The Girl On The Roof

1. Conclusions

"Hey."

The girl on the roof doesn't respond. She doesn't even glance my way, just stares blankly at the city's skyline.

I try again.

"I'm Rico."

Again I'm ignored.

Cautiously, I sit beside her, stealing a glance at her face.

Her side profile is just like any normal person's. An eye, a nose, a mouth. An eyebrow, a cheek, an ear.
When I'd stared for more than a moment I noticed a light dusting of freckles around her nose.

"You're staring," she suddenly said. Her voice was quite and soft. Like how you'd expect a shy person to sound like.

I wasn't ashamed of being caught staring even though I knew I should have. I was just happy I'd gotten a response from her and the fact that she hadn't left.

"I am," I said. An unwanted smile threatened to tug at the corners of my lips. I wasn't sure why.

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

She drew her long legs up to her chest and hugged them. I read it as a sign of self-consciousness, but I could be wrong.

"Don't look at me." She was no longer looking at the skyline. Her head was bowed and her eyelids were lowered, concealing the green hues of her eyes. Her auburn hair tumbled forward, hiding her face from my view.

I silently agreed to her request and turned my gaze toward the skyline.

The buildings were silhouettes against the dimming light of the setting sun.

"You come up here often?" I asked the girl, trying to make conversation. I wasn't expecting a reply but when she did, I was pleased. Even if her tone was slightly snarky.

"If I did why would I tell you?"

I understood why she was getting defensive. I was a stranger. She didn't know me. I could be dangerous.

"I don't know," was all I could say. Witty and smart comments seemed to have dropped out of my mind like a stone sinking to the bottom of a river. The words were there in the back of my mind but still out of reach.

The girl and I sat in silence, my conversation starter defused as suddenly as a controlled flame. It wasn't awkward, but it wasn't comfortable either.

The longer we sat in silence the more I realised I liked this girl's company, even though we hadn't been sitting together for more than fifteen minutes. She was a complete stranger and I knew nothing about her. She'd barely spoken to me and I didn't even know her name, yet I already liked her company.

"You know, Rico's short for Ricardo," I said sharing a secret that only myself and my family knew. "I was named after one of the guys' in my Mom's favourite book."

The girl looked at me for the first time since I got here and I got the chance to look at her whole face.
She was ordinary. Green eyes, button nose, plump lips and extremely long eyelashes.

"I was named after a book character too," she said softly.

Now that was surprising. I was the only person I knew of that was named after a character —in a book.

"What book?" I asked smiling. "I might be able to guess your name." I was subtly trying to impress her with my literature skills but she didn't seem fazed by the fact that I read.

"You wouldn't know the book," she answered, lowering her gaze again. I was slightly offended at that comment. Was she doubting my literature skills?

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because it was never published."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. I'd never heard of anyone who was named after a book character in a book that wasn't published. How was that even possible? Unless . . .

"Were one of your parents an author?" I asked, assuming that one of her parents had written a book that no one wanted to publish.

"No," she replied after a minute or two. My thoughts scrambled into a mess. Well there goes that theory.

"Was there a friend that was an author?"

"No."

This confused me even more. Who would've written a book that had never been published, but that this girl knew about.

"My older brother liked writing," she finally explained. "He wrote a book."

Now the fog in my mind was clearing up. Everything made sense now.

"What was it about?"

"A girl."

"Are you named after that girl?"

"Yes."

"What happens in the story?" I asked, truly curious.

"She kills herself."

With that she stands up. I stand too, a flash of panic rushing through me. We were right at the edge of the roof. Was she going to jump off a twenty storey high building, right in front of me? All because she thinks she's destined to die, just like the girl in the book? I was preparing myself to prevent her jump, but there was no need.

She gracefully turned around, and made her way towards the glass door that led to a flight of stairs. The only way to enter and exit the roof.

After she disappeared down the stairs I sank back to the ground, relieved. She scared me. I thought she was going to jump.

After a few moments of reflecting on my time on the roof, I realised that this girl had unknowingly taught me something: Don't jump to conclusions, you may not always be right.