Where the Skies are Blue

Chapter Nineteen:

Stepping into work later that day, the bell dings above my head, alerting Maggie of my presence. I avoided Ender in my last hour, not wanting him to see my eye. We made eye contact, and he even gave me a small smile, but I panicked and sat towards the front.

A part of me was worried I might have hurt his feelings. Getting a smile from Ender is a rare occurrence.

It started to rain on my walk over, making my hair damp, causing it to stick to my neck. I take it in one hand and blow a strand of my bangs off my brow. Maggie gives me a wide smile. "Looks like the storm got to you!"

I nod and wrap my wet hair into a bun before dabbing my face with my hands, then wincing when I accidentally touch too close to the bruise on my cheek. "I love this weather." I tell her.

A frown sketches across her face as she approaches me. Reaching out, she grips my chin with her hand and tilts my head up. "What happened to your face, dear?"

I pull away from her. "Got hit in the face with a football on the beach." The lie feels weird as it leaves my mouth. The story is true, just not in this instance. The first black eye was an accident; this one, not so much. A part of me feels guilty for lying. Another part of me is angry that I'm having to lie and cover for him in the first place.

This makes Maggie laugh as she smacks a hand on top of her thigh. "Auden! You need to be more careful. Looks like it got you pretty hard."

I give her a stiff smile as she shuffles back over to the counter. "I've got you and Ender back to organizing again today. The labels look fantastic!"

"It was mostly thanks to my amazing skills." I say and flash her a grin.

"I think you mean my amazing skills." Ender suddenly appears from around the corner. He folds his arms across his chest and leans to the side against the door frame. "Don't fall for her lies." He winks at Maggie, and something about that makes my jaw want to fall slack on the floor like one of those cartoon scenes.

"There are no lies told here." I place a hand on the side of my mouth to hide my lips from Ender, so only Maggie sees them. "He's just jealous." I attempt to give her a wink back, but instead, my eye twitches and I'm sure I just look like I'm having a seizure, whereas when Ender did it, he managed to make it look like the sexiest gesture. My eyes glance back over at Ender, who rolls his eyes with a hidden smile, making one of my own spark on my face.

Maggie laughs, her white hair falling off her shoulders. "You two crack me up. I'm so glad you're getting along."

"Is that what they call it?" I look at him and scrunch my nose in disgust.

Ender turns, disappearing back around the corner, and I hurry after him, rounding it quickly, running smack into him, causing me to bounce back. "Talking a lot of smack for such a newbie." He deadpans as he grips my shoulders, steadiing me back on my feet.

I look up at him with a smirk. His eyes look over me in this deep gaze that makes any sort of comeback or joke evaporate in my mind as I melt under his touch and become mesmerized by his eyes. "Auden, hey," he says slowly, his eyebrows stitching together into a look of worry. "Look at me."

My eyes widen. I forgot about my face. Quickly, I look away and take a step back from him. He goes to reach for me, his hand taking mine gently. "Auden, what happened?" He asks with caution, his words gradual. I can't bring myself to look at him now, even with his hand holding onto mine.

"Oh," I attempt to laugh. It sounds so incredibly fake that it makes me cringe. "This little thing. Nothing. I fell. Really, it looks worse than it is." I attempt to swallow, but there's something lodged in my throat. All the lies that are building. The discomfort of it all. This is awful.

He's quiet a moment. Even though I'm not looking at him, I can still clearly see his soul-searching stare, the way his brain is working right now, moving the pieces as he tries to find the right words. "Auden, did Hunter do this?" He finally asks.

This makes me shift my gaze to him. "No!" I respond too quickly; my voice too high-pitched. Swallowing down a breath, I try again, "No." I say more calmly, but he's looking back at me like he knows I'm lying. He sees through the bullshit. "No." I repeat it and each time I say it, it sounds more like a yes. My voice shakes a little more.

"No, I'm not." I pull my hand from his and take a step back. "I fell, honestly. It's not a big deal. I'm fine."

"Auden."

I'm shaking my head, trying to flash him a smile, and I'm not sure if I'm attempting to convince him or myself. Ender's eyes flash with anger. "Auden, don't make excuses for him. Did he do this to you?"

"Ender, I really appreciate you caring, but he didn't do this. I swear. Can we drop it, please?" I plead with him, my eyes peel away again because I can't look at him any longer without wanting to confess the truth. Before he can get another word in, I start to walk away. "I'm going to start working." I say quickly before disappearing to head towards the back shelves.

I want to believe this whole thing is a misunderstanding. One big mistake. He didn't mean it. I want things so desperately to go back to how they were. I want to believe he cares about me. It's obvious he feels guilty about it.

Crouching down on the floor, I mindlessly begin to sort through the bottom shelf of books. My mind somewhere else. Unable to shut my thoughts off.