Running Out of Time

Chapter Eight

We didn't dare acknowledge that moment. Duet rehearsals and classes continued as usual, and whenever we passed each other in the hallways, we merely pretended that the other was a casual friend, nothing more than that. But in the multiple nights where I was tempted to sneak out and to seek her out again, I felt the truth hang around me like a cloak of heavy wool.

It was her move, anyway. I was determined to let her have it this time, and I was sure she understood the game, now. I stared up at the ceiling, feeling unable to move, waiting, hoping, that Lia would knock on the dorm door and let herself in and call out to me, invite me to go where she was going and crawl underneath my sheets and touch me wherever she wanted.

One night, as I was drifting in and out of wakefulness, I heard a knock on the door. I immediately shot up in bed and tiptoed to the door, creaking it open the slightest.

"Willow!" Lia whispered. "Do you want to go up to the roof?"

I tried not to show how excited and happy I was that she'd finally invited me and gave a dignified nod.

"Give me a second, I'll go change." I whispered back before shutting the door lightly and pulling on a pair of pants, a bra, and changing my shirt.

When I crept out into the landing, Lia was there, waiting for me at the end of the hallway with a faint, amused smile on her face, as though she'd seen through my mask of dignified indifference.

"How do you get up to the roof?" I hissed to her as I tugged my sneakers onto my feet, leaning against the wall for balance.

"Seniors have access." She answered vaguely before leading me up a flight of stairs.

I had only visited the third floor of the school once, when Lia was showing me around. I remembered she had told me that the third-floor dormitories were reserved for the juniors and seniors, while the second floor was for the freshmen and sophomores. Lia was a senior, which meant she had a dorm on the third floor.

She led me past a stairwell, and then she flashed her student ID at some card scanner. The door beeped quietly, and we climbed up another stairwell and emerged onto the roof.

I glanced at the moon. It sat directly above my head, a waning crescent of soft, almost silvery light. A breeze trickled through the air, and goosebumps raised on my flesh.

"Are you cold?" Lia asked.

"A little." I admitted, following her to the edge of the roof, where we sat down, our legs dangling over the edge. She took off the sweater she was wearing, leaving herself in a tank top, and handed it over to me. I looked at her in alarm.

"Are you sure?" I hesitated. She nodded and pushed it towards me.

"I'll be fine." She reassured me and pressed the fabric into my hands. I watched her questioningly as I draped the sweater over my body. She was a little taller than me, but it still fit me just fine. I inhaled the barest traces of peppermint on it, and as I wrapped myself in her sweater, I immediately felt warmer. She scooted closer to me, again under the guise of getting herself comfortable, and I felt her bare shoulder brush against mine.

"You're not cold?" I questioned, ready to give the sweater back, but she shook her head.

"It's fine, really." She repeated. I turned my gaze up to the moon, which seemed warm but mysterious, the edges blurred and cloaked by dark clouds in the sky.

We sat there in silence for a while, merely soaking up each other's presence, although it was not something that could be acknowledged out loud, but when her knee brushed mine, I knew that she knew that I knew, and she confirmed it with her touch.