“You want to WHAT down a building?” I asked.

“Abseil,” he answered.

“Which is what exactly?” I asked.

“We’ll rappel down,” he said.

I raised my eyebrows.

“We’ll go down the side of the building together,” he said.

I inched closer to the guard rail of the building. I craned my neck over the railing and looked down.

I righted myself and quickly stepped away from the rail.

“Uh, nuh uh. No way. Not going to happen.” Just to be extra sure that he caught my meaning, I shook my head and made a large ‘X’ with my arms. “No,” I reiterated.

“Come on,” he said. He grabbed my hand and pulled me closed toward him. He rubbed my knuckles with his fingers. “Don’t tell me that you’re scared?”

“Well,” I said. “I won’t tell you about it then.” I avoided making eye contact.

“Don’t you think it will be so romantic?” he said.

“Isn’t this enough?” I asked. I threw my hands up in the air. “I already came all the way up here on top of this scary building for you.“

“Scary building?” he repeated.

I flung my hands up in the air again. Then, I reached for his hands and held them. I looked into his eyes. “I would do anything for you,” I said. “But to… abseil… down a building?” I shook my head. “No, I’m just not there yet.”

“But we’re literally here,” he whined. “Why waste this opportunity?”

I laughed in his face. Then, my laugh turned into a nervous giggle. Then, my laugh turned into a hysterical, roller-coaster-ride, collapse-of-my-sanity cackle.

When I looked up, I could tell that he was angry. “Oh, don’t be angry,” I said. “I just couldn’t help it. I just don’t see this the same way that you do. I just don’t want to jump off a building. Can’t we just pretend this didn’t happen and leave now?”

He glared at me. “You can leave,” he said.

“Oh, really,” I said. “Don’t pout. I just don’t want to do this.”

“Okay,” he said. “Then leave.”

“Fine,” I said. I walked toward the elevator with fervor. “I’ll talk to you about this later, when we’re on solid ground again,” I called back without turning around.

“We are on solid ground,” he shouted back.

“Sure,” I said. “Talking about jumping off a building is so grounded.”