Are you okay?

04:44AM

So why was I still here?

Why was I using what little was left of my strength to hold her up when it would only hurt both me and her in the long run? The betrayal I was causing felt like a ball of fire singeing through the lining of my lungs, leaving a bitter taste in my mouth as the smoke clogged up my throat, and yet my hold on Cassie didn't falter. I was sure she could see the conflict in my eyes due to our close proximity, which was only succeeding in blurring the lines more than they already were.

For once in my life I was being selfish, and if it would only hurt me then I wouldn't have minded so much, but the fact that two people would get taken down as collateral damage because of my actions was what made it so hard to want to stay. But the sight I had before me from being so close to Cassie, seeing the steady rise and fall of her chest and the shallow breaths slipping through her slightly parted lips and the gentle pink hue tainting her cheeks, was enough to temporarily solidify my choice to stay - even though I knew I shouldn't.

"Romeo?"

My eyebrows raised as I flicked my eyes back towards hers, the prominent green flecks in her eyes like lush acres of forest that I could wander in for hours if given the chance. My lips upturned into a smirk as a thought crossed through the murk in my mind, the words out of my mouth before I could deliberate over the repercussions. "That's not quite how Juliet said it, Cass."

She blinked back at me for a few seconds, a disbelieving smile crossing her lips as her head tilted slightly to the side. "Excuse me?"

Toying at my lips, the full-blown smirk was impossible to hold back, a slight chuckle escaping me as I broke Cassie's gaze for a brief moment, my eyes dropping down to my hands around her thighs and the mere centimetres between our two bodies as we naturally gravitated closer together. "That's not how Juliet called Romeo; it was a bit more dramatic than that," I explained, trying my hardest to keep my face straight as Cassie sent daggers in my direction.

"There's no way I'm saying what you're insinuating, Romeo," she insisted, the slightest trace of humour in her tone despite her annoyed demeanour. Letting go of her grip on the ladder, she folded her arms across her chest, silently daring me to continue my taunting as I was left supporting most of her weight, my hands essentially the only thing stopping her from tipping forward and keeping her two feet stuck on the ladder.

My limbs didn't ache in protest like I expected them to, and the smoke seemed to have cleared to make way for the cool air flowing steadily through my lungs instead of fanning the flames that had engulfed my insides. If anything, I felt the most comfortable I had been all night, as though Cassie's skin against mine was numbing any pain I would usually feel, like the drowsy effects of a sleeping tablet before they completely knocked you out.

"Then no way am I answering whatever it was you were going to ask me," I countered, matching Cassie's stare as she fought to keep a matching grin from spreading across her face. "Just imagine you're back up on the rooftop and we can act out the balcony scene where you profess your love for m-"

"Over my dead body."

"Go ahead and jump then." I teased, not missing a beat as Cassie snorted in laughter, raising a mock questioning eyebrow at me as she did so.

"I love that," she breathed out between a laugh, a hand to her chest as she shook her head at me. "I love that you still joke with me despite everything - you don't treat me like I'm fragile."

It was then that I realised what I had actually said - and who I had just said it to. I sent her a sheepish smile, glad she hadn't taken my poorly timed joke to heart given the circumstances.