Dove Sport

Chapter Sixteen: Nicholas

Dara woke up on Sunday morning with a head cold. Her sinuses were stuffed and her head felt too heavy to be held up by her neck. It seemed she would be spending the beginning of October sick. The last of the leaves had fallen and the branches of the trees in Doveport were naked. The weather forecast was predicting dreary days full of rain from now onto spring. Dara desperately missed Florida. 

    Yesterday she'd driven Arsen and Blair out to the fucking creepy-ass convent in the woods in search of Blair sister. Dara hadn't even known convents were still a thing that existed, much less that still operated.

Dara had no clue if Blair had found Grace though, because shortly after their arrival, Mary Wallis had shown up and forced Dara and Arsen to go home. Although Dara had texted Blair later that night, she'd received no answer to whether or not Grace had been found. Dara did, however, have a message waiting for her when she woke up that morning from an unknown number. At first, Dara had hoped it was her mother. Perhaps she'd gotten a burner phone, Dara thought.

It was not her mother. It was from Nick. He was back from his week-long excursion to the neighboring town for some sort of fencing tournament and wanted to meet up. Dara, frankly, felt like shit, and had no desire to leave her house. She promptly told him this and Nick offered to come to her. Dara stared at their conversation and turned her screen off, flopping back into the warmth of her bed. She supposed it wouldn't be too horrible if Nick came to see her, other than the fact that he'd probably see her sick and grumpy. Besides, Dara thought with a small bit of jealousy, Blair and Arsen were probably out together doing something today, and it wasn't as if she'd been invited. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she'd only been included yesterday because she had a car to drive Blair and Arsen in. Dara thought for another moment before making her decision and texting Nick that he could come over. With a glance at the time on her phone screen, Dara forced herself to dress and look presentable.

She traded her pajama shorts for a clean pair of sweatpants and fuzzy socks. She brushed her hair and teeth but didn't bother with makeup before she changed into a clean t-shirt. From the noises downstairs Dara guessed her grandmother was already awake and getting ready for church. Despite having rarely interacted with her grandmother prior to moving in with her, Dara and her grandmother got along well. Granny Faye never crowded her or forced Dara to talk when she didn't want to, and, in turn, Dara was a quiet grandchild and didn't play music late into the night when her grandmother slept. She supposed she'd have to tell her grandmother she was having someone over. Resigning herself to being social, Dara headed down from the attic where she slept and made for the kitchen.

Granny Faye was busy at one of the counters brewing coffee, but she turned when she heard Dara coming down.

"Good morning, dear," Her grandmother said, turning back to the coffee maker, "I'm leaving in half an hour." Her grandmother filled a mug and passed it to Dara before filling her own. "There's creamer in the fridge if you decide to stop being a heathen." Her grandmother paused and looked Dara up and down. "Are you going somewhere?"

Dara shook her head. "One of my friends is coming over at some point today, but I'm not planning on leaving."

Her grandmother considered her outfit and asked, "Is it that Wallis girl? What's her name- Bridget- no, Bethany?"

"Blair." Dara corrected, "And no, it's someone else." She was hesitant to hell her grandmother she was having Nick over, in part because she wasn't sure her grandmother knew who he was, and in part because her past experience introducing her family members to boys hadn't gone well. Dara nearly shuddered, recalling how her mother had threatened an old boyfriend of Dara's until he broke it off between them and moved away. It wasn't as if she was planning on dating Nick anyways, girl code and all, but it was better to play it safe and keep him away from her family.