“An indoor climbing wall. One of the guys from the group with his boyfriend.” I turn the phone back to me. “He wrote, ‘Wild day! Can any of you be even wilder? I propose a #wildchallenge. The winning team can be chosen at the next event. Are you in? Or are you a bunch of cowards?’”
“Well, I was talking to a wall,” Larissa remarks.
I laugh, reading the follow-up messages in the group. Everyone is accepting the challenge.
“So, now you and Erik have to do something bolder and take a picture. Hmm. You climbing an actual mountain... I look forward to that.” Larissa rubs her hands like someone ready for a juicy performance.
“Ha-ha,” I fake-laugh. “You know I’m afraid of heights.”
The front door opens, and I hear Erik’s footsteps at the entrance.
“That’s why it’ll be fun to witness,” Larissa teases me, and I show her my tongue.
“Bye to you. Let me ask Erik if he has any ideas.”
“That one?” I point at the free-fall tower before me. It’s so high I need to tilt my head as far back as it will go to see the top. I have been eyeing the tower’s golden teardrop tip since we were outside the amusement park, as it juts toward the sky along with the historical towers in the Copenhagen city center.
“The Golden Tower,” Erik says as if announcing a king entering a royal ballroom. “Sixty-three meters high.”
“Sixty-three?” I look up, feeling nauseous just watching people ascending slowly and then descending in a high-speed drop. “And you waited to tell me that this is what we’re doing until we were right in front of it?”
“Of course, so you wouldn’t have a chance to escape.”
I narrow my eyes at him, which only makes him smile brighter.
“Well, it was you who wanted to participate in the challenge. And who said that walls were not an option.” Erik pulls me sideways for a hug. “You’ll be fine, Sol. I can hold your hand.”
Caught in his arms, I look up at him. I’m shivering because even though he is heating me from the cold, being embraced by Erik in an amusement park—the second oldest in the world—is romantic. If there was one right thing he could say to convince me, it was that. The idea of holding his hand is so attractive I will even agree to be dropped from a two-hundred-foot height.
“What about the picture? If my phone falls, there’ll be nothing left but powder.”
Erik laughs. “We can buy the photo they take. Come on, now.” Erik pulls me by the hand out of my spot in the middle of a busy Tivoli path on Halloween night.
It’s the prettiest amusement park I have ever been to. Everything is so charming—with a thousand lanterns, lush trees, and fairy-tale-like buildings—that not even the creepy Halloween decorations diminish the romantic vibes.
When Erik said we should go to Tivoli for Halloween, to find something wild to do there, I was confused. For some reason, I’d imagined only cute carousels and tiny sailing boats—maybe a fast roller coaster or a haunted house. But then we got in, and my mouth opened in surprise. The Golden Tower is far from being the only wild ride here.
We face the long line, and the closer it gets to our turn, the more I nervously dance to shake off the cold and the fear. Erik laughs at my embarrassing moves.
Finally, we sit on the ride and get locked in place. I test the safety of the seat, fearing I will fly out of it.
“Goodness gracious, what am I doing?” I start to panic, and Erik only laughs more. “You’ll pay for this, Erik Storm,” I mutter between my teeth.
“Just relax and enjoy the view,” he says. “It’s wonderful. You’ll see the entire city.”
I try to do as he says, even though my nerves are killing me. But I only relax for real once he holds my hand. I look at our fingers clicked together like Lego pieces. The shivers are stronger than ever.
When I look at him, he is no longer laughing, just smiling, serene and encouraging. He squeezes my hand. He can probably hear my frantic breath and feel me shaking.
We ascend, roller-coaster carts becoming moving toys under us. All around me, a beautiful city where old redbrick buildings combine with a lit-up skyline. Cars pass under us like animated miniature models. I tell myself not to look down at my feet hanging in the air.
Erik squeezes my hand. We are reaching the top.
“So far, so good, eh?”
I’ve trusted Erik. I do trust him. I realize I’d go to the end of the world with him.
I nod in response. Because I’m fine. It’s all good.
We laugh, hands united, and the moment of suspense comes, when we are left hanging up there for a couple of seconds before the drop. And it’s in that couple of seconds, looking at Erik’s beautiful profile, long golden hair flying with the cold wind, that I have the realization.
I’m falling in love.
I’m in love with Erik Storm.
I lose my breath. My stomach drops before I do. I’m free-falling, and I scream and scream until my lungs can’t take it anymore and my voice won’t come out. The city is a blur. It feels as if my soul has left my body and thrown itself back in again.
I’m in love. Holy ship. Motherfather.
We keep going up and down. My mind is foggy, my heart hammering in my chest. I look at Erik, pale but joyful, his hair lashing around his face uncontrollably. I feel like screaming more, but I also feel like laughing, a jolt of adrenaline running through my veins.
I did it. I dropped from the tower.
I acknowledged that I’m in love.
Our hands are frozen together. I can’t let go. I don’t want to let go.
I want him to be my real boyfriend.
