"Are you coming to get me?" I pull the snarl out of my voice as I hold the phone up to my face. The sunlight is killer, even through my sunglasses.

"Aria, I'm stuck in traffic."He says, and a horn honks as confirmation. He sighs.

I huff, then settle myself. "How long will it be?"

"Uhh… think about forty minutes. Maybe fifty." He says apologetically.

"My god. Okay, I'm walking."

"It's 95 degrees out." He scoffs.

"I don't care!" I hang up right as he cries out, "Aria, wait!" I jam the thing into my bag and stomp towards the elevator, avoiding the cracks in the concrete floor. The overhead speakers hum coffee shop music, and a myriad of insects hover around the fluorescent lights. I don't know how it's this hot at night. I start to feel bad for snapping at Ezra, but I don't think I could have stood another six seconds in that apartment.

I jam my thumb into the elevator button with a little too much vigor, and it sticks. I jam it again, and again, but the only thing I succeed in doing is turning my thumb the color of the red light illuminating the button. I stand and stare at it for a few moments, as if this will set it free, but it seems to only sink it further into the socket. I clamp my jaw down to calm myself, and whip around and head towards the staircase. I'm on the fifteenth fucking floor and I have to walk all the way down in this heat. I guess it serves me right for snapping at him.

Sweat forms on my brow as I trudge down the flights of stairs, and my high heeled shoes send shooting pains through my ankles. On the sixth floor, right as I'm bending over to take them off, I hear a door latch pop, and a gust of cool air hits me as someone exits their apartment.

"Aria?" The owner of the cool air asks. I stand up, wiping my face with my shirt sleeve. Suddenly very self-conscious, I cross my arms over my chest as I rise to meet their eyes.

"Spencer?" I say, keeping my voice just above a mutter.

"I didn't know you lived here." She says, taking off her tee shirt to reveal a tight fitting ribbed tank top.

"Same to you." I scratch the crook of my elbow.

"How long have you lived here?" She asks

"About twelve hours." I nod to confirm my mental tally.

"That's not really fair then. I doubt the phonebook knows you live here." She smiles, readjusting her bag on her shoulder. Good. She's nervous.

"If you don't mind my asking, what are you doing here?" I ask as I use the chipping paint on the wall just to the left of her head as a focal point.

"Umm…" She pauses. "I live here?"

"I got that. Uh, why do you live here?" She doesn't answer right away. There's no way she wants to discuss the circumstances that landed her in this shitty building.

"I'm going to Hollis." She says. "And I'm on my own."

"Me, too, actually." I say.

"Wow, um, okay." She nods. "Where are you going?"

"Hollis." She scorns at my stupid answer, trying to dissect it. I laugh. "To meet my boyfriend."

"Okay." She says, and starts walking down the stairs. I start to follow her, but suddenly, it occurs to me that I could have taken the elevator from any of these floors I passed, and I head back up to the seventh floor, since there are only elevators on odd numbered floors.

This time, when I jam the elevator button, it complies and the doors creak open. It's air conditioned inside, and I sink into the wall beneath the vent. My phone buzzes, and I pull it out of my bag. Ezra texted: Cleared up. Be there in five. I sigh. Finally.

As I sit on the bench out front, I watch Spencer emerge from the staircase and walk to her car, beads of sweat glistening on her bare skin beneath the parking lot lights. She sits in the cab for a few minutes before she drives off, but I can't seem to tell what it is she's doing.

When Ezra pulls up, he has to roll down his window and call at me before I see him.

"Sorry. I was spaced out." I climb into the cab, and the cold nearly gives me a whiplash. I had adjusted to the heat in the short time.

He yanks the gear and we head out of the parking lot, hitting almost every pothole on the lot. "Do you want to go to a birthday dinner The Grille?"

"That sounds perfect. I'm starved." I smile, leaning over the console to rub his arm.

"Happy 20th." He says. "I think I'll let you pick the music, just this once." He teases.

"You're going to regret that." I respond, smiling as I plug my phone into the jack.

"Sorry I bitched at you earlier." I say, scrolling through my music list.

He chuckles. "I don't blame you, really."

"What are you going to order?" I've already chosen the song, but he's staring at the road and I want something to look at, too, so I keep swiping at my phone screen.

"I saw Spencer." I say, watching him to gauge his response.

He perks up at this. "So we got the right building?"

I nod to confirm, "Yeah, we did."

"And you're taking her to coffee to catch up, right?"

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"I think it's a great idea. Completely suspicionless. You'll do great." He leans over and kisses the side of my face.

The smell of his car conquers my nose, but I still catch hints of my sweat.

"Do I stink?"

He sniffs like a rabbit, his nose crinkled. "No, I don't smell anything."

"I had to walk down nine flights of stairs. Up one. Like you said, it is hot out."

"What happened to the elevator?" He asks.

"I happened."

He laughs, and the sound eases me. "Did you jam the button again?"

"That was one time! Two now, but you can't talk about it like it happens all the time." I shove him.

"How was the rest of your day?" He says, still laughing.

"Excruciatingly boring. That apartment is suffocating." I dramatically bug my eyes out.

"Well, good thing you've got somewhere else to stay tonight."

I slam my hands onto my thighs. "Oh, thank god!"

"It hasn't been that long!" He exclaims as he turns in to the parking lot.

"Please. I thought I was going to shrivel up and die."

"Fine. Whatever you say, it's your night." I lean over and kiss his cheek.

"Damn straight it is."

"Damn straight." He confirms, pulling into a vacant spot and hopping out to open my door for me.

"Such a gentleman." I tousle his hair as I climb out. He shoots me his boyish grin and curtsies as I pass him. I'm so glad that for tonight I have nowhere to be and no reason to be there, because time and my busy schedule have robbed me of so many nice nights with him and I need this one.