Tiler reacted instinctively, knocking away the drink she’d been sipping and had laid next to her, leaning forward, arms open. The young stud braced to absorb the force of the crash that was sure to come.   She’d never been as grateful as she was now for the quick-twitch reaction time she’d always felt lucky to have.   As the blonde pitched forward, Tiler adjusted further to position her arms so that she could snatch Jia from the air and simultaneously re-direct the trajectory of Jia’s fall into her chest area. She was betting that she’d be better able to absorb the force of Jia’s weight this way, and that she was strong enough (or at least she hoped she was strong enough!) to counteract the momentum of the crash and keep them from tumbling out of the bench, at the same time.   Dad, remind me to thank you, again, for passing on your athletic genes!

“Unnhhnn!” Tiler grunted when Jia crashed into her, tightening her core muscles as she absorbed the punishment.

“Mmmpphh!” Jia moaned simultaneously.

As she re-balanced the blonde in her arms, Tiler felt steadying hands supporting her on her back microseconds later. Rian?   Yeah, it certainly felt like Rian, who’d also tossed her plastic sippycup, was keeping Tiler from tumbling over.  Hmmm … stronger than she looks. Somewhere behind the fallen Jia, Tiler registered that Rachel was reaching out to support Jia, to help keep their entwined bodies in a precarious balance, as they tittered on the edge of the bench that Tiler had been lounging on minutes earlier.

Heart pounding erratically, Jia had tensed up in panic when she’d felt the crutch give way. But that had seemed an interminable moment ago – why hadn’t she crashed to the floor yet?

Wait! Did I crash into … her? Uh-huh. She realized she was unexpectedly being held up by a pair of arms even as other hands supporting her on her back were keeping them from tumbling to the ground.

She now lay cradled against soft breasts, underneath which she sensed a heart beating hard and fast against the sturdy chest she had crash-landed into. Her good leg had automatically anchored itself to the floor, and she realized that she’d flung her arms around the neck of her savior instinctively when she felt arms as strong and unyielding as cords of steel pluck her seemingly from mid-air. Her own heart was beating wildly.