The Fire Between High & Lo (Elements #2)(15)

I opened the drawer, seconds away from allowing the darkness inside, seconds away from fading from the light, but then, my phone dinged.

Alyssa: What are you doing?

Alyssa texted me exactly when I needed her to, even though I was offended that she waited until eleven at night to write me. The only person I heard from for my birthday was Kellan, who took me out to dinner. All Dad gave me was a black eye, and all Ma gave me was disappointment.

Alyssa was the one I was counting on, though. She was my best friend, and hadn’t said a word all day.

Me: Lying in bed.

Alyssa: Okay.

Ellipses.

Alyssa: Come downstairs.

Sitting up a little, I reread her messages. With haste, I tossed on my tennis shoes, a pair of sunglasses, my red hoodie, and hurried out of the apartment. Parked right in front of the building was Alyssa, smiling toward me. I glanced around the streets at people drinking and smoking.

God. I hate it when you come here. Especially at night.

I climbed into the passenger seat of her car, and locked the doors the moment I was inside. “What are you doing, Alyssa?”

“Why are you wearing sunglasses?” she asked.

“No reason.”

She reached across to me, and took them off.

“Oh Logan…” she whispered, slightly touching my bruised eye.

I snickered and recoiled. “You think that’s bad? You should see the other guy.”

She didn’t laugh. “Your dad?”

“Yeah. It’s fine though.”

“It’s not fine. I’ve never hated someone so much in my life. Is your mom okay?”

“She’s far from okay, but she’s okay.” I watched as Alyssa’s eyes began to water, but I quickly stopped her. “Everything’s okay. I promise. Let’s just go to wherever we are going to so I can forget for a while.”

“Okay.”

“And Alyssa?”

“Yes, Logan?”

My fingers wiped her tears away, and I allowed my touch to linger against her cheeks. “Smile.”

She gave me a huge, cheesy, fake smile. It was good enough for me.

She put the car in drive, and kept driving for a long, long time. We didn’t talk the whole way, and I wasn’t sure what exactly she was up to. When the car pulled over to the side of an abandoned road, my confusion grew.

“Seriously. What are we doing?”

“Come on,” she said, hurrying out of the car, and running down the road. This girl was going to be the death of me—and by death I meant life. Because of her coming into my life, I somehow found freedom from my life’s restraints each day.

I followed after her, because whenever she moved, I wondered where she was going.

She stood in front of a ladder leading up to a billboard. “Tada!” she screamed, dancing with excitement.

“Umm?”

“It’s your birthday present, silly!”

“My present is…a billboard ladder?”

She rolled her eyes and dramatically sighed. “Follow me,” she said, climbing up the ladder. I did as she told me.

We climbed up the highest ladder I’d ever come across. The large billboard that we sat in front of read, “2 for 5 Burgers from Hungry Harry’s Diner.” I could tell Alyssa was a bit afraid of heights, because she kept trying her best to avoid looking down. There was a railing that wrapped around the billboard to keep us from freefalling, but still, it seemed too high for her liking.

“You’re a little scared?” I asked, learning something new.

“Um, maybe? I think heights are one of those things you don’t know you’re terrified of until you’re…up high. Anyway.” She slowly walked around to the side of the billboard and pulled out a picnic basket and wrapped gifts. “Here you go. Open the gifts first.”

I did as she told me, and I almost broke down when I saw the presents. “I wasn’t sure which one it was that you watched with your grandpa, so I got all of the DVDs I could find,” she explained. I held over twelve DVDs on the galaxy, and the documentary that I watched with Grandpa was amongst the pile.

“Jesus,” I murmured, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“And,” she waved up to the sky. “This is the best view I could find for seeing the stars at night. I drove around town for days trying to find a spot. I know it’s probably dumb, but I thought you’d enjoy the view.” She frowned. “It’s dumb, isn’t it? I should have done something better. The past two years I did so well, and I just thought that this would be…”

I grabbed her hand.

She went silent.

“Thank you,” I whispered, brushing my free hand against my eyes. I sniffled a bit and nodded. “Thank you.”

“You love it?”

“I love it.”

I’m falling in love with you…

Shaking my head, I tried to run that thought away.

I couldn’t love her. Love meant pain. And she was one of the only two good things in my life.

I looked back to the sky. “If you look out there, you can see the Scorpius constellation. Each month, you can see some constellations better than others. It starts with that lower star, curves up, and then splits off into five points, making it look kind of like a dandelion. Antares is the brightest star in the constellation. Grandpa used to tell me it was the heart of the Scorpius. Do you see it?” I asked, pointing. She nodded. “The myth behind it is that Orion, the hunter, was boasting that he could kill all animals on the planet. He was defeated by a scorpion, and Zeus noticed the battle take place. Therefore, he raised the scorpion to the night sky for eternity.”