Asunder

Chapter 26 - Magic

"Is this legal?"
"Shush."
"No, I'm serious, could we be arrested, because—"
"Kingsley, I have a key!" he looks at me exasperatedly, holding said key up to my face. I stick my tongue out at him and he sighs, turning to unlock the building's door.

I glance around at the dark, empty street. I've driven past its many restaurants and shops before, but never stopped to enter any of them. It was a pretty long drive. At least thirty minutes. Most of it was silent. Most of it was me reorganizing my thoughts, and Sky waiting patiently for me to open my eyes. When I finally did, he was looking at me fondly, and smiled a bit. The rest of the trip started off with small chatter, which rose into our usual style of conversation. Except it was different. It was easier. That's not to say that speaking with him was hard before; it was always pleasant. Strangely comfortable. But after tonight's talk on the sidewalk, our conversation is effortless, like sailing on a breeze of laughter and joy. As natural as breathing; as difficult to stop, too.

Eventually, after a fit of unexpected laughter, I asked him where we were going. He said he wanted to hold it over my head as a surprise. Another playful argument erupted at this, and he tricked me into throwing myself so far into winning the spat that I didn't even notice when he had already parked the car behind a tall building. It took me another minute of hot-headed insisting to realize he was smirking at me, hands off the wheel.

The smugness on his stupid face is gone now, however. He pushes the glass door open, and walks in before holding it for me.

"Such a gentleman," I comment, passing through the threshold.
"It's how I get them."
I laugh. "Yeah. By the way, when was your last conquest?"

He pinches my cheek and I pretend to bite his finger off.

"I told you," he smiles, pulling his hand away with a last poke at the apple of my cheek, "I don't actually do that."
"Right. I forgot. You're a committed man."
He shakes his head, but there's a smile on his face as he shuts the door. "Committed to you, my love."

I respond with a surprisingly realistic gag-noise and he laughs, leading the way past a front desk.

"Whatever this place is," I think out loud, looking around the unlit entry, "it's not open right now."

It's a stupidly obvious thing to say. Not a single person seems to hide in the dark. The entrance room is empty, except for the front desk, a plant at its corner and an unreadable poster behind it. I squint at it, but there isn't a single bit of light to illuminate the printed letters. All I can see is Sky's moving figure.

"It's okay, I can come when I want to." He hold up the key again. "That's why they gave me this."
"Who's 'they'?"
We reach an elevator. I don't need light to know there's a satisfactory grin on his face. "If I told you, it would give it away."
"If you told me, I'd stop annoying you about it." He pushes the button, and the door opens up. I follow him in.
"If you'd stopped annoying me about it," he answers smugly, "you would've seen the name of this place at the door."
I gasp, and tilt my head to read the upside-down words painted in cursive on the door, just as the elevator closes to block my vision.

I groan as the elevator begins to move, blinking at the sudden light tightness of the space. "How did I miss that?"
"You talk a lot."
Annoyance flips a switch in me. I get in his face, closing the newly constricted space between us. "Only because you provoke me so much."
"It's nice to know I have a prominent effect on you, Kingsley," he rasps, bending his head towards mine. I yield a step away.
"You want to talk about a prominent effect?" I cross my arms, moving my head sassily. "You throw rocks at my balcony just to see me."
"I'm not denying it," he shrugs. It somehow infuriates me more. But before I can snap back at him, the elevator dings, opening its door into a dark hallway.