Page 95 of The Fire Between High & Lo (Elements 2)

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Alyssa shouted up to me. She refused to climb up to the roof, because unlike the billboard, there was no railing of protection.

“Of course I know what I’m doing,” I shouted back.

“But how?”

I turned to her and gave her a sly smile. “I saw a documentary once on roofing.”

Her eyes bugged out and her hands waved back and forth. “Nope. Nope. Get down, Logan Francis Silverstone. Now! Watching a documentary does not make you a professional.”

“No, but the tool belt does!”

“Logan.”

“Alyssa.”

“Lo.”

“High.”

“Get down, now. Come get some water. Just… I’ll hire a person to check out the roof, okay? Then you won’t feel like you have to fix it.”

I chuckled and started climbing down the ladder. “Good. Because I had no clue what the heck I was doing.”

Once my feet hit the ground, she shoved me hard, and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t be an idiot like that ever again. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Pinky?” she asked.

I wrapped my pinky with hers, pulling her closer to me. My heart started racing from the small touch, and I studied her trembling lips as she stared at my mouth. “Pinky.”

We stood close to one another, somehow growing closer and closer as each moment passed. I felt her lips slightly touch mine, but we weren’t kissing. We were simply somehow turning two people into one, taking in each other’s breaths.

“Lo?” she whispered, her air brushing against my skin.

“Yes?”

“We should stop standing so close now.”

“Okay.”

She nodded once, and stepped back. “Okay.” She ran her fingers through her hair, and gave me a tight grin. “You should go get some water or something. You’ve been working like crazy. I’m just going to my bedroom to take a breath, or five for a minute.”

I agreed and headed to the kitchen for a glass of water. I wondered if she felt everything for me that I felt for her whenever she stood near me. I wondered if she had to fight off the feeling of longing as much as I had to.

As I opened her refrigerator, I paused, seeing all of the fresh foods she had. “Did you just go grocery shopping?” I hollered toward her bedroom.

“Yeah, I went yesterday.”

My mind started racing, looking at the vegetables and uncooked sausage. I opened her cabinets, searching. “Do you mind if I make something really quick?”

“No. Go for it. Anything is up for grabs.”

Awesome.

I started moving things around, grabbing pots and pans. Within minutes, chicken broth was heating on her stove, and I began chopping up mushrooms and fresh garlic.

“I gotta say, when you said you wanted to make something really quick, I thought you meant like a Hot Pocket.” Alyssa smiled.