ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NP 2014.
Chapter Thirteen: Memories
"Sophie, baby, call me. We need to talk."
"I didn't mean it, Soph. Baby, I love you. Call me back. You took me by surprise, and I just wasn't thinking. It took me a while but I realized that it doesn't matter. We can figure something out. Call me, Sophie, baby, I need to hear your voice."
"Sophie Thwaite, answer your phone. I know you're in South Carolina. Don't bother denying it."
"Dammit, answer your fucking phone! This is ridiculous. You're acting like a child."
"Answer me or we're done and so is your fucking fishy secret."
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
I let the door to the cafe swing shut behind me. The little bell chimed, and a young waiter looked over to see me enter as I walked to the line near the counter to order.
"How may I help you?" he asked, squeezing behind the bar. The swing-door moved back into place and drifted back and forth a few times before going still.
"A medium--," I began, and a light and familiar voice came from the back room.
"Morning, Sophie! Your usual?" Corinna entered the room with her classic white smile and finished tying her ebony hair into a ponytail. She was so striking, tall, and lithe that I couldn't believe she wasn't modeling across the country by now. I had been coming here on the odd occasion recently, and she had an incredible memory of every customer's order to add to her beauty.
"Please," I said, and my lips tilted into a returning smile. The young waiter seemed a bit curious of our familiarity, but he stepped to the side as Corinna took control of my order and sidestepped behind the counter. I didn't believe I had seen him here before; perhaps he had been newly hired, or changed his hours to the morning.
"Jared," the tall barista called, balancing two paper coffee cups in one hand as she crouched down to the pastry case. "Run to the back for me and check the phone. I think I heard it ringing."
With a swift nod, he disappeared almost silently. Corinna told me she'd bring me my order as soon as she finished, and I glanced around the cafe to locate a table.
It had been a month since the day I visited Roxanne in the hospital. The time had passed both quickly and slowly for me as I found my daily routine in Chalance, and, for the most part, things were going well. I'd bonded with the girls and made my own hand of friends at CU, and my old boss from Portland had offered to let me do my work from here -- giving me back my steady income and the security I had before I left home. There was only one major issue.
Adrian.
Since the marking incident, my thoughts had been strung out by every emotion known to man. I tried limiting how much I thought of him at first -- which had been a complete, utter failure if I were to be honest -- and then resolved to work on my self-control around him until I decided what to do next. I had no idea how to go about this situation, and a strange restlessness had begun to grow inside me ever since I had gotten those voice mails from William about a week ago. Voice mails, which should have alerted me, but I was too settled here to want to move again so soon, and especially now that I had Adrian. No one would believe Will's story anyway.
A coffee cup and a small Danish were set before me, and Jared's presence at my side brought me out of my thoughts. He asked evenly, "Can I get you anything else, ma'am?"
An endearing Southern accent tinged his voice. I smiled as I shook my head. "No, thank you. This is all."
As my fingers wrapped around the warm cup, I realized he hadn't left my table yet. I looked up curiously to see his face twisted with indecision, before he seemed to make up his mind.
"You're the woman who came from Portland."
It was a very abrupt statement, not posed as a question. I hesitantly responded, "Yes, that's me." I had no idea where he was going with this, and in honesty, he didn't seem to either.
He seemed troubled, as if he weren't sure if he could talk to me. "You've met Mr. O'Connor?"
Mr. O'Connor, as in Adrian? I assumed that was whom he meant when I replied, "Yes, I have. Why do you ask?"
As soon as I said I knew Adrian, an odd light entered Jared's eyes. He shook his head and smiled before saying, "I was only curious. Enjoy your breakfast, Miss; it's on me."
I had to stop my jaw from falling as he turned and disappeared without a moment's notice. The encounter left my already finicky emotions twisted in confusion while I stared at my Danish for a few silent moments. Who was Jared? Why had he asked me such an odd question?
My phone ringing suddenly made me jump in my seat. I reached into my purse, fumbling through it dazedly in search of my phone, and extracted it just as it stopped ringing.
Will.
My breath caught and I stared openly at the screen, my finger hovering over the button that said 'return call'. A few moment later, a voice mail popped up on the screen. I mentally weighed the option of listening to it or discarding it altogether. A few seconds later, curiosity won out, and I placed the speaker against my ear and slid my finger lightly across the phone.
"Sophie, I told you I wasn't taking no for an answer. I'm coming to get you, and you better call me before I change my mind and give the biology department a nice tip. Five hours, baby. Your choice."
~~~~~~*~~~~~~
I looked over my shoulder one last time and threw the bag into the trunk of my car. The pitch black humidity of the night didn't fail to send shivers up my spine as I clicked the lock and ran back inside, bolting the door behind me.
Tomorrow I would leave Chalance. There was no way around it. William knew where I was, and he sounded so unstable in my voice mails that fear hadn't left me since I'd thrown the phone onto my bed and dug my fingers into my hair. I was terrified, and most probably no sane person would believe him, but I was too afraid to work with those odds. I had already notified the college that I would be in need of transfer paperwork soon. I chose to leave the notice as vague as I could get away with, but I could tell the woman in the front office had understood that something was very wrong with me. I was incredibly grateful she hadn't asked any questions.
"Soph," he whispered, "it's just a little water. What's the issue?"
"It's complicated, Will."
He made me look at him. "If you keep giving me that answer, I'll just throw you in."
I took a shaky breath and tried to be confident. If I loved him, I trusted him with this.
"Okay," I said, but I missed the widening, victorious grin of his lips. "There's something I want to tell you."
I woke up sharply and didn't go back to sleep after that.
It didn't hit me until around two AM that leaving Chalance meant leaving Adrian.
That realization stung me more than William threatening my secret. My chest hadn't stopped burning since then, and it was five o'clock now. The pain was starting to radiate outward, now reaching my head. It was as if my entire body were shutting down so I didn't have a chance of leaving him behind.
I'd tell him tonight, before I left this morning. There was no way I could leave without seeing his face one last time, or hearing his voice say my name before I only had the memory to think of him. Mine may have seemed like a rash decision to him, but I couldn't expect him to understand. He was a human - blissfully human, and I loved him for it, but I couldn't try to make him fathom my world. I wanted to leave him with good memories of me; not with tarnished ones of a girl who wasn't normal.
I wasn't even ashamed to admit I knew where he lived. Even though I hadn't been paying attention when he'd brought me there the first time, Avery and Mia, whom I had learned were his cousins, had let the address slip one day, and it had been ingrained into my mind before I could even comprehend it. The house seemed startlingly far from any other neighbors, but I'd never thought further into it, and tonight it wasn't the factor that weighed heaviest in my mind.
I saw the wooden, brown door in front of me and caught his scent from the other side. Hesitation filtered through me when I raised my hand to knock.
I knocked on his door. Today, I would show Will everything.
My hand began to shake.
As soon as my fist touched the door, it opened to reveal one of the men I'd met on campus over a month ago. Ethan's dark eyes looked confused before his eyes widened with apprehension.
"Sophie," he said, cautiously.
"Um, hi," I began, not expecting others to have been here this early. "Is Adrian here?"
Ethan looked as if he had no idea what to reply. Eyes suddenly blanking until he looked to be his teasing, normal self, he opened the door a bit wider and invited, "Come on in. Adrian's out back with the others. I'll get him for you."
The others? I wanted to ask the questions racing in my mind. Why was he -- why were they outside at a time like this?
It was still dark as I entered the large foyer and stood to the side. I was unsure of what to do with Ethan watching me watch him.
"He said he'll be in in a minute," he abruptly said, breaking the awkward feeling - on my part at least.
I stared openly for a moment. When had Ethan gone outside to talk to Adrian?
The sudden widening of Ethan's eyes would have been comical if I were not swimming in confusion and pent up emotions. He quickly followed, "I mean, I heard him shout he was coming in."
I didn't know whether to believe that or not. Wouldn't I have heard if he had shouted?
I was saved the choice when a furious Adrian stormed into the house. Several sets of footsteps slammed against the floor angrily as they followed him in, an aura of frustration suddenly filled the room. Abruptly the scent of seven exhausted men surrounded me, but I could only look at Adrian as he seemed to fume over something I didn't know.
"Where is Kor?" he demanded. "Find him and bring him to me before dawn. I need a word with him before he leaves for --."
He stopped abruptly and turned in my direction, eyes widening almost as much as Ethan's had only moments ago. He was halfway into the living room by now, and I stood still as close to the door as I could.
"Adrian," I said, trying to ease him out of the anger that radiated from him. "I... I need to talk to you. Very soon."
He ran a hand through sweaty hair -- had he been running?
"Give me," he paused, "give me a few minutes to--."
"Adrian, please," I asked, and I hated to interrupt him. But I didn't have enough time to wait. "It won't be long."
His blue eyes met mine for the first time tonight, and I guessed whatever he saw there made him believe me. "Leave us alone for a few minutes, please." No sooner had he said it, the men and Ethan left the house entirely, shutting the door behind them. It was quiet and a somewhat tense as he stood there, waiting for me to speak.
I opened my mouth then, but nothing escaped my lips. I breathed shakily, trying to find the words I needed, and not finding them.
Something flashed across his features, between worry and the anger from moments ago. "Is something wrong, Sophie?"
"I have to leave."
"But you just got here," he replied, obviously confused by my statement. Something stretched tightly in my chest.
I shook my head. "No, Adrian, I mean... I'm leaving."
It hit him then. I watched the understanding flit across his tanned features, the reaction unhindered. He took a step forward so quickly he blurred, and I almost took my own step back in shock at his incredible speed.
"What do you mean you're leaving? Why?" he rushed out, a strange undertone lining his voice. I wanted to kick myself for putting it there.
His large hands came to hold my own, the muscles in his arm so tense that they would have distracted me any other time.
My jaw tightened as I swallowed. I hadn't thought through what I planned to say. "I have to," I said, hoping he wouldn't question it. "I have to leave as soon as I can, but I wanted to tell you myself."
His blue eyes closed tightly for a split second and then blazed into mine. "Sophie, wait. Slow down. Why do you have to leave?"
"Adrian, I can't slow down. I have to go as soon as we're done here--."
"But we're not done here. Sophie, where did all of this come from?"
Tears would have been building a pressure behind my eyes if I were able to cry. "It's hard to explain."
"I'm a good listener."
I couldn't tell him about my psychotic ex-boyfriend scaring me out of town, or about my secret. I shook my head in self-denial, wishing I had been better prepared for this. "Look," I tried again, knowing I was failing, "I came to say goodbye."
A hand dragged through his hair and he turned away from me. He was silent as he rested his hands on his hips, obviously unable to find words.
"And you plan to leave without any explanation."
"No, I..."
"You do, don't you?" His jaw tightened. "Come here."
"What?" I was startled. He had turned around, and his right arm extended towards me.
"You're afraid of something. I can almost feel it coming off you. I don't know what it is, but it will never hurt you while I'm around."
"It's not something that can be avoided so simply," I said, and focused on a spot over his shoulder to stay away from his eyes.
"Then at least tell me where you're going," Adrian replied.
My mind blanked. Before I could make something up, he spoke again.
"You haven't decided."
"No," I protested indignantly, and then mentally kicked myself. "i'm--."
His hands encircled my wrists again. "You're running from something." He paused, tilting my head up so I had to meet his eyes. "If you'd just tell me why, I'd help you -- Actually, I'm helping you either way. So you may as well tell me."
"I... can't. I'm just leaving. Nothing more, nothing less." We both knew he didn't believe me, but I stood firmly anyway.
He was silent for a moment, before a stronger look took root in his eyes.
"Come back home with me."
Now, it was my turn to be taken completely aback. "Home? Isn't this your home?"
He shook his head, one hand drawing mindless figures on my skin. "I'm not from Chalance. The pa-- I live near Chicago. I was here on business when I met you. We -- Emily and the rest of them -- weren't supposed to stay this long, but some things that I wasn't expecting came into the picture. Sophie, come to Chicago with me: You'll be safe with me, and it's a beautiful place."
My mind went blank. Confused, I shook my head slightly to clear it. "Chicago? On business? But you're in college. We take a business class together."
Adrian's jaw clenched and then unclenched, as is he were deciding how much to say to me. "I took it as a refresher, thought it'd be a good idea."
I could hear something behind the words.
"It turned out to be a very good thing," he continued, fingers tightening around my arm as he looked at me. I averted my eyes to my hands, trying to focus on the fact that he had offered to take me away from all of this. I could have what I'd dreamed of. A life with my mate, without going through life wondering what could have been.
"Chicago," I repeated to myself unsurely, so quietly I was surprised he heard me.
"Yes, Chicago," he said, taking my face in his hands and directing my eyes to his. "Let me take you away from what you want to leave behind. Let me get you out of that tiny apartment to somewhere you can actually breathe without worrying about getting jumped."
No, my mind said.
I was utterly surprised when my mouth said "Yes" instead.
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