And my brain.
For a while, I sat propped up in my pillows with my iPad, drawing as Palico purred where she was tucked in by my side. When the edible started to hit, I felt all the tension of the day melt out of me, and my drawings became more fluid, more free.
Somewhere around one in the morning, I stood and stretched, cracking my back with a few quick twists before I stared at the door that led down the hall. A small part of me wanted to join the party now, but the larger part didn’t want to put on makeup or wear anything with underwire or zippers involved. I could have gone to sleep, but I wasn’t exactly tired.
My ears hurt from my headphones, so I took them out and opened my window, savoring the cool breeze and gentle quiet of the night. Then, before I could even think about what I was doing, I shoved the window all the way up and crawled out onto the roof.
The room they’d given me overlooked the garden, and I crawled only a few feet above my window before I sat my ass right on the cool shingles, crossing my bare feet under me and leaning back on my palms. The party was loud enough that the music and laughter spilled into the night, but it was softer out here, farther away, and the gentle high I had from the edible made me feel weightless and happy.
For the first time all night, I felt at peace.
“You found my spot.”
I jumped, nearly toppling off the roof when I whipped around and found a shadowed figure hunched a little higher on the roof. I’d no sooner caught my balance before the shadow edged into the light from the streetlamp, and Leo’s hand shot out to make sure I didn’t fall.
He had no right to look as good as he did in the moonlight, and I knew my high only made him appear more appetizing. His hair was somewhat styled, but tussled by the wind, his eyes were glossed over and tired but somehow enticing, too. He wore a light pair of denim jeans I wouldn’t allow myself to focus on too long, and a sweater that he’d shoved up past his forearms to bunch at his elbows.
Why did his forearms turn me on so much?
I wanted to pull one of those arms into my lap and draw all over it, wanted to tattoo it, to mark him permanently with my art.
I shrugged him off once I had my balance, pretending like I didn’t need him to gain it. “You would be out here.”
I didn’t say it with the vitriol I spat at him earlier, but rather in a disappointed kind of sigh. I should have known the peace couldn’t last.
I was already making to scoot my way back down the roof and inside when his hand caught the crook of my elbow.
“Don’t leave.”
My skin burned where he touched me, and I followed the lines of his forearm up to where the sleeves of his sweatshirt had been shoved up. I couldn’t lift my gaze any higher, but I didn’t move, either.
“I’ll go, if you want to be alone.”
“No,” I said when it was him who started to move. “I didn’t realize it was your spot. I’ll go.”
“I don’t own it. You live here, too.”
“It’s fine, I was just…” I quieted, not sure exactly what I was trying to do.
“How about we share?” he offered with a smirk, settling in beside me. “And if I start to piss you off, which we both know is likely, just say the word and I’ll go.”
“Or I could push you off the roof.”
“That is another option. Not my favorite one, though it’s probably yours.”
The corner of my mouth lifted just a bit as I sat back on my palms again, eyes on the sky and then the garden. I didn’t know why it made me happy that Leo would rather be on a rooftop than inside partying, but it did.
I blamed the edible.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” he said after a beat.
I slowly turned to him, but he kept his eyes on the roof, his knees bent and elbows balancing on them.
“With the candles,” he clarified, still not looking at me. “I overstepped.”
I sighed, and tried once again to blame the weed when I said, “You don’t need to be sorry. It was me being a brat. You did something nice and I…”
“Didn’t know how to accept it?”
I swallowed, cracking my neck in lieu of an answer.
“I’m sorry I barged into your room and screamed at you like a psycho,” I said. “It’s just… been a weird night, I guess.”
“I kind of liked you screaming at me,” Leo said, arching a brow and finally looking at me. “It was hot.”
I tongued my cheek before shoving him hard enough to knock him down the roof if he hadn’t been braced for it. He laughed, steadying himself, and then we both fell quiet again.
“What happened?”
“Hmm?” I asked.
“You said it’s been a weird night. Why?”
I sighed at that. “Well, my parents called, which is never a good thing. And I’m pretty sure my boss hit on me tonight, so now I’m questioning if the past year of my life has been a waste.”
I chuckled with the admission, trying to make light of it, but when I looked at Leo, his expression was stone cold, jaw tense, brows in a firm line over his eyes.
“What did he do?”
I blinked, then barked out a laugh when I realized he was serious. “Calm down, Mr. Chivalrous. It wasn’t anything overt. I’m sure I’m overthinking it,” I said, even though I felt the ickiness of that lie sliding into my gut as I turned back to the garden. “And I can handle it.”
Leo didn’t seem happy with that response, but to his credit, he left it alone, brooding to himself instead of saying whatever it was he wanted to say.
”I also got a call from Margie earlier,” I said after a while.
Leo’s expression softened. “And?”
“And on top of the water issue, they found mold.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, you can stay here as long as—”
“We both know this room isn’t going to be vacant for much longer,” I said, meeting his eyes.
He swallowed, not confirming but not denying, either. Fall camp would start soon for the team, which meant whoever was taking Holden’s old room would be moving in — probably within a week or two.
“It’s fine, I’ll figure something out,” I said. “Like I said, I can handle myself.”
A strong wind whipped over the top of the house and down over us, making me shiver as I tucked my knees into my chest. This was what I loved most about living in New England, how the summers could bring blistering heat but also nights that felt like fall.
“Fuck, hermosa, you’ve gotta be cold in that,” Leo said, as if he just noticed I was wearing a t-shirt. To be honest, I’d just realized I was only wearing a t-shirt, sans bra, because of course. I folded my arms over my chest in an effort to hide my piercings, though I wasn’t sure why.
Then, without another word or a chance for me to respond, Leo ripped his sweater overhead and handed it to me.
I looked at it, at him, back at the sweater, and then laughed.
“What?”
“Are you seriously offering your sweater to me right now?”
His mouth flattened. “Are you seriously being so stubborn you won’t take it even though you’re clearly freezing?”
“I’m fine,” I said, internally cursing the goosebumps that broke on my arms at the exact moment that lie found its way into the night. “And besides, it wouldn’t fit me.”