My body felt numb, but in a good way. In this moment, nothing could hurt me. Nothing mattered.
Peter pulled away, catching his breath and partially and unexplainably bewildered, but his face sobered to his natural brooding expression. "I am no coward, Meadow Drew."
A twig snapped, breaking the haze of the kiss and turning our attention to the brisk noise that erupted into the night.
Owen appeared from behind a tree, coming down the path with a lit lantern in his grasp. "Why weren't you with us? Are you okay?" he asked hesitantly, surveying the situation with a look of confusion. Had he seen what happened?
"We're fine. I just stopped to pick some flowers for.. Chase." I said, ignoring Peter's warning about forgetting Chase and quickly picking up the flowers that had fallen from my hands when Peter kissed me.
Peter didn't say a word as he followed behind Owen, not bothering to wait for me.
Something caused a lump to form in my throat and an empty feeling in my stomach.
Peter had only kissed me to prove a point. To him, it was a challenge. But it seemed nearly impossible that the overwhelming feeling of emotion and tension that I felt was one sided. Couldn't he feel it too?
I was clueless as to whether I should bring it up or just pretend it never happened. Perhaps, he wanted to forget and that is why he was so quick to get away from me.
As we trailed down the path to catch up with the others, not a word fell from my lips as my fingers pulled the delicate petals from the flowers until I forced myself to stop before there was nothing but stems.
I was still in utter shock as I replayed the images over and over in my head along with unanswered questions that threatened to break from my minds captivity.
We arrived at the beach to find a fire already burning, flames licking the sky, and the sound of the waves crashing down on one another filled the night sky.
"When will the stars fall, Peter?" Liam asked as soon as we appeared from the woods.
"Be patient, Liam. Keep watching the sky." Peter said simply, joining the boys that sat on the beach.
I walked past the laughter and light, along the beach until I came to the risen mound on the shore. The sounds behind me were distant and the waves were louder here. There was a sense of calm as I placed the sorry looking flowers under the wooden cross and sat beside it, never taking my eyes off the sea, as Peter had done the day we had buried Chase's things beneath the ground.
I was alone with my thoughts and it felt especially freeing.
I glanced behind me every so often to see the boys talking to James, all telling him stories of Neverland before he had arrived.
Owen and I made brief eye contact before he excused himself and trudged along the sand until he was beside me. "Déjà Vu." he said chuckling.
"I'd rather not bring that up. It's in the past." I stated, keeping my eyes on the water.
"Now you're sounding like Peter." he said. He swallowed. "Meadow, I know more about things than you think."
My head shot in his vicinity. "What do you mean?"
"I've seen a few things; heard a few things. What are your secrets worth to you?" he inquired, questionably seductive in the way he pulled his lip between his teeth.
"What do you know about my secrets?" I asked, feeling the blush on my cheeks that I hopes he couldn't see.
"I know who Jamesy was to you pre-Peter." he said, half whispering. "Many things can be heard in the woods, Meadow."
"And seen." he added, my stomach dropping.
"If you say a word to anyone, Owen, I will kill you." I threatened, keeping my voice low.
"Tell me, Meadow, were you challenging Peter when you said 'You're too much of a coward to kiss me'?" he asked.
He had seen it.
"How dare you?" I said, standing up quickly and walking away.
"Relax. I'm not telling anyone anything." he stated, standing up and pulling me back to him.
"Could you stop man-handling me?" I said sternly.
"It's kind of ironic, in a sense. I saw you and Peter's kiss and he saw ours." he said, clicking his tongue. "You've got this whole island wrapped around your little finger now, don't you girly?"
"Owen, stop. Peter's kiss meant nothing."
His smirk disappeared and his gaze held mine. "But you wanted it to mean something." he said. "I realize now, of course, that I was simply the bait for the real catch. You wanted Peter to be jealous."
"It wasn't like that at all, I promise. For a while, I thought I did have feelings for you. I felt safe with you and perhaps, I mistook the feeling of security for love." I explained. "And when I no longer felt safe with you, I lost those feelings."
He sat in silence for a moment. "So you never actually.." he trailed off.
I shook my head admittedly, lowering my gaze to my hands. "I'm sorry."
"And James? What do you feel for him?" he asked curiously.
"Nothing but familiarity."
"I apologize. For implying that you were.. infatuatedly indecisive." he said. "I want us to be friends, if at all possible."
"Yes, sir. We can be friends." I extended my hand for him to shake and he pulled me into a hug, his earthy scent filling my nostrils.
We joined the boys, Owen returning to his spot and James upon noticing me, moved over, glancing at the empty spot next to him. "You're welcome to sit with me, Meadow." he smiled. I thanked him and sat beside him.
"Have you ever been swimming out there?" he asked me, leaning back in the sand and propping himself up on his elbows.
"No. Never. I wouldn't dream of it." I stated, my eyes widening.
"Why? Are there sea monsters or something?" he joked amusedly.
"Man-eating mermaids."
James laughed. "You can't be serious. Mermaids? What do they look like?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. I've never seen one."
"So how do you know there are such things?"
"Peter told me about them. I found a scale on a beach, as well." I said, not wishing to explain Chase's death.
"You can't believe everything he tells you. What if he's just trying to scare you into staying on the island?"
A ping of realization hit me. What if James was right?
"If there's a way out of here, it'd be the ocean, right? And where's the one place that's supposedly dangerous with man-eating mermaids?" he questioned.
What if there really was a way off of Neverland?
"This could be our way out, Meadow. We could leave and maybe then, I'd be able to remember you." he whispered, his eyes trailing down my figure.
"Look at the sky!" Roux exclaimed.
Every few seconds, a beam of light shot across the sky and disappeared like the glow of a firefly. The beams became greater as they rained across the navy sky, everyone's eyes wide with amazement.
But the two things that pestered my thoughts, were Peter's kiss and James' idea to leave Neverland..
•••
A/N
I know this was short but stuff will happen in the next chapter!!
Thank you for waiting patiently, I just haven't been motivated to write lately but all your sweet comments kept me going through this chapter.
The picture I've included is of all the lost boys and how I picture them!
(From left to right, top to bottom)
Thomas Brodie Sangster as Owen
Evan Peters as Caspar
Dylan O'Brien as James
Chandler Canterbury as Nolan
Braden Fitzgerald as Liam
Young Archy Marshall as Roux (I couldn't find any red-head actors young/older enough to play a Roux)
If you were wondering, Roux is pronounced 'Roo' or 'Row', however you wanna say it.
K bye
Love love love