started with a lie ➳ raura revised

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Wow," I say, grinning but secretly wondering if Ross's mental. "It's...um...really one nice sturdy tree. Must be old."

He laughs and I'm glad he's not caught up on my hesitation from before. "Not that, silly. That." His hand reaches for leaves of the tree and moves them aside and I catch a glimpse of the scene behind it.

I gasp.

It's a city. It must be New York City. It has to be. In the distance, there are lines of skyscrapers and buildings on the horizon. We're very far from it but it's so amazing to think that all of the skyline that I can see are manmade and it makes me wonder how great and horrible humans can be at the same time. I have no idea where we are but it I know we're far from New York City but close enough to see the city from afar.

There's no word to describe it's beauty.

"It's..."

"Majestic?" Ross says. His arms are crossed and he's staring at me like I'm some investigation file. His mouth is set on a grin and his eyes are light with amusement.

"Yeah," I agree. I close my mouth and set my eyes again. "This is so cool."

He laughs. "I thought you might like it." Ross walks over to in front of the tree where the view is even better. We're on some sort of cliff  somewhere. I don't want to even know how high up we must be but I just walk next to him. He takes a seat on the grass that's under our feet and says, "Sit with me?"

I nod and bend down to sit. I am ecstatic right now. "This is so great, Ross."

"You like it?"

"I love it."

"I do, too," he says. His eyes move from my eyes to the landscape. "This place is my getaway when the office gets too busy and the suffocation gets to me."

"You feel suffocated?" Ross's usually really suave and under the control. Maybe that just proves the theory that everyone's not as they appear.

He smiles in a remorseful way. "All the time." His eyes return to me where I am watching him now, trying to figure him out. "Except when I met you. It's kind of ironic. You've made my life...quite the mess, Laura. I'm supposed to feel more suffocated with you in my life, but...."

I try not to feel hurt. "But?"

"But, I don't," he whispers, looking down. Ross looks back up at me and has a nervous smile. "In fact, it's almost like you're my oxygen tank."

My eyes widen. Okay, maybe, Ross is more romantic than I let him on to be. I can feel my face exploding because he can't just spurt out random things that make my chest hurt—it's uncalled for. "Oh...."

Ross gets closer and my heart reaches the moon. He holds my face gently. "I told you. Even though you're insane as a bat, you're the most normal thing that's ever happened to me since...ever."

"I don't think that's true," I whisper. My eyes are looking at places on his face that are forbidden to look at. His lips are inching towards me and I feel my blood pressure raising through the sky. "And if I'm insane, then you're fucking crazy."

He laughs and I feel his breath and it smells like peppermint. I remember the first time I smelt his peppermint breath and wondered why boring businessmen like him smelled like peppermint. He is intoxicating my thoughts.

"You and your horrible language," he says. His eyes look down to my lips. "Can we make out now?"

"Um, I don't think you're supposed to as—"