So I'm Dating a Murderer ~Closed~

[princesssexci]

Walking in the park sounded...well, boring. Stephanie wanted to do something new and rock climbing seemed fun. Granted, she'd never climbed a rock before. It was obvious which option she was going to choose, though. "Hm, I would have to say rock climbing. I'm always up for a little adventure..." She said with a smile.

Stephanie stood up and pushed her chair in after the waiter returned with Craig's debit card. "I'm ready, lets do this!" She said, her excitement gleaming in her eyes.

"Have you ever gone rock climbing before? I've never done it, so I'll probably need a little instruction."

 

[fr33ks33k]

"I've gone a few times. It's exhilarating. This is gonna be great!"

Craig was suddenly excited; he'd never gone with anyone to this particular place, even though it was one of the more popular activities in town. He walked side by side with Stephanie out of the restaurant, stopping as they approached his car.

"So, if you want I can give you the address or directions, or we can just swing back here to get your car later."

He smiled, a genuine one, true eagerness overwhelming his normally controlled attitude.

 

[princesssexci]

Stephanie smiled at Craig, "Nah, we can just go in your car." She said, noting the amount of excitement he had for going rock climbing. She'd never actually seen him this excited about something before. It gave her a tiny glimpse into his world or at least the part of his world that he actually wanted to share with her.

They'd been dating for about a month and she was still living so she figured she shouldn't be worried about him killing her or anything like that.

"Well good, then I know I am in good hands." She said in reference to him knowing how to rock climb and showing her how to do so.

 

[fr33ks33k]

"Alright then. Hop in."

He opened his door, unlocking the passenger door as he slid into the driver's seat.

It wasn't a very long trip to their destination, and once they'd arrived, Craig led Stephanie to the rock climbing area, surrounded by other various extreme sports being conducted. The place was a haven for adrenaline junkies. They stood in a short line, waiting for the wall to be freed up.

 

[princesssexci]

Stephanie slid into the car and put her seatbelt on, though it was hardly necessary because it was only a few blocks away. It wasn't that far at all. Stephanie was actually pretty shocked that she didn't know about this place, then again she had never actually looked for a rock climbing place either.

Once they arrived, Stephanie followed him inside. There were other extreme sports hanging around like skateboarding, aggressive inline skating, etc. It was interesting to see.

They stood in line and Steph bit her lip nervously. She suddenly recalled why she never looked for a place to go rock climbing. Heights. "Oh god.." she groaned, one thing she totally forgot which shouldn't have been something to forget was her fear of heights.

Taking a deep breath, Stephanie was not going to chicken out. Craig was looking forward to this and she didn't want to not do it.

 

[fr33ks33k]

He heard her groan, and he looked over to her, brow furrowed with concern.

"You ok, Steph? You're not afraid of heights or anything are you?"

He said it as a joke, the hint of a laugh in his voice, but the way she looked at him and then at the wall told him all he needed to know.

"We can do something else, if you're not comfortable with it."

 

[princesssexci]

Stephanie pursed her lips as she looked up at the wall and back at him, swallowing back fear...hard, then back at him giving him the what do you think look. When he offered to do something else, she shook her head.

"N-no, I'm okay. Really." She insisted forcing a smile.

It was sweet of him to offer but she didn't want to chicken out. She kept repeating that silently in her head. This was an official facility and lots of people were doing it, so that meant it couldn't have been too bad.

Maybe a tad bit, after all accidents were bound to happen but...

Shaking those thoughts from her mind, she focused her attention back to Craig, "I'm fine..really." she assured him, "So, tell me how this whole thing works." They were getting closer to the front and Stephanie told herself that if she talked, it would distract her..at least, until it was their turn to climb up there.

 

[fr33ks33k]

"It's easy really. You get strapped into the harness, which is attached to a rope up there..."

He pointed to the ceiling, covered in various eyelets that held the ropes for the various climbers.

"You grab the handholds, use the same ones as footholds, and make your way up the wall. There's a beginner, moderate, and expert side to the wall."

He smiled and pointed toward the different difficulties, noting the sparsity of jutting handholds on them.

 

[princesssexci]

"Oh...well, thats good." Stephanie visibly sighed with relief. She glanced around at all the different areas of the climbing wall. She watched with interest at the many different climbers. It didn't seem...too scary and at the very least they were inside of a building.

"So, which area is for beginners?" Stephanie asked, curious as to where she would be climbing.

She had to keep taking a few breaths to get past her own fear. She would do this though, because how else was she supposed to conquer her fear of heights if she ran from it all the time.

 

[fr33ks33k]

The line moved forward; Craig and Stephanie were next up.

"That one to the left is beginner. I can go next to you on the intermediate if you'd like."

He smiled, seeing just how much she had to steel herself in order to do this. It was admirable, trying something new despite a fear. He had a flash of realization as he noted this connection to the more sexual connotation it had. She was always willing to try the darker things that made him tick, even if they might frighten her. She might be more of a thrill seeker than he was...

 

[princesssexci]

Stephanie slowly moved her eyes toward the left area marked beginner. It wasn't that high but it still sent shivers down her spine. She snapped her eyes shut, taking a deep breath, and then opened them again.

"Yes, please..." She said, her eyes glued to the 'mountain'.

Finally, she pulled her eyes away from where she'd be going and flashed a smile at Craig. It wasn't like she was doing this to impress Craig. This was more of a personal matter for herself.

Soon it was their turn. Stephanie gave Craig one last glance, another brave smile, and then headed towards the beginner area. They tied the harness around her. Slowly, almost hesitantly she moved towards the 'mountain' and grabbed the hand holds to climb up.

 

[fr33ks33k]

While she was getting mounted up, Craig was stepping into his own harness, not too terribly far from where Stephanie had started grasping at handholds. He smiled and started climbing, easily lifting up and onto the craggy wall. He looked over at her to gauge her progress, stopping every few feet.

"Race you to the top!"

He laughed and started moving up and over the jutting protrusions of the wall, the rush of adrenaline spiking in his system. He enjoyed this sort of thing, and even if he usually did the expert wall, this was enough of a challenge that he could still have fun. He continued stopping to check her progress, knowing that he could easily win this, but seeing if she'd try to best him anyway.

 

[princesssexci]

Stephanie was feeling a bit braver as she climbed higher and higher up the climbing wall. It wasn't until she heard Craigs voice that she realized that she hadn't freaked out and that she actually had a fear of heights. Her eyes widened as he made the comment about racing her.

Was he...joking? If she went any higher at any more speed, she might faint. Okay, perhaps that was exaggerating...alot but still..

Bringing herself back to the present, she watched as Craig went from jutted protrusion to jutted protrusion. She couldn't help but smile because it was like he'd morphed into a kid. It was cute.

Not wanting to ruin the moment, Stephanie tried her hardest to race, as fast as she could which wasn't extremely fast as she moved towards the top of the climbing wall.

 

[fr33ks33k]

He'd made it to just below the finish of the wall. A quick glance showed Stephanie not far off from finishing her own wall. He smiled and clambered over the top and onto the platform they had set up. There were ladders on the backside of the wall to allow climbers to get back down without the issues of finding footholds. Some climbers did it anyway, but this was the popular method.

At the bottom, he removed his harness, handing it to the attendant and moving over to the ladder Stephanie would have to come down. He watched her from below with a smile, arms crossed over his chest.

"Wasn't that fun?!" he hollered up to her.

 

[princesssexci]

Stephanie was soooo glad that she could climb up to the platform. She'd gotten up there, staring down below and almost had the urge to faint. The bright side was that she'd managed to climb up high and not fall. Glancing over at Craig when he asked her if it was fun, she forced a smile...trying to put up a brave front.

Stephanie opened her mouth to say something then shook her head, maybe lying wasn't the best thing to do. "Not really...my heart kept thrumming against my chest and I think if I'd have looked down, I probably would've fainted." This time, she forced a smile and squeaked out, " At least I...conquered my fear."

 

[fr33ks33k]

"Yeah, you did a lot better than I'd expected, this being your first time and all."

He smiled and waited for her to descend the ladder and get unharnessed before he put an arm around her shoulders, leading her over to the food court that was just off from the rest of the activities. He bought a couple of bottled waters, handing her one before sitting down at a bench.

"So, are there any other things you'd like to try? The have all sorts of extreme sports here..."

He was still riding the high of his adrenaline rush, all things forgotten, like the nuisance of Tanya and the thought of how to rid himself of her for good.

 

[princesssexci]

Finally, Stephanie made her way down the ladder and at Craigs side. He led her to the food court. Stephanie accepted the bottle of water, opened it and took a few sips of it as Craig asked her if she wanted to try anything else out. To be honest, she was feeling slightly shaken from that climb but Craig was obviously on a high.

"Uh, I dunno. What do you usually do here, aside from climbing?" Stephanie asked, having not been much of sports person, let alone a sports person. She took another sip of her water and decided as long as their were no heights involved, she'd be okay.

"I'm willing to do whatever."

 

[fr33ks33k]

"Well, there's this obstacle course thing. It's kind of intense, but it's a blast."

He gestured to a large tent-like area covered in day-glo paint and a large sign that read 'The Gauntlet'. People were milling about outside of it, every so often venturing in two at at time, all the while people exited from a side of the large structure.

Craig took a large swig of his water, twisting the lid back on and setting it down on the table, looking to her to see what she thought.