“I should have just said something to you,” he says. “Could have saved us so much time.”

“You’re right. We’re both idiots.”

I kiss him again.

“You’re sure there’s no fire?” he asks.

“No fire.”

“Good.” He grabs my waist and flips us so that my back is against the wall, then presses me into it, covering my body with his.

“Hey!” A voice shouts from down the hall, and Andrew pulls away from me to turn and look. I miss the feel of his lips on mine immediately, and I wonder if every time we’re not kissing for the rest of my life I’ll be missing him. “Hey, there she is!” It’s the concierge from the front desk, running toward us. And with him is Andrew’s uncle Leroy, dressed in his full fireman uniform.

Before I can think about it, I grab Andrew’s hand and start running down the other end of the hallway, pulling him along behind me. I throw open the door to the back stairwell and we barrel through it and keep running, trying hard not to fall down the stairs and kill ourselves. When we get down to the main level we keep running, turning random corners, tearing down hallways until we’ve lost them. There are so many doors that I wonder if even the concierge knows every hidden nook and cranny. The alarm is still blaring around us, lights flashing.

“In here!” Andrew says, taking a sharp left and then opening a door to a storage room under the stairs. I follow him in and then he shuts the door behind us and immediately, the sound of the siren is cut off. It’s dark in here, almost pitch-black, and I should be worried about spiders or rats or something, but I’m not. Because Andrew’s arms are around me and then we’re kissing again and he loves me and that’s all that matters.

“I’m so losing my job for this,” Andrew says, his smile against mine.

“It’s worth it,” I whisper.

“Oh, it’s so worth it.” He kisses me again and I reach up and undo his tie just enough so that I can pull open the buttons of his shirt. He reaches behind me and I can feel him struggling with the zipper of my prom dress. I help guide his hand and pull the zipper down, rolling the dress off my body. Reaching out, I undo his belt and then he zips down his fly, the sound of it loud in the quiet room. I can’t see him but I can feel him, can feel his hands as they slide my underwear down over my hips, as they touch me in a place that’s never been touched before. I gasp as he moves his fingers there, reaching my own hands into his boxers and touching him.