Errand Girl

Chapter 43

A.C.

Close my eyes, he says. That alone has my mind reeling and my eyes widening."Wah — why?" 

Unfazed by my stumbling words, Edward's eyes light with amusement. "There's a caterpillar in your hair and it's making its way down to your face." 

There's a heavy silence that transcends over us. Then I begin screeching, running right into Edward my eyes shut tight.

"Get it off! Get it off! God, get it off!" This night has been hell already, but to have a caterpillar in my hair on top of everything is a clear indication that the universe is out to get me. Whimpering, I grab onto Edward's arm and hold my breath, waiting for him to get the bug off of me. 

Laughter fills the air and I curse under my breath, his thumb grazing my cheek. Taking this as a blatant signal to open my eyes, I do so to see brown eyes swimming with humour. "I was kidding."

Flabbergasted, I sink to the ground as mental exhaustion wears me down. Sighing, I reprimand myself for being so childish and afraid before glancing up to send the person I confessed to the deadliest look I can muster.

Shrugging his shoulders, he leans down so our eyes are levelled with one another. "What? I didn't think you'd take it that seriously. You're still scared of them?"

"And whose fault do you think that is?" I bit out wrathfully. 

"The prank was harmless."

"I woke up with caterpillars all over my body in the morning! How can you possibly expect anyone to forget that?" I burst, reminded of the past.

I can't believe Edward would take the memory of that prank so lightly. I woke up to find fifty of the fattest and hairiest caterpillars I have ever seen in my life. I ended up screaming my lungs out, developing a phobia to the harmless creatures. But I could never be mended from that experience, hence my current state. By far, the most frightening departing gift to give someone for graduation. 

He helps me off the ground and I send one last nasty glare, before dusting myself off with my hands. It only takes me a few seconds to feel Edward's eyes on me and I turn around sharply, waiting for an onslaught of more jokes.

"What?"

"Nothing."

His mild tone is more than suspicious and I narrow my eyes. "Well that doesn't sound like a nothing."

"But it is a nothing."

"Surely that nothing can't be just a nothing."

"But it is just a nothing," he replied.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing." 

"I find that really hard to believe."

"Think what you will then."

"I will," I said earnestly.

"Good."

"Wait, haven't we had this argument before?"

"Yes, I think we have."

 Huffing, I turn my back to Edward before biting my bottom lip some more. My sanity dropped somewhere on the sidewalk while I was running because I have no idea what we're bickering about except that we've had a similar argument before, nor do I have the slightest idea of what to say next. 

Giving up, I sigh and turn to face him yet his calm, unreadable expression and embodied casualness as he leans against the tree irk my nerves further. 

Hoping not to sound agitated, I inhale a deep breath. "Thanks for breaking Chris' arm, but I'm going home now." 

Before I can even place one foot in front of the other to walk away, his leaning figure takes imposing steps and halts directly in front of me. "If you're upset about the nothing, then I was only thinking that we could have done a lot worse."