the door to the rooftop creaks open just loud enough to betray your presence. you step out into the open air, the city humming below and golden from the later summer haze. it smells faintly like concrete and chlorine from the pool several stories down but all you can think about was renee who was standing near the edge, wrapped in your denim jacket, facing away as the breeze caught her loose strands of hair

you hesitate, unsure if she even wants you here after everything but you still take slow and careful steps towards her

youre not ready to speak yet. not because you dont have anything to say but because what you do have feels to fragile to say out loud and yet when you get close enough to stand beside her, you let it out “im sorry..”

she doesnt move or flinch so you keep talking “i didnt mean any of it. not the way it came out. i was hurt. scared. i didnt know what to do with how i was feeling so i panicked and made it worse.”

it was still silent after that and in the way that it hurt