Deception

Chapter 21 - Change

"She's not going anywhere." He glared her way before meeting my eyes with a sudden desperation. "You're sick, you'll fall and I won't be there to pick you up."

I can't believe it. There's something different in his eyes, in his voice. Something new. Something vulnerable.

But there's a change in me too. Before I know what I'm doing, I pull my arm away from him, and leave.

———

I knew the day would suck. I knew that the second I walked away from Silas.

Bianca goes on about her boyfriend and their their adulterous activities, whereas I'm close to falling on my face. We'd walked so much, my entire body aches.

I just want to go home. I want to be in my bed, and when Bianca says she's planning on going to three more stores, my vision goes black for a second.

It happens in a blink, so fast, I feel the exact moment my body hits the floor. The next thing I know, I'm being sat on a bench by Bianca.

"I can't do this anymore." I rasp. "We've been outside for six hours."

"So?"

"So I'm exhausted."

Bianca sighs and pulls her phone out, dialling someone and pushing it against her ear. "Your wife fainted. Come pick her up or I'm leaving her with the janitor."

My mouth drops open. She shuts her phone at the end of her sentence, meanwhile I'm horrified. "Why did you do that?"

"Spontaneity I guess." She says dryly, looking off into the distance. "My brother cares about you. I can use that to my advantage."

Disturbed by her words, and the phone call, I swallow. I can't be more self-loathing than I am now.

I should have listened to Silas, but my guilt is wasily washed out by my confusion. Why was he so protective today? I'd never seen him like that before.

Holding my head upright, I tell myself not to think. The entire room starts to spin. The floors sway beneath my feet, making me more nauseous than before.

It takes some more moments of regret. Of uncertainty and unease, before recognition pricks inside of me. I lift my head to meet cool, brown eyes in the distance.

Silas stands with his hands in the pockets of his black slacks, and his tattooed forearms bare from the dark blue button up shirt.

Though he stands in the middle of the mall pathway, obstructing everyones path, the public avoid him completely and use the other pathway.

Gulping hard, I stand. This is not going to be an easy ride.

———

Silas is quiet.

I'm quiet.

Even the engine is a little too quiet.

The space between is tenser than ever, and what makes it worse is my sickness. I look his way, but he's tense and distant and doesn't meet my eyes.