The Little Lightning Girl

53- Is It Even Camp If There Aren't Dragons?

"Alana?"

Adrian's voice was quiet as he called out. He likely already knew where I was, but wanted to warn me of his presence before startling me. Nevertheless, I jumped a bit at the sound of his voice, but called down to him, "I'm up here."

I scooted to the edge of the roof and peered down at my friend, finding him looking up at me, his expression concerned. He went to start climbing the cabin, but I waved a hand and floated him upwards. He looked more uncomfortable than I'd ever seen him, and I couldn't help but snort at his wide eyes. After his feet hit the roof, he shook out his limbs. I knew he hated the feeling of being mid-air and not having as much control over his body. Still, when he saw the rain cloud hovering just above the roof, his uncomfortable expression melted into a small smile.

I sat back where I had before, and he lowered himself next to me. For a minute, neither of us said anything. Then the raindrops above us started dancing. Spiraling, rotating, glimmering against the singular ball of sun that I'd left hovering there. I gasped, then looked over to Adrian's hand, the nimble, calloused fingers directing the rain like he might have been conducting a symphony. His eyes moved from the rain cloud over to meet with mine, and there was something so unusually... soft in his gaze. I smiled, then raised my own hand and the softball-sized ball of light exploded into tiny drops. I sent them whirling through the raindrops, and thought it looked rather like a million tiny fireflies.

"It looks like they're dancing," Adrian remarked, with a quiet sort of awe.

"It does," I agreed, breathing in the scent of ocean mist, steel, and something woodsy, the smell that revolved around Adrian.

We watched those raindrops dance with my specks of sun for five, maybe ten minutes, but the whole time I was fighting the urge to lean into the boy on my left. He was a solid friend. Most of my friends were, but I knew there wasn't much I could say or do that would make Adrian turn his back on me. Unfortunately, Adrian's morals and rock solid commitment didn't make me any less scared to share things with him. It was the same with my other friends. I knew they were good people, and brave people, but some of the things I had seen couldn't be imagined. Some of the things I'd done to survive... I hoped they could understand but I wasn't positive. What if I spilled everything, and then lost all of my friends? What if they just walked away?

As if he read my mind, Adrian stood up, but instead of leaving the rooftop like I feared, he turned to me and offered his hand. I stared at it, for a heartbeat, then looked up to meet his eyes as he murmured, "Would you like to dance?"

It caught me off guard, honestly, but after I pulled myself together I nodded and took his hand. Our callouses, built in the same places, scraped against each other as he held my left hand in his right. Still, his hand wrapped almost all the way around mine, the other firm on my side. I rested my other hand on his shoulder, and didn't resist when his grip tightened and we started swaying on the rooftop. An actual dance, rather than this swaying, would have to wait. The roof wasn't flat, parts of it were slick with rain, and neither of us felt like ruining this moment by falling down.

Next to the raindrops that were now falling straight down and the sparks of sunlight that had stilled, we danced. I stared up into his eyes, but felt his hands keenly. Eventually, his other hand slipped to rest on the other side of my waist, and my only option was to wrap mine around his neck. It brought us so there were only inches between our faces. His stormy eyes flicked left and right over my face, up and down and back. What he was searching for, I didn't know, but somehow I knew I was looking for the same thing. Eventually our swaying halted, but we didn't break apart. I went still, still as stone when he leaned in towards me. His lips brushed softly against my cheek, and I sighed at the whisper of a kiss as he pulled away.