Kiss a Falling Star

by Barabara Elsborg

  “Do you know them?” Ally whispered.

  “Most of them.” There were a few faces he didn’t recognize, a few backs that he did.

  Caspar steeled himself and let go of Ally’s hand as they joined them.

  “Morning,” Ally said brightly, and repeated it as she looked from one person to another.

  The greeting was returned, but no one made eye contact with Caspar when he added his voice to Ally’s. Fuck them.

  “Equipment check,” Tom called. “Caspar?”

  Ally went with him as he walked to the back of the vehicle.

  “Hi Ally,” Tom said. “You’ve not forgotten I need your help?”

  Caspar tried not to bristle and failed.

  “Any chance of coming to the pub tonight?” Tom asked.

  “That’s fine,” Ally said.

  And Caspar would be going too.

  “Whistle,” Tom said.

  Ally pursed her lips and whistled Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

  Caspar and Tom gaped at her.

  “What?” she asked.

  Caspar put his hand in a pocket of the rucksack and took out a whistle.

  She snorted. “I thought you were checking to see if I could whistle in case I got into trouble.”

  Tom laughed, and Caspar wanted to smash his teeth down his throat.

  Instead he buried his fist in the rucksack and took out the compass, torch, spare batteries, a small first-aid kit, a hat, the sandwiches and water and his climbing shoes.

  “Okay?” Caspar asked.

  He knew damn well that Tom wanted to find fault before they’d even started.

  “No helmet?” Tom asked.

  “Do you wear one?”

  Not the last time Caspar had seen Tom climbing.

  “You don’t have any energy bars,” Tom said. “Essential—”

  “My fault. I ate all the chocolate,” Ally said. “I really needed the energy last night.” She snuggled closer to Caspar. He felt a thrill of pleasure at the way she defended him.

  “Pick a couple up from the box,” Tom said in a gruff voice. “And grab a pager.”

  Ally whooped and stuffed in two Mars bars as Caspar repacked the rucksack.

  “Gather round, everyone,” Neil called, and the chattering stopped. “Good morning. Looks like we’ve got a nice day for it, weather forecast says fine to start, wind and rain later. We’ll be done by the time the cold front arrives. This exercise is split into sections. The first is a climb up Tyburn Crag to warm up then an orienteering challenge that should bring you back within a reasonable distance of our poor casualty who’ll be having his accident at precisely one thirty. Be gentle with him because he’ll just have eaten his lunch.”

  A chorus of chuckles followed.

  “You’ll all be required to demonstrate some aspect of mountain rescue service support. The details are on a sheet together with your maps and orienteering instructions. Tom’s handing those out now. If you don’t have your own ropes, collect them from the vehicle. I’ll bring them down from the top of the crag.”

  Caspar took the package Tom offered and didn’t miss the smirk. Shit. What did that mean? But then he wouldn’t do anything to make life difficult for Ally, would he? Unless Tom wanted to make Caspar look a fool. Oh fuck it.

  “Just to remind you all that this is not a race,” Neil said. “The aim of today is not to tear across the moorland like lunatics. On your marks, get set, go.”

  As everyone dashed off, Ally tugged on Caspar’s sleeve and gave him a wide-eyed look. “Climbing?”

  “Tyburn Crag isn’t hard. Go and stand on the left hand side of the crag while I get the ropes.”

  Caspar turned to find himself facing Tom.

  “No need for Ally to climb. Does she want to stay with me?” Tom asked.

  Over his dead body. “No.” Caspar grabbed a set of ropes and harnesses, and set off after her.

  “Caspar?” Neil beckoned him. “Do you want to leave Ally with me while you do the climb?”

  Fuck it. Did no one trust him?“She’ll be fine.”

  Neil sighed. “I wouldn’t be too sure of that. I heard you tell her to go left. She’s on the far right pitch.”

  Caspar spun round and groaned.

  Ally’s heart was doing its best to escape from the prison of her ribs and run back down the hill. Her stomach had already bottomed out. She looked up at the solid wall of rock towering miles into a cloudy sky, like that column on Lord of the Rings, and groaned. Caspar sat on a boulder at her side and changed his shoes.

  “Ally, which is your right hand?”

  Her arms jerked up one after the other like a marionette. “Oops. Wrong side?” She groaned.

  Caspar stood. “Don’t look so worried. You’ll be fine. What I’m going to do is climb up partway and belay the rope—er, make it secure. I’ll call ‘Climb when you’re ready’ and you shout ‘Climbing’. When I call ‘Okay’, then you start to climb. If you need more rope, shout ‘Slack’, less rope, shout ‘Take in’.”

  Ally could feel her knees shaking already. “I’m not very strong.”

  Caspar pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. “Climbing is ninety percent balance and technique. You need to use your arms to explore and guide but your legs do the work. I think your legs are plenty strong enough.” He put his mouth to her ear. “Not sure I don’t have bruises.”

  She snickered.

  “All you need to do is watch where I put my feet and hands on these first few moves and copy me. It’s simple.” He smiled at her.

  In Ally’s experience, if someone said something was simple, it wasn’t.

  Caspar ran his finger down her forehead over her nose and lips to her chin. “I won’t let you fall.”

  He tucked her fleece into the rucksack and helped her into her harness before he put on his own. Ally clasped her hands together so he wouldn’t see them shaking.

  “You don’t have to do this, Ally,” he whispered as he attached her to the rope.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t seem very happy.”

  “I’m just peeved you’re not wearing shorts,” she mumbled. “I’d have had something to look at.”

  Caspar smiled. “Feed me the rope as I climb. Remember, I won’t let you fall.”

  That’s what Finn had said, but he had. Okay, she hadn’t fallen all the way to splatter on the ground, but that sensation of tumbling away from safety when her hold on the rock had failed had almost made her wet herself. Please don’t let that happen today. Either the falling or the other bit.

  Ally watched Caspar effortlessly clamber up the rock face, finding hand and foot holds in splinter-thin cracks, on matchstick narrow ridges, on bloody nothing. But he looked so cool, his long, lean body stretched out like that, his lovely bum flexing under those worn pants. Ally sighed.

  “Hey, kinky girl in the harness.”

  Ally’s gaze shot to Caspar as rope slithered up the crag face.

  He looked down at her. “I’m safe. Are you ready?”

  No. “Yes.”

  “Climb when you’re ready,” he called.

  “Climbing,” Ally shouted.

  “Okay.”

  The first few yards weren’t too bad, in fact Ally impressed herself until she lost track of where Caspar had put his hands and feet.

  “You’re doing great,” he called. “Hand hold to your left.” Ally reached out. “No, other left.”

  Damn.

  But inch by inch she made her way up, pressing herself into the rock while her heart hammered in her ears. When Caspar’s foot came into view, Ally wanted to cry.

  “Bit farther, Ally. Onto this ledge. You’re doing brilliantly.”

  Ally scrambled up beside him and whimpered. Caspar landed a quick kiss on her lips. His eyes were shining, his entire face animated, and Ally realized how much he enjoyed this. She wouldn’t spoil it.

  “That was so great,” she said, and looked down. “Look how far I’ve— Ooh.” Ally t
urned her eyes back to the rock, fear galloping up and down her spine. “That was easy. How much harder is Everest? Not much, I bet.” Oh God, I need to pee. She didn’t dare move, even to cross her legs.

  “One more stage and we’re at the top.”

  I need to pee now. Now. NOW!

  “Go on then,” Ally said.

  “You don’t need a rest?”

  “Nope. Fine.”

  “Okay, now listen. After the next pitch, I’m not going to be able to see you for a few yards so you have to follow my instructions. Once I shout ‘Safe’, you can take the rope out of the belay and call ‘Off belay’. Then I’ll take in the slack. When it pulls on your harness, shout ‘That’s me’. That’s so I know the rope hasn’t been snagged by some gremlin. Okay?”

  Ally gave him a smile a chimpanzee would be proud of and he laughed.

  Caspar began to climb again. Ally’s heart pounded all over her body. She risked a glance to either side and saw the others making their way up from lower down. Wow, Caspar was fast. So am I.

  “Safe,” Caspar shouted.

  Ally unclipped the rope from the anchor. “Off belay,” she called.

  Once again the rope slithered up the rock face. When she felt the tug on her harness, she yelled, “That’s me.”

  “Climb when you’re ready,” he called.

  “Climbing.”

  “Okay.”

  Ally stared at the rock. Good news and bad. The good news was she no longer wanted to pee. The bad was that she hadn’t watched which way Caspar had gone. Yes up, but how? She started to climb and felt Caspar take in the slack. He said he wouldn’t let her fall and she trusted him.

  “Hand hold on your right… Other right,” Caspar shouted.

  I don’t like it. I don’t like it.

  Ally’s fingers hurt, her legs ached and her heart pounded. She stretched to reach the next hold and froze. Oh God, what’s wrong with my legs? They shook so hard Ally thought she was going to fall.

  “Are you okay?” Caspar called.

  Ally opened her mouth and only a whimper slipped out.

  “She’s got sewing machine legs,” Neil shouted from a mile below her.

  Is that what they called it when legs shook with such violence? Ally couldn’t move.

  “Listen, Ally,” Caspar said. “You’re shaking because you have all your body weight on the ball of your foot with the heel lifted. You’ve fatigued your calf muscles. Relax and lower your heel and it will stop. You’re trying too hard, sweetheart, that’s all.”

  The magic word to melt her bones, muscles, everything. The first endearment apart from star girl. The shaking stopped and she began to climb again.

  “Good girl,” Neil said. “Well done, Caspar.”

  The moment Ally realized her performance reflected on Caspar, her resolve hardened. She whizzed up the last few holds, crawled onto the flat rock at the top of the crag and kept crawling past Caspar to make sure she was away from the edge.

  When her hand touched something that wasn’t hard, Ally lifted her head and freaked. Oh my God, a snake. “Shit, shit.” She threw herself sideways and toppled over the edge of a flat rock. The rope tightened and she sprawled facedown, bum in the air over a wide dip in the crag but only in danger of looking a fool.

  It was Tom who hauled her back to the top. He put his arm around her as Ally shook. Caspar rushed over and she buried her face in his chest.

  “What the hell’s the matter?” Caspar tipped up her face.

  “Snake,” Ally gasped.

  Several people had gathered and they looked around.

  “This?” Tom held up a brown snake and Ally tried to dig her way into Caspar’s chest.

  The need to pee had come back with a vengeance.

  “Ally, it’s plastic,” Caspar whispered.

  She stiffened. The outbreak of chuckles annoyed her but she put a smile on her face. “Not that snake, the one behind you,” she said.

  Tom spun around and everyone laughed harder.

  “Are you okay?” Caspar whispered.

  “Yes.”

  “Let me get you out of the harness.”

  Ally trembled while Caspar unfastened her and tidied the rope.

  “Put the ropes in a heap. I’ll take them down,” Neil called. “See you all later.”

  “Some kids must have left it,” Tom said, bringing the snake over.

  Ally tried not to back away, plastic or not, it looked real enough to bite.

  “Come on, Tom,” Mike said. “Let’s get going.”

  “Don’t get lost,” Tom said to Caspar, and turned away.

  “I’m sorry,” Ally whispered. “I really—”

  Caspar pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay. I don’t like snakes either. I have a thing about them and Tom knows it. I think it was meant to scare me, not you.”

  “He left it deliberately?”

  “It’s possible.”

  Ally glared at Tom’s retreating back. Bastard.

  Caspar sat to change his shoes.

  “Right. We’re going to win this. Where’s the map?” Ally pulled it out of the rucksack.

  “We need the instructions and the compass.”

  Caspar pushed his climbing shoes into the rucksack and stood. He took the map and the sheet of paper from Ally and glanced at it. “Okay. Put everything back for the moment, I know how to get to the first checkpoint.”

  They started to walk.

  “I’ve never been orienteering before,” Ally said.

  “This isn’t real orienteering. If it were, we’d all be going the same way on a staggered start and we’d be running.”

  “Do you want to run?”

  Caspar looked at her. “Do you?”

  “I want to win,” she whispered. “Actually, I want to beat Tom.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  Ally’s shoulders slumped. Was she that much of a hindrance?

  “Hey, not because of you.” Caspar tweaked her cheek. “Tom’s likely to have given us the longest, most difficult route. The prick.”

  “Well, let’s show him then.” Ally started to run.

  A hundred yards later, with Caspar on her heels, she slowed to a walk. “Maybe not,” she panted.

  “You need to learn to pace yourself,” Caspar said. “Jog, don’t sprint.”

  “So says Mr. One-Speed, flat out.”

  Caspar snickered. “Oh yeah, Ms. Fast and Furious.”

  They grinned at each other and a surge of lust sent tremors racing down Ally’s spine.

  “I need that Mars bar.” She fumbled in the pack on Caspar’s back. “You want yours?”

  “We’ve only been going for a few minutes.”

  “So?”

  “They’re supposed to be in case of emergency.”

  “This is an emergency.” She needed Caspar naked, but the Mars bar would have to do.

  “So what happens when we’re desperate for something to eat?”

  Ally looked him up and down. “Which bit of you do you want me to eat first?”

  Caspar laughed and ripped the paper off his bar.

  Ally licked her lips after the first mouthful. “Mmmm. Chocolate is one of my vices. I never buy more than a bar at a time because my willpower is a pathetic, sniveling, little dweeb. I was once given a bag of Cream Eggs. Twelve of them. I told myself to ration them. I hid them all over my bedsit, and by the end of the day I’d eaten them all. I didn’t eat anything else, but even so… I am such a pig.”

  Caspar laughed. “Want half my Mars bar, porkie?”

  “Don’t tempt me. Right, I can run again now. You set the pace. Don’t turn around, I’ll be directly behind you.”

  “Why shouldn’t I turn around?”

  “I need to water this patch of dry grass in case of fire.”

  Ally watched his back as he moved away, laughing. Caspar smiled a lot of the time now. It was as though Ally had cracked his shell and little by little he was coming to life. She couldn’t think whe
n something had made her feel happier.

  Bladder emptied, she ran to catch up with him. “That’s better. Halfway up that crag I was desperate.”

  “You did really well to climb that. I’m proud of you.” He brushed her cheek with his fingers.

  Ally swallowed hard. “Thank you. Maybe you ought to think about teaching. You were really kind and patient.”

  “Only because it was you. Anyone else I’d have yelled at.”

  “Finn yelled at me all the time. He told mum and dad that if I kept following him, he’d dig a hole and bury me.”

  “When I was home for the holidays, Jemima followed me everywhere. It was like having a puppy. She didn’t understand if I got cross with her. She just gave me this wide-eyed look of hurt and I felt terrible.”

  “I did that to Finn but he took no notice. Did your friends mind Jemima hanging around?”

  “I didn’t let them. Jem was happy to sit and watch, so long as she was near me.”

  Caspar talked more about his sister as they ran, with Ally asking questions to prod him on. His love for Jemima shone through everything he said, and Ally supposed that made him feel even guiltier that she’d gone missing under his watch. What had he been doing when he’d left her for those few moments in the bar? The fact that he hadn’t explained suggested it was something bad. A quick fuck in the bathroom was the obvious conclusion. Would he tell her the truth?

  “First checkpoint,” Caspar said, and pointed to a small, orange flag.

  While Ally slumped to the ground and got her breath back, Caspar stuffed the flag into his rucksack, gave her the water and read the next set of instructions. She looked up at him. God, he is so gorgeous. He frowned when he concentrated, his lips a little way apart. Such kissable lips.

  Ally drank and handed him the bottle. The muscles between her legs clenched as she watched him tip back his head and swallow the water. Oh God, she had it bad if something as simple as taking a drink turned her on.

  She pushed herself up. “Where now?” All Ally could see was moorland dotted with sheep and the odd rocky crag. “Tom wouldn’t send us into a bog, would he?”

  “He’d better fucking not.” Caspar stuffed the bottle back inside the rucksack and took out the compass. “Want me to show you how to use—”

  “Nope, let’s keep going,” Ally said.