“What?”
“After this, we keep our feet on the ground.”
“Aw.”
Pouting Zakk was adorable, the way his lower lip poked out and his eyes narrowed, creating a cross between mischief and annoyance.
“Why aw?” Tripp asked through he wasn’t sure if he truly wanted to know the answer.
“Just that I was thinking after this, ziplining would be a piece of cake.”
“Ziplining….”
“Yeah, you know, when you put on a harness and they hook you up to a long, metal line that you slide over the treetops on.”
“Oh, I know what it is. I’m just trying to think of a polite way to tell you hell no!”
He could spend the rest of his life listening to Zakk’s laughter. The feel of Zakk’s hand was grounding, warm, and secure. He savored the moment as they entered the basket, feeling a bit better about things when they were ushered into the windowed dining space. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about being smacked in the head by a bird.
Though they were seated across from one another, Zakk never let go of Tripp’s hand, and Tripp was not about to be the one to break the connection. Little lanterns and patterned China adorned the table, and Tripp only had a moment to wonder if he should hold on to things as they took off, only, it was nothing like an airplane. Just a smooth rise with the cactuses and rock formations gradually growing smaller.
No need to worry about turbulence then. It hardly felt like they were moving. Outside the sights drifted past, while Zakk’s eyes sparkled with pure bliss.
“This is phenomenal,” Zakk said. There was awe in his voice which gave it a softness unlike the deep, melodic singing voice Tripp was used to hearing from him. “Thank you for setting this up and for doing this with me. Total bucket list item right here.”
“In that case, I’m thinking we need to see how many other ideas we can tick off together.”
“Really, what do you have in mind?”
“Venezuela,” Tripp replied, bouncing a little as the thought of brilliant blue beaches and geological wonders began to fill his mind. “There’s this place there, called Mount Roraima, where you can literally have a picnic above the clouds, and get this, it’s as flat as a tabletop and made of pure quartz sandstone.”
“Wait, this scared you, but you wanna climb a mountain?”
“Climb, hell no, but I’d love to take a helicopter up there and have a meal with you.”
“You know what, I’m down for that.”
“Hell yeah. I’ll start planning it out for next year. We should go see the Giant’s Causeway too, I know it’s in Ireland, but we could always do some European shows and see a bunch of things.”
“Shit yeah!” Zakk replied, practically bouncing in his seat too, which made Tripp wonder if that was really something they should be doing considering where they were. “And while we’re in Venezuela we can go kitesurfing and catch piranha.”
“Catch…why would we wanna do that?”
“To see if we can.”
“Ah….” Tripp let his mouth snap shut when no other sound came out. How they’d gone from a picnic on top of the world to catching a murderous, carnivorous fish he didn’t know. At some point in the future, he might have the chance to contemplate it, maybe even kick himself in the ass for whatever harebrained thing he’d said that had tipped things in that direction. For now though, he was going to put every Amazon themed horror movie he’d ever seen behind and focus on the man across from him.
If it wasn’t for the ever-changing scenery outside, Tripp wouldn’t have known they were moving. The gentle glide was undetectable, swallowing up every lingering bit of fear he’d had. There was no extreme motion to make him sick. It was like they were floating in the clouds, just two people in a bubble. With the windowed dining space, they couldn’t even see the balloon above them. It was all sky and rock and what he was certain was a vulture flapping past, judging from the size of that beak.
“That fucker looks vicious, shit, look at the way its beak hooks,” Zakk pointed out, even as he took a couple of pictures of it before it disappeared.
Shivering at the thought, Tripp wrinkled his nose. “Wouldn’t want to be his next meal, that’s for damn sure.”
“I think they just eat dead things.”
“In that case, let’s work real fuckin’ hard on staying among the living.”
“Amen to that. Now….let’s talk about some more of those bucket list items.”