Rooftop Romance

by Sabrina Moella ....“I thought she was mad cute though, I’m not gonna lie... And I asked for her first name..."

“We met going up the stairs. The elevator was not working.”

“I lived on the second floor; she lived on the fourth. I offered to help carry her groceries, but she declined.”

“My bags were not that heavy. And I didn’t know him yet. But I thought, hmm this guy is cute.”

“Meanwhile, I was thinking, oh this chick is really not feeling me.”

(Laughs)

“And then, we started running into each other randomly everywhere. In the lobby; in the elevator; in front of our mailboxes... Remember the mailboxes’ story?”

“One day, we went to check our mailboxes at the same time. That was totally random. I swear I was not stalking her!”

“Sure…”

(Laughs)

“I thought she was mad cute though, I’m not gonna lie... And I asked for her first name. Cause it felt weird to run into your neighbour all the time and not at least know their first name.”

“Yeah. It had become odd at that point.”

“Then, she made the first move.”

“I didn’t make the first move. Stop rewriting history.”

“Yes. you did.” (Looks at the camera) “She totally did.”

“No, I just I said hey neighbour, since we’re on a first name basis now, would you like to come to my housewarming party?”

“See? She was totally hitting on me...”

“I was not. Gerri from the fifth floor was invited. Randall from the second floor too. And near

damn everyone from the third floor. I was not hitting on him, dear interviewers, I was just being a polite neighbour.”

“If she says so…”

“Fast forward to the following Friday. He came to the party and ignored me all night. Very rude.”

“That is not true. She was the one who actually ignored me all night. Busy like a bee.”

“I was hosting! Couldn’t really stop handing appetizers to start a one-on-one conversation with him…”

“Right. Then at the end of the night, I mustered the courage to go ask for her number. I said we should go for a tea soon or something.”

“Finally! I thought he was never going to ask…”

“You were sending mixed signals.”

“I was not! You were very shy...”

“I was a little shy, yes… Because she was sending mixed signals.”

“Oh, please.”

(Laughs)

“The following week, I invited her to have some tea and cookies on the building’s rooftop, because she had never been up there.”

“He brought marshmallows too; that was very cute.”

“She had told me she liked sweets.”

“Yes! I appreciated the gesture. And the view was very nice. But that was not a date, right?”

“No, that was not a date. At least not an official one. That was more like a getting-to-know-each-other thing. Lots of talking, lots of tea, lots of marshmallows.”

“He was playing hard to get...”

(Chuckles)

“Not at all. I was being a gentleman.”

“Sure...”

“And actually, it worked in my favor because from that point on, we became friends, and sharing snacks and drinks on the rooftop became our thing.”

“Meanwhile, everyone in the building was wondering when we would officially start dating. They were not buying the friends thing. At all. They even had a bet going on. Gerri predicted it would take six months at least; Randi gave us three.”

“Our friends and neighbors can be very silly sometimes. But we didn’t listen to anyone. We made our own timeline...”

“We had our first kiss on the rooftop.”

“After a romantic dinner… Valentine’s week. It felt appropriate.”

“Very. It was a little chilly though.”

“After that, we moved quite quickly.”

“Yeah. We were always at each other’s place. You know how it goes… I left my toothbrush at his apartment; he left a razor at my place, and voilà.”

“Her place was super cozy.”

“But his place was bigger.”

“We divided our time evenly between the two apartments, I would say. At least at the beginning. Oh, and she finally let me help her with her grocery bags.”

“Hey, I was shopping for two. The bags were getting heavier. Of course I had to let him carry them!”

“Right. And we started eating at my place more.”

“His kitchen was bigger.”

“Then, after a while, we just decided to move in together.”

“Yeah. All this commuting between the second and the fourth floor was starting to get on my nerves.”

“We applied for a bigger place, still in the same building. We didn’t want to have to leave it… But nothing was available.”

“We were put on a waiting list.”

“That sucked.”

“Totally.”

“And we were about to sign a lease for that ugly place north of the city, remember?”

“Yes. But just as we were about to sign... Like, minutes before…”

“Gerri called us, and she said hold on guys, there’s a two-bedroom on the sixth floor that’s becoming available.”

“A two-bedroom plus den.”

“Which was perfect. We got on it immediately.”

“Building management was very helpful.”

“Yes, they didn’t want us to leave either.”

“They were rooting for us! We had become the building’s mascots at that point.”

(Laughs)

“Long story short, we moved in about six months ago. No, seven… It was seven months ago.”

“We had a blessing ceremony shortly after.”

“Sure did. We exchanged vows on the rooftop.”

“All our neighbours and best friends were there. Randi was a mess. Gerri too. I didn’t think I would cry but I did.”

“The hormones…”

“Might have been.” 

“We’re expecting a little one.”

“Don’t tell them everything!”

“We’re very excited.”

“Very.”

“In conclusion, she was right to make that first move on me, eh?”

“Oh, please…” (rolls her eyes)

“Anyway. Now we only have one mailbox to take care of.”

“One mailbox, but two last names. I kept my maiden name.”

“She did.”

“We’re working on the nursery now. Lots of changes coming…”

“Lots of changes.”

“But we still go to the rooftop. At least once a week.”

“We sit there, and we hold hands.”

“We drink tea, and we eat marshmallows.”

“Very romantic.”

“Right?”

“Hopefully we get to do this until we’re at least ninety-nine years old.”

“Hopefully...” 

(Wink)

“Put this in a time capsule and send someone to interview us again, let’s say, when we both turn ninety-nine.” 

“Ninety-nine? Do you think we’ll still be there?”

“Why not? I don’t know if our names will still be on that mailbox or if the building’s elevator will still be working, but I can totally see us sitting on that rooftop late at night, holding hands, carrying on.”

“Yes, I think I can see it too.”

(They both smile)

The end.

🩷🩷🩷

Sabrina Moella (she/her) is a Congolese-Canadian writer and multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. She self-published her first young adult fiction novel FIFTEEN IS FOR PADDED CUPS in 2021. Her first fiction podcast series A SONG IN THE SKY was launched in 2024. She is currently working on her second novel.