Fall from Love

an adrenaline rush like nothing else.” My voice is sing song. “C’mon the feeling is supposed to be euphoric or something.”
    She stops stirring the mushrooms, turns around, and points the wooden spoon she’s holding right at my face. “I don’t know what’s spinning in that little head of yours, but it’s never gonna happen.” The spoon she’s holding rises and falls with her last few words.
    “Oh, well. That’s just too damn bad.” I sigh dramatically.
    “And why is that?” she asks.
    “I made us an appointment to skydive this afternoon. I already paid for it... or half of it anyway.”
    Her head whips around to face me, her eyes bulging. “You what?”
    “I made us an appointment to skydive this afternoon.” I carefully enunciate each word, just so there’s no miscommunication.
    “And what makes you think that I’m gonna go with you?”
    “Because you wouldn’t want your best friend going alone.” I smile and glance up through my eyelashes.
    “Seriously, what’s your obsession with jumping out of a perfectly good airplane anyway?” she asks, turning back around to stir the ingredients.
    “Because, Jenna, it sounds like fun and you were the one who told me that I needed to start having a little more of it. Besides, it’s always been a fear of mine and I’m kind of trying to overcome my fears these days. You’ll love it, I promise.”
    Now, she’s leaning on the counter with her arms behind her, facing me. She doesn’t say anything for a moment, but then a wide grin stretches across her face and I can’t help wondering what’s spinning in that head of hers. “Fine.” She raises her eyebrows. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll agree to go skydiving with you, if you agree to sing at Sterling’s at open mic night again.”
    My shoulders slump as I contemplate the deal she’s just given me. “Never mind. I’ll go on my own.” Her offer punctures a large hole in my happy balloon and my voice comes out sounding deflated. One day I will sing again, but I’m just not ready for that. There are too many emotions that come with singing; emotions that I am not quite ready to handle just yet.
    “Come on, Holly. Why not?” she asks, taking a step towards me. “You just got done saying that you’re trying to conquer your fears. Isn’t getting up on stage and singing again a huge fear of yours?”
    Yeah, it is, but for reasons I’m not sure she understands. “I can’t sing right now anyway,” I say, swallowing hard.
    “Why?”
    “Easy.” I shrug. “I don’t have anything to sing.”
    “Liar,” she challenges. “I saw you working on something a few weeks ago, that morning before school.”
    I shrug again. “It’s gone. I threw it away.”
    A mischievous smile spreads across her lips. “Well, you should count yourself lucky that you have the bestest best friend in the world. I found it in the trash and took it out.” She skips off down the hall and into her room. A couple seconds later she comes back and hands me a flattened, yet crinkled up piece of paper. “It’s beautiful, Holls. You need to sing it and, even if you don’t sing it or finish it, you should at least keep it.”
    I stare down at the words, still not believing what she’s done. “You took this from the trash? That’s kind of gross, Jenna.”
    She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “Well, I had to. You were dumb enough to throw it away and I just couldn’t let you do that.”
    “It’s depressing, Jenna.” I scan my eyes back over the miserable words.
    “Hey, it’s what you’re feeling right now. It’ll be good for you to look back at it someday and realize how far you’ve come. Besides, aren’t all the great songs depressing and miserable?”
    “Okay, okay.” I take in a deep breath, seeing her point. My eyes scan back over the words and then over at Jenna’s face. I think about what I want to do, knowing that singing again would feel so good, but deep down, I’m not sure if I am ready to take that step. Seeing Jenna’s shit-eating grin tells me she thinks she has me.
    “So, what’s it gonna be? Are we going skydiving today or what?” she asks.
    A part of me knows there’s only one way to wash that smug smile off her face.
    “Fine. I’ll sing again, but I get to choose the day,” I offer.
    She grins and shrugs. “Fine, as long as you sing at Sterling’s before summer begins, I’ve got no complaints. That should give you plenty of time to finish writing your