Chapter 7

Angeles headed over to the corner with the floor to ceiling windows, beckoning me to follow him. The room was a beautiful gold, like out of a fairytale. Everything was illuminated in the sun’s light. my usual chai-colored skin was glowing in the golden gaze of the sun. It was magical.

In my awe, I stared out towards the creator of the beautiful scene, and my magical moment was stopped short. Ow! The sun blinded me. It blazed itself into my retinas. My entire brain hurt as I strained to see where Angeles had gone.

My whole life had been under the fake light of the illuminated hallways. There were no windows anywhere in Burke, with the exception of the Apex apparently. When the power went out three years ago, life stopped for a week because everything was pitch black. For some of the fear junkies, it was perfect because they got to tell horror stories about ghosts, vampires, and wielders that scared the lives out of kids like me. Seeing the sun with my own eyes after living seventeen years in darkness may have been mystical, but it was most definitely painful as well.

Angeles laughed at me, “Don’t look at the sun!”

So that’s not what you’re supposed to do. Good, I thought, I don’t know why people would want to do that. My cheeks colored, embarrassed, and tried to locate where Angeles went. There weren’t nearly as many wielders in the commons as there was around lunch and dinner times, but there still were a fair few. Some were talking at the tables, still finishing up the scraps of their dinner, others were doing an evening workout routine on the machines, while the rest were all cuddled around where Angeles was, sitting against the windows. There was one wielder reading a book, and occasionally glancing at the majestic sight of the sunset, but everyone else was part of a couple.

Is this a couple thing? I felt nervous all of a sudden. I had mistook Angeles’s kind invitation to dinner as a date earlier that day, so I really didn’t want to make that mistake again. Holding my breath, I walked over to where Angeles was sitting and sat down where he indicated me to.

“Since you’ve lived downstairs your whole life, I thought that you’ve never seen a sunset. So, I don’t know, I guess I wanted to show you your first.”

I was blown away at his thoughtful gesture. For as full of himself as he came off to me, this kind gesture genuinely surprised me. “Thank you,” I said, “No really Angeles, thank you. It means a lot.”

He showed me his crooked teeth in a grateful smile. His shoulders relaxed a bit, and his fist unclenched.

Was he nervous? Him? Angeles Torres, nervous?

“Yeah, you’re welcome,” he smiled, “So, what do you think?”

“It's gorgeous,” I responded, in awe of the sight down below. The tip top of the Apex was only a few floors from touching the clouds, and I just wanted to reach up and feel them. The sun was already sneaking its way off the edge of the Earth, its red heart blazing through my own. I felt alive for the first time, and when I looked down, I noticed that I wasn’t afraid of the heights anymore.

When I had first come to the Apex, I was so scared that something would happen and the entire floor would collapse and I would fall thirty-six floors to the ground, but as I sat next to Angeles, watching the sun inch closer to its hiding place, the thought didn’t frighten me anymore.

“Yeah, it sure is,” he agreed. He readjusted his position and placed his arm behind my back. He was inches from me. My heart started racing. I could smell his sweat, and although it was supposed to smell bad, I didn’t mind it so much. I was at peace for the first time in my life. Never in my life had I been successful in wooing any guy I found attractive, but now, in a day, I had gotten a guy to take me to dinner and a sunset without even trying. The joy from the past day flowed through me creating a pleasant sense of peaceful safety. I had known Angeles for less than a day, but I already felt comfortable around him. I took deep breaths, and closed my eyes, absorbing the golden and orange light radiating around me. I relaxed my racing thoughts like I had in the training room and focused my mind just on Angeles and I. I blocked any thought about anybody else in the room. To me, it was just me, Angeles, and the sun in the entire world.

I noticed the contrast between my heart rate and his. Mine was calm, but his was going miles above the speed limit. He tried to control his breathing with slow, deep breaths that were ratchedy, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. What was he so nervous about?

Then it struck me, and my heart started beating as fast as his. The snide comments about my dress, the way he waited for me after training, the sunset, all the couples, him moving his arm protectively around me. He was attracted to me too. I looked at him hoping I was right, and smiled warmly. His eyes were wild and nervous. As he stared back at me, I noticed hints of scared deer in his soft coffee brown eyes. When he saw my smile, a little of his confidence came back, but his heartbeats didn’t slow.

I scooted closer to him and our legs touched. For tiny moments of forever we stared out the window togetmy. We stayed there when the sun vanished behind the dark ground of the Earth. We stayed there when the world went from purple to black. We stayed there until the stars blinked friendly words at them.

“I love the stars,” Angeles said, breaking from their silence.

Just like I had never seen the sun before, I also had never seen the stars.

“I can see why,” I cooed. I tried to focus on the stars, but everytime I did, my vision went blurry and my head started to spin. They were so far away, but they still shined here on Earth.

In that moment of admiration, I noticed that sometime during the evening, I had laid my head on his shoulder, and he had wrapped his arm around my side. I couldn’t remember how we had sat like that, but I did know that I never wanted to move again. I felt the warmth of his bare shoulder on my skin through my baggy t-shirt. I let that warmth flow through my body and bathed in it.

“They remind me that there is so much more to life than training and routine. There’s a whole world out there, and no one out there to explore it,” he told me gently, “That’s why I love being on Dispatch, we get to go out there.”

“Is Dispatch the name of your team?”

He nodded, “And soon it will be the name of yours.”

I liked his confidence, but I wiId I felt the same. “I don’t know, like Briz said, I only have a single day of training under my belt.”

“Well, how much did you learn about yourself in that single day of training?”

I hadn’t thought about it like that before. Compared to the girl who was scared stiff for the elevator door to open earlier that same day, I had seen exceptional growth.

“I guess that’s true,” I admitted.

“With your asset,” he continued, “I think you’d make a great addition to Dispatch. Plus we need you. Ever since Four died, we haven’t gotten any missions.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he said, pulling me closer to him, “We need an emissary, which is basically a spy or a lookout. Someone we send in first to check out the dangers. But with your ability to track things from under the ground, we wouldn’t even have to risk sending you in!”

I thought about it. I could see myself going out on missions to protect Burke with Angeles, Briz, Morna, and even sulky Five. For the first time in my life, my future was clear to me.

“How do I join?” I asked and Angeles chuckled happily.

“You just do,” he answered, “But since you’re so close with him, you should probably get permission from Booker.”

I was horrified, “You can’t say his name with other people around!” I looked around frantically to see who had overheard, but to my surprise, I was the only one in earshot. The only other person in the room was an officer standing at the entrance of the commons.

“Nobody’s here!” Angeles exclaimed, teasing me, “You’re telling me you really didn’t see anyone go?”

I blushed, “No, I was focused on the view.” And you, I left out. Realizing ashamedly that he probably already knew I was going to say that, I put a hand to my face.

“Aww,” he said, “You like me babe, don’t you.”

My cheeks burning with my stupidity, I admitted, “Yeah, now shut-up.”

He laughed, then when he realized I didn’t like his amusement, he apologized. He pulled me even closer to him, and directed my head back onto his shoulder. When my head touched, he rested his head sweetly on top of mine, and together we watched the stars until hour twenty-three turned into hour zero. When the officer came over and told us it was time for them to go to their dormitories, Angeles was humored that I had accidentally drifted off on his shoulder. He directed sleepy me out of the commons and walked me back to my room. When we got there, I pulled out my key. I turned around to say goodbye, and his spontaneous nature got the best of him. He gave me a little kiss on the cheek and my tired eyes went wide. My cheeks turned a cute rosy pink and I disappeared into my room.

I touched my cheek were Angeles’s perfect lips had touched. Goosebumps dotted the entire area. I climbed merrily into bed. That night, my old teddy bear was cast aside, and instead, I hugged my pillow, imagining that Angeles was holding me back. I smiled sleepily to myself, dreaming of the indescribable warmth that Angeles Torres gave me.