He nods.
“Do I need to take you to Group today?”
He hesitates again. “Maybe. I’m going to lie down for a while though. I might go to the afternoon session.”
“Ok.” I desperately try to hide my concern, because I know he doesn’t want me to hover. He wants to find his autonomy, not become even more tethered to me. It hurts. A lot. But he doesn’t need to know that. “Just yell at me when you’re ready.”
He nods and heads toward the house, pausing when he hits the edge of the trail. I worry because he’s starting to stay secluded in his room. A lot.
His shoulders are so skinny as he calls back to me.
“Calla?”
“Yeah?”
He smiles a watery smile. “Did you know that Queen Victoria loved Albert so much that she insisted on being buried in his dressing robe, holding a plaster cast of his hand?”
I shake my head, rolling my eyes. “You’re so weird and random, bro.”
He grins like everything is fine, like he’s back to normal. “I know.”
Then he disappears down the trail.
I sit back down in the reddish dirt, trailing my finger through it. Before I know it, I’ve written Dare’s name, with a flourish at the end of the e. A flourish shaped like a he
art.
“A penny for your thoughts?”
Dare’s wry voice comes from behind me and I cringe because apparently the trail leading to these cliffs is Grand Central Station today. And I’m humiliated because obviously I’m thinking of him. I flush, the heat spreading from my chest to my face, and I don’t want to turn around.
But I do.
Dare’s handsome face is amused and a teench arrogant. He’s dressed in jogging clothes, although he’s not sweaty, so he hasn’t run far yet.
“My thoughts are more expensive than that,” I announce. He grins even wider.
“I’m sure. We still have that little matter of secrets to discuss, by the way.”
This confuses me. “Secrets?”
His eyes meet mine, gleaming ebony. “Yeah. Everyone’s got ‘em, remember?”
Oh, yeah. That’s exactly what he said when we first met. “Maybe. But not me.”
Dare rolls his eyes. “Somehow I doubt that. You had Nocte hidden up your sleeve, remember?”
I smile at that. “Yeah. And we didn’t stay long enough to see it all.”
“Another time,” Dare answers quickly. I nod.
“Definitely.” He doesn’t seem excited though, and that bothers me. He seemed excited last night. He’s an enigma, a contradiction. His emotions change by the day. Today, he’s cool and detached. He’s almost reserved or hesitant. It’s so strange.
“I’ll catch you later, Calla,” he says quietly, before bolting off in a long-strided jog.
That’s when my heart almost stops, because his strides are so long, he’s in perilous territory within two steps.
“Stop!” I scream out, my voice splitting the sky like a knife. Dare freezes, turning to look at me in confusion, his eyes wide.