Flat-Out Matt by Jessica Park Read Free Book Online Page A

down and again lifted the heavy thesaurus. “A good night’s repose. A good night’s slumber. A good night’s….”
    Matt shut her door and went back to his room. Celeste was out of her mind in more ways than one. He was not besotted with anyone. He took his laptop, sat up in bed to work, and cranked the music with a remote. Besotted. What a ridiculous word.
    He checked his e-mail and found a message from Julie telling Finn that Celeste loved her barrette. And that she was exhausted from being up so late the night before. Matt smiled softly. Yes, it had been about three a.m. when he’d finally shut down the computer. He couldn’t believe how long they talked. Her message also said that she would look for him on chat later tonight. Meaning, Matt noted, that she was planning on coming home. The posing-as-Finn thing was a little awkward, obviously, but he and Julie seemed to have found a comfortable online friendship that worked for them both. It really wasn’t much different than the other online communications he had. Or not entirely different. But it wasn’t as though Julie told Finn everything, either. She had never mentioned Seth at all.
    Matt sent a quick Finn reply, knowing full well that Julie was probably not checking out e-mails while on a date.
    Yet a minute later, a chat message from Julie popped up.
     
    Julie Seagle
    Am flipping stuck in an elevator. Alone. Miserable. Help is on the way supposedly, but I am not enjoying this experience. Starting to seriously panic. Sweating, shakes, visions of brutal death.
     
    This wasn’t good. Julie could not be in good shape. Matt had seen what the escalator ride had done to her, and the idea that she was dangling in a steel box however many stories up was probably not going over well. And there was no one there to catch her this time. A little humor seemed in order.
     
    Finn is God
    What??? Oh, no! Do not panic. Have you forgotten that I am a superhero?
    Julie Seagle
    I had forgotten! Feel totally safe now. Okay, you fly under the elevator and lift me up to safety. Ready? Go!
    Finn is God
    Unfortunately my flying powers were deactivated because I abused my superhero status. Apologies. I have other powers, though, that will get you through this.
    Julie Seagle
    Give it your best shot. Convince me that I’m not a million feet in the air.
     
    Matt thought back to the first time that he stood at the edge of an open door as an airplane held him thousands of feet in the air, poised above certain death. Terror didn’t quite capture it. The safety of his training and the emergency backup chute did little to reassure him. There were a few minutes when Matt was so frozen with fear that he couldn’t even back out of jumping. Yet he wanted to jump more than anything. And Finn was there, so high on what they were about to do, so revved up with an energy and fearlessness that Matt wanted desperately for himself. Denial was impossible in those circumstances, so he took another approach. One that might help Julie now.
     
    Finn is God
    You can’t pretend you are not up high, because you are.
    Julie Seagle
    These are delightful powers you have. Thank you so much. I feel a million times better.
    Finn is God
    Accept that you’re up high and embrace it. Take control. It’s like when I go skydiving. I don’t actually love heights. It scares the hell out of me to be in that plane, looking down at the ground. But I jump through that fear and turn it into euphoria.
    Julie Seagle
    I would never in a million years go skydiving.
     
    Matt hesitated before typing.
     
    Finn is God
    What if I took you?
    Julie Seagle
    I’d still be jumping out of a plane alone, just like I’m alone in this stupid elevator.
    Finn is God
    You wouldn’t be alone. I’d take you tandem, so you’d be strapped to me. We’d jump together.
    Julie Seagle
    How would that work?
     
    Now that he had raised this idea, he realized describing it might carry a certain connotation that may not go over well. A risky