Set Me Free// L. Staley

12. Rose Necklace

"Out of all things to ask, Layne asked if his cat was still alive?" Markus asked as he handed Rowan a T-shirt she requested from her drawer.

Rowan shrugged as she folded a pair of pajama pants and placed them in her suitcase. "Well, yeah, and I don't blame him. If I had a pet, I'd want to know if they're still alive, too."

Markus walked over to Rowan, handing her the shirt. "Sadie, his cat, has been dead for a couple of years now," he answered with a frown.

She took the shirt gratefully with a sympathetic smile. "Sadie's a cute name...Just like your dolphin!"

"Yeah, it is a cute name," he nodded his head, a glimmer of adoration in his eyes. "You can tell Layne that Jerry adopted her after he passed."

Rowan folded the shirt, looking at Markus in surprise. "Jerry took her in?"

She placed the shirt in her bag neatly before grabbing another shirt on her bed.

"Yeah. I believe Jerry also got some of Layne's artwork and some personal belongings. I can't remember what he got, though."

"Wow, they really were close..."

Markus nodded his head as he sat down on Rowan's bed, watching her pack. Her bedroom was a total nightmare, clothes scattered everywhere, on the floor, on her bed. Her trip to Tennessee wouldn't last even a week, but she struggled with overpacking. One of her biggest traveling problems was unnecessary packing. It had been a problem well-developed in her youth, and she had yet to break the habit.

"You're surprisingly nonchalant about all of this," Markus began, looking at Rowan with perplexity.

"What do you mean?" Rowan found herself asking as she packed away another T-shirt.

Markus shook his head in sincere thoughtfulness. "I mean, you have dreams about a dead rockstar, Rowan. That isn't normal. I'm freaking out for you, even."

Rowan nervously chuckled, halting her packing to view Markus. "I mean, I knew who he was before I figured out his identity. I still see him as a stranger from my dreams, but not...a stranger, I guess."

"Still, I would freak out if I figured out who he was, regardless if I talked to him beforehand," Markus explained as he picked up one of Rowan's pairs of underwear. "Granny panties much?"

She snatched the underwear from his hand, shooting him the stink eye. 

"Those are my period panties, thank you very much," she said with a smirk. Markus's eyes widened as he wiped his hand on her blanket in disgust.

"Ew, gross."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a boy. They're clean, dumbass," she emphasized as she tossed them into her suitcase. "And I think that Layne wants to be treated like everyone else. If I were in his shoes, I would want to feel normal, too. And even then, I'm not freaking out or anything. There's no point."

"Dude, you literally just told me you cried telling him everything," Markus deadpanned. "Don't you think that freaked him out just a little bit?"

Rowan pursed her lips in thought. "Er, yeah, I guess that probably made him uncomfortable."

"Seriously, Rowan, what's happening to you is a phenomenon. That's just crazy..."

"I'm trying to understand it myself," Rowan sighed. "Layne and I are trying to figure it out, too. I mean, we have no clue, you know?"

"Well, do you think it's an Elvis situation? Faking his death and whatnot?"