Sweet Dandelion

“Yeah, me too.” I reach for his hand, lacing our fingers together.

I don’t mean it in a romantic way, and I know Ansel understands I don’t have those feelings for him now. He squeezes my hand and at the same time we both lie back on all the pillows we commandeered from other rooms in the apartment to pile on the floor. The coffee table is currently shoved in the middle of the kitchen floor.

The movie we put on continues to play, one of the pizza box lids wide open, but neither of us makes a move to close it.

“You know what’s crazy, Meadows?”

“What?”

“In a few short months, we’re about to be shoved from the nest straight into adulthood without a safety net to catch us. Hope we don’t die.”

It’s his tacked on sentence that has me bursting into laughter. “I guess we better practice our flying techniques.”

“How are your wings working right now?” He pinches my arm lightly with his opposite hand that’s not holding mine.

Rolling my head toward him, I answer him honestly. “They weren’t working for a while, but they’re mending. Hopefully they’ll be strong enough to keep me in the air.”

He’s quiet for a moment, and then he speaks softly. “Well, if they’re not, Meadows, I’ll have to carry you to where you want to go.”

I smile to myself. Somehow, I know he will too.

Chapter Forty-Eight

Too soon it’s New Year’s Eve, with school starting only two days later. Why they’re sending us back only to attend Thursday and Friday is beyond me, but whatever.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go?” Sage asks me for the thousandth time, coming out of the hall dressed in a nice pair of jeans and an emerald green sweater that makes his eyes more green than gold.

“I’m positive I don’t want to go hangout with your computer nerd buddies at a steak house for New Year’s Eve. I’ll be fine here. I’m watching The Hunger Games.” I motion to the TV where the movie plays. I read the book on the new reading device Lachlan got me and now I’m obsessed. I already told him it was a must-read.

“Why didn’t you want to go out with your friends?” He adjusts the sleeves of his sweater.

Sasha is back and both her and Ansel are going to the same party tonight, but I declined. After last time, I wasn’t interested.

“Because I didn’t want to,” I retort playfully. “Seriously, go, be merry, have drinks, kiss a stranger. I’m fine.”

“I might crash at my friend’s,” he warns. He mentioned earlier that they’d eat and go back to someone named Simon’s place. Honestly the information went in one ear and out the other because I was busy reading. Lachlan has created a monster.

“Go,” I insist. “I’m fine. Have fun. Text me if you need to check on me, but seriously I’m good here.” I stand up and give him a hug. “You worry too much, Herb.”

“Can you blame me?”

“No,” I reply sadly, forcing a smile. “But you still have to live.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he agrees, money is on the counter if you want to order anything and leftovers are in the fridge.”

“I know,” I laugh.

He exhales a breath and starts looping his arms into his coat. “All right, I?

??m going. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

I watch him go, sincerely hoping he has a good time.

Turning off the lights, I settle back down on the couch. Lying on my side, I prop my head up on a throw pillow. The glow from the Christmas tree and TV screen makes the condo seem cozier, though I miss the blanket fort Sage forced Ansel and I to promptly remove when he got home the other day.

The second movie is around twenty minutes in when my phone vibrates from the coffee table.