𝗣 𝗬 𝗥 𝗢 𝗠 𝗔 𝗡 𝗜 𝗔 | BOOK THREE

E I G H T E E N

[graham eaton]

Jolene opens her window, pulling her jean jacket on over her hoodie.

"Come one," She says, taking my hand. "I think you'll like this."

I raise an eyebrow and climb out the window, pulling my jacket on as I follow her. We climb on the red, rusty, fire stairs for emergencies.

"You know that my Department penalizes people for messing around on these, right?" I ask, clubbing behind her.

She scoffs and looks down at me, a smile on her face.

"What are you gonna do, ground me?" She asks.

I laugh and climb even higher.

"I was thinking oof taking away your cellphone, but I like yours better." I joke.

Her blonde hair, cut just below her shoulders, looks platinum in this lighting. The moonlight bounces off of her, making her glow. The silver studs decorating her ears glint in the light, three in her earlobe, one in the cartilage, and one in the tragus as Livia calls it, buried deep in my memory from hearing her beg our father to let her get it pierced. We reach the roof, approaching a spot near the middle, secluded from anyone else who might climb up here. She sits, patting the spot beside her. I plop down beside her and raise an eyebrow.

"What am I looking for here?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

She smiles and looks at her watch.

"For the past two years, every night at eleven o'clock, all of Chicago's lights go out for exactly three minutes and fourteen seconds. I've been tracking it. When that happens in two minutes, you'll see what I brought you up here to see." She says.

I raise an eyebrow and smile at her. She pulls her knees to her chest and rocks back and forth. I brush her hair out of her face and examine her bruises. They're mostly healed, a few of them turning green in the helloing process. A few others are a pale shade of purple, but she looks almost back to normal again. 

"Do they hurt still? Or has the pain stopped?" I ask.

She shrugs, allowing me to touch her face.

"Some hurt still, others don't." She says. "I think a few more days and I'll be back to 100%."

I smile and nod, wondering if once all of the swelling goes down, will she look the same? If not, it wouldn't make a difference anyway. She has a beautiful soul and that's what matters most, not her physical beauty or popularity, her. Her soul is white and pure, unbroken even after all she's been through. She's here. In the moment. The lights go out and her theory is proven correct. I've lived here all my life and never noticed it like this. The sky is dark, the light pollution evaporating quickly. The moon hides behind a cloud, giving way to the dark sky to show what has been hidden all this time. The stars peek out, their light greeting me like an old friend. Something nastolgic and beautiful.

"Wow," Is all I can mutter, shocked at all the beauty that's been hiding above my head all this time. 

"Look," She says, pointing to the sky. "There's Aires, and there's Pisces, and in between them, that beautiful, bright star, Venus." 

The starlight shines down upon her face, making her eyes glow in the light. I smile and stare up at the sky with her, our pinkies hooked together.

"When I was a kid, my parents owned a summer home up by Lake Michigan. We would go up there for a solid month every year until I turned eighteen. Up there, where no one was around, every night, the whole night, was just like this. It was perfect. It's like I'm back there again." I say.

She smiles at me, staring at me now. The world is slow, all sound muted other than my heartbeat and her breathing. My eyes focus on her lips, like tunnel vision. They're all I can see. I blink a few times, focusing the image again. I raise my hand to her cheek, lacing my fingers through her hair. I lean down, pressing my lips to hers, closing my eyes. Her lips taste like peaches, a lipgloss I saw sitting on her desk beside her cell phone, but never made note of until now. She's warm and soft, moldable in my hands. She doesn't move, probably shocked. Her arm wraps under mine, wrapping around my shoulder. Her lips move on mine, slow and calculated. I never thought I'd be sitting on a rooftop kissing her. I mean, sure, I had hopes that at some point in my life that I would kiss her, but sitting with her here, on the top of our world, the attraction became pure magnetism. I wrap my other arm around her back, pulling her into my lap effortlessly. She backs away, looking down.

"Graham," She says. "I can't sleep with you. It's just... That would be too fast."

I raise an eyebrow and brush a strand of hair out of her face.

"Who said we were going to sleep together? I just want to keep kissing you." I say.

She smiles and exhales.

"Sorry, I haven't had the greatest luck with other guys lately." She says.

I smile and shrug, kissing her hand.

"Good thing I'm not other guys." I say.

The lights kick back on in the city, illuminating her skin, hiding the stars away for the night. The door to the roof pops open and I jump to my feet.

"Shit," I say. "Hide. Over there, behind that AC unit."

A man with a flashlight stares at me.

"Who are you and what are you doing on the rooftop of my building?" He asks.

I hold my hands up and smile. It's my landlord.

"Hey, Jerry, it's Graham. From 208? The FireFighter?" I ask.

He raises the flashlight, pointing it at my face. I squint and smile.

"I thought I heard something up here, turned out to just be a raccoon messing around in the gutters. Don't worry, I chased him off. We're good." I say.

He nods, smiling.

"Glad to know my tenants are so responsible. You have a good night, okay Graham?" He asks. 

I nod and wave goodbye to him.

"You too, sir!" I exclaim as he closes the door behind him and returns to his office on the first floor.

I turn and smile at Jolene, laughing. She stands and walks over to me, laughing as well.

"You really know how to talk you way out of a sticky situation, don't you?" She asks.

I shrug. She cups my face with her hands, lacing her fingers together behind my neck, standing on her tiptoes to kiss me again. I wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her even closer, kissing her even more intensely. I back away, smiling down at her.

"We might have to make this a little ritual every night--sneak up onto the roof and star gaze." I say.

She raises an eyebrow and smiles at me, pecking my lips.

"What about the making out part?" She asks.

I shrug, tilting my head.

"I'm okay with adding that too if you want to." I say.

She nods, laughing.

"Yes, we're adding that." She says.

I smile and kiss her again.

"Okay, it's added. Now, let's get the Hell off this roof before Jerry comes ack and reminds me that I forgot to return his ladder last week." I say.