Page 55 of The Parkers' Handsome Holiday
“Oh?” she asked, and her eyes brightened again.
“Yeah, follow me,” I said, taking her hand and guiding her through the crowd.
22
LINA
I frowned as we came to an empty corner of the market that was blocked off from the rest of the street by a chain link fence. No one was around as we were standing behind a row of porta potties. I crossed my arms, cramming my hands into my armpits, and watched as Cal dropped to a crouch where the fences came together.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He smirked. “We’re sneaking out. If we cut across this parking lot, I have a way for us to get up there.” He pointed up to the roof of an office tower building.
“What?”
“Yeah. We used to do it all the time.”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
“Don’t be a spoil sport. Trust me, you’ll love it.”
“How do you know?” I asked as Cal lifted the chain link for us to crawl through.
He shrugged. “You did back then. Why wouldn’t you know? You’re the same person.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. Cal ducked under the chain and held it up for me. I looked back and forth and tapped the toe of my boot anxiously on the pavement. “I don’t know, Cal. This makes me nervous. Is this illegal?”
He snorted. “Now you really do sound like your old self.”
I gave him a flat look. “Sounds like I’ve always been the smarter of the two of us then.”
Cal motioned for me to follow him. “Hurry up. We both know you’re coming with me, smart ass.”
He was right. I followed him out under the fence. He took my hand, and we took off running across the unlit parking lot to the office building. He pulled me around the side to a metal door.
“There’s no way that it’s going to be unlocked,” I told him, crossing my arms.
“It won’t be,” he said as he raised his knuckles to the door and knocked. Then he pulled me down the alley, and we dove behind a dumpster.
I pulled the hem of my jacket up as we crouched down to keep it from getting stained. I scowled at him. “This is not my idea of a fun night, just so you know.”
“Be patient,” Cal said, his eyes alight with childlike glee.
The door opened. We peered around the dumpster and kept quiet as a security guard looked both ways down the alley, muttered “Damn kids,” and then went back inside.
Cal launched forward as I stood up and raced for the door. He caught it before it closed and motioned for me to follow him. He put his finger vertically in front of his lips to tell me to keep quiet. I followed him into the building. He closed the door softly behind me, took my hand, and then guided me up a very industrial cement staircase.
By the time we reached the top floor, we were both huffing and puffing. The door opened up onto a rooftop, and Cal caught it before it closed. He pulled over a wooden door stopper to keep the door propped open and then offered his hand.
I took it, and we walked to the edge of the roof, where a metal railing stood between us and a long way down. We sat down in front of the railing, rested our arms on it, and hung our legs under to let them dangle off the edge of the building.
“You never were afraid of heights,” Cal said.
I looked down at the city below. We had a perfect view of the market. The massive Christmas tree in the middle glowed like a homing beacon, and all the lights around it seemed to sway and dance. If I strained my ears, I could even hear the carolers. They were singing “Oh Holy Night”, and it was beautiful. Angelic.
The rest of the city was spread out in front of us. “This is incredible,” I said.
“Always has been,” Cal said.
