Burning

Chapter FOURTEEN

"Do you want to know something messed up?"

The flickering lights from the computer screen halted and the dramatic pre-kiss scene reflected back to Gabby in four pairs of blue eyes.

"As long as it isn't scary." Claire responded, pulling her knees closer on her bed.

"Lemmings don't actually follow each other to the point of jumping off cliffs. Humans made them do that. Chased them over the edge for a movie. Gross, huh?"

"Um- what made you think of that?" Claire forced a smile.

Gabby considered the four girls lined up shoulder to shoulder, hair on the left, necklaces just above the lowest button that could still be tasteful. They all tipped their heads as one.

"I dunno, it just, popped into my mind for some reason. Thought you'd be interested."

Leeanne frowned at her. "You know a lot of creepy things." Her eyes flicked to her neckline.

Of course you would think that was creepy instead of interesting, or sad. Gabby inhaled. So maybe I am trying to make them uncomfortable so they'd leave, but still what a dumb thing to say. She was going to have the most important conversation of her life in a few hours and instead of being able to sleep in her own bed she had to deal with Claire having these people over again to finish some stupid TV show. On the last night of term. When most people were out at parties... ok so they weren't doing anything wrong exactly, but she still wanted them out. of. Her. Space.

Her façade had been slipping more and more often knowing she was within spitting distance of not having to use it again. She propped her chin on the back of the computer chair to pretend she was still watching. The hot bearded fighting guys were running through a forest with bows now. She tried her best to follow what was happening. She was too nervous to sleep anyway.

"Oh he's the one who can hunt, right?"

"No-" a giggle as the said man on screen missed his quarry by a mile "its that one." Sure enough it hit the mark. The show editors avoided showing the real gore created by a dead animal.

"My dad was really disappointed I missed deer season this year." Lori sighed.

There was a murmur of agreement.

Gabby squinted. "Do you all hunt?" Again with the creepy copy-paste stare.

"Just turkeys."

"My brother got an elk before-"

"I got a wolf once." Claire put a chip in her mouth.

"A wolf?" Gabby could normally write Claire's side of a conversation for her. She almost never was surprised by what she said. "Is that even legal?"

"Yeah, of course if its dangerous."

"I... I've never heard of anyone doing that."

Leeanne rolled her eyes and gave Gabby another look. "You know James has too. Like, three of them. Welcome to Montana."

Claire gave her a chastising stare.

"What I didn't realize she loved wolves so much."

Gabby must have looked quite shocked but did her best to recover. "Its just my dog at home looks a lot like a wolf so the visual is kinda jarring."

Leeanne gave her another hard stare. "Dogs aren't like wolves."

Gabby nodded agreement in confusion. Yes, you idiot I know that. Everyone does. Why even say it.