First Sight (22 page)

The table that Travis had sat down at started counting
off,
and I noticed that he was on Team A.  We
worked our way
around the classroom. 
There were about
thirty
of my coworkers here,
not including the managers,
so it seemed that each group would have
fifteen
people in it. 
When the instructor pointed to our table,
Marissa
went first, starting over at Team A. 
Elizabeth
was
next, and as we went around the table I found that I was in the same group as
Marissa
. 
And Travis.

“All right, let’s head outside,” our instructor said,
clapping his hands together and
looking way too enthusiastic about the whole thing.

As we stood up and gathered our things,
I wondered what exactly we would be doing. 
Marissa
shoved in her chair and looked over at me.  “I’m happy that we’re on the same team
and all
, but this is
gonna
suck.”

I laughed and nodded,
tossing
my paper coffee cup into the trash. 
“Are you feeling any better?”

“I’d be feeling better if I were still at home in bed.”

“Wouldn’t we all,” Travis said, sauntering up.  I looked up at his easy smile and warm brown eyes. 
He seemed much more relaxed now that he’d gotten settled in and heard what we’d be doing for the day. 
Of course he was happy.  He’s so
athletic,
he was probably looking forward to spending the next two days outdoors.  I couldn’t imagine Travis embarrassing himself out there today, but I definitely couldn’t say the same thing about myself.

“Yeah, whatever,”
Marissa
said sourly, breezing past us and out the door.

“What’s with her?” Travis
asked
, puzzled,
watching as she walked away.

“I don’t think she wants to be here,” I replied.  “Plus she’s not feeling well.”

“Oh,” Travis said, nodding.  “I hope she’s okay.”

“Me t
oo—I
don’t want her to leave me here alone.
”

Travis laughed
as we walked out together
, and
I paused in the hallway to pull my fleece over my head. 
He
waited for me,
then
held open the door as we headed outside.

“What group are you in?”
he asked.

“A,” I said,
fully aware that Travis was in the same group.
  Not that I was about to reveal that to him.

“Hey, same here,” he said, breaking out into a grin.

“Oh, great!”
I said, pretending to be surprised.  I wondered if he completely saw through
that
and decided to change the subject.

“Did you have trouble finding
it
?” I
asked
, waving my arm
around
to indicate that I meant
the conference center
.

“Ugh, yeah,” he sighed.  “I missed the exit, and by the time I realized it, I’d gone about ten miles out of the way.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said.
  “That’s not the best way to start off the day.”

“Yeah, I had no idea where this
place
was. 
I’ve never even heard of it before,” he said with a laugh.  “
I guess I should have carpooled here or something
,” he suggested.

“Maybe so,” I replied, my voice trailing off.

He stood looking down at me, and for a beat neither of us said anything.

“Oh well,” Travis said with a smile.  “I’m here now.”

***

A couple of hours later
,
I was leaning backwards, clinging precariously to a rope above my head. 
My feet were
perched on a taught rope
connected between two trees
that
was
approximately three feet off the ground
and
fifteen feet long.  The goal was
to balance on the lower rope,
hold on to the rope
that ran parallel
to it
above our heads
,
and move steadily acros
s
, from one
tree
to another. 
We had a time limit,
so
several team members had to be on the rope at the same time
in order to move everyone across in the time allotted
. 
As
Marissa
had stepped onto the rope
after
me,
it wobbled, and
I had lost my balance and was now stuck in the middle
of the rope
,
leaning back,
unable to pull myself
upright
to continue across.

“Sorry,
Maddy
!”
Marissa
called out when she saw what her movement had done.
  She was
standing on the bottom rope but
still clinging to the tree and seemed afraid to grab the rope above her head.
  Judging from my situation, I didn’t blame her.

“Pull
yourself
back up,
Maddy
,” I heard someone call out.

I tried pulling mys
elf forward
again into more of a standing position
, but I wasn’t strong enough.
 
“I can’t,” I said helplessly
, still leaning backward in the air as I clutched tightly to the rope.
  I sighed, unsure what to do.  If I hopped down to the ground, our team would fail this
challenge.  But I couldn’t very well continue to the other side like this—there was no way that I’d be able to maintain my footing at the angle I currently was
positioned in
.
  I’d definitely fall off
, possibly get hurt,
and
our team would
still
fail
the challenge
.

“Hold on,” Travis’s deep voice
called out to my right
.  He’d volunteered to go first across the rope, and our team agreed that it made sense for the tallest people to go first and last.  They could fairly easily move across in a couple of steps by holding
onto
the first tree with
one
long arm
to balance themselves
as they edged out onto the rope
.  When they were in the middle, they could
practically
reach across to the other side
and grab
onto
the second tree
.
 
Jeff, a red-headed guy almost as tall as Travis, was waiting by the first tree and helping us onto the ropes.  Travis
had been making his way
to the
other side when I
had
started out
and was just now turning around to offer assistance.  He
stepped
back toward me now, one arm holding onto the tree
for support
.  “Give me your hand,” he said, reaching his right hand out to me.

I
doubted that Travis, balancing on the rope himself, could really help me
, but
I
knew that
I didn’t really have any other options
.
 
I
hesitantly
reached out, and Travis clasped his strong hand around mine
.  With one smooth movement, he pulled me forward, and I was
once
again
standing upright,
balancing on the rope.

“Thanks,” I said, gripping his hand tightly.

“Just hold onto me, and keep walking.”

“Okay,” I said shakily, taking a step toward him.

Travis kept his arm firm
ly extend
ed
toward me
, and I
held his hand as I moved along the rope.
  It felt like I was holding onto an immobile object—he didn’t waver at all.  When I
was standing right next to him
, I
let go of
his hand and
reached out to
the tree myself.

“You made it,”
he said, grinning down at me.

“I didn’t think I would,” I said with a little laugh.  I stepped around him and jumped to the ground since I was safely across.
 
Marissa
was in the middle of the rope now, where I’d been when I started having trouble.  Travis stepped back
out
onto the rope to assist in pulling her across. 
From my vantage point on the ground,
I watched as
,
one
-
by
-
one, the rest of my teammates
came
across the narrow rope.

“This is ridiculous,” Marissa muttered beside me.
  She sneezed into the sleeve of her thin top, and I could tell that she was not feeling well at all.

“Did you bring anything warmer to wear?” I asked, eyeing her outfit doubtfully.  We’d been outside all afternoon, and she looked like she was really cold.

“No, I thought it was supposed to warm up today.  I’ll be fine.”

She turned and wandered off to the cooler full of water bottles
that
one of the instructors had
brought
.  She started talking to another one of our coworkers, and I turned my attention back to the rope challenge.

Jeff was the
last one
to come across
and asked what our time was once he safely jumped to the ground.

Our instructor looked down at his watch.  “
Eleven
minutes.”

“Is that good?” I asked, skeptical.

“Only if it’s better than Team B’s score,” Jeff replied with a laugh.
 
I wanted to roll my eyes, but the only people standing near me were Jeff and Travis, and they seemed excited about the idea of beating the other team.
 
Maybe some people had a goal of
coming out ahead
, but
my
personal
goal was just to make it
through the day in one piece.
 
We did
one more activity
on the rope
s
course and
then
walked back to the
conference center
around 3:30 that afternoon. 
Marissa
was trudging unhappily beside me, sniffling
and sneezing
along the way.

“I can’t wait to go back and take a shower,” she moaned.  “I feel awful.”

“Are you planning to stay until tomorrow?”

“I don’t think I really have a choice.”

Team B had finished
their activities as well
, and they were already inside the building when we walked in. 
Elizabeth
looked up at
Marissa
and me and called out to us, asking if we wanted to meet for dinner at 5:00.

“Sounds good.
  We’ll see you then!
” I said, waving as I
headed
down the hallway. 
Marissa
followed me
, on the way to her own
room.

“Are you coming to dinner?” I asked.  She looked unusually pale and certainly hadn’t been her usual bubbly self today.

“Yeah,
I think so
.  Come by my room
on your way
.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding.  “
Get some rest
.”  I
slid my keycard into the door
and walked inside
my room
, heading straight for the bathroom to take a
long, hot
shower
. 
I
caught
a glimpse of myself in the mirror above the sink
as I walked in
. 
My cheeks were red from the cold and little strands of hair had
come
out of my ponytail.  I blew a wisp up that had fallen in my face
,
and
I
watched
as it fel
l right back down onto my forehead.
 
As I waited for the water to heat up, I peeled off my clothes.  At least I
had made
it
through in one piece—no falling off
the ropes, no broken bones, and no embarrassing myself in front of everyone.
  I stuck my hand in
the water
to see if
it
was warm enough then stepped into the shower stall
, closing
my eyes as the
warm water poured
over me.  It felt so relaxing to just stand there, not moving.  I realized that my muscles ached from being so tense all day, and I started to loosen up as the
water beat down and steam surrounded me
.