Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
She yawned and stretched when I quietly shut the door behind me, and I petted her until she was satisfied before stripping out of my clothes and jumping in the shower. I didn’t do the whole hair-washing and leg-shaving song and dance, just rinsed off and sighed with contentment once my sweatpants were slipped on. I grabbed the biggest t-shirt I had next, not bothering with a bra, and popped a blueberry-flavored edible in my mouth before flopping down on my bed.
I hadn’t seen Leo on my way up, and I wondered for a moment if he was in his room with a girl already.
Then, I angrily shoved the heels of my hands into my eyes before putting on my headphones to drown out the noise of the party.
And my brain.
For a while, I sat propped up in my pillows with my iPad, drawing as Palico purred where she was tucked in by my side. When the edible started to hit, I felt all the tension of the day melt out of me, and my drawings became more fluid, more free.
Somewhere around one in the morning, I stood and stretched, cracking my back with a few quick twists before I stared at the door that led down the hall. A small part of me wanted to join the party now, but the larger part didn’t want to put on makeup or wear anything with underwire or zippers involved. I could have gone to sleep, but I wasn’t exactly tired.
My ears hurt from my headphones, so I took them out and opened my window, savoring the cool breeze and gentle quiet of the night. Then, before I could even think about what I was doing, I shoved the window all the way up and crawled out onto the roof.
The room they’d given me overlooked the garden, and I crawled only a few feet above my window before I sat my ass right on the cool shingles, crossing my bare feet under me and leaning back on my palms. The party was loud enough that the music and laughter spilled into the night, but it was softer out here, farther away, and the gentle high I had from the edible made me feel weightless and happy.
For the first time all night, I felt at peace.
“You found my spot.”
I jumped, nearly toppling off the roof when I whipped around and found a shadowed figure hunched a little higher on the roof. I’d no sooner caught my balance before the shadow edged into the light from the streetlamp, and Leo’s hand shot out to make sure I didn’t fall.
He had no right to look as good as he did in the moonlight, and I knew my high only made him appear more appetizing. His hair was somewhat styled, but tussled by the wind, his eyes were glossed over and tired but somehow enticing, too. He wore a light pair of denim jeans I wouldn’t allow myself to focus on too long, and a sweater that he’d shoved up past his forearms to bunch at his elbows.
Why did his forearms turn me on so much?
I wanted to pull one of those arms into my lap and draw all over it, wanted to tattoo it, to mark him permanently with my art.
I shrugged him off once I had my balance, pretending like I didn’t need him to gain it. “You would be out here.”
I didn’t say it with the vitriol I spat at him earlier, but rather in a disappointed kind of sigh. I should have known the peace couldn’t last.
I was already making to scoot my way back down the roof and inside when his hand caught the crook of my elbow.
“Don’t leave.”
My skin burned where he touched me, and I followed the lines of his forearm up to where the sleeves of his sweatshirt had been shoved up. I couldn’t lift my gaze any higher, but I didn’t move, either.
“I’ll go, if you want to be alone.”
“No,” I said when it was him who started to move. “I didn’t realize it was your spot. I’ll go.”
“I don’t own it. You live here, too.”
“It’s fine, I was just…” I quieted, not sure exactly what I was trying to do.
“How about we share?” he offered with a smirk, settling in beside me. “And if I start to piss you off, which we both know is likely, just say the word and I’ll go.”
“Or I could push you off the roof.”
“That is another option. Not my favorite one, though it’s probably yours.”
The corner of my mouth lifted just a bit as I sat back on my palms again, eyes on the sky and then the garden. I didn’t know why it made me happy that Leo would rather be on a rooftop than inside partying, but it did.