Chapter 21 - Will

    "What the heck?"

I sat down at the lunch table I'd been neglecting to sit at, with Justin and Mallory. Lately I'd been sitting with Analise at a table all on our lonesome, but she was skipping lunch today so I sat next to my friends. They understood I had a new friend, but Mallory didn't like Analise and Justin wasn't a fan, so I decided not to make them sit with her. I had no clue why they didn't like her, though. She was pretty amazing.

But what had me shocked to the core was not the fact that Justin and Mallory were here already, it was the fact they Toby was here too, his arm casually slung around Mallory's shoulders. She was holding his hand as well.

"What?" Toby questioned innocently, narrowing his eyes at me.

"What do you mean what?" I asked, setting my tray down and plopping down next to Justin across from the two of them. "When did this happen?"

"Yesterday," Justin grumbled, angrily eating his sandwich.

I looked down at the sandwich and back at him. "What did that sandwich ever do to you?"

"How's Analise?" Toby asked, smiling knowingly.

I rolled my eyes, sighing heavily. "She's great, Toby. Like you care."

Toby held his hands up in defense. "I'm not the one who doesn't like her. That's these two."

"Hey!" Mallory spoke up, hitting him on his shoulder. "She's friends with Raelynn and not exactly the friendliest person around. Why would I-"

Suddenly Toby and Mallory's eyes snapped to something behind me, both going silent. I turned in my seat to see Analise standing there, but her attention wasn't on me. She was staring straight at Mallory.

"Can I help you?" Mallory snapped, flipping her red locks over her shoulder. I sent her a warning look, but she didn't catch it because she was staring straight at Analise. Along with almost every student in the cafeteria, including Raelynn, Tommy and Colin.

"I uh," Analise mumbled, looking down at her combat boot clad feet before looking back up at Mallory. "I wanted to apologize for how I've treated you in the past. I was hoping we could start over."

If someone could die from shock alone, the three people sitting at the table with me would be six feet under right now. They were repeatedly glancing between each other, Annie and I, no one saying a word.

"O-Okay," Mallory stuttered out after a couple minutes, eyes wide.

I smiled, relieved that I could sit with all of my friends at lunch now, and patted the seat next to me for Analise to sit down. She did, smiling at me and everyone else gratefully.

"Hey Analise," Justin greeted, smirking and winking at her. "I'm still available."

"Still not gonna happen Justin," Analise shot back, winking herself. Toby, Mallory and I chuckled while Justin pouted, going back to angrily eating his sandwich.

"I really am sorry," Analise told Mallory sheepishly. "I know I didn't bully you or anything, but truthfully, I could have been nicer. I'm not a friends kind of person, usually, but ever since Will came..."

"I get it," Mallory cut her off offering a small smile and shooting a chaste glance my way. "He's a great guy. I thought I liked him, which is why I asked him to the dance-"

"You what!?" Justin and I exclaimed at the same time.

Mallory glared at us both before continuing. "But I realized they were misplaced, I was just happy to meet someone else so friendly in the school. Toby and I have really been hitting it off, though."

"How did this start, anyway?" I asked, popping a chip in my mouth.

Toby smiled down at Mallory before looking back at me. "Well it all started when she ran into me in the hallway about a week ago. I decided to stop being a chicken shit and I asked her out, and she said yes. We had a great date, we went to a movie-"

"The new Lion King," Mallory cut in.

"Then we went to dinner-"

"At Shandra's."

Toby glanced her way with a smile. "And then we took a walk through the park, and I asked if she would want to do this again."

Mallory looked up at him, returning his smile. "And I told him of course I would."

"And then I leaned down, like this," Toby mumbled, leaning towards Mallory.

Mallory began leaning towards Toby, "And I leaned up, like this."

"Okay, we get the point," Justin cut off. "Fucking disgusting."

"Jealous?" Mallory asked, smirking at him. "You'll find someone one day, Jus."

He shrugged, pointedly staring at the remains of his battered peanut butter sandwich. "Yeah, maybe."

School went by quickly and soon enough Analise and I were on the way to another adventure. When she'd asked if I wanted to go, of course I said yes. Who wouldn't wanna experience the things this amazing girl does?

I ignored my only hesitation.

My only hesitation was that I was falling for this girl, fast. And I didn't know how to stop.

I didn't want to. I knew it wouldn't go anywhere, she'd told me that enough times for me to get the hint. But still there was like a gravitational pull towards her and I couldn't stay away. Not that I'd want to.

We pulled up to the Willis Tower, or more commonly known as the Sears Tower, and I furrowed my brows in confusion. "Uh, are we here for.. law advice or something? Doesn't really scream wild side to me but I'll give it a shot Annie."

She chuckled, shaking her head and running a hand through her long brown curls. "You'll see. Come on."

I followed her in, and she handed some money to someone working at desk. I looked around, noting the couches and armchairs that looked anything but comfy in the stuffy office-like lobby. She grabbed my hand, pulling me along towards a set of elevators and I pushed back the feeling of bliss I got from holding her hand.

I sounded like a girl.

She pressed the button for the one hundred and third floor, and my eyes widened. Why were we going so high? "If this is your weird way of telling me to jump off a building, forget about it."

"Have you ever noticed you jump to conclusions more than you don't?" Analise huffed.

"It's part of my charm."

"I think you should have realized by now I won't kill you," Analise told me seriously. "Unless I want to."

I looked at Analise and admired her. The way her hair flowed perfectly to the middle of her back, her chocolate eyes, her pink lips that I'd like to-

Ding.

The elevator doors opened, effectively cutting my train of thought. Analise pulled me by hand again, through a pretty empty looking room, and out towards a set of glass doors. She showed the security guard something before he opened the doors, and we stepped out.

We stepped out.

Of a skyscraper.

One hundred and three floors up.

My eyes widened and I gulped, expecting to fall to uncertain doom because obviously I was a careless idiot who did whatever someone told me to do. Like when growing up and I'd do something one of my friends were, and my dad would be like 'if you're friends jumped off a cliff, would you?'

To which I'd have to bite back my sarcastic remark saying maybe, but instead shake my head and listen so I could go play GameCube. But this was similar, only I was quite literally purposely walking off a building.

Except I never fell. I was staring straight ahead like I hadn't just stepped off the ledge of a building.

Uncertainly, I looked towards Analise who was smiling back at me, q really huge genuine smile and I repressed the urge to do a double take. She has such a beautiful smile...

"Look down," Analise said softly, and I realized my hand was still firmly in her grasp, sending a foreign warmth through me. Slowly, I looked down towards my feet, and I saw the city below us. It was a gorgeous view, only slightly marred by the clear glass beneath us. "This is called the Skydeck. There's four of these glass cubes, or ledges that protrude from the Willis Tower, and it gives you a great view of Chicago."

I looked around, finally realizing we were completely surrounded on all sides by glass. I'd never even heard of this, so it was all new to me. The rush from being so high up outweighed my miniscule fear of heights, and I felt quite literally on top of the world. I could spend my entire life doing daring stuff like this.

"On a clear day, you can see for fifty miles and four states, all at once. We're over thirteen hundred feet in the air. I've been here on a clear day, and it's worth it. It's kind of cloudy right now, so you're not getting the full experience, but it's really something."

"How do you know about this place?"

She gave me a light smile. "This one I can't take all the credit for. Back when my parents died, Drew took me here so I could clear my head because I wasn't sleeping all that great and paranoia was setting in. And it worked, this place was a great escape."

"I've never even heard of it," I admitted quietly.

She shrugged. "It's a hidden gem, I suppose. I don't come here all the time because it does cost money, but sometimes I like to come here to think or get away."

I smiled at her. "What did your friends think of it?"

Analise looked straight into my eyes, an intense look in her eyes. "You're the only person I've ever shown any of these places to."

And I believed her, one hundred percent. And that was a really nice feeling.

A/N: This is a real place! I have personally never even been to Chicago, or been to this place, so hopefully I did it justice. Attached are the view, both when you look down and out. It looks pretty amazing, and it's definitely something I'd be terrified to do in real life. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!