to last me several years, and was beyond in need of a shower. Dirty and sick of nature as I was, even more troubling was the sudden and drastic turn in Alex’s mood that afternoon. I couldn’t believe I’d hugged him, what the hell was I thinking? Obviously I scared him away – or at least that was the only thing I could figure.
Though… he had hugged me back.
Regardless of what had happened to upset him, one thing was certain: I was not at all looking forward to seeing him again that night. I was terrified it would be as uneasy and awkward as the final few minutes of the afternoon had been, which would not be any fun at all.
As I reached the top of the short flight of stairs to Lorcan Hall, I saw a short blonde figure pacing in front of the large bay window in the Hall’s main foyer. “Chloe?” I asked, stepping into the invitingly warm hall.
“There you are!” she cried, running up and throwing her arms around my neck, “Alex was so worried!”
“I’m fine,” I mumbled against her shoulder.
“He made me promise to stay right here and – mercy be!” she said, pulling back and seeing the state of me. “What happened?”
“Had some… trouble,” I stammered, feeling like an idiot. “It’s no big deal.”
“Oh, you poor dear! Alex felt so awful for leaving you! I promised him I’d keep a watch out for you until he got back.”
“Got back from where?” I asked, trying not to sound overly interested.
“The Order has called a meeting, but he - Oh! Mr Anderson!” she called, seeing him come down the main stairs.
“What can I do for you, lass?” he smiled, cheerful as always.
“Are you off to the meeting?”
“Aye, and it could run long by the look of it.”
“Would you please tell Alex that-”
But before she could finish, Alex came around the corner, pulling on a jacket. “Chloe, I’ve got to go look–”
He stopped short as he saw me, acute relief washing over his features. Though relief quickly became horror as he got a better look at me. I self-consciously tucked my hair behind my ear in a vain attempt to look as though I hadn’t just gotten the crap kicked out of me by Mother Nature.
“I am so sorry,” he breathed, guilt stricken.
“It’s fine,” I said with my best smile, “I took a detour, that’s all.” I tried my best to sound convincing, but it was clear he wasn’t buying what I was selling.
“I’ve got to go,” he nodded over his shoulder, “they’ve called a meeting and we might be a while. I don’t think we’re going to be able to meet tonight. Tomorrow morning, same place? Classes start, so everyone else will be busy. We’ll have all day.”
“Sure, that’s fine, don’t worry about it,” I said, hoping to ease some of the self-reproach he appeared to be stuck in.
He nodded, then looking me over again, added, “You should go sit down–”
“Don’t you worry,” Chloe cut in, wrapping her arm around my waist giving me a squeeze, “I’ll get her all taken care of.”
“Aye lad.” Mr Anderson gestured to Alex, whose eyes hadn’t left me. “We’re needed yonder.” Alex went without an argument, but looked back over his shoulder at me four separate times before turning down the main hall and out of sight.
So, he abandons me one minute, then feels horrible about it the next. Interesting… As much as I hated myself for getting any sort of pleasure out of someone else’s discomfort, I had to admit that I rather liked the idea that he was worried about me. Plus, I was glad to see that he seemed to be over whatever funk had caused him to leave me in the first place.
With my spirits adequately lifted, I turned to Chloe. “I should go shower.”
“Yes, of course, you go and clean up. Then when you’re done, come over to my room and we’ll have dinner and a chat,” she said, clasping both my hands in hers excitedly.
“Sounds great,” I said, smiling.
I don’t know that I’ve ever taken a shower that felt so good. Even the soap stinging my fresh scrapes couldn’t lessen the warm relaxing joy for me. It was however, the first shower in which I had to clean leaves out of the tub when I was done. Fun.
After I dressed, I called my mom for the first time since we’d left for Ireland. I spent almost an hour telling her all about the school,