Secrets // Zach Herron

Escaping Reality // C22

Penelope's POV:

"This way", Zach said as he led me down an alleyway.

If he was not someone I had known for a long time, I would assume he was going to kill me. He continued along the alleyway before taking a sharp left. I wondered where we were going, and how long it would take. Before I knew it, we were climbing a black staircase along the side of a brick building. Zach pulled open a door at the top of the staircase and ushered me to go inside.

I hesitated, "is this where you kill me?"

He smiled, "just go inside".

It was the first time I had seen him smile in weeks, I stood for another minute, admiring the pure beauty of his smile. Somehow, his smile made me feel something that I buried down a long time ago. This was the moment when I should have turned around and left, but I wanted to see where this would go. With resurfacing feelings, I stepped inside.

I was surprised to see a full-fledged bar to my left and black circular loveseats to my right. Each loveseat was about seven feet apart from each other and had small tables to either side of the loveseat. They all faced the wall to my right, which was lined with eight large TVs. In the back, there were booths that were dimly lit (for privacy I assumed), but what caught my eye was the rooftop access.

"Don't worry, they don't serve real alcohol until 7 pm", Zach said as he led me to a corner booth in the back.

There were only three or four people in the establishment at this time, two of them were in the loveseat having a very serious conversation. I slid into the back of the booth and was immediately greeted by the bartender.

"Hey Zach", she said cheerfully. Then, she looked at me with eyes full of curiosity. The name tag on her uniform said "Paris".

"Hey Paris", Zach said, "long time, no see".

Paris had dark blue wavy hair that barely reached her shoulders. She also had a nose piercing and strikingly beautiful earrings. An elaborate half-sleeve tattoo ran up her right arm, most of it was just flowers and leaves.

"Right, what can I get started for you two", she asked.

I did not even know what was on the menu, as Paris did not bring one, I assumed it was sort of like an "if you're here, you should know" type of thing. An unspoken, unwritten menu if you will.

"Two raspberry mojitos, spinach and artichoke dip, and chicken potstickers", Zach ordered.

"Coming right up", Paris said as she walked away.

I was about to slap Zach for ordering alcohol when I remembered him saying that they only serve non-alcoholic beverages until 7 pm. It was around 2 pm, and I immediately remembered that Cameron and I have to attend that boat party in a few hours.

"What is this place?" I asked Zach.

He inched closer to me, "it's called The Rooftop, and it's a place for celebrities to get away and eat good food. Daniel found this place a while back, and I come here often. Nobody, besides celebrities, knows about this place."

Suddenly, my thoughts wandered and my heart sunk. "You must come here with Tatianna then", I remarked.

He placed his hand on top of mine, "Actually, I come here to get away from Tatianna. You're the first girl I've brought here".

I knew he was trying to be sweet, but I suddenly felt as though we were doing something wrong. It was like we were in an affair, or a secret relationship, I immediately withdrew my hand from his. He frowned, but I knew he understood.