“It’s so nice out there.”
Jessie shoves her cheeks full of pizza crust, wipes her hands on a rag, and gathers up the plates. “Y’all want to see the roof?”
Nelle’s smile rivals sunshine.
James scrambles for the journal and writes,and the roof?but the words vanish. He tries again.Nelle goes to the roof.
They follow Jessie into the dank hall and up a sketchy staircase to a door that can only be opened from the inside.
“What if we get locked up here?” James asks as they step into the sticky night.
Nelle bounces on her toes like a kid in line for a roller coaster. “Then we’ll climb down. It’ll be fun.”
“Just enjoy the view, James,” Jessie says.
Night hangs over the city, and skyscrapers light up in the distance past the comparably shorter streets of the Village. He leans against the half wall lining the roof, soaking in the view. A pigeon picks at a banana peel on the sidewalk. Trees hang over the narrow one-way street. Voices and car horns and the hum of the city underline the electric air.
A rumble of thunder shakes the sky. James flinches as water splats on his forehead. It ripples across the concrete, a hushed rainfall. The tree branches titter, droplets playing music on their thirsty leaves.
“What do you think?” Jessie wraps an arm around his shoulders. “You’ve wanted to be here your whole life, right?”
James sighs, unable to produce words to explain how he feels. A bubble starts small in his chest, engorging with every breath, filled with pink glitter.
New York.He made it.
Nelle straddles the low concrete wall, her right leg hanging off the edge of the building. Her foot has gone numb. She trails her finger where people have carvedC+L,R+P, andG+G, dodging smudges of black ash from crushed cigarettes and mysterious stains. She doesn’t worry about falling into the street below because she wouldn’t die. Would her bones break? Most likely, but only two things can kill her, and one of them is the black journal. The last words written in her ink. The last tie she has to the earth. With Father’s study burned, she realizes that her life is literally in James’s back pocket.
“Can I see your key?” she asks him.
He holds it out, then hesitates. “Depends on what you’re planning to do with it.”
“Nothing violent this time.” She holds out her pinkie. “I promise.”
Key ring wielded, she digs into the ledge, carving her initial.N. Then she scratches a squiggly ampersand, followed by aJ.
N&J. Not plus.And.NelleandJames.
Thunder rolls through like an avalanche. Lightning forks over the city. Hot wind swirls around them. Leaves spiral down the street like green confetti. As the storm worsens, the illuminated skyscrapers hide behind pounding sheets of gray.
“Let’s get inside!” Jessie screams over the torrent.
James starts to stand, but Nelle pulls him back. Shakes her soaked head. He understands.
“We’re gonna stay for a minute!” he yells back.
“Suit yourself!” Jessie holds her jacket above her head and scurries to the door, propped open with a cinder block.
Nelle pulls James away from the ledge and leads him to the center of the roof. She raises his arm, her fingers wrapped in his, and spins herself around. He falls into her movement, assuming a dance neither of them has rehearsed. They waltz sloppily in the rain to an invisible orchestra, whirling and laughing as the water rushes over them.
Each raindrop hits the concrete like a note to a song only they can hear.
Lightning splits the black clouds, and the rain pours harder, but Nelle’s not scared.
James sprints a circle around the rooftop, howling fearlessly into the night. His shoes splash in deep puddles, spraying rainwater. He is so much freer than the man she met under the fireworks last month.
Nelle chases after him. Warm water prickles her hairline, the tip of her nose, her parted lips, her neck, chest, arms, fingertips, toes—
She slows to a stop. Holds out her arms, extending her fingers, each tip sizzling as adrenaline pumps through her veins. She tilts her head back and opens her mouth. Water fills the back of her throat, dribbles over her lips, and spills out. When she breaks her pose with a giggle, James is in front of her. He leans in close, his lips brushing the lobe of her ear. She shudders. For the first time tonight, Nelle realizes that she’s trembling.
