She Offered A Kiss As A Joke—And Underestimated The Man Who Could Save Her

She turned on her heel and walked away, dismissing me like I was nothing.

I stood there, frozen. The laughter died down as everyone went back to their confused huddles, ignoring me again. They didn’t think I’d dare. They thought I was just a janitor. They didn’t know about the medals in my drawer at home. They didn’t know about the nights I spent keeping birds in the air when failure wasn’t an option.

I looked at the helicopter. I looked at the clock.

I thought about Lily. I thought about the pharmacy bill sitting on my kitchen counter with a big red “OVERDUE” stamp on it. I thought about the way Veronica looked at me—like I was debris.

I took a deep breath. I pushed my mop bucket to the side.