Falling Slowly

Pt.2|Ch.5

"I still don't see why you can't just tell me where we're going." I crossed my arms, gazing skeptically at him out of the corner of my eye.

He kept driving. "In my opinion, the best kind of date is when you have no clue where you're going."

"Well, you somehow convinced my mom to let me out with you at midnight, so I have a feeling that she approves of whatever you're going to show me,"

"Which shoots down your constant suspicion that I'm trying to kidnap you." He shook his head. "I really don't know why that's your go-to scenario."

I gazed upward, trying to riddle the mystery out. "Midnight...wait..."

"No!" He pleaded. "No guessing!"

I looked over at him. "Stars?"

"Austyn!"

"You should've kept a straight face about it!" I defended, laughing.

"We can go somewhere else, if you want." He sighed. "I reckon you're getting pretty tired of them anyhow,"

I shook my head. "I'll never get tired of finding a place to just sit and talk."

He shot me a small, grateful smile. "That makes my job a lot easier, to be honest. I don't have too many tricks up my sleeves." He proved his point by reaching over and smacking me in the face with the sleeve of his jacket.

"I see that." I playfully pushed his arm away. "So, does this plan also involve me almost dying in a tree-climbing incident?"

He rolled his eyes. "No, and it might actually be better than the first one."

"Better than a near-death experience? I highly doubt it."

"Okay, do me a favor and stop hanging out with Aiden for a little while? My wit can't take much more of this second-hand sarcasm."

"Sky has to deal with her sarcasm every day." I pointed out. "Toughen up a little."

Ben deflected my criticism with a shake of his head. "He doesn't have any wit left to lose. I'm holding on to what I do have as long as I can."

"Alright, I'll give you that." I relented as he pulled the car into some kind of parking lot. A familiar parking lot. "Ben, is this your apartment complex?"

He nodded, pulling the keys out of the ignition. "Yep. I recently discovered how to get to the roof," his words were cut off as he climbed out of the car and walked around to open passengers' side door for me, "and it's such a tall building that you can see the stars pretty well. I thought we'd give it a try."

"Just try not to let me fall off the edge of the building, please." I said, taking his hand and stepping down onto the pavement.

"Need I remind you that I caught you last time?" He opened the door to the stairwell, and we started up.

When we were about half-way up to the top, he stopped and squinted at the stairs we had yet to climb. "Maybe we should've taken the elevator."

I laughed. "We'll be okay, but you might be carrying me back down."

"Fair enough."

We eventually made it to the top and through the door that led to the apartment building's roof.

"Okay," he took my hands in his and pulled me away from the door, letting it close behind us. "You know the rules."

I nodded, looking down at my feet and letting him drag me around the roof until he had me positioned under the exact spot he wanted me to see.