Chapter 51 A quieter place
NANCY'S POV
"Mason, where are you taking me?" I asked, but he didn't answer.
I was confident he'd heard me, though. There was no way he had missed the sound of my voice, considering how silent the steps we were walking through were.
In my mind, I had already guessed that it was some kind of rooftop area, but I wasn't entirely sure.
I verified my assumption when Mason nudged his head towards another flight of stairs, "Up."
"Should I be worried? That's all you've been saying since," I muttered, but still did as he said.
He chuckled lightly while I continued, speaking partly out of curiosity and partly out of anxiety.
Even though I trusted Mason, it was still normal to be concerned since I hadn't been here before.
"Are you kidnapping me?" I looked over my shoulder to ask, knowing fully well that wasn't the case.
"Do you think you would be privileged to ask questions if I were kidnapping you?" Mason played along.
"That's not even comforting," I muttered playfully as we kept climbing.
The higher we climbed, the more the music faded until I couldn't pick up the sound of the bass any longer.
Finally, we stepped out onto a rooftop as I suspected, and the cold wind hit me in an instant.
Before my body could even react to the cold, Mason slipped a warm coat over my shoulder.
I turned around in surprise to face him. I hadn’t even known when he had slipped off his jacket.
He gave me a knowing smile then said, "It's quite cold out here."
"You would know," I smiled back, then gratefully accepted the jacket, pulling it tighter around me to block out the cold air.
I took a couple of steps forward, with Mason right behind me, then gasped in astonishment, "Wow."
"It's so beautiful."
In all my years of living, I'd never seen a city from so high up.
Mason's home somehow offered a beautiful sight of twinkling lights and a city that stretched out in front of us.
Even the cars that were passing looked like tiny streams of gold.
I couldn't help exclaiming in wonder again, "I've never seen anything quite like this."
"I know," Mason smiled, looking mesmerized, although it was a kind of look that told me that he was used to the sight.
I soaked it all in-the wind, the sight, the silence...
"Much better than the noise, right?" Mason gave me a sideways glance.
"Way better," I responded, smiling at him once more.
"Did you bring me here solely because of that?"
"I brought you here because you were glued to your phone."
"Aren't you glad I did?" he lifted his chin egoistically.
I rolled my eyes but didn't argue.
He was right, I did love it here.
It offered me instant peace, and the breeze that was blowing strands of my hair over my face was lovely.
I enjoyed the feeling for a while longer, then turned to him, "Thank you."
He didn't respond with the same ounce of pride he'd used earlier but gave me a small, genuine smile, "You're welcome."
For a while after that, it was quiet between us.
It wasn't an awkward kind of silence but the more comfortable type, the kind that existed between friends who understood each other.
From the corner of my vision, I noticed Mason quietly studying me.
Lifting my hand to sweep my hair behind my ears, I asked, "Why are you staring at me like that?"
In response, Mason said something that caught me off guard.
"You don't talk much about your parents or where you're from."
I stiffened for a minute, then exhaled slowly, "There's nothing to talk about."
"I doubt there isn't, but I guess it's just a touchy subject for you." He gave me a defeated smile that made me feel somewhat guilty.
"Sorry," I pressed my lips together.
"I heard from Diana that you have a twin brother." He said a couple of minutes later.
My instinctive reaction was to ask why Diana had told him that, but I held back when I realized that I hadn't exactly asked her not to.
"Yeah," I nodded.
I don't know what pushed me to say more; maybe it was the ambience or the comfort I felt at that moment with Mason, but I ended up telling him about Nathan and not just about Nathan, but about everything.
Starting from when Nathan had left home to the reason I'd moved from New Jersey to Florida.
Practically, I spilled everything to him.
Mason was silent for a while after that, as though he had been shocked into silence, and then he sighed, "Wow, that's a lot. I could never have guessed."
"So, you're saying your parents would rather have you married to a man old enough to be your father?"
"Crazy, right?" I smiled wryly, recollecting the first time my Father had mentioned it to me.
I'd raged then and vehemently refused, but that had done nothing to change his mind.
If I hadn't left home, I would have been left with no choice but to abide by his decision.
Silence stretched between us for another minute, and then Mason stared intently at me.
"I'm glad you left home."
"I'm glad I did too," I muttered quietly after.
We stared at each other for another minute, and that was when it happened.
There was a shift between us, and faster than I could blink, more because of my delayed reaction, Mason leaned in close to me.
His lips came close, really close, and he would have kissed me had I not moved at the last minute.
Quickly, I turned my head to the side, and his lips landed on my cheeks. They were warm, and soft, and...
Before I could think further, I pulled back from him, and in an instant, the air between us turned awkward.
"You shouldn't be doing that," I muttered, running my left hand along the length of my right arm.
"Why?" A look of confusion slipped onto his face.