The voice emerges before you even know she's there, and your jaw clenches as your mind reels through each of the possible responses. A moment before, you had been blissfully shutting out the world as the New Jersey wind whipped cooly across your face. Now you are a prisoner to the rooftop, nowhere to go but everywhere else that you'd like to be.
Before you realize it, words are falling from your lips. "Sunbathing," you reply, pulling your winter coat closer around your toned frame. "You?"
As expected, the statement causes her to roll her eyes. "I thought I'd go snorkelling," she says, the words clipped yet dry.
Your eyebrows raise inadvertently at the unexpected snark, and you open your mouth to deliver a snarky retort of your own. Unfortunately, the mood is gone before it even starts and she is standing beside you, all seriousness. "I asked you a question," she reminds you, looking at you intently out of those intelligent blue-green eyes. "What are we doing?"
Your stomach muscles clench as your eyes lock, and you find yourself all too connected to the woman standing before you. "Nothing," you try to say, but the words don't emerge. "You're wasting your time," you try again, but again nothing happens. And then she is reaching out, placing her hand on your arm and applying a smooth, steady pressure. Even underneath the winter coat, you can feel the goosebumps break out across your skin. Your breath catches in your throat as you suddenly understand that all is lost.
Now she is talking again, but you're not sure what she's saying. You are entirely mesmerized by her lips (Damn it! Snap out of it, you idiot.), and there is no telling what's going to happen next. Perhaps she senses this change, because the playing field suddenly alters. Before you knows what is happening, her lips have parted and she has rocked onto the balls of her feet. Her hand has raised to stroke your cheek. And her eyes have taken on a cast that you have never before seen. Almost as if she is looking at you like she understands everything you are thinking, and you know this is because she is thinking it, too.
Everybody lies.
You swallow visibly as the thought takes shape, then quickly push it from your mind. For some reason, you don't feel like focusing on those words right now. The only thing you want to focus on is how good her lips feel as they brush against your own, how your stomach muscles have begun clenching for an entirely different reason, and how the wind suddenly doesn't feel so cold.
For a moment, you allow yourself to let down your guard.