“Trust me. We can have something to eat later. Now you have to follow me.”

He didn’t seem to understand, but I didn’t want him to understand. Right now, I just wanted to get as far away as possible from that girl, and Jessie, and anyone. Honestly, I didn’t think I wanted to climb all these stairs just for Jay anymore.

The way up seemed endless and sometime later, I could almost hear Jay’s disapproval. Well, he didn’t say anything but it was the way he breathed in and out and his attitude. It was like he was expecting me to go faster, or he even sometimes stretched his hand to help me. We stopped a couple floors before reaching the roof, taking a short break to catch our breath—well, so that I could catch my breath—when Jay started talking.

“I thought you were upset earlier. Did something happen down there?” He still talked a bit loud, probably his ears were buzzing from the loud music.

“No! I just want to get up there and show you something. That’s all!”

“You don’t seem okay with it. It’s like you don’t want to be up here,” he suddenly said.

“I do want to be here more that I want to be down there with that girl that tried to seduce you!”

The words left my mouth before I had the time to stop. For a moment there, I hoped he hadn’t heard me, or he hadn’t understood what I said, but then he went on and said it.

“Were you jealous?”

Shit. Now I’ve done it. Well, you know what they say. Offense is the best defense.

“Who? Me? Of her? Of course not. I just don’t like being around many people, that’s all. Now, are we going?”

And before I had the chance move, his hand jolted forward and grabbed mine.

“I don’t understand you, humans. Outside you were laughing and having fun, and inside you seem worse than me. If there’s a problem, please say something.”

“No, of course there isn't a problem. I’m just head over heels in love with you and you don’t seem to have a clue.”

Okay, Eladia, tell me you didn’t just say that. Oh, my god, I did say it.

It was one of those times that my mouth ran faster than my head, and I said things I didn’t mean. But I kinda ended up saying them after all because they sounded better in my head at the time.

Damn, damn, damn. I have no idea what I’m doing.

He still held my hand, only this time, the heat from his skin traveled all the way to my face. I wished he came up with a witty comment, and then we could keep going up to the roof where the wind could wash away all my thoughts.

Instead, he stared deep into my eyes, searching for something. I realized I stared back at him. My hand hurt now, and my heart had stopped beating. I breathed but only mechanically. Time had frozen, and I couldn’t do nothing but wait.

Only that I couldn’t stop talking.

“Please say something. I know it’s not like you, but please say something.”

“When did this happen?”

You’re kidding me, right?

“I don’t know. It just sort of happened. Six months of traveling with you, never saying anything, always fighting you. I don’t know. Maybe that night, when you saved me and brought me to that lake? Yeah, that was the first time I felt more intimate towards you. And now I can’t stop talking.”

I pulled my hand free and ran upstairs. I wanted to stop and see if he followed me, but I didn’t. Tears ran down my eyes, and I walked the last few steps blindly. I opened the door to the roof and the wind burst in behind me. My tears dried in moments, but I couldn’t stop my heart from racing.

When I opened my eyes, the world was under my feet. I kinda thought the tragic irony of this place. Being so high yet so low right now. Something I had never accepted before was finally out in the open. I was in love with him, and now he knew it as well.

So, when he walked behind me and grabbed my shoulders, I couldn’t feel anything but embarrassed. However, Jay had something else in his mind. He pushed me around gently, and he raised my chin with his free hand. In a moment’s notice, his head lowered, and he got closer and closer until his lips touched mine.