Last Fall

Fire Escape

Lyndsey was beautiful.

But she was also young, inexperienced and I found that to be rather alluring. The criminal in me wanted to corrupt that, although something told me her head wasn't as innocent as her heart and my own heart was inclined to protect hers. That scared me because I didn't want to be the one to cause her the pain I wanted to shield her from. I'd been through the heartache of heartbreak before and didn't want to risk experiencing it again, but every time she smiled I knew I was in trouble. I hadn't smiled so much in so long that my cheeks were actually sore from involuntarily matching her expression.

We had parted ways with the others earlier in the day to explore a graveyard while the boys went to a skate park and Daneantha went God knows where to do God knows what. Lydnsey made up stories for the lost lives of those in the cemetery, complete with different accents and I genuinely laughed at all of them. She seemed pleased by my amusement and didn't stop until no headstone was forgotten. It was getting late by the time she was done so we left and started walking back towards the hotel but the misting rain turned to pouring. She screeched and took off running toward an abandoned building across the street with me in tow. The scaffolding had fallen and parts of the walls had collapsed. There was dust and debris everywhere. We carefully walked up rotting wooden steps to what looked like it may have been a balcony, once upon a time.

We lost track of time while exploring the vast destruction but I could tell she didn't want to leave yet and honestly, I didn't either. She climbed through a broken window and onto a fire escape. The metal was rusting and I was worried that it wouldn't hold, but it did and she convinced me to join her. By then the rain had stopped, the sun had set and the stars now shined above. She shivered from the declining temperature and I instinctively wrapped my arms around her middle and held her to me tightly.

I listened as she talked about her theories of afterlife which lead to us discussing religion, how the earth was created and what could be in space. She stared off into the sky and animatedly described planets with extraterrestrial life. I noticed how she would scrunch her nose whenever she thought too hard and run her hand through her hair to push her bangs backward every time the wind blew. Even if it didn't mess up her hair, she'd still readjust it.

We eventually bothered to check our phones and when we did, it was nearly 5 a.m. I had 102 missed calls and over 300 unread texts. I assumed Lyndsey's phone wasn't much different. I texted Sam to apologize and let her know that we were alive and well and on our way back to the hotel. There was no ladder at the bottom of the escape so we had to jump from the creaking metal platform to the dirt floor. I jumped first and held my arms up with a laugh. "We both know you're clumsy."

Sure enough she stumbled and brought me with her. Her grip on my arm tightened as she leaned her back against the crumbling brick wall for support. "Oops." She giggled. "I have the balance of a drunk baby deer."

I had thought that the color of her eyes reflected my own, but looking into them now, I realized that they were a darker hazel in contrast to my lighter. Those eyes flickered to my lips and then averted themselves to her left nervously. I brushed the back of my hand against her cheek, tinted rose from the cold air, and then rested my hands on her hips. She hesitantly brought her arms up and linked her hands at the back of my neck. My lips ghosted over her own, not quite touching, but existing in the moment anticipating what was to come.

Her eyes fluttered closed, as did my own and I pressed my lips against hers. She immediately responded by pressing back harder and arching her spine so I could move my hands to her lower back and pull her into me. I wanted her impossibly closer. She untangled her fingers from each other and retangled them in my hair. When we pulled apart the only word that was going through my mind was breathless.