Silence is worse than words. Nora in front of me, just staring at me while wearing that knowing smirk is driving me insane. She hasn't said a word since we finished playing hide and seek and then had dinner. Just furtive looks, a smile that makes my guts twist. And every time I looked away, Will was always where my eyes landed and he didn't look nervous at all, or uncomfortable, or anything at all! He was acting just like always which made me feel even more anxious.
As Nora keeps watching me I feel the urge to get on my knees with my fists above my head in penalty, confessing what happened in the barn and all my other sins.
She doesn't say anything, and I know I don't necessarily have to mention what happened, I can just pretend nothing occurred and she's just reading more into the situation, but I can't. If she asked me, if she teased me I could lie or do anything, but the silence makes me want to break it with my confession.
"Stop," I beg, grabbing a pillow to hide my face in it. "If you keep doing that I'm going to break down and confess."
"Confess what?"
Why is she playing innocent?! She knows, I don't need to tell her things, she is too clever and knows me too well.
"You know what," I whine, still with my face buried in the pillow. "Don't make me say it out loud."
"I don't know anything," she replies. "I just saw Will and you really close, hiding together in the barn. I don't know what happened after I found you and why you took so long to come out."
I groan as I throw the pillow at her, glaring but it is quite a weak look as I'm more embarrassed than anything else.
"Fine! I kissed him. No, he kissed me and I kissed back. Wait, no I—I ack!" My tongue twists and I rub my hands over my face. "I don't know. Kiss."
Nora laughs, finding my misery too amusing apparently. I glare at her again, my hands cupping my face in my best impression of Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone.
"Let me guess. It was a mistake, got caught in the mood, it means nothing," Nora ventures and what makes me blush is that I'd like to say that. I really would.
"I dunno," I whisper, looking down. "I want to say that, but it's too shameless. I..." I sigh, feeling overwhelmed with my own emotions. "First of all, I liked it. Second of all, since our truce or even before that, it's like all the tension between us changed from animosity to something else. He makes me nervous, my heart races and I think I'm crushing on him and that's... not right? I mean, in my current situation having boy problems is the last thing I want."
I really didn't sign for boy problems, but that seems to be exactly what I'm having right now.
"Okay, hypothetically speaking, we might put our differences aside or even find some middle ground, but then what? What's the point of it? I come here to hide and stay alive and go back with a boyfriend? That's ridiculous. Considering that's something he might want, which we don't know. He could be just fooling around or I don't know."
"I can understand your point of view and why liking him makes you conflicted," Nora says, his expression more sympathetic instead of teasing, which helps a lot to calm down a bit. "But it's not like your only two options are either ending up with him or not."
"Come again?" I splutter, not following her quite well.
"I mean, you're under a lot of stress, you're scared, so why not using this little distraction that's showing up in front of you? You don't know what might happen as you get to know him better. Maybe this will be just a kiss and nothing else, or maybe you two are more compatible than you think."
Nora smiles at me, in that comforting way that makes me feel so reassured.
"Maybe for the first time, boy problems are better and easier to deal with than all your other problems."
I sigh, understanding what she means but not able to make a decision right now. Maybe I shouldn't feel so conflicted and just relax. Will didn't look troubled or anxious at all, and it's lame that I'm the only one like this. Maybe I should act as if nothing too and just go with the flow. Overthinking is always bad.
Nora is right about one thing, of that I'm sure: I have a lot of problems going on. Do I need to get so stressed over Will? I doubt it.
I really think I need to relax.
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I certainly did not expect waking up to a light shaking of my shoulders, or the whispering calling my name. I try opening my eyes, but with the few hours of sleep I manage to get, these burn and weight way too much. It takes me a lot of effort to open them and look up front, but the moment I get the person in front of me into focus, I also scream, and for certain I can say I'm full awake.
"Time to wake up, Princess," he says with a smile. "We have a penalty to pay and breakfast to make."
"Wh-what time is it?" I ask, pulling the covers a bit higher so I can cover my face and mouth. It's not nice or considerate to show anyone else what a few hours of sleep do to you. And I don't mean beauty sleep, I mean pillow creases, bird nest hair and morning breath.
"Seven in the morning. But the youngest kids wake up quite early so I can't let you sleep in."
I try to hide a bit more, cuddling a bit closer to Nora. She reacts instinctively, wrapping and arm and leg around me, snuggling closer. Will is watching us and the smile he was wearing becomes a bit tense and the amusement fades away.
"Fine, fine," I whisper. "But wait outside. I'll be out in a few minutes."
He nods, taking one last glance at us in the bed and then rising to his feet and leaving the room. I take a few more moments to accept the idea I have to leave the warm bed and my best friend's cuddles. Nora is just so comfortable, or maybe it's because we're best friends we know exactly how to fit each other.
I leave the bed, carefully not to wake Nora up, and go pick my clothes before heading to the bathroom. It's a really cold morning, so I dress up warningly and once I'm ready, or at least decent enough, I head out. I scold myself when I think of doing something with my hair or even applying some makeup. I'm sure that if I did, Will would tease me and say I'm dolling up for him. So no, I just wash up, brush my teeth and hair and apply lotion to my face.
I insist, pride gets in your way most of the time.
I find Will downstairs, and this time he smiles when I join him and walk with him to the door, but before going out, he grabs my coat that's hanging there and helps in get in. I'm surprised he's doing that, but it gets worse when he takes off his own scarf and wraps it around me, carefully, gently.
"It's really cold outside today," he whispers, smiling sweetly, still holding the ends of the scarf. I look up at him, my heart racing as fast as I blink.
"Th-thanks," I mumble, wanting to scold myself for sounding like that, so nervous, even if that makes him smile brighter.
"Let's go then," he declares, turning on his heels and opening the door.
I take a deep breath and follow him, reminding myself I have to act natural. If he's acting like nothing happened, then I can do the same. If he wants to talk about it or something the like, then we talk about it. If not, then we carry on just as we have so far. It gives me less anxiety considering what happened as a closed chapter.
I follow him to the hen house, noticing how he's picked a bowl he had outside the house, and leading the way. He explains to me how we'll proceed and what we'll do with the eggs to make sure there's no little chicken inside. I listen carefully and that helps me ignore anything else I am feeling.
It is early, but almost all the chickens are outside, looking for some food, so Will leads the way inside and I can see now exactly where the chickens sleep. There are two inside, in their nests. They are not sleeping, they react to our presence but don't move.
Will points me to one nest to pick the three eggs that are there, while he goes for others. It is weird to pick up an egg, I barely touch it because I know where it came from and who was sitting on top of them until not long ago. I can hear Will chuckling at my back, and I don't need to turn to know he's watching me and finding my behaviour amusing. Per usual.
When I have put the three eggs in the bowl and turn to face Will, he's still smiling, but his eyes are warmer as he stares, not just amused.
"You're so cute sometimes. Awkwardly cute," he muses, making me blink in surprise for the compliment.
But I don't get to say anything else, he turns to go pick more eggs and I just stay there, blinking up to him. Or at least until he calls for me.
"Hey Princess, come here for a sec," he says, crouching down in front of one of the chicken.
A bit reluctantly, I go to where he is and take the same pose, watching the chicken as he gently, pats her head. "Carefully, look," he tells me and then I see him grabbing the chicken and lifting her in the air. She moves restlessly, but I can see the five eggs she was protecting. "We'll be having new chickens soon."
"How do you know?" I ask, staring at him with big eyes. I surely must look like one of the kids, watching him as if he knew it all.
Will smirks, probably enjoying the attention, and putting the chicken back in her nest. "That's a secret, just trust me."
"Oi!" I protest, pouting because he's not telling me.
"Don't make that face, Blanca. I might kiss you again but this is not a good place for that. It smells," he teases and my heart stops, eyes widening and pout gone. I cover my mouth with my hand, but then I remember what I touched with that hand and put it away, making faces and sticking my tongue out as if I tasted something bad.
Of course, Will bursts out laughing at my reaction.
Flustered and embarrassed, I rise to my feet and aim to leave first, but as I do, two chickens are rushing inside. They startle me, that's why I end up screaming and taking a few steps back, startling them back and making them bat their wings and fly a bit, so I scream louder. It's like dominos.
"Hey, no screaming," Will hurries to say, coming from behind and putting his hands around my arms. "They'll get scared if you continue."
"They surprised me," I mutter, not realising now I lean closer to him, as if seeking for shelter until I'm basically pressed against him.
"I'm sure you surprised them even more," he replies and I can sense in his voice he's biting back his grin. "I still find so amusing how you're scared of some innocent and harmless chickens."
"They have peaks and that could hurt! Don't call them harmless," I refute, turning round to glare at him, but he is still chuckling at me. "Would you take responsibility if one of them attacks me one day?"
He clicks his tongue, lightly shaking his head. "Okay, if one does attack one you day, I'll be responsible. I'll kiss your wound and everything will be fine."
"That's not necessary," I mutter, looking away to try to hide my blush when I can picture perfectly that scene and my heart leaps.
"I think it's really necessary now that I see you blushing." He laughs and I take deep breaths, but that's a bad idea when we're inside and it smells like chicken poop. "Let's get out now," he adds, still laughing at me.
He doesn't have to say it twice for me to nod my head, however I did not see coming that he'd hold the bowl with one arm and my hand with his free one, leading me out and back inside our house. I don't do or say anything, I just keep on staring at our hands clasped together, fighting my own smile and the fluttering of my heart, but failing.
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So there you ave the chapter. Did you enjoy it? If you get 600 votes before Friday I'll give you a bonus content with Will's POV.
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Dedication to Lotttee
Bel, xx
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