An even higher noise flew out of her mouth as Ziya threw a leg over the railing, straddling it so she could get a better view of Amie.
“Ziya!” Amie said as loud as she dared. “Get back on the balcony!”
“It’s fine! This is a skort.”
“That’snotwhat I was concerned about.”
“I’m gonna stay here until you make it down.”
“David!” Amie said pleadingly.
“What amIsupposed to do?” came David’s frustrated reply.
“Hold her arm or something, at least!”
Amie watched Ziya extend an arm to the out-of-view David.
“There,” Ziya said. “He’s got me.” To Amie’s horror, she released the railing with her other hand and leaned out even further, waving Amie over. “Now come on!”
“Okay, okay!” Bolstered by her fear of Ziya taking a dive over the railing, Amie turned back to the balcony next door. Holding on tight to the railing, she lifted one leg and stepped over it, mirroring Ziya’s straddle. Her second leg followed, and she found herself on the outside of the railing.
“How’s it going?” Ziya called.
“Haven’t heard any sickening thumps yet, so that’s promising,” David said.
“I’m revoking your speaking privileges.”
Worried that replying might break her concentration, Amie squeezed her lips shut and focused on not falling. She transferred her right hand to the next balcony’s railing, gripping it so tight her knuckles hurt. As she looked over to make sure she had a clear spot to relocate her right foot, she caught another glimpse of the ground below.
Amie’s stomach once again did a flip. At this rate, she was considering entering it in the next Olympic gymnastics qualifiers.
Carefully, she took one step over to the next balcony. Without giving herself time to overthink, she unlatched her left hand,grabbed the other railing, and pulled the rest of her body over the gap. She clambered over the rail to the safety of the balcony.
Sucking in a deep breath, she sagged against the perpendicular railing.
“I see her!” Ziya was waving from below, as if Amie might have forgotten where she was since they last spoke a minute before.
“Can you get down from there?” Amie begged.
“I’ll get down when you get down.”
Amie groaned, stepping over a pair of mud-caked boots as she moved across the balcony. “What are you evendoinghere?”
“I told you!”
“You’re saying you abandoned Lil Screw and jazz-funk because you didn’t want to miss out on—” Amie paused, deciding it was probably not the best idea to say “me breaking into my landlord’s apartment” while still in such close proximity to said apartment.
“On the mystery, yeah,” Ziya finished. “I don’t even like Lil Screw, anyway. I knew the real action was with you two.”
“Hopefully that won’t be true.” Amie had reached the end of the balcony. Logically, she knew this gap couldn’t be any wider than the last one, and yet it somehow seemed to stretch out farther than she could possibly reach. “I think I’m gonna call it here, you guys. I live on this balcony now. Feel free to visit any time.”
There was a brief scuffle from below. Ziya and David appeared on the narrow side of David’s balcony, looking up at her. Now that Amie was closer, she could see the glittery eyeshadow on Ziya’s lids winking at her as she gazed up at Amie.
“Look at you! You’re so close!” Ziya held her arms out over the railing. “I could literally catch you if you fell.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Amie said weakly, clinging to the railing.
“Well, David could catch you.”
