My eyebrows furrow. "We're going to Washington?" I've never been. Never talked about going. Roman has no ties there, and I don't know anyone there, either.
He smiles, a small, secret quirk on his lips. "You'll see. Be patient, Luna." He sits down in an empty gray chair, the plastic thin and slippery.
I plop down next to him, sighing when my muscles thump in relief. “Or you could just tell me.”
He laughs, curling an arm over my shoulder. "Nope." My eyes narrow, and I want to keep bugging him, but to be honest, I’m just too tired.
We sit silently. I lay my head on his shoulder, tired from waking up so early. My body is exhausted, too. I've put in the extra work this week in anticipation of taking time off for a few days. My toes ache, and my muscles scream for mercy. Roman has seemed just as exhausted, switching shifts and pulling extra hours so he could take this time off.
I doze on and off for a while, until a flight attendant calls for everyone to board. Roman and I get up, my knees a little shaky as we walk through the concourse. I’m nervous. It's the first time I've been on a plane with Roman. The first time we've traveled anywhere together.
"You ready?" He turns toward me, buckling his seatbelt and then buckling mine as well.
I curl my fingers around his, the warmth of his hand heating my entire body. I don't know if I'm ready. I don't know what he has in store for us, but as long as he's with me, I guess I'll be ready for anything. "Yeah, I am."
Wow.
Washington is unlike anything I've ever seen before.
Mountains, city, ocean, everything combined into one. It takes my breath away.
Once we got off the plane, Roman got us a cab to a hotel right in Seattle. We settled in, ate some food, and started touring the city. It's been amazing, to visit something from a tourist’s standpoint. When I traveled before, it was without a stitch of money in my pocket. I couldn't enjoy the wonders of gift shops and eating in restaurants. It's been a long day, my feet ache, and so do my cheeks from the constant smile plastered on my face, but Roman said he had one more stop for us.
That stop has turned into a hike. A hike through the forest slightly north of Seattle. It's cool here, not muggy like the forest in Hawaii was. But it's beautiful, and even with me out of breath, I can't stop myself from looking around at the greens of the tall trees and the mountains in the distance, their white peaks still filled with snow from this past winter.
"Almost there," Roman says, walking up ahead of me. I watch his ass flex in his jeans, wishing he would quit keeping me from him and just let us be together. He knows me, though, maybe even better than I know myself. He must see a darkness, a brokenness in me that I no longer feel. Because I feel like I'm ready, yet he continues to hold back.
"Here we are," he says. I look up, seeing us at the end of the trail. We're on top of a mountain, and as I walk closer, I gasp.
My shoes dig into the sand, my eyes growing wide. How did I not realize this before?
I point at it, walking further back into the forest. "You…"
He points out to the ocean. "Where the mountains meet the sea, Luna. Finally, we're here."
Tears spring to my eyes, my dreams and my nightmares colliding into one. "I'm scared," I whisper. “Every time I've ever been here, I've died, Roman." My legs shake. No, my entire body shakes.
He holds out his hand. "One day, a long time ago, do you remember what I said?"
I shake my head, too many emotions jumbling up every memory. I can't pick one out, not a single memory from my life. Not right now.
"I said that one day I'd be a rock star and you'd be a ballerina, and we'd go to where the mountains meet the sea."
Tears fall down my cheeks. "You aren't a rock star, and I'm not a ballerina."
He shakes his head, "No, but I was, and you will be. Does it really matter, at the end of the day? Here we are, Luna. The place that's haunted you your entire life, and we're here."
I look around, seeing little differences here and there. The place in my dreams was a little more open, where this one quickly goes into a forest. But there's so many similarities, too. From the sharp edge of the cliff to the dark water in the distance. It's like he plucked the details from my dream and painted them into the world in front of me.
His hand reaches out again. "Take my hand, Luna. Let's face this. Together." After a moment of hesitation, I place my shaky hand in his. He wraps his fingers around mine, clutching me tightly. His fingers are warm. He pulls me up, and every step is painful. Rocks crunch beneath my shoes. I don't want to go to the top. I don't want to go to the edge. But here is Roman, making me face my fear.
He always makes me conquer everything. Always.
He brings me to the top, far enough from the edge where even if I fell, I wouldn't tumble over, but close enough that I can see the waves crashing against the rocks, the water turning white as they angrily slam against the jagged edges.
I let out a shaky breath.
"Do you know what it's like to love you, Luna?"