Lemon pledge and Flo Ride hung heavily in the air. In the shadows in the crook of the hallway, we clung to rough textured walls. I clutched my ribcage to muffle my hammering heart. Jamie gave a subtle nod to the left. We moved in tandem away from the maintenance team to the stairway door.

The hallway was narrow. I could feel my breath quicken as the walls grew closer. Jamie looked back at me. I caught his broad grin and I imagined a cartoon cheshire cat. What would he say if I told him I was kind of afraid of heights. That I was once afraid of most things.The bubble of laughter pushed the walls back as we climbed the stairs to the roof.

The slam of cool air made my eyes water. Jamie pressed me against the closed stairwell door. He was saying something about the rooftop cameras. His breath was warm on my neck. Liquid excitement raced up my veins. Jamie leaned towards me and I kissed him hard. Our lips and hands were frantic.

Last summer I learned sky diving from Marco, an instructor. I tingled from the ruah of wind squeezing my bodies we plummeted. Three months ago Ivy taught me free diving. We tangled in the deep blue darkness gasping for each other. Last week I found Jamie on YouTube. He is an Spiderman, an illegal climber of buildings.

I followed him, flirting a little but playing it aloof. If there is one thing I learned it was that adventure junkies loved the chase. I’d perfected my online hard tease performance. I don’t know what junkies for adventurers loved. We looked over the building’s edge. 525 Crenshaw was the tallest building in Altoona. Jamie was practicing for the Hancock in Chicago by climbing structures in his hometown. He invited me to climb and I couldn’t say yes fast enough.

The world was hundreds of feet below. Jamie was saying something about our descent. We chalked our hands and mounted the edge. Jamie tossed me a quick kiss. His big brown eyes were bright with excitement as we drowned in adrenaline. I was drunk in this moment as we step out against the sky.