The North Star | COMPLETED ✔️

Chapter 41~ Acceptance

God, I sound so stupid.

Bard continued to stare at me, his face like a graven image, completely unreadable.

It made me feel dumb. Why was I bugging him? I'd made it clear I wasn't interested, and now I was pestering him. "Never mind," I removed my hand from his arm and bit the inside of my cheek.

Bard's eyes cut. "Why?"

I cleared my throat. "I'm bored."

"Do you want me to stay?" He took a step forward and lifted my chin, eyes searching, reading.

I swallowed hard. My heart rate spiked. "Maybe."

Bard's lip twitched. He titled his head. "Alright."

"You don't have to, though." I motioned towards the woods. "You can go do... whatever it is you do."

"I know that." He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the cabin.

Bard didn't slow until we were inside, then gently pushed me down to sit on the sofa.

"What are you doing?"

"Snacks. I'm hungry." He disappeared into the kitchen, and I could hear him rummaging through the cabinets.

I wiped my palms onto my jeans and tried to ignore my thundering heart. Why was I so nervous?

Bard's presence was strange after all the time he'd spent away. I was so used to the house being empty, him suddenly being there made it seem almost too full.

He stepped back out after a long few moments, arms full to the brim. He took the seat beside me, plopped two bags of chips into my lap,a bottle of soda into my hand, then spread the rest of his bounty across his thighs.

"You weren't kidding." I took in the amount of food he'd gotten. Three kinds of chips, two kinds of dip, a can of processed cheese, a package of cookies, and a handful of granola bars.

Bard grinned. "I'm a growing boy, Tequila."

"Growing?" I snorted. "If you grow anymore, someone's going to need to yell timber every time you fall."

"That would get annoying." He shoved a handful of chips into his mouth then chomped them with a boyish grin.

"Why? You fall that much?"

His swallowed. "Every time I look at you." He held out a chip.

I took it, popped it into my mouth, then looked everywhere but him as I chewed. Why'd I do this to myself? Did I want this? Yes. Yes, I did. Did I need it? Absolutely not.

But out in the woods, on a mountain, away from the rest of the world, from life and karma and bad decisions... the line between want and need blurred.

"Can I ask you something?" he said, tone soft.

I looked over, but he'd busied himself with the wrapper on a granola bar. He didn't look up, and I could tell he was taking longer than was needed.

"What?"

"How'd you..." He paused. "How'd you get mixed up with him?" His eyes met mine, wrapper forgotten.