At Odds

Luca

My eyes take a while to adjust, but I can tell that it's her. She makes her way up the stairs quietly. Everyone else passed out, and the tv was no longer on. I gently slide out from under Emely and lean her back on the couch. Thankfully she's a heavy sleeper so she doesn't wake up. I make sure not to bump into the air mattres so I wouldn't wake Liz or Todd.

I take a quick glance down at my phone for the time. 2 am, it's always 2 am by the time I wake up. When I wake up to check up on her. But I guess she's beat me to it this time.

I go up the stairs and towards her room. The window is open and I feel my heart sink. I hurry towards it. I move the curtains aside and find her. She's there. She's safe. I can feel my heart beat again.

"Can't sleep?" I ask and make my way onto the roof as well.

"Yeah," She says without looking at me. I sit next to her and stare up at the sky. We don't say anything, we just look at the stars.

The cool fall breeze sweeps over us, it causes me to look over at her. She's only in her jeans and a shirt. She must be cold. I unzip my sweater and put it over her shoulders. She looks at me a little startled and confused. She's ready to take it off but I place my hand on her shoulder.

"Don't, just, you keep it. Did you at least have fun?" I ask, breaking the silence. I don't know what I expect her answer to be, especially since she isn't one to be known for having fun. And I've tried. Believe me, I've tried to get her to express anything other than indifferent, angry, scared, and in rare cases, sad.

"I think I did," Of course she'd say something like that, always i think, or i believe. "Or at least I thought I did," It catches me by surprise and she turns to face me. "Until I felt the feeling I have right now. This is better. I think this is fun." She says and I see it.

Something I'd never thought I would ever see. Something I had fought so hard for in the past 5 years of knowing her. Something that I didn't know at the time, but that quickly became my favorite thing.

"Edith," I clearly sound surprised because the smile fades a little in confusion. I regret not being less surprised, or at least giving myself away like that. But there's still a faint one on her lips. A gentle smile. "You're doing it." I can't help but smile even wider. "You're smiling."

"I am?" She touches her mouth with the tips of her fingers and the smile grows.

She's right. This is the best part of the entire night.