TORTURED SOUL | abby littman

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗻𝗲.

     
    
    
   
    

chapter forty one

{ unedited }

    
    
    
    
    

ROWAN STOOD OUTSIDE THE BAKER HOUSEHOLD, a frown tugging at her lips as she stared blankly at the door. Unlike yesterday when getting out of bed was a hassle, Rowan seemed to be full of energy today with no thoughts or fears in her mind. She didn't really understand how quickly her emotions had changed when yesterday she felt like, mentally, she was on death's door but today felt like the way things were before she was admitted to the hospital.

It was a possibility she was losing her sanity but Rowan chose to not question it.

Not long after Rowan rang the doorbell, the door opened to reveal a smiling Max who swiftly turned into an annoyed Max when she saw who was at the door. "Ugh, it's you," Max groaned, pushing the door further open and turning her back to Rowan as she made her way back into the house. "Marcus is in his room."

"I wanted to talk to you," Rowan said, not moving from the doorstep. Max paused, slowly turning to Rowan with a confused expression. It wasn't exactly a lie. Rowan had come here to see Marcus but she had intended to talk to Max if she was in which, thankfully, she was. "Can I come in?"

"Oh." Max looked around the house as if expecting someone to show up and say it was a prank that Rowan was there. When not spotting anyone, Max turned to Rowan and nodded slowly. "Sure. Come on in."

Silently, Rowan followed Max into the house and upstairs to her room. She spotted Clint in the kitchen as she made her way up and signed hello to him, one of the few things she still remembered when she learned the language back when she was six and spent more time in the Baker household. She earned a smile and wave from Clint so she deemed it good enough before disappearing from his sight and into Max's room.

Even though Max had invited Rowan to her room, Rowan left the door open to make sure Max felt comfortable since Max did currently hate her. As she made her way in, Rowan spotted a framed picture on Max's nightstand of her and Abby, Abby on Max's back with the brightest smile. "Cute," Rowan mumbled, not realising Max had stopped in front of her and happened to hear her.

"What do you want?"

Instinctively, Rowan took a step back, creating a small distance between them, hands crossed behind her back. "I didn't get a note," Rowan said, not bothering to beat around the bush. The misunderstanding had gone on for long enough. Max's head tilted to the side, brows furrowing together and Rowan sighed. "The note you wrote, whenever you wrote it. I didn't get it. I only found out a couple weeks back because of Marcus. You got the wrong locker."

"No...I..." Max trailed off, head cocking to the other side, eyes narrowing as if trying to recall that day.

"Listen, Max, I'm only telling you this because I don't want any unnecessary drama. If you still wanna hate me, go for it but don't let it be for a false reason. It's not something I wanna deal with now, it's not something I can deal with now. You get that?"

"Yeah, yeah, I understand," Max said, nodding quickly before stopping with a wince, hand going up to rub the back of her neck. "You really didn't get it?" Max asked, voice timid.

"I promise you I didn't. And, even if I had, you should've known I wouldn't spread it. I mean, c'mon, we spent so much time together. Didn't you know me better than that?" Rowan didn't care anymore. Not really. But it did still sting to know Max had known her for years before that and still assumed Rowan was the one to start rumours.