Hold On To You ✵ {Apply Fic}

Chapter 6

Sabine fluttered to the ground behind Oliver's house, folding her wings back and guising her tattoos. She grabbed a nearby rock and hurled it at a window on the second floor.

She had to toss several pebbles until Oliver Munn peeked out. He slid the window open and looked down at her. "Hey, isn't it the boy's job to throw rocks at the girl's window?"

"Only if you're a cliche," she replied. "Get your ass down here, I want to talk to you."

Oliver huffed disappeared for a few minutes before emerging again through the back door. "What do you want now?"

Sabine held up her new phone, displaying the device in the glinting sunlight. "Look what I have."

Oliver smiled, pulling out his own phone. "It's about time. I mean, how was I supposed to talk to you when you don't go to school, have a phone, or tell me where you live?"

She pulled up her contacts page to add him to her list. "I don't tell you where I live for a reason."

"Which you also will not tell me."

"Correct."

"Why? Do you have strict parents? Or is it something else?" She looked away from him. He took one of her hands in his. "You don't have to be embarrassed around me, okay? I won't judge you."

"Can I just have your number?" She asked, trying to change the subject. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell Oliver everything, it was just... she was supposed to live at the orphanage. If anyone was to find out she wasn't abiding by the rules the guardians had laid out, it was possible that they would force her back and put her under intensive supervision. It was safer if no one but her flock knew where she was really from.

Oliver typed his contact information in for her. "Okay. You can text or call me whenever, I'm not really doing anything this summer."

"Yeah, me neither. So you can also call or text me, I guess."

"You're not doing anything?" Oliver perked up. "Then can you maybe meet me for lunch this Sunday?"

Sabine winced. "Uh, actually, I take it back. I do have stuff this summer. At least, for the first three days."

"What?"

"I'm going with a group of friends to a lake house. It's just supposed to be a quick retreat to get our heads out of school. Nothing big."

"Well, you'll be back on Monday? How about, say... lunch on Tuesday?"

Sabine smiled and booped his nose. "You're on."

Before she left, Seb worked up all the courage she had in herself, and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on Oliver's cheek. He flushed bright pink, his mouth hanging open. Seb smiled at the dumbfounded expression on his face before walking away into the woods.

✵✵✵

Carter checked the address on his phone one more time. He was good with maps and was sure he was at the right place. Even when he'd had to drive for thirty minutes on dark roads in the middle of the forest, he thought he knew where he was going. At least, he had been sure, until he saw the house.

It was almost a shame to call it a house. It was huge, maybe three stories, with seemingly hundreds of windows and arches. There was a fountain outside, for God's sake. The driveway was made of tiny white pebbles laid out in a road, the kind of thing you saw in the movies. Carter felt like he was vandalizing them just by standing on them.

His anxiety was calmed when someone else appeared at his side. It was a girl, a young one too. She had wild, dark hair and a curious face. The thing that stood out about her, though, was her mode of transportation.