shivered. It seemed sweet. Not that Eddie was my honey or anything . . .

“I think I left them under the bridge . . .”

We had been avoided the area under the bridge and beyond it. There looked to be a slick layer of ice that had melted and then refrozen. I doubted the integrity of that area.

“I’ll get it. You don’t have to put your skates back on,” I hadn’t made any progress with my laces so I hopped up stiffly and sprinted over toward the bridge. I was right about my suspicions of the ice not being stable here. Despite the frosty temperatures of the middle of the night there was still a slight layer of new slush on top of the ice directly beneath the street lamps. I carefully but quickly retrieved the scarf and turned back to Eddie. He was standing several hundred yards away staring at me with a peaceful grin on his face. It made me blush but I couldn’t help smiling back. Then suddenly the smile vanished and was replaced with shock and fear. I didn’t understand what that was about until I heard a loud crack underneath me. I only had time to glance down at my feet to see the ice splitting beneath me and then back up at Edward’s panicked face before the ground gave way and the icy grip of the rushing water beneath the surface sucked me in so fast I smacked the back of my head on the ice. And with that I was trapped in the cold and swirling rush all around me.

I thought about my death a lot when I was younger. Mostly I prayed for it in my very young years. When I was a little older I thought of good ways to go. I never actually planned to take my own life. The option was always there on my periphery. It was no surprise to me then that my thoughts were clear and calm while I was dying.

I didn’t panic and start thrashing about my limbs in every which direction trying to break the surface. I knew that wasn’t going to happen. I could only wonder about the speed and force of the river. It had taken me several yards down the river in the matter of time it took me to realize what was happening. I hadn’t known that the river was even this deep. I knew that down by the shack where people were suppose to skate the river was only a little past ankle deep. Here though it seemed bottomless and the current so strong. It tossed me about like a rag doll. I couldn’t find my orientation so I couldn't even attempt to rescue myself. My death was certain and I wasn’t really too upset. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about finals ever again. I did regret my relationship with Eddie though. This would probably hurt him. He would probably be the only one at my funeral. Well him and Bucky. Actually all the bar girls would probably be there but because of the drama of the death of someone in the family not to honor my memory. Then there was also the regret that I wasn’t going to live to see my stepfather die first.

These rational thoughts all skipped across my brain in just a few seconds while the air in my lungs got used up and my limbs went numb from the freezing water. Which was nice because initially it the cold hurt like a thousand tiny knives stabbing into me. Now I was uncomfortable but it wasn’t anything unbearable. I wasn’t sure my eyes were closed or not, the water was so pitch black but I imagined they were and just let myself get taken in the current in the wild ride. Might as well enjoy my last moment right?

It appears that my eyes weren’t actually closed because I saw a great pale shape swim up beside me. I could tell it was swimming and that it actually had legs and arms although I couldn’t puzzle out how anyone could swim in this incredible current. Then one of the arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me close to its torso. The force of the movement forced the last of my air out of my lungs and I could feel the darkness surrounding me.

It could have been a mermaid I supposed.

Then abruptly the twisting and flailing about stopped. I could still feel the water rush by me but now this fairytale creature appeared to be swimming against it holding me steady. I had frequent nightmares of large bugle whales carrying me out to sea. It swam up to the frozen surface and pounded the ice once and twice until with another great crash we broke free. Suddenly I was out of the water. I was confused when instant relief didn’t assault my lungs but for all I knew we were still in the water with the spinning in my head and the water in my lungs only my blurry darkening vision told me we were free.

Bummer. I was still going to drown even though the creature had miraculously saved me. I was going to drown and I wasn’t even in the water. This would make an excellent story if I were only going to be alive to tell it. I let myself slide toward unconsciousness but was roughly pulled back to the real world with a hash sudden force to my stomach. All of the water in my lungs rushed up and out and then there was finally the relief.

I gasped at the cold air like I was grabbing the last Rollo in the world after everyone had been killed by zombies and no one was manufacturing them anymore. The air rushed in and out over and over again each breath sweeter and more painful than the last.

I was laying on my back staring up at the perfectly clear sky panting and confused when Eddie’s dripping wet figure moved into my field of vision. His face was all torture and concern and agony. I would have snorted if I wasn’t so tired. He was in so much pain and he wasn’t even the one drowning or almost drowning. I guess I wasn’t going to die. Drat. Or wait that was a good thing. Hooray!

“Dolly? Are you . . ." yes saying okay at this point would have been ridiculous so he just trailed off.

I tried to push myself to an upright position but every movement was exhausting. Eddie promptly gave me his assistance pushing me so I could sit up. He kept his hands on me, fearful that I was going to tip over, a very real possibility.

I looked from the gigantic hole that he had made in the ice where we emerged back up the river to the bridge where I had fallen in. It was only about a hundred yards away. The journey had seemed so much longer. Then I looked back at the hole through the six inch thick ice.

My words surprised us both, “Work out much?”

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