Up on the Roof

by A. L. Brooks

  Megan sat on the sofa in a daze. What the hell had just happened?

  Lena pressed her face into the towel and exhaled a long breath. What had she done? She’d ripped Megan’s head off for no reason whatsoever. Here, now, in the cool bathroom with her face damp from where she’d washed it, her temperature had eased off to a level that felt under control. But back there, in the kitchen, she’d literally seen red when Megan made that joke about her being so happy cleaning. It had taken Lena right back to all the times Chris had teased her, only Chris’s teasing had hurt—needle-sharp words that had dug away at Lena’s sense of self until her anxiety made her nauseous.

  Megan wasn’t doing that. Lena knew this, and yet she’d still snapped at her in an almost automatic reaction. She pulled the towel away from her now-dry face and dared to look at herself in the mirror. Her eyes, amazingly, hadn’t lost their shine—she’d always been complimented on her eyes, the irises a brown that almost glowed it was so intense. Her hair looked a mess, she couldn’t deny that. It needed a wash, and a deep condition, something to remove the tangles from where she’d been running her fingers through it over the last two days. Her skin had also lost its glow, but given how badly she was sleeping, that also made sense. She looked years older than thirty-two, and the thought only added to her depression.

  She turned away from the mirror and hung the towel up. Maybe she should call it a night, see if she could get a long sleep before she returned to work tomorrow. She had to go back, if only to start asking around about possible places to stay. She shuddered; it was the last thing she wanted to do, but life had served up this mess to her and she had to get on with it.

  Bracing herself, she unlocked the bathroom door and stepped back into the living room.

  Megan was on the sofa, drinking from a bottle of beer and watching TV. Lena walked over to stand by the arm of the sofa.

  “Megan,” she said, her relief swamping her as Megan deigned to turn and face her. “I am so sorry for snapping at you yet again just then.”

  Megan nodded, but her eyes were dim, and Lena couldn’t begin to explain to herself why that sight tugged so sharply at her belly.

  “I get it,” Megan said, shrugging. “You’re going through a really stressful time.”

  “Yes, that’s true, but that’s no reason to take it out on you, especially when you have been so generous and…wonderful about letting me stay here and getting your brother to help out.”

  Megan shrugged again and made to turn back to the TV.

  “Wait, please,” Lena pleaded. She saw Megan exhale before she turned back to face Lena. “I want to thank you, again, for letting me stay here. I’m sorry I can’t tell you when I’ll get out of your way. I really hoped the cousin idea would work out but it appears they want nothing to do with me, despite us having common ground in being ostracised by my mother.” The admission came without warning, and Lena blinked rapidly as she realised what she’d said.

  Megan’s eyes widened, and she shifted slightly in her seat to face Lena more easily.

  “I’m…I’m sorry to hear that,” Megan replied.

  Lena wondered how hard it was for her not to ask for more info. Her respect for Megan grew when no questions were immediately forthcoming.

  “Yes, well, it’s…it’s a long story.” Lena sighed. “Anyway, tomorrow I will go back to work and ask around there to see if anyone has a spare room I could use for the next few months.”

  “Are you close to the people you work with?”

  Lena shrugged and laughed softly. “Not really. But if I offer them the money I would normally pay as rent, maybe someone would be willing.” She looked away from Megan’s gaze, those astonishingly beautiful eyes distracting her again. “So, I wanted to apologise, and thank you, and to say that I’m going to have an early night. Goodnight.”

  She walked quickly away, but as she reached the door to the spare room, Megan called out, “Lena, wait. Please.”

  She turned back to find those pale blue eyes staring intently at her.

  “You know, I was thinking,” Megan said, getting up off the sofa and taking a few steps towards Lena, her hands tucking into the pockets of her sweatpants. “Maybe you should stay here. Until your place is fixed. However long you need.” Megan’s face was flushed but her voice was firm. “I’ve got a spare room, and I could, you know, rent that to you. You wouldn’t have to change your commute and all that. You’d be on site to monitor all the repairs. And I’d get a bit of money to help me out for a little while—I kind of maxed out my credit card buying all the furniture so God knows I could do with the cash.” She grinned.

  Lena swallowed. Was she—? “Are you serious?” Lena’s voice came out significantly squeakier than she’d hoped. “I mean,” she said, clearing her throat, “you really wouldn’t mind?”

  Megan shrugged. “Like I said, it seems the easiest answer. I know we haven’t exactly—”

  Lena held up a hand. “Wait,” she said. “Just…give me a moment.”

  She closed her eyes. Could it work? They definitely had got off on the wrong foot from the minute they’d met. Megan was awfully untidy. And noisy. And too…exuberant. But they worked different hours from each other, so wouldn’t necessarily see each other that often. And maybe Lena could spend the weekends in Bolton with Madhu, to have a break. Although that would bring its own challenges for her borderline-OCD nature, given how small and packed with…stuff Madhu’s place was. Megan’s place was big enough, she supposed. The spare room was a little small, but maybe with a bit of shuffling Megan’s brother could help get her wardrobe down there, and—

  She opened her eyes. “Yes. Please.” Lena’s stare was as wide as Megan’s as her words blurted out. “I mean, can we at least try?”

  Megan smiled.

  Chapter 10

  “You did what?” Megan’s mum’s voice was awfully loud down the phone, and she winced. “I thought the whole point of getting somewhere bigger was to have some space to yourself? And now you’ve let a virtual stranger move in. A woman, I might add, who hated your guts until very recently. Possibly still does, despite all the help you’ve given her this week. Oh, Megan…”

  “Mum, I couldn’t help it. She looked so sad, and there’s obviously some issue with her family, and—”

  “Oh, why am I not surprised. Don’t tell me, she turned some gorgeous puppy eyes on you and you were a goner.” There was laughter in her voice.

  “No, it wasn’t like that! I just… She needed a friend. So before I even knew what I was doing, the offer was out there.”

  “Sweetheart,” her mum said, softening her voice, “you’re not interested in this woman, are you? I mean, after everything you’ve told us about her, I’m worried she’s another Julie, and—”

  “No, Mum, I promise. That’s not it. I genuinely wanted to help out someone who was in a bit of a mess. And trust me, Lena is not a Julie, whatever else she is.”

  Her mum sighed, and Megan silently appreciated all that the sound meant. When Julie, Megan’s only really serious relationship in her life, had finally pushed the last of Megan’s buttons with her neediness, her demands for all of Megan’s time, and her mind-boggling mood swings, Megan’s mum had been the one to comfort her and give her a bed for a few nights while she completed the break-up. It hadn’t been pretty, and Megan had resorted to taking her brothers to the flat she’d shared with Julie for nearly two years to make sure she got the last of her stuff out without a fight. Julie hadn’t wanted to let Megan go, and Megan shuddered at the memories of extricating herself from that soul-sucking relationship.

  “So, dare I ask, what does Jen think of all this, eh?”

  Megan winced again. “Yeah,” she said, scratching at the back of her neck, “that didn’t go down so well.” That was the understatement of the decade; Jen had actually hung up on her for the first time in the twelve years they’d been friends. Megan
had tried to explain how it was only temporary, and nothing to do with how hot Lena was—Jen’s main assumption—but Jen had been hurt nonetheless. Megan could understand, but at the same time, if she had to do it all over again, she would. Lena had no one, and that was just…wrong.

  “I swear, you’d give the shirt off your back to anyone who needed it, wouldn’t you?”

  Megan sighed. “Mum, didn’t you and Dad always drum into us that we should always be there for people in need?”

  Her mum laughed softly. “Yeah, yeah, throw my own wisdom back at me, why don’t you.”

  They finished their call a few minutes later, and Megan slouched back on the sofa after she’d hung up. Her mum was right—Megan would offer someone the shirt off her back. It was the way she’d been brought up, and the harsh realities of adulthood hadn’t lessened her generous nature. Making that spontaneous offer to Lena had seemed so very right, in the moment. Sure, a day later, she was starting to question it a little bit, but they’d get used to each other.

  Wouldn’t they?

  She glanced around at her pristinely tidy living room and sighed. When she’d got home from work the night before, at around nine, Lena had already been home for two hours and it showed. The rooms they now shared were spotlessly clean and rearranged, and she’d caught a sheepish Lena in the process of wiping down the kitchen surfaces again. Megan had silently walked past her to the bathroom and felt like reaching for her sunglasses when she’d switched on the overhead light. She didn’t know it was possible for a bathroom suite to sparkle so brightly.

  Now she was scared to put a thing out of place, and that feeling was unnerving her. She wasn’t a slob, not by a long shot, but she liked to relax in her own home, throw the odd jacket over a chair, or kick off her sneakers wherever she happened to park her arse. Gazing around the supremely organised room, she felt like an interloper in her own space.

  Grinning, she picked up the pile of magazines stacked neatly in one corner of the coffee table and flopped them back down on its surface. As expected, they fanned out and shuffled themselves into a haphazard arrangement that made her feel infinitely—though childishly, she could admit—better.

  She glanced at her watch: just after ten. She wasn’t due into the club until eleven thirty and was already showered. Maybe some Netflix to pass the time. The remote control was barely in her hand when her doorbell buzzed.

  “It’s me.” Jen’s voice was muffled by the intercom but unmistakable.

  Swallowing hard, Megan buzzed her in, and moments later an embarrassed-looking Jen stood in the doorway to the flat.

  “All right?” she said, shuffling from one foot to the other.

  “All right,” Megan replied, standing to one side to leave the way free for Jen to stroll in.

  “Took a chance you’d be on a later shift. Was just passing. You know.” Jen was looking around the flat as she spoke, her eyebrows rising slowly. “Shit,” she said, turning back to Megan, “what happened in here?”

  Megan blushed and shut the door before walking across the room to stand beside Jen, also gazing around at their surroundings. “Lena. She likes to clean.”

  “No shit.” Jen whistled. “It’s making my eyes hurt.”

  Megan snorted. “Then don’t go anywhere near the bathroom.”

  Jen turned to her, her eyes wide. Then, suddenly, they were both laughing loudly, and everything was good again.

  “Put the kettle on, I need a brew.” Jen flopped onto the sofa.

  “Yes, Your Highness.” Megan made them both a tea and joined Jen on the sofa. After a couple of sips of the steaming hot liquid, she said, “I never meant to hurt you.”

  Jen held up one hand. “Forget it, I was being a brat. Of course you’re going to offer her a room while her place gets sorted. Makes total sense.”

  Megan smiled. “Cool.”

  “So what’s the latest?”

  Megan put her tea down on the table. “Still waiting for the insurance company to gather quotes. I tried to get Callum’s company on their list but no chance—they’ve got a handful of companies they always use, and it has to be one of those. Would have been sweet if Callum did it, because then we’d know it would get done pretty quick. Now we’re stuck waiting for all their boxes to be ticked and all that crap.”

  Jen exhaled. “That sucks. And how’s Lena doing? Have you seen her naked yet?”

  Megan slapped Jen’s thigh. “Shut up, gutter brain.”

  Jen snorted.

  “She’s…okay. She doesn’t talk much. Other than catching her in the act of turning this place into a photo spread for Hello! magazine last night, she’s kept to her room so far. We sort of crossed paths in the morning, and that’s going to take some juggling around bathroom time, because it seems she likes routine. It’s only been two mornings, I know, but she’s got up at exactly the same time on both of them. And I mean, exactly—I was awake both times and it was like seven a.m. on the dot.”

  “Creepy.”

  “Kind of.”

  “How much of her stuff did she manage to rescue?”

  Megan sighed, remembering Lena’s sad little face when she’d dragged her two suitcases into the spare room. “Just her clothes and bathroom stuff, really. Pretty much everything in the living room was ruined after four hours exposed to that storm.” She shrugged. “I offered to go back up there and see what I could retrieve, but she told me not to bother. She seems really upset about her books. I mean, her own contents insurance will pay for replacements, but that’s all going to take time.” She glanced sideways at Jen. “I’m still wondering if it’s worth trying to get up there and see if any of the books survived.”

  “I’ve always wondered what a caved-in roof would look like,” Jen said, rubbing her chin with her thumb.

  Their eyes met, and they both snorted.

  “Come on,” Megan said, “I’ve got the keys.”

  Two minutes later they were standing in the wreckage of Lena’s living room, rubbing their arms against the cold. While the tarps that Callum’s team had put in place over the gaping holes were keeping any rain out, nothing could be done about the temperature.

  “Bloody hell.” Jen’s eyes were wide. “This isn’t remotely funny, is it?”

  Megan shook her head. “I can’t imagine coming home to find this.”

  “Me neither. Fuck.”

  Megan walked gingerly over to the pile of books. She knelt on the edge of the plastic they sat on, and started carefully lifting one book from on top of another. Some peeled reluctantly apart with squelching sounds, but most refused to let go of their partner at all. By the time she’d reached the bottom of the pile, she’d determined that literally only two books out of about one hundred in front of her were retrievable. She stood up with those two in her hand.

  “That’s all?” Jen was leaning on the kitchen counter, her hands in her pockets.

  Megan nodded, walking over to stand next to her. She held the books up for Jen to see the slightly wrinkled covers.

  “Whoa,” Jen said, grinning, “what have we here?” Both covers displayed air-brushed photos of two women embracing. In one, the women were clothed—one seemed to be a doctor, her partner a cop—and in the other, they were semi-naked, arms and legs wrapped around each other, lips about to meet in a kiss.

  Jen laughed. “What was that you were saying about Lena being straight?”

  Megan couldn’t quite decipher why there was such a warm glow spreading through her body, given how cold the room was.

  Lena stared at the books propped against the door to ‘her’ room. Irritation warred with warm gratitude within her mind. She’d specifically told Megan not to go up to her wrecked flat and sift around in the ruins, but she’d done it anyway. She bent down and picked up the two books, holding them almost reverently in her hand. Megan had disobeyed her, but here Lena now stood with two of her
beloved books in her hand, and her eyes moistened at the sight. How truly…thoughtful of Megan this gesture was. Lena was almost glad Megan wasn’t home yet; she’d need some time to compose herself before she thanked her.

  As she stared at the covers of the books, a new thought shot into her brain. Oh dear. Lena had just been outed to Megan. Would that be an issue? While it was easy to stereotype and assume Jen was gay, Lena wasn’t at all sure about Megan. Not going anywhere or seeing anyone meant Lena had never developed one of those gaydars she’d read about. She sighed. I hope this isn’t going to make things awkward between us. Should she say anything? Or simply know that Megan now knew and leave it at that?

  Deciding the latter was probably the best course of action, she stepped quickly into the bedroom and changed out of her work clothes. She pulled on an ordinary pair of socks with a sigh and reached for a second pair almost immediately, knowing the extra layer would be necessary. Since her bunny slippers were ruined, the only extra-warm socks she had were the ones from Madhu, and they were currently drying on the airer out in the living room from when she’d done her washing the night before. Another thing she’d need to purchase as a result of the roof incident, especially as the nights were only getting colder this early in November.

  Padding out to the living room, she made a beeline for the kitchen area to heat up some soup, switching on the TV en route. The volume blared out, sending her jumping sideways. She scrabbled frantically for the remote on the coffee table, finally locating the volume controls and lowering the sound pounding through the speakers. Megan had a surround-sound setup which was impressive but way more than Lena was used to operating with. She glared at the screen; some sort of music channel, with half-clad teenagers gyrating on a scaffolded platform. This was what Megan watched in her downtime? Lena rolled her eyes. Gross.