"W-Where are you going?!" Amy screamed, her eyes pleading as I looked down at her.
"You are so dramatic," I sighed with a smile on my face, wiping my sweating brow with my sleeve. Though it was a cool day, even for Autumn, I hadn't had a workout like this since I tried (and failed) to join the basketball team in freshman year. "Just use the same hand and foot holds I used--"
"Y-You're taller than me, I can't reach my foot that high!" Amy stomped, kicking up a puff of dry dirt around her already beaten-up converses.
"Alright, alright," I squatted down with a groan and dusted my hands off before reaching for her. "C'mon, we don't have much time now."
"O-Okay, j-just not so fast--"
As soon as the words left her mouth, I couldn't help but pull her up with all my strength, causing her to give a little squeak as she got onto the higher ground; it seemed to be a huge boulder jutting out from the earth, so even as she got her footing, the smooth surface must have tripped her up because she fell against my chest, almost bowling me over. "Whoa!" I let out a laugh, trying my best to keep us both upright.
"O-Oh, sorry!" She, for some inexplicable reason, tried to immediately step back off the rock.
"Jeez, don't--" I grabbed her and held her tight.
There was a moment then, both of us panting and warm, even through our clothes, I felt like I could hear her heartbeat. It was so fast. As soon as I realized how tight I was holding her, my grip softened and I pulled away.
Amy glanced at me, but I couldn't tell what she was feeling. She stood there for a moment, her clothes and hair slightly disheveled. Then she nodded and said, "T-Thank you," Her voice cracked on the word 'you', causing her to clear her throat with frustrated aggression before finishing, "How much f-further?"
I turned and pointed off over the top of the hill, "Right past there."
"O-Okay, cool so not very far," She jammed her hands into the pockets of her hoodie, "Oh, uh, your s-shoes are untied, by the way," She gestured with her hidden hands to my feet, and as soon as I looked down to check, she bolted past me and said, "S-Sucker!"
"You little--" I dashed after her but she was just so damn quick! Soon she was over the crest and out of sight; that is until I joined her on the other side.
She was standing there, frozen except for the movement of her shoulders as she breathed, as the light of the sunset outlined her body.
We were on the highest point of Staten Island I could find that still had a view of the bay; it was in the middle of a small wooded area near Todt Hill, and it was more beautiful than when I first found it. Fall had really taken hold this year so you couldn't find a tree in sight that wasn't either gold or red, giving the slope of trees to the bay the look of being aflame but frozen in time. Every other moment though, a breeze would wash over the tree tops making shimmer and flicker like a field of candles. You could even see some of the shops and stores lining the streets under the canopy of red and gold.
"J-Jason," She shot an awed look back to me before returning to the view, a smile over her lips as she sat in the grass, hugging her knees, "How did y-you even find this place?"
"Well," I laughed, sitting beside her, "Sometimes I'll park the car or get off the bus early when I'm leaving the carwash-- If I'm not wrecked by the time I clock out anyway-- and just see how far I can go through the woods here without seeing a building; I saw a deer rush this way so I followed it. Then there was this view but in the pitch black of the night," I shot a look at her and, though I didn't know when she had started, she was staring at me. "Remember that new moon three days ago?" She nodded, her eyes wide as I recounted the story. "It was that night. Even the deer seemed surprised by the view. You could see the building lights and the skyline lit up, but it was... haunting." I waved out to the water, "The ferries must been taking another route because the waters were empty-- and obviously you could barely see a star in the sky-- but it was so," I took a deep breath, closing my eyes to envision the stark cold of that night, "Serene."
