Lucy checked to make sure her red hair was secure. Despite the fact she had braided it incredibly tight that morning she was still afraid of it coming undone. She sat down at the table for lunch and smiled broadly. They had reached the end of her bucket list but she knew this would be the hardest item to convince him on. She opened her emerald eyes somewhat wider and tried to maintain a hopeful and encouraging smile that lifted her freckled cheeks. "So..." she began casually "just skydiving left."
"Dream on." Marcus growled between munching on a sandwhich. Swallowing, he set his lunch down with a sigh knowing what was coming. "Lucy, planes crash, parachutes malfunction."
Lucy heaved a loud sigh and picked up her own sandwich. She stared at it for a moment and looked back up at Marcus. Her green eyes glittered as she smiled, "Cars can crash, lightning strikes, heart attacks happen."
"Yeah, but Luce this is intentionally stepping out of a plane and.....and falling!" he gasped, staring at her incredulous. "I don't normally do this, but as your boyfriend, I'm setting my foot down! I forbid it!"
Lucy raised an incredulous eyebrow at Marcus but didn't say anything for several moments. She wasn't quite sure how to respond as she wasn't sure which of her feelings was strongest. Amusement? Anger? Confusion? Sympathy? As if he could forbid her to do anything. Yet he only said it because he cared, and that caused a conflict to turn in her gut. But this was something she'd wanted to do for a long time and she wanted it really badly. "You don't normally do that because you can't. There are backup parachutes and I'm sure I'll be connected to an instructor. And it will be amazing! Can you imagine?!"
Consternation filled Marcus's handsome face before he softened, reaching across the table to take her hand. "Look Luce, I'm sorry I'm being this way, but it's because I love you, and I know these groups have a ton of safety regs, and you'll be with an instructor, but I just can't stand the thought of 'what if?'. What would I do without you." He paused, earnestly gazing into her eyes. "It messes me up just thinking about it." Marcus finished. Surely she could pass on some of her "wants" for the peace of their relationship.
The immediate response that came to Lucy's mind was that he'd survive without her. But she didn't say that because she knew that was likely to just start a fight and would be rather insensitive. She sighed again, setting her sandwich down and the hand he had reached across the table to grab turned to gently hold his in response. "We do dangerous stuff all the time. Isn't this sort of a once in a lifetime experience? If we die we'll go to heaven and... and..." she grappled for words, "you'll let me drive motorcycles but not sky dive?"
Marcus grimaced. "Uh yeah, about that. Look, before we were dating what you did was fine, but we're together now, we have to consider more than ourselves." He rocked back into his chair. "Even with the motorcycle thing, being a couple means being responsible to each other, so I think you need to consider that a bit more in your 'go crazy jump out a plane' moments."
Lucy stared at Marcus for some time, unsure if she was understanding him correctly. "Wait, are you saying you are okay with my motorcycle, or you aren't? Because it's there you know, and I have no intention of getting rid of it."
Marcus could feel the ground falling out from under his feet, time to salvage and retreat to fight another day. "No no, Luce, yeah you've already got the bike, no point in arguing over it." He smiled as reassuringly as he could. "Just think that one day we may have kids, or I'd like to, but I have to think about the kinda mother they have, or might not have, if something happens when she jumps out of a plane." Well so much for retreating to fight another day. The words just came out, maybe the days of pressure to jump out of a plane had gotten to him.
Lucy sighed loudly in exasperation, her sandwich on her plate, she poked at it idly. "So you'd rather they have a boring mom that just sits at home all day and worries about things that may or may not happen?"
Marcus put his face in his hands. She wasn't getting it! This had gone from bad to terrible. "Luce, that's not what I meant, come on." He groaned. "And why does responsible mean bor-" he cut himself off, standing abruptly. "You know what, forget it, let's take a break, I have to get back to work, we can talk about this tonight if you like." Turning, he stalked away, feeling slightly more in control of the situation for it.
Lucy raised an eyebrow as Marcus spoke and shook her head as he stood up. He was being so pushy and it wasn't fair. So he cared about her but he couldn't control her, they weren't even married. Even if they were, they would have to be able to talk things out. She sighed, picking up her sandwich and slowly finishing her food. 'Okay,' she thought, 'we can talk later.'
~G.G. Marshall & J. Lindsey Marshall
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