Pride, Mates, and Past Mistakes

The Green Eyed Girl

||A LITTLE OVER 10 YEARS AGO||

The girl shivered as she climbed the ladder.  She stepped onto the rooftop and sighed. Leave it to him to pick the coldest place possible.

Still, she had to admit as she stood there...the view was beautiful.

She brushed her thick, raven colored hair over her shoulder and swept her green eyes over the rooftop. She didn't have to look long to find him, sitting on the thick wall that ran around the roof, his legs dangling over the side.

Perhaps a year ago she would have been alarmed with the fact that he was sitting so close to the edge on a fifty story building, alarmed with that fact that if one or the other lost their balance the wrong way, they would be goners. But after all she'd been through as an IPKA intern, sitting on the edge of a building was nothing more than a walk in the park.

She climbed onto the ledge, leaned over, and pecked his cheek. "Hey." She pulled her legs out and sat down, allowing her legs to dangle over the side to his.

"Hey," he grinned, slipping an arm around her waist and drawing her in. "Took you awhile. What took you so long?"

The girl rolled her eyes—not that he could see, anyway, it was too dark. "I'll have you know, escaping Xavier was not easy. He probably knows where I am, too. You do realize that if we get caught again, Raymond's going to actually make us do those suicide laps?"

He shuddered, closing his eyes. "Oh, gosh. I don't think I can bear any more running. Not after he added three more hours of training because this is the last month."

The girl frowned and stretched her leg out. "My thighs haven't been this sore in forever." Then she turned and whacked her arm across his. "Not that that intense steep climb to the roof helped, by the way. Great idea."

"Oh, come on," he laughed, bumping his foot to hers. "I don't remember you arguing when I suggested the roof."

"I don't remember having an opinion in the matter," the girl retorted, bumping her foot back. "Mysteriously whispering 'Rooftop at 8:30 tonight' as I'm walking in the halls and then disappearing into thin air doesn't exactly present an opportunity for discussion."

"Hey!" He laughed again. "It was supposed to be romantic. I tried to sneak food from the kitchen, but there were too many people around there. I'd look too suspicious." He lifted his head and looking at her. "You have to admit though, the view is nice."

The girl smiled. "Mmm." She lifted her head to examine the tiny lights of the stores and buildings that blended together. She watched people walk around on the streets and the cars that drove by, all tiny from her view above. The city was so pretty from above. Up here, you couldn't smell all the weird stuff or see all the potholes and weeds in the sidewalks.

"Yeah," she finally agreed. "Can't argue with that."

Feeling his eyes still on her, she turned and met his gaze. Both their eyes were the same color and yet they were so different. Hers a bright, vivid, nearly alarming green. They were an open book when she had her defenses down. His a dark, cloudy, nearly murky green.

Perhaps from far away, the two looked like a picture perfect couple. The handsome teenage boy with curly brown hair and the eye-catching grin, sitting hand in hand with a pretty girl with the striking black hair and startling green eyes; both of them framed against the starless city night.

But on the inside, the girl's mind whirled with a frenzy of anxious, indecisive thoughts. Maybe I should ask him now. The idea had rooted in her head days ago, but she had waited to tell him, wanting to ask at the right time.