“It’s been slow,” Cal said. “Anyone else feel like these past few weeks have been a blur?” We all agreed, murmuring aboutsame shit, different daybefore returning to our drinks.
“What about you, Hen?” Raja asked. “How was Berlin?”
“Full of history. And the venue I was shooting was an old church, so I got some brilliant material.”
“But not the future home, right?” I had gotten a sense of this from our texts, but suddenly felt the need to confirm.
“Sadly, no. Still at odds on that.” He leaned his knee against mine under the table, and I couldn’t resist sneaking a glance at him to see if that was an accident. He cut his eyes back down to me, his smirk confirming that no, it was not an accident at all.
“And where to next?” Margot asked.
“Copenhagen. Here’s hoping I don’t freeze to death.” He raised his glass and we did the same, but I dreaded another month of him leaving.
I thought back to Margot’s words, and I wondered if I would even get far enough to have to worry about a proper relationship. How was I even supposed to get to know someone who was always away, let alone consider trying to date them?
“It’s almost midnight, isn’t it?” Henry said, looking for a wall clock and bringing us all back to the moment.
“Finish those pints, then. I have a perfect spot for watching the fireworks,” Jan said, swallowing half a beer in one gulp.
“Better than the shit part of the park we watched from last year?” Liv asked.
“Or that shit pub with all the tourists the year before?” Margot and Liv giggled together, which was how I knew we were all hammered.
“Bugger off, the both of you. Just trust me on this one,” Jan said.
“After you,” Henry said, exiting the booth.
Jan led us to a multilevel parking lot, which couldn’t have been less appealing.
“A car park?” Liv said. “You’re taking us to a car park?”
Jan said nothing, but motioned for us to follow him up the stairs.
“Leave it to Jan to take us to a creepy garage for his month,” Liv whispered to me, looking for someone who would entertain her complaining.
“We couldn’t have just used the roof at home?” Margot asked as we climbed higher.
“Didn’t I say to just trust me?” With that, Jan pushed open a lopsided metal door and we stumbled out onto the roof.
And then it became clear that no, we could not use the roof at home. From this roof, it felt like we could see almost all of Seven Sisters. Fireworks were already beginning across the city, and we had a breathtaking view. There was a handful of folding chairs facing the side of the roof with the lowest wall, opening up to the city.
“How’d you find out about this place?” Finn asked, wandering to the edge.
“One of my mates from the tattoo shop,” Jan said. “He’s been coming here for ages, and we came up one night after work for a smoke. Not bad, right?”
“Not bad at all,” Cal said, clapping him on the shoulder. “Well done, mate.”
“So if you look over to the right behind that grayish building, you can see the flags outside of the Bag.” We craned our necks to where he was pointing, and sure enough, he was right. “So when the park fireworks go off right behind it, we’ll see them over there.”
We made ourselves comfortable in the chairs and on the cold concrete, turning our gazes toward the sky. I was sitting on the ground, with Henry in the chair behind me; if I wanted to, I could just lean back into his knees.
At the very moment I was talking myself out of it, an explosion of color and light spread across the sky exactly where Jan had told us it would. And if gunpowder could be so bold, certainly I could, too.
While we were all distracted by the display, I leaned back into the space between Henry’s legs, feigning calm and comfortable. It felt like an eternity before he reached down and ruffled my hair, and I could relax. There was hope for the night after all.
All eight of us sat quietly, in awe. Or just in a drunken stupor. It was hard to tell. The fireworks continued to rip through the sky, splashing neon across the darkness, and we took turns passing around a small bottle of gin Margot had produced from her bag.
“Let’s play a game,” Jan slurred into the bottle.