In Saving the Imperfect

19. Instead we crouched defeated

"Hey, she's not my girlfriend," Coden protested. Then, his voice turned quiet. "She was like a sister, more of."

No one paid attention to him. Malia sat beside Layne and grabbed the photograph from his grip. For a few minutes straight, the girl simply looked at it. Rotating it around and squinting her eyes. She examined it like a detective, looking for a clue.

"That. Is an adorable photo," she said. "How'd you two know each other?"

Coden repeated his story with Malia smiling ear to ear, all the way through it.

"Oh my gosh, that's so cute!" the girl exclaimed. "So untraditional, too!"

"Yeah, I know. In my teenage years, I was bullied a lot. On my bad days, Roxie would get us a huge pizza and my grandma would make everyone hot chocolate. We'd spend the afternoon watching movies." Coden grinned. Clear liquid appeared on the corners of his eyes, which he brushed off with the back of his hand. "But every single morning, she broke into my house – well, I mean, my grandma would let her in – but she'd break into my room and drag me out of bed. She'd then drag me out jogging with her."

"I'm sure she's a great friend." Malia gave him back the photograph. "Hey, Layne?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's that package you hid for me? I think I might be ready to see it now."

"Oh. It's behind your pallet."

"Wait, what?" She scooted over to her own bed and searched around it.

"In the front. Right next to the wall."

Malia fished out a brown package and rotated it in her hands. "Wow, Layne. I'm impressed."

He smiled. "Well, you didn't find it, did you?"

"Haven't really looked."

She held the box. Didn't move an inch. Her hands began shaking and colour drained from her face. Layne wondered whether he should do something about that – but came to understand that he wouldn't have known what to do in the first place.

"You're okay, Malia?" asked Coden. Layne wished he would have thought of that himself.

"Yeah. It's just. Lots of memories. Not great ones, too."

"What's that all about?"

She shook her head. Thin fingers started running through the paper but in the end, she simply ripped it off.

Malia opened the box and it fell out of her hands and dropped on the ground. "Firecrackers," she whispered. "Fucking firecrackers."

Layne picked up the package and looked inside. Indeed, all its contents were just a few tiny firecrackers on the bottom of the box. "What the hell is that about?"

"He probably thought he was being funny." She clenched her fists. "Damn asshole."

"What do firecrackers have to do with anything?" Coden inquired.

"What's what the dipshit used to call me. He knew I hated all of his stupid nicknames but of course-" Her words turned into continuous sobs. Soon enough, she couldn't speak anymore at all, didn't even make a word. Her mouth kept bobbing open in a silent cry.

Lost, Layne sat there and avoided looking at her. He didn't know how to handle someone else's emotions – hell, he didn't always know how to handle his own. He remembered when they had just arrived at the Land and Malia was crying. That time, they went exploring together. And that worked. He had a feeling this time wouldn't be so easy.

Not thinking much, he sat closer to her and wrapped her in a hug. That's how he'd handle Rissa being upset – although the little girl's troubles were easy to soothe in comparison to what Malia was going through. She pressed her face into his shoulder and her sobs regained a sound.