Darcy and her father return back to their old stomping grounds of New York City. With her, Darcy brings habits of being reclusive. She is perfectly content spending most of her time within the walls of her father's café and sees nothing wrong with t...
I didn't fail to notice the drop of sunlight in her voice as she explained that last part. I slumped against the headboard. "I could've helped, Jessica. You didn't have to do this alone," I mumbled.
"I didn't want to drag you and Chris around for all these little errands. Especially not when Reece saw that flyer last night when we were checking in. Go have fun with Chris. It'll be nice to have this day before tomorrow."
Tomorrow.
The feeling of tears started to prickle, but I blinked it away. "Doesn't it feel... I don't know. Inappropriate to be having fun when we came here to mourn Miss Sylvi's death?"
"Oh, Darce," Jessica said softly. "We'll be sad, and we'll definitely be crying, but we won't just mourn. We'll be celebrating her."
A cord within me snapped, and this time, I didn't bother to smother the small cry that left my lips. I slumped over my knees. Chris reached out and rubbed a hand across my back.
"That's what Josie told me this morning. And thinking like that... well, I think that's going to help me get through this weekend," Jessica continued. "And besides, Darce. This is Sylvia's stomping ground. This is where she grew up. Once upon a time, she walked those same streets that the festival is being held at. So, go. Have some fun with Chris. Let Sylvia see you with a smile on your face today."
I gripped Chris's hands as it slipped into mine. I met his stormy blue eyes with my watery ones and squeezed his hand. "Okay," I whispered. "I will."
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"Check it out, Darce!"
I shoved my phone into my little backpack and looked up as Chris ran over to where a black scooter was propped up against our hotel building. I smiled as a ray of sunlight illuminated the sky blue hoodie Chris opted for instead of his black one. There was a graphic covering his entire back, of an anime Chris told me about but I couldn't recall the name of, but the pop of color on him excited me all the same.
"Chris, don't! Don't be a thief," I hissed, running over to him as he mounted the black scooter.
He waved a hand. "Oh, relax. It's one of those electric scooters I've seen online before. You just put your card on this app and they'll charge you depending on distance. So we can use this baby to ride around today. See, look!"
I followed Chris's finger in the direction of a few teenage boys zipping down the crosswalk on the same electric scooters.
Huh. Cool. I became even more impressed as I watched Chris download the app and figure out all the mechanics.
"There's only one, though. Should we try and find me one?" I asked him.
"If you wanna. Or you can just..." he hesitated a bit, then smiled and extended a hand. "We can ride together. Just hold on to me?"
I flushed. Red tinged the apples of Chris's cheeks, too. It seemed the euphoric shift from last night had been replaced with shyness on both our ends. But unless I wanted to walk, there was no choice but for me to get on, for at least right now. So I nodded and held onto Chris's shoulders as I stepped onto the scooter.
