Page 68 of The Do-Over

Tyler disappeared from our line of sight to make our drinks, and I said, “Whoareyou, Nick Stark?”

He narrowed his eyes, and a gust of wind blew between us when he said, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, people our age don’t have actual lives. We hang out with school friends and maybe, like, drive to the mall. But here you are,” I said, gesturing at the coffee stand and the downtownbuildings, “With grown-up friends and, like, a downtown life. Are you a secret agent? Are you actually forty?”

His eyes moved all over my face and he said in a low voice, “I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”

“They always say that, but do theyreallyhave to murder?” I tucked my blowing hair behind my ears and said, “Can’t it be ‘I could tell you, but then you’d have to promise to keep my secret forever’?”

“Two large mochas, extra chocolate, double whipped cream.” Tyler appeared in the window with two huge paper coffee cups.

I looked at Nick, who clearly had a massive sweet tooth, and said, “I have a cavity just from hearing that order.”

“Right?” Tyler grabbed Nick’s debit card and they started talking about someone I didn’t know as he rang up the order, and I just watched. Nick seemed so comfortable—sowarm—when he was with his friends, and that was a side I hadn’t really seen before. At school, he always just seemed like he was trying to get through the day without having to talk to anyone.

This… was so different.

After we finished at the coffee stand, Nick led me one block over, where we went inside an unmarked apartment building. He refused to answer any questions, simply walked ahead of me. We took an elevator to the top floor, went down a long hallway and into the maintenance closet, and then Nick gestured to a ladder that sat between two rusty boilers and looked like it led up to a cage. “I’ll go first and open the hatch if you’ll hold my cup.”

I blinked. “Um, what? What hatch?”

He held out his steaming drink and said with his eyes on mine, “Do you trust me?”

I just nodded and held out my free hand.

“Good girl.” He gave me his cup, then turned and started going up the ladder to God knows where. I heard his shoes on each metal rung, and then all I could hear was the sound of hardware before a gust of icy wind blew around me and the boiler room was flooded with light.

“I’m coming for my coffee,” I heard him say as he climbed back down, “so don’t try to start climbing with full hands.”

A second later his legs came down in front of me and he grabbed his coffee. “You should probably go up first, so if you slip, I’m here to break your fall. Do you think you can climb one-handed? If not, I’ll leave my cup down here and I can carry yours.”

“Wow.” I looked up at the chute and said, “So chivalrous.”

He raised his eyebrows and said, “That, or I really like the looks of those leather pants from behind.”

If someone else had said that, I might’ve wanted to slug them. But his lopsided grin told me he said it on purpose because he knew it would rile me up. I rolled my eyes and started climbing.

Once I got to the top of the ladder and stepped out onto the roof, I was assaulted by freezing-cold winter air. Nick emerged behind me, and before I could even look around, he said, “Close your eyes.”

I did, but I said, “This seems like a bad idea on a roof.”

“I know, I know,” he said, and I felt him grab my free hand and start to lead me. “But I promise not to kill you. I just don’t want you to see it up here until you’re in the perfect spot.”

“I already saw the city from the forty-second floor. How different can this be?”

“You have no idea.” I let him maneuver me, leading me around things until finally, he stopped. His breath was warm on my cheek as he leaned in close and said in a quiet voice, “Okay, Emmie—open your eyes.”

CONFESSION #15

I went out for basketball in seventh grade because I thought it would make me popular. I wore pink Chuck Taylors and I scored two points over the entire season. It didn’t work.

I opened my eyes and was breathless as I took in the beauty. Where the skyscraper had been cool because you could see everything from way above, this view was as if I was surrounded in a hug of my favorite city. We were right in the heart of the Old Market, just above it, so we could see the horse-drawn carriages and the people walking and the huge fountain they’d just installed last summer.

We wereinthe Old Market, as opposed to above it, but we were invisible.

It was breathtaking. I whispered, “This is magical.”

“Right?” he said, looking out at something on the horizon. “This is my favorite spot in the city.”

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