Burn Before Reading(66)

"One way or another," He croaked. I laughed and helped him out of his seat. I stole a glance out a window - we were definitely much higher up now. My insides danced like a conga line.

"You get her," Burn said, pointing Wolf in my direction. "I'll get Fitz."

Wolf nodded, and they both approached with armfuls of gear. Fitz immediately got antsy, refusing to put on anything Burn offered, but Burn eventually strong-armed him into it, with much fuss.

"Get off me, you hairy giant!" Fitz snapped.

"That insult doesn't work anymore," Burn said slowly. "Get a new one."

"You....you massive douche!" Fitz tried. Burn shook his head and clipped a harness on Fitz's quivering chest. Wolf and I, however, were a bit more....strained. Okay, a lot more strained.

"Here," Wolf offered me what looked like a pair of synthetic pants - the kind you saw clam gatherers and fishermen wear. I struggled to put them on over my uniform skirt - secretly cursing Burn for not letting me go back home and change first. Wolf slid a jacket over my shoulders, and zipped it up to my throat, his fingers pausing at the top and his eyes lingering on my chin, and - wait, I had to be hallucinating. Not my lips, right? He definitely wasn't looking at those. Did I have a bit of food there? I got paranoid, and turned my face away, rubbing at them.

"Listen, it's not my fault they had chili and rice in the cafeteria today, okay?" I said.

"That wasn't -" Wolf shook his head. "Whatever. Just clip the ends of the jacket to your pants."

I did, Wolf putting his own synthetic pants and jacket on. I guess it was smart - clip your ends together so they didn't go flapping around in the wind. When Wolf was done with himself he checked my handiwork. Something about him scowling at my hips made me nervous.

"It's too loose," He kneeled, eyes level with some very sensitive parts of me. He didn't seem to notice, though. "I said 'clip', not 'casually attach'."

"Well exxxxccccuse me," I shot back, determined not to sound nervous as his fingers danced over the hemline of my pants. "But it's a little hard to get things right the first time if you don't elaborate with your damn words what you want from me."

"I want you to preferably not die," He said. "How’s that sound?"

"I could've sworn enemies were supposed to want the opposite."

"Just because we're enemies doesn't mean I'm going to stop worrying about your safety," He growled, yanking a clip tighter. "In fact, I'm going to worry about it more, since you're my one and only enemy. A prized, rare commodity. An object of great value."

"You sure know how to make a girl feel like a living, breathing person."

He smirked. "I try."

Mercifully, he stood up. He handed me a backpack that looked suspiciously like it had a parachute inside - nearly bursting at the seams. I put it on, and Wolf immediately doubled around to secure the numerous clips and buckles that hung off the front. This was no better than the hip stuff! His fingers were dangerous close to my chest, and I was the only one who apparently noticed it, or cared. Wolf's face was nothing but stone, his eyes laser focused on securing the buckles.

"There," He said. "Take a pair of goggles from the cabinet. And a helmet. And a mask, if you want."

"Mask?"

"Some people don’t like the feel of gravity and the wind blowing their face around."

"Touché." I walked over and put the goggles on. "What if a bug got in your teeth?"

"There are no bugs this high up."

"Fine - what if a bird got in your teeth?"

He rolled his eyes, securing his own backpack. Fitz squirmed as Burn finished putting his backpack on, too. We all looked very orange and very bulky.

"We look like dorks with these goggles," I giggled. "Or, I do. Wolf still manages to make them look like a hot fashion accessory for the season."

Wolf rolled his eyes again.

"If you keep rolling your eyes, they're going to fall out." I said.

"Finally," He droned. "Then I wouldn’t have to look at you, anymore."

"Rude!" I chirped, adjusting Fitz’s lopsided goggles for him. "Do you ever think what your mom might say if she was here? She'd hear you talking and go; ‘Wow, what a rude boy. I can't believe my Wolf grew up to be such a stinker’."

"She wouldn't say that," Wolf argued.

"She would," Burn agreed. "She called you stinker all the time, especially when you pooped your diapers."

Fitz and I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Wolf sighed and adjusted the straps of his backpack.

"What-"

"-ever!" I finished for him. Burn did that tiny, half-visible smirk again.

"Alright," Jakob's voice came in over the intercom. "Ya'll ready back there? Let's get this show on the road. Follow Burn's lead, okay? He knows this like the back of his hand."

Burn motioned for us to huddle together. Fitz and Wolf reluctantly put their heads in, and I followed suit.

"We're going to go down pretty fast," Burn said. "We'll be holding hands - make sure you don't let go until I say so. You can't hear anything up there, basically, so I'm going to give a thumbs up when it's time to deploy the parachutes."