My Midnight Love

Chapter 14

The boys worked on dismantling the larger pieces of furniture together while Lauren and I packed up little trinkets wherever we could find them. I'd forgotten I owned half of the stuff in my room. Aelfgar made short work of the wardrobe finished the job within ten minutes. Joel glared at him enviously from where he worked on the bed.

“Where to next?” Aelfgar asked gruffly.

“Anywhere.” I shrugged turning to look around the room. It was already looking pretty barren “There’s a load of stuff on the window sill.”

He nodded and shuffled over dragging a half filled box with him.

My room was so empty, I’d spent eighteen years filling it and now it was all going down the drain. All my memories shut into cardboard boxes, all my treasures stuffed away, all the non-essentials thrown out. It was a lot to sacrifice, but I knew that it would be worth it, just to spend the rest of my life with Aelfric. I only wished he was here now, or that I wasn't.

Lauren nudged my with her elbow. “Are you excited?”

“About what?” I asked, nonplussed.

“Moving out.”

“I've been living away from home on and off for half a year.” I shrugged. “It's not such a big upheaval.”

“Then why are you moping?” She asked turning to lean against the wall so she could face me totally.

I sighed and dropped the contents of my hands into a bin bag. “Because I have to leave everything behind.”

She raised her eyebrows. “It's not like you can never come back.”

She didn’t know, there was no point having this talk with her. If I was going then I was committed to doing so, I couldn't just pop back every now and then, when I said goodbye it would most likely be forever. No turning back. No room for regrets. Aelfric would need me by his side and he would need me to be strong.

So I lied and laughed gently. ”I guess you're right.”

“What’s this?” Aelfgar called over from the window. He turned holding a piece of sea glass between his thumb and forefinger, the light shining through it made it look like sheet of emerald.

“Sea glass.” I answered going over to where he stood and sifting through a whole bowl of it I’d collected over the years. “I used to be obsessed with it.”

“You get this at the beach?” He asked, looking through it. He picked up another piece and held them up like glasses.

“How can you not know what sea glass is?” Lauren snorted.

Tension settled in the room as each of us who were in on the secret realised his faux pas. He should know what it was, everyone knew what sea glass was. He gave me a panicked glance unsure of what to say. I even saw his gaze flick across to Joel as if he might hold answer. The silence stretched on. And on. And on.

“What's going on?” Lauren asked tentatively. “What are you hiding?”

“I've...never been to the beach.” Aelfgar said, too uncertain to be believable to my ears.

We were saved by my mum as she called up to us that lunch was ready.

“Can I use you bathroom?” Lauren asked, forgetting what we were talking about completely.

“Sure, you know where it is.” I smiled as she left but as soon as she was gone I turned to face the two boys with a wide eyed grimace.

“That was too close.” Joel murmured summing up all my thoughts it one small sentence.