It was marvelous to be back outside. On the other hand, Aladdin couldn't get over how weird it was not to inhale a quart of smoke along with his oxygen. He took another deep breath as he assessed the scaffolding up to he top of the three-story building, stuck between laughing and panicking. The distance was laughably small- he could scale it in a matter of seconds. The panic part was a combination of not wanting to blow his cover and... well, not wanting to prove Jasmine right. He decided to settle for a mixture: climbing fast like a klutz.
Except that was impossible for him.
And Jasmine was smirking again when he got to the top.
"Climb a lot of scaffolding in East Malaysia?" she prodded.
"Oh—oh yeah, tons. Those houses on stilts, you know..." Aladdin tried to cover by showing every last one of his teeth.
"Yeah, except that's Taipei. Malaysians live on the ground." Jasmine flipped to an orange-Post-it-marked page of her World Cultures book and jabbed a finger at a picture of a very flat Malaysian hut.
"Okay, okay, I actually learned here in—"
"New York? Try, a brick apartment building on Avenue C?"
"No, actually it was the Astor Place subw—shit." Aladdin suddenly began wondering how bad the jump from the roof would be.
"It is you!" Jasmine grabbed Aladdin's wrist and dragged him to a section of roof hidden by a cluster of river birches whose leaves fell in a convenient little curtain. "Why did you lie to me?" she hissed.
Aladdin decided that he could deal with a broken ankle. And a dislocated shoulder. And a few splintered ribs... "I didn't... I mean, well, see... I—"
"Shh." Jasmine put a gentle but firm finger to his lips. Relaxing a bit, Aladdin noticed just how close they were. And how her—whoa, Al! Getting a little too relaxed, he thought, smiling a bit.
"Well, I mean, doesn't it sound a little strange?" He reached up and gently twisted her finger away from his mouth. "You know, rich kid playing a Villager?" He smiled weakly and sat down under the trees' branches.
"Not that strange," Jasmine murmured, sitting down next to him.
"Now the hard part came. "Well, since you seem to like it down there too..." Gulp. "AreyoubusytonightcauseIknowagoodplacewannacome?"
"I'd like that," Jasmine laughed, her head against his shoulder.
Aladdin exhaled at last. "Meet me at seven? Or wait- I could pick you up too."
"That would probably be better. Considering my dad's... OCD?"
Aladdin smiled dutifully then let his arm slip down around her waist. God, he wanted to kiss her so badly! But there were other people around now. On the other hand, he decided, they were busy enough on their own not to notice...
A/N: Aww, I love fluff. Actually, I hate fluff. But it's such fun to write... ; ) Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. I just want to address one thing- I am aware of the story "Once Upon a Time in NYC", HOWEVER, I did not copy the idea and I think anyone who has read both of these stories can clearly see that they are very different. Ceridwen-Aymed is a very talented writer and I would never dream of stealing her ideas. Whew. Now that's outta the way, get ready for... the date! Mwahaha.