The Ballerina

Chapter 10

"Okay, now you can open them," I told Niña, who had her eyes squeezed shut.
She opened them and simply blinked. "You took me to the Empire State building," she said with a fake smile.
"Yep," I said, trying to stay calm. "Well are you going to get out or just sit in the car," I asked, opening my door.
"What do you mean, it's not like we can go inside, so all there is, is the view," she stated.
"Just get out of the car."
Niña sighed, before gracefully getting out of the car. "I take back what I said about you being a gentleman," she called as she closed her door.
"Fine by me," I said, walking towards her. When I reached her, I wrapped my arm around her waist and together, we started walk in toward the Empire State building. Suddenly, Niña stopped, just as we were close to the doors. I frowned. "What's wrong," I asked.
"We can't get into the Empire State building, it's closed," she said, raising an eyebrow.
"I know that it's closed," I stated.
"Then what are we doing here at the doors," she asked.
"We're going inside."
Niña's eyes widened. "Are you crazy," she whispered. "We can't just break into the Empire State building. We will get caught and we'll go to juvenile detention."
I rolled my eyes. "We are not going to get caught."
"You don't know that, Dylan."
I sighed, I couldn't argue with that because what she said was true, I didn't know. "We're just going up on the roof. Come on, please, it'll be fun, I promise," I said, tugging on her hand.
She sighed. "Fine, but only for a little bit."
I smiled, happy that she had finally given in. "Of course."
I turning on my flashlight and led her to the elevator. We weaved our way around, making sure none of the cameras caught us on video. I expected her to ask how I seemed like such an expert on this, but she never did. We kept quiet until the elevator doors opened.
I stepped inside, Niña following close behind me. The only light in the elevator was the flashlight I had in my left hand and no music played. Niña huddled against me and in that moment I wondered if she was scared of the dark, but I didn't ask, instead we stayed silent as the elevator moved up the building. I had one arm around her and moved my hand up and down her side, hoping it would provide her comfort.
The elevator binged and the doors opened, indicating that we were at the very top. I stepped out of the elevator with Niña pressed behind my back. I could her hear breathing and feel her hair touching the back of my neck, but I didn't mind. Niña gripped my hand as if I were her life support.
We made our way up a set of stairs before finally reaching the door that opened up to the roof. I opened the door and held it. "Ladies first," I said, gesturing for her to go walk through the door way.
"Thanks," she said as she passed me.
"Of course," I said, letting the door shut behind me. I took her hand in mine and led her up three more steps until we arrived on roof. Niña gasped and I grinned. I put a lot of hard work into it.
The candles lined the sides if the rooftop and were scattered across the roof. I had laid blankets down neatly in the middle with a pizza box and a medium sized tin bucket on top of them.
"Wow," Niña said. "You did this all for me?"
I nodded. "Do you like it? If not we can always just go to a restaurant there's a great-"
Niña grinned and chuckled. "No, no... This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me."
"You mean breaking into the Empire State building? Yeah, you're totally welcome," I said, jokingly.
She rolled her eyes and hit me playfully on the arm. "Idiot," she muttered, before walking to the blanket. "What's this," Niña asked, pointing to the tin bucket.
"Clams."
She nodded. "That doesn't sound very appetizing," she said, scrunching up her nose.
"Yeah, I didn't think so either, but they are good, I think you'll like them," I said, opening the bucket and handing her a clam.
Niña stared at it, frowning. "How do you eat it?"
"You have to crack it open," I said, showing her with the clam I had in my own hand. "And then you just slurp it out," I said, tilting my head back and holding the clam to my lips.
Niña nodded and did the same. As soon as the clam entered her mouth her face scrunched up as if she had just taken a bite of something really sour. I could tell she had to force herself to swallow it.
"Gross," she said, looking like she wanted to gag. "Did you bring any drinks," she asked.
I nodded and handed her a bottle of water. I watched as Niña gulped down half of the bottle. "I take it you aren't very big on sea food."
"No, not really," she answer, before taking another drink.
I nodded. There was a pause, a moment of silence where Niña and I simply stared at each other. "Well I did bring pizza."
She smiled. "I don't think you can ever go wrong with pizza," she said, grabbing a slice from the box.
"So tell me more about yourself," I said, grabbing a slice myself.
"What do you want to know," she asked.
"How about the deep stuff," Niña shifted uneasily, "like your favorite color."
She laughed. "Alright then, mine is orange."
"Orange is a nice color. My favorite is blue," I stated.
She nodded as she took a bite of pizza. "So what's your favorite movie," she asked.
"Uhh," I said, thinking about it. "I- uh I don't know- I don't think I have one... I guess I'm not a big movie person," I said, uncomfortably. I hadn't watched a movie since the accident.
She nodded slowly, seeming to sense my discomfort.
"What do you like to do, other than ballet, or does that just consume your life?" I asked, changing the subject.
Niña chuckled. "It doesn't consume my life. And even if it did, I wouldn't mind," she smiled and looked to the ground, allowing her hair to cover her face slightly.
Her eyes twinkled with happiness, it was obvious even with her long eyelashes covering them. A bird flew on to the ledge, causing me to come out of my trance.
"Would you like some beer," I asked.
She shook her head. "I don't drink," she stated.
I opened my beer and took a swig. I set the bottle down and walked over to a corner and grabbed two cans.
Niña raised an eyebrow. "What are those for," she asked.
"Well they are spray paint cans, so take a wild guess," I said, grinning mischievously.
"No. I am not vandalizing the Empire State building."
"It isn't vandalization, it's an art-"
"On a property that isn't ours," she shrieked.
I walked closer to her, leaving only inches of space between us. "Lower you voice. Please."
She nodded.
"Thank you. Now I'm going to take you to an abandoned place, that is if you want to go," I said, staring into her eyes.
"And if I don't want to," she asked, shifting her weight to one leg.
"Then I'll drop you off at home. Just know I'll be having fun without you." I looked down at my phone. "But we don't have much time, so decide quickly," I stated. "Please," I added, to make sure I wasn't coming off too harsh.
"I'll go," she said, just loud enough for me to hear.
I smirked. "Really?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, really. Now, let's go. We don't have much time," she said, playfully bumping into me as she walked toward the door.