Mind the Code: The Problem with Revenge

Rooftop Romance

It grew late as I was buckled in beside Alex while he drove. The sky was a deep rich red and I watched in a blur as the clouds rushed away along with the sun. I looked to Alex, who was quiet and his window was down, blowing his hair this way and that. He was so handsome.

I rolled down my window, closing my eyes and breathing in the cool air.

My hand felt the warmth of his when he grabbed mine. 

Alex drove on for another fifteen minutes, and we came upon a strip of stores that were closed for the night, their employees already gone and the stores locked up. He parked behind a building separate from the strip, behind the large garbage. I looked at him, "Alex?" I began suspiciously. 

"Say nothing, Ava," he demanded, so I did.

We hopped out, and I took a look at the creek behind the lonesome building, the trees covering behind us went for miles. Alex opened up the doors to the garbage while I stayed waiting for him to come back, and when he did he had in his hand a shiny metal something that turned out to be a key.

I still remained quiet, and took his hand as he went back to the back door of the building, sticking the key in and turning, then as he slowly opened the door, he motioned me inwards. I'm not sure why I was nervous, but I was. 

Walking in, he followed close behind, the air conditioning was cool and the building was pitch black. The darkness strained my eyes, and I felt Alex's hand at my back walking me forward. I held my arms out in front of me while I walked on, then he grabbed the edge of my shirt and I stopped, my eyes not yet getting used to the darkness. I still had no idea what was going on. 

Not until Alex flicked on the lights, and in sections the large building lit up, exposing balance beams, a pool of square sponges, a swimming pool and a diving board, trampolines, and a swinging rope into the pool of sponges. The room went on and on all around and I laughed when I realized where he took me to.

"The Gym Station?" 

"I got Harrison to rent it out to me for a night," he told me as I wondered how he managed to get one of Mark's closest friends to allow him access to an entire building just for me.

I smiled while remembering all the times I would have my birthday party there as a child. I remembered being shy when the employees would sing to me or call me the "Birthday squirrel" and being tied to a harness and jumping into a pit of foam blocks. 

Being there in the deserted gymnasium with Alex felt odd. It felt, though it was just the two of us for only a few hours, that I could be there alone with him forever. "Alex, why?" I simply said.

The manly ways of his arms were crossed, and I caught him as he scanned the building for what to do first. There he paused. His eyes landed on me with knitted brows, and he tilted his head in my direction. "Why what?"

I walked closer to him, suddenly wanting to be in his arms, but not wanting to ask for it. "Why did you do this for me?"

Silence rang in the building, his mouth opened briefly and those cobalt eyes flickered down, until he said, "well... I wanted to."

There was a chance for me to accept it and move on, but of course I didn't choose that route.

Once Alex realized I didn't like that answer and chose silence, he sighed. "God, Princess, don't make me say it more than I already have." His eyes finally met mine in pleading, and he looked off for a moment. Narrowing in on him, I noticed the cause- his ears were red. Alex was flushing.

"Say what?"

A groan escaped his mouth, but lacking in irritation. There was something dreadful in it- something I found slightly amusing. "Ava, I care about you, okay? You know this."