Кевин Брукс - iBoy

She shook her head. "I don't get it..."

"I know ... I mean, I know it sounds kind of strange, but it'll be all right. Honestly ... trust me. You'll be perfectly safe."

"But where ...?"

"I can't tell you, can I? It's a surprise."

She shook her head again. "A picnic?"

I smiled at her. "Yeah ... sandwiches, crisps, Coke ..."

"I don't know, Tom," she said anxiously. "I mean, it's a really nice thought and everything, and it's not that I don't want to be with you ... but, you know ... I just ... I just don't think I'm ready yet."

"Ready for what?" I asked gently.

"Anything ... going out, being with people ..."

"Yeah, but you won't be going out," I assured her. "And the only people you'll be with is me. I promise. There won't be anyone else near us. I guarantee it."

"I don't see how you can."

"Trust me, Luce."

She looked down at the floor, her face worried, her eyes sad ... and for a moment I seriously started to doubt myself. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all. Maybe I was just being selfish, thoughtless, uncaring ...

But then Lucy said, very quietly, "I won't have to leave the tower?"

"No."

"And I definitely won't see anyone else?"

"Guaranteed."

She slowly looked up at me. "What kind of sand­wiches?"

Lucy's mum was out at work, but Ben was in, so Lucy told him that she was going out with me for a while, and that she wouldn't be long. She put on a coat and one of those knitted woollen hats with ear flaps, and then — after I'd checked to make sure that the corridor was empty — I started leading her along to the stairwell.

"All right?" I asked her.

She nodded hesitantly. "Yeah ... I'm just a bit ... I don't know ... this is the first time I've been out since it happened ..."

"I know."

She smiled at me, anxiety showing in her eyes. "Where are we going?"

I smiled back. "Follow me."

I led her through the stairwell door and up the two flights of steps to the padlocked iron gate. I'd already been up earlier and unlocked it, so I just pushed it open, guided Lucy through to the steel-reinforced door, and locked the iron gate behind us. As I reached up to the keypad on the wall, tapped in the security code, and opened the door, Lucy gave me a puzzled look.

"Don't ask," I said to her. "This way."

I ushered her into the little room, closing the reinforced door after us, and went over to the ladder on the wall. Again, I'd already been up and unlocked the hatchway, so all we had to do now was climb the ladder and we'd be out on the roof.

I looked at Lucy. "Still OK?"

"Yeah, I think so ..."

"Are you all right with ladders?"

She looked up at the hatchway. "Does that go where I think it goes?"

"You'll soon find out. Do you want me to go first?"

"OK."

I climbed the ladder, pushed open the hatchway and stepped out onto the roof, then I reached back down to help Lucy up.

"All right?" I said to her.

"Yeah ..."

"I really like your hat, by the way."

She grinned at me. "Do you always do this when you're trying to impress a girl? Give her a ladder to climb, then compliment her on her choice of hat?"

"It usually works for me."

As she reached the top of the ladder, I took her hand and helped her up through the hatchway onto the roof.

"Wow," she said quietly, getting to her feet and looking around. "This is amazing . You can see for ever ... I mean, I know I've seen it all before, but..."

"It feels different up here, doesn't it?"

"Yeah ..." She looked at me. "You're full of surprises, Tom Harvey."

"I do my best," I said.

She smiled at me.

"Are you hungry?" I asked.

"Why? Is there a restaurant up here or something?"

"It's a picnic, remember? I invited you to a picnic." I pointed towards the middle of the roof. "See?"

She gazed over at where I was pointing, and when she saw what was there, her eyes lit up and her face broke into the most wonderful shining smile. "Oh, Tom," she cried. "That's fantastic ... it's so beautiful ." She turned to me, still smiling like a child on Christmas morning. "Did you do all that for me?"

I looked over at the picnic table that I'd set up in the middle of the roof, and although it was a pretty ramshackle affair — an old fold-away table and chairs I'd found in the spare room, a red and white tablecloth, a candle on a saucer, some paper cups and plates, sandwiches, crisps, a big bottle of Coke, half a packet of chocolate digestives and the remains of a fruit cake that Gram had made the week before — I had to admit that Lucy was right, it really did have a certain kind of raggedy beauty to it.

"Yeah," I said, turning back to Lucy. "Yeah ... I did it for you." I could feel myself blushing slightly now, but I didn't mind. "Do you really like it?"

She put her hand on my shoulder, leaned in towards me, and kissed me lightly on the cheek. "I adore it," she said, looking into my eyes. "Really ... I absolutely love it. Thanks, Tom."

She kissed me again, another quick peck on the cheek, and then we just stood there for a while ... just the two of us, high above the rest of the world, alone together in the dying light of a crimson sunset...

It was everything I'd ever wished for.

And in that moment, nothing else mattered.

It was just the two of us ... just Lucy and me.

Just like it used to be.

Lucy smiled and said, "Shall we eat?"

I bowed my head. "If Madam so wishes. Table for two, is it?"

"Please."

"Follow me, m'lady."

I led her over to the picnic table and held out the chair for her to sit down.

"Thank you, I'm sure," she said.

"You're very welcome."

I sat down and reached for the bottle of Coke. "Coca-Cola?"

"Don't mind if I do."

I poured a small amount into a paper cup and offered it to her to taste. She took the cup, sniffed the Coke, rolled it around in the cup for a while, then took a tiny sip.

"Mmm ..." she said, swallowing. "Delightful, thank you."

She held out her cup and I filled it up. I poured myself a cup, then offered her the plate of sandwiches. "There's cheese," I explained. "Or ... cheese spread. Or, if you'd prefer, there's the sandwich of the day."

Lucy grinned. "And what might that be?"

"Cheese."

She laughed and took a couple of sandwiches. "Did you make these yourself?"

I nodded. "Cheese is my speciality. It was also the only thing left in the fridge."

I opened a packet of crisps for her.

"Cheese and onion?" she said.

"Yep."

"Excellent."

For the next few minutes, we just ate. It was really nice ... just sitting there in the growing darkness, eating and drinking, not having to say anything, both of us unable to wipe the stupid smiles off our faces. The night was getting a little colder now, with a chilly breeze drift­ing across the roof, but we both had our coats on, and I don't think either of us were really bothered.

After a while, Lucy took a rest from chewing and said to me, "So ... what have you been doing recently? I haven't seen you for a while."

"Yeah, I know ... I'm sorry, I kept meaning to come round, but stuff just kept getting in the way."

"Stuff?"

I touched my head and shrugged, kind of ambiguously ... which I knew was a pretty crappy thing to do. But I just didn't know what to say, and I didn't want to lie to her ... and, in a way, it was the stuff in my head that had got in the way of me going round to see her.

"Right..." Lucy said, nodding uncertainly at me and slowly putting a crisp in her mouth. "Right... I see."

She chewed quietly on the crisp for a while ... which baffled me. I mean, how can anyone chew quietly on a crisp? And then she looked at me and said softly, "It's really quiet up here, isn't it?"