They unloaded their belongings and joined the rest to examine the apartment once more. Ruth, Jack and Mason went to the kitchen together to survey all the appliances they had use off.
“That is the biggest effing fridge I have ever seen.” Ruth said, Jack laughed.
“Is this another cupboard?” Mason asked, pointing to the barely noticeable door to the side of the hulking fridge.
Mason pulled it open to reveal a set of stone stairs. Mason darted up them before Ruth could advise him to be cautious. He came pelting back down with a wide smile, his eyes a glow.
“You guys will want to see this, come on.”
“What is it?” Ruth asked.
“Just get the others and hurry up.” He said, his heels disappearing back up the stairs.
Ruth left Jack to round up the others and followed Mason up the narrow stone staircase. It was just one small flight and a single metal door. Mason held it open for her and Ruth got a glimpse of many rooftops and sky scrapers. Ruth stepped out onto the roof, the sound of others climbing the steps came rushing up behind her.
There was many a gasp or “Wow” of surprise as they took in the even better sight than they had from the balcony.
“Okay, I just have to say,” Nikita said, moving away from the boys and over to her two best friends, “even if I die tomorrow, I’m glad we came here.”
“Don’t be so morbid, Nikita.” Megan complained.
“I’ll try but I can’t rule out the possibility, you know.”
“Why don’t you both shut up and just enjoy this moment.” Ruth quietly snapped.
It wasn’t the tallest building in the city of course, but it was an eyeful nonetheless. Nikita watched as some of the tension in Jesse’s shoulders seemed to give in. She could only hope that, in time, he would forgive her from taking him away from his band. She watched, perhaps a little enviously, as Jack wrapped his arms around Ruth’s waist and left a kiss on her head.
“I had a pretty good rooftop view in Memphis but this is something else.” Megan said in awe, turning this way and that around the rooftop.
“You had a rooftop view?” Ruth asked jealously.
“Yeah, it even had a little garden. It was so cute.”
“So what do we do now? We might be here for a while. Should we go unpack?” Nikita asked.
“We don’t all have to unpack.” Ruth added. “Some of us could go bring in some food and such. The others can stay back, unpack and have a shower.”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind going out to stretch my legs a bit longer.” Mason offered.
“Me too.” Jesse said, following Mason downstairs again.
“Then I’ll go with them.” Ruth offered.
Ruth used her en-suite bathroom to freshen up a bit before leaving with Jesse and Mason, the two boys she hardly knew. She thought Nikita looked ever so slightly crestfallen as Jesse went with Ruth without wishing her goodbye.
“He’ll be back in a few minutes, Nikki.” Megan said soberly after Nikita explained her fears. “He doesn’t need to say goodbye because he knows he’ll see you again any minute now.”
“I suppose I’m just being silly.” They spoke together, each standing in their bedroom doorways.
“Totally. It’ll just take a little time to adjust, you know? Same with Mason.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’ll take more than a little time.” Jack said, appearing in his doorway, folding up some of Ruth’s pants. “It’s a big shock to the guy. You just need to be patient with him.”
“How did you adjust so quickly then? Weren’t you afraid of the threat you were in, in Ruth’s company alone?”
“A little at first, I guess. After I found out what she could do and what she was hired for. But, she’s also the most exciting person I’ve ever met. Whatever drama comes with the package of Ruth, it’s all worth it.”
“I’m just afraid that Jesse doesn’t agree.”
“Look, it’s not any of my business, but you’d have to be blind to think he isn’t crazy for you. He’s always watching you when you’re not watching him.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Just cut him some slack okay? Give him some space, but don’t be a jerk about it.”
“Thank you, Jack.”
“You’re very welcome.” He said modestly, turning back into the room.
The others came back, laden with plastic and paper bags, to find Nikita sitting alone in the living room reading an old copy of Vogue she found in a rack in the bathroom whilst Jack and Megan showered away.
“Need some help?” she offered.
“Here,” Mason said without hesitation, offering her his heaviest bag, “can you take this one off please?”
“Sure, no problem.” Nikita looked inside. “Party lights?”
Mason hushed her as Megan appeared in the bathroom door, long wet blonde hair gone slightly tousled the way it does once wet, with a large fluffy white nightgown wrapped tightly around her.
“Do you need help unpacking the bags?”
“No, thanks.” Mason called back, “We’re good.”
Nikita peered further into the bag and saw long wires, extension cables but she couldn’t guess why they had bought them. Mason took the bag from her and stored it in an empty cupboard next to the sink.
“Okay, we have pasta, pizzas, chicken and steak for now. How about we order in though? It’s getting quite late and I’m hungry.” Ruth said, setting some bags down on the counter top.
“Do you want me to take over?” Jack appeared wearing a clean t-shirt and pants whilst drying his hair off with a towel. “The shower’s free if you want in.”
“Thank you. I’d love a shower. Come with me.” She finished, whispering in Nikita’s ear, linking her arm through her friends’.
“What’s up?” Nikita asked in Ruth’s master suite.
“Try not to be too nosy with Mason’s bags.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s planning his and Megan’s official first date. Don’t draw too much attention to him. He wants it to be a surprise.”
“That’s really sweet. So…”
“So… what?”
“So did you and Jack ever have a first date?”
“I suppose, technically not. I took him home to my apartment the same night I met him.” She laughed nervously.
“You didn’t…?”
“Oh, God, no! I only just met the guy. We’re taking it slow. Or really, he’s waiting for me to turn eighteen.”
“Well, that’s nice and at least he won’t have long to wait. Two days to go?”
“Three days, Nikki.”
“You’re both really good together.”
“Thanks.”
“I mean it, though. When you’re with him, I see sides to you that I never knew existed before.”
“Don’t get all mushy. It’s sappy.”
“Oh, thanks. I was just trying to pay you both a compliment.”
“And I love you for it. Now, I’m going to go shower.”
Nikita went to talk to Megan since all the guys seemed to be getting a bit rowdy in the kitchen about football, which Nikita found surprising about Jesse because she didn’t think he’d been in the country long enough to have a favourite team.
“They seem to be getting along.” Megan said happily.
“Yeah, it’s great, right?”
“Right.” She had her nightgown round her still but she was dry and was setting her long glossy blonde hair in cute ringlets. “This still makes me think of Flame.” She admitted, shaking at her reflection.
“Was she a girly girl?”
“Not really, but she had these tight red curls. It kind looked bizarre with the rest of her, especially considering she was dressed like Lara Croft or Buffy half the time.”
Nikita laughed. “Jack bought us some beer and wine. Do you want a drink?”
“Sure.”
Nikita brushed past the boys in the kitchen to the fridge where she grabbed two beers and a fridge magnet that was also a bottle opener. Mason grabbed Nikita on her way out as Jack moaned that she was pilfering from his beer supply.
“Can you get her to wear something date-like?” Mason whispered in her ear.
“Hey, I’ve only got a dozen or… thirty more.” Jack and Jesse laughed behind her.
Nikita winked in response and made her way back to Megan’s room.
Handing Megan a bottle, Nikita took a long swig from her own and started looking through Megan’s unpacked clothes.
“You know I always like you in that peach halter neck. It’s really pretty.”
“It’s a bit dressy, for just sitting in, isn’t it?”
“No, I think the boys want to go out afterwards. We passed quite a few bars down the street which looked really nice.”
“Okay, then. What should I wear with it?”
“Um… those creamy pants, some high heels and some of your turquoise jewellery. It really brings out the blue in your eyes.”
“And the blue in my scar.” Megan said sarcastically. “I’ve been staying away from them.”
“But they’re you’re favourites.”
“I know.”
“Mason, has accepted you for who you are, Megan. I kind of think that includes the scar.”
“May be I’ll wear the gold and sapphires my Mom and Dad got me for my eighteenth.” Megan flushed and turned away.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s my Mom’s birthday tomorrow. She’ll be forty.”
“God, I always forget how close it is to Ruth’s.”
“Do you think I’ll be able to call her?”
Nikita sighed, “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. It could give away where we are. You don’t wan to drag them into this do you?”
“No, not at all.”
“Hey,” Jack appeared in the doorway, “could one of you guys head down to Mary’s? She’s got some menus from nearby takeouts for us.”
“What are you guys doing?” Nikita asked.
Jack raised his brows, giving her a significant look. “We’re trying to fix this… thing. Would you mind?”
“Its fine.” Said Megan, “I’ll go get them.”
Megan dressed and left to get the menus from their landlady. Nikita stood in her bedroom door and watched as Jack, Jesse and Mason lifted the table, chairs and parasol from the balcony into the apartment before trying to take them up the stone steps to the roof.
“What are you three doing?” Nikita asked in bewilderment.
“Helping Mason out for his big date.” Jesse explained.
“You’re supposed to have super strength, Nikita. Can’t you lift this up for us?” Jack asked, somewhat angrily, after dropping his side of the table on his bare toes.
“Oh, for god’s sakes. You lot get the chairs.”
Nikita lifted it easily above her head, fitting it through the narrow passage and up onto the rooftop.
“Where do you want it?” she asked Mason.
“Just to the side of the door will be fine.” He said, sitting down a chair as Jesse and Jack left their chair and the parasol. “Thanks, guys, I’d better go start to cook the dinner.”
“Do you have something special planned?” Nikita asked.
“Steak, steamed root vegetables and some boiled potatoes. Do you think she’d like that? I’ve got a sort of plum sauce to go with it too.”
“Sounds nice.” Nikita said with a grin.
Ruth had emerged from the bathroom when they all trekked back into the apartment. She’d changed into a pair of loose dark purple pants, for comfort, and a tight wrap around matching top. She’d brushed her hair out till there were no more kinks and left it to dry naturally. Jesse and Mason were a bit unnerved to see her without her eye patch or a coloured contact to match up with her other grass green eye.
“It’s rude to stare.” She muttered, watching them out of the corner of her eyes.
“We’ve got Thai, Chinese, Pizza and whole lot more to choose from.” Megan said, walking in with a thick wad of menus in her hand.
“Ooh, Thai!” Ruth said happily, taking the menu from Megan.
Mason disappeared into the kitchen and up the stone steps to the rooftop where he started to decorate it with party lights and candles before heading back into the kitchen to cook.
Jack called the Thai place to order his and Ruth’s dinner whilst Jesse called in some pizza and appetizers for himself and Nikita.
“I wonder what I’m going to eat.” Megan wondered to herself.
“You’re not ordering take out.” Ruth warned her.
“Why?”
“Ruth…” Jack started.
“She needs to know she can’t order something.” Ruth shot back. “Mason’s cooking for you but it’s supposed to be a surprise, so don’t say anything.”
“Cross my heart.” Megan said, doing exactly that wearing a wide happy smile.
Even though her stomach was already growling she stuck it out, trying not to complain when the others got their deliveries within the hour. Megan couldn’t figure out what was taking him so long. She was starving.
Ruth and Jack were snuggled up on the couch with a small feast spread out on the coffee table before them whilst watching the highlights of a baseball game that played earlier in the day. Nikita and Jesse were sitting on cushions out on the balcony, with another delicious looking feast spread out between them, the tips of their heads barely visible at the bottom of the large windows.
Then Megan noticed that the table with the parasol was gone. Why weren’t Nikita and Jesse sitting at it? Had they moved it around to the other side of the balcony out of sight? Mason snuck up behind her and wrapped a clean dish towel around her eyes.
“Okay, this way, beautiful” he whispered in her ear. His breath on her neck and ears smelt slightly sweet and just a little bit of spice too.
“Where are we going?” she asked after he twirled her around to confuse her.
“Just hold on to me and I’ll guide you.”
Megan felt for his arm and linked her own through it as he guided her – closer to the kitchen she could tell because the smells seemed to wrap around her and her stomach gave another growl.
“Are you taking me to the roof?” she asked, as he started guiding her up some stairs. “No, I’m taking you up another floor.”
“There are no other floors, Mason. We’re at the top.”
“Just… it’s a surprise, okay?”
“Okay.”
Megan let him help her past the kitchen and up the staircase to the roof. He’d done a good job, or so Mason believed, of making the plain old rooftop look more romantic – without the help of the New York background.
There were sounds of sirens below and many people chatting, heading out for a night on the town, passing by their building entrance. When Mason took the blindfold of, Megan realised where the balcony table had disappeared to. It was set with a pretty red and white tablecloth, the black parasol, a couple of chairs and dinner settings. The twinkling party lights, which Nikita had seen earlier, were strung from the open door around the parasol and from a coat rack they’d taken from the side of the apartment door.
Add the amazing sights of New York, a vase of yellow roses – her favourite – and a bottle of wine with two large glasses and Megan was gobsmacked.
“You did all this for me?” she asked astonished.
“Well, this is our first date. Officially. I wanted it to be perfect.”
“It’s wonderful.” She stood on tiptoes to kiss him.
“I just hope you’re hungry.”
“I’m starving.” They laughed.
Megan poured the wine and lit the many little candles Mason had here, there and everywhere but not enough time to light them. Mason ascended the stairs again, carrying two hot plates of spicy parsnip soup as Jack brought up the rear with some crusty buttered bread.
“I didn’t know you could cook.” Megan said, happily tearing up bread or sipping soup.
“Well, we haven’t exactly had any dates to find out about each other.”
“So who taught you? Your Mom?”
“Nah, my Mom passed away after Michelle, my sister, was born. She…” he sighed, “it’s still hard to talk about.”
“Understandably. So did your Dad teach you?”
“No, he didn’t have the time. He had a mortgage, a business and three kids to care for. But my Gran moved in to help him out after we lost both my Mom and Grampa.”
“Was it better after that?”
“Oh, yeah, definitely. Having Gran there made it all easier. She was there in the morning to take us to school and had dinner waiting for us when we got back. She helped us with our homework and such. About the start of my senior year she started showing me things that would prepare me for college life. You know, when I no longer lived at home.”
“She sounds like a great old lady.”
“Do you have any siblings?”
“I consider Ruth and Nikita my sisters.”
“But no blood siblings?”
“Actually… yes. No one knows but my family. When my Dad was in school, before he met my Mom, he had another girlfriend and she fell pregnant. But we don’t really keep in touch with them. They live in Knoxville. My Dad goes to see her on the kids birthday and on Christmas Day for a couple hours.”
“How old is the kid now?”
“Probably your age. May be a little older.”
“Have you ever met him?”
“Couple of times. Once Dad brought him home for Christmas dinner when I was nine and he came to my eighteenth birthday party earlier in the year. But his Mom didn’t come. She wasn’t welcome.”
“Didn’t that cause problems for her and your Dad?”
“No. She doesn’t want anything to do with us either so I’m sure it suited her just fine.”
“Do you miss them? Your family?”
“Yeah, but until we stop Mama or Renee or whoever she really is… I can’t go back.”
“Well, I guess we’d better enjoy ourselves tonight since we’ll be down to business tomorrow.”
“You’re right.”
“Are you ready for the main course?”
“Absolutely.” She smiled, offering him the empty soup bowl.
As Mason disappeared back down the stairs again, Megan could here Nikita laughing. Jesse joined in with her laughter, half drunk Megan supposed by the way they were carrying on. They were still on the balcony most of the food, and the wine, long gone.
“That is not how you play snap!” she shouted amidst giggles.
“This is my version. Come on, whoever misses a snap has to take a shot.”
“Okay, but you deal.”
“Yes, I’ll deal. That way you can’t cheat.”
“I never cheated!” she laughed.
Jesse started dealing again but almost tossed them into the air at the sudden shout that came from the living room. Jack was celebrating his teams triumph at the match he was watching on the plasma screen as Ruth sopped beer all down her front in surprise.
“Sorry, darling.” He started, helping her mop up the spilled beer.
“I didn’t realise you were such a big baseball fan.” Ruth laughed. “I figured you were more a hockey kind of guy.”
“I like hockey too but baseball was a big thing for my Dad and I when I was a kid.”
“That’s nice.”
“Did you and your Dad have something to share?”
“I helped him build a car. I think he must have been hoping for a boy instead of a girl.”
Jack laughed, “So shall I put on a movie?”
“Ooh, yes.” Ruth said settling back down onto the couch. “You pick.”
“Has anyone seen the oven gloves?” Mason called from the kitchen.
“Their right behind you.” Jack called back, peering into the DVD rack.
Mason opened the oven door to check on his dessert which was looking good but would take a few more minutes till it was ready. He plated up the last of the veg and poured some of the plum sauce onto the steak before carrying them up to Megan.
“You really have gone all out.” Megan said when he laid her dish in front of her. “It looks delicious.”
“Tuck in.”
“Boy, you can cook!” Megan said, swallowing a mouthful of steak.
Mason laughed, “I’m glad you like it.”
“I wish I could take you home to meet my Mom. She’d like you.”
“May be you will. One day.”
Megan sighed, “Yeah, one day.”