Jenny stared out her bedroom window. After her phone had charged, she scrolled through her messages with Rick and reread them about a hundred times.
It had been almost a full day, and she still hadn’t responded to him.
There was something frightening about encouraging him over text. She really liked him, and she had never really been good at flirting online.
What if she was giving him the wrong impression? Did he think she was just an easy piece of ass?
Her phone buzzed. It was another message from him.
She dismissed the notification without opening it.
Sighing, she put her phone down on the nightstand and stood up, agitated. She had to get out of her apartment.
She was outside her front door before she knew it, staring down the hallway at the dirty elevator doors. So many hands had touched those buttons, she thought with a grimace. Heading to the stairs, her feet quickly carried her up three flights to the rooftop.
The sun was still shining, though low in the sky, and she was all alone, save for a few pigeons who eyed her curiously. She leaned gently over the parapet and looked down at the empty streets. This normally bustling city was now a ghost town.
It was only Day 3.
Suddenly, a glint of light caught her eye. There was someone on the roof across the street, moving back and forth, tending to some potted plants. The light from the sun was bouncing off his metal watering can and onto her face.
She had no idea anyone kept rooftop gardens in her neighborhood, and the thought warmed her heart. Smiling, she shaded her eyes with one hand to get a closer look at the gardener. With the other hand, she waved, calling out, “Hello there!”
The man paused and looked up.
It was Rick! She gasped.
They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. A thousand thoughts crossed her mind, and her heart raced. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but instead, he put his watering can down and reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone.
“No, don’t call me,” she blurted.
He looked a little hurt, but nodded, putting his phone away.
“No, it’s just…I…left my phone in my apartment,” she confessed loudly, her voice bouncing off the walls of the alley between them.
“Shut up!!” yelled a neighbor below.
Rick’s face relaxed into a grin that caused every cell in her body to tingle. She couldn’t help but smile in return.
“Wait there,” he said. And he disappeared down the stairs.
She looked nervously around for a place to sit. Nobody ever came up here, so the roof was quite empty, save one ratty lawn chair that looked like it was about to collapse. She leaned against the parapet instead, taking the time to watch the pigeons fly back and forth between the buildings.
Moments later, he returned, holding an aerial drone. He took a few minutes to attach something to it, then flew it the six or so yards across the alley to land at her feet.
She picked up the drone and saw that there was a plastic bag attached to the bottom. She opened the bag to find a piece of paper and a pen. On the paper was written this simple note:
Will you be my girlfriend? YES / NO
Rick watched Jenny smile as she took the pen and circled something, then proceeded to write a few words on the paper. She was licking her lips unconsciously as she wrote…just watching her do that made his manhood begin to stir.
She attached the bag back to the drone and smiled as he flew it back to his own rooftop and opened the note.
She had circled YES, then written, “Call me tonight. If you want to try something, let’s use our voices instead.”