THE LIE SLIPPED OUT of her lips with surprising ease. She didn't dare stare at Aura as she said it, but her voice remained steady and sure, unwavering as her heart sped up as she repeated the text message in her head.
"Oh! Of course, G," Aura dismissed with the back of her hand. "Tell Mrs. Davidson that I've missed her baked potato soup this fall. It used to be such a staple and I can never replicate it."
Gwenn chuckled, pulling her hair into a twist bun by the nape of her neck. Heat blossomed in her body, and she had the desire to switch her cropped sweater for a tight skin camisole, but thought better of it. "I'll make sure to let her know. Call me tonight, okay? You still need to tell me about your wild weekend in LA."
That garnered a squeal. "You will not believe it when I tell you. I'm gonna go write down everything I have to tell you before I forget. This could be a whole novel, I tell you." Light danced in the dark irises of her friend, they almost looked glittering-and that was not because of the conscious placement of highlighter on the highest points of her face and the inner corners of her eyes. Aura shined, buzzing with excitement.
Everything in her screamed to stay behind and learn all about Aura's adventures. They were the most outrageous stories that served as pure entertainment for Gwenn since the two had become friends. But Wolf's message hung over her head, taunting her. She could make out the man in question shaking his head at her, a sly smirk stretching over those perfect lips. Her stomach rumbled and she clamped her mouth shut.
When Aura sauntered out of her apartment, she collapsed onto her couch, gasping for air. She heaved into her fingers, tears forming in her eyes but they were never enough to topple over her cheeks. Her cries softened until they were mere whimpers.
Maybe the message was a figment of her imagination, she tried to convince herself. Alas, when she unlocked her phone, the dreaded message stared back at her, and her insides churned once again.
With shaking limbs and heavy breathing, she found her sneakers tucked away in the corner of her closet and her small brown faux leather purse. She took one last look at her apartment, tears welling up again as she pictured Ronan right there on her couch, then slammed the door loud enough to shake the fantasy from forming in her brain.
Despite her sour mood, the day proved to be perfect. The sun was starting to tickle the horizon, melting into deep oranges. The blue sky tinged pink and purple, slashed by floating thin clouds. Walking down Birchfield Rd, the people passed by her in the same high spirit bouncing off of nature. So many smiles, couples holding hands, babies laughing in glee, elders enjoying a vanilla ice cream cone, not a single shadow of sadness dulling the picture.
Except her.
She tried to smile at people, grasping at the edges of who she was, but she feared it looked more like a grimace, as if in preparation of what awaited her at the alleyway.
Her sneakers skidded across the cement of the sidewalk, turning by the pawn shop. Brick walls stretched for miles on either direction, encasing her so that she felt minute. Rustles echoed from the corners of dumpsters. Lone boxes and crates were piled up high against the walls. Scraps of old newspapers and torn fabric littered the jagged pavement as she moved forward. She yelped when a stray cat jumped out, holding a deceased rat in its jaw, and hurried out.
Wolf could not have a picked a worse meeting spot.
Shadows enlarged as if reaching over to touch her skin. She flinched when movement caught her attention, transforming the sharp peaks moving alongside her on the ground.
"You came rather quickly today, blondie," Wolf commented. A shadowy finger might as well have trailed down her every vertebrae. She stayed rooted in place, not daring to look at his smug face just yet.
YOU ARE READING
Forever Luminescent
General Fiction"Just shine like you always do." Gwenn Davidson has always known she was adopted, but after clearing up her stuff for her first move out of her parent's house, she finds an old blanket gifted to her by her birth mother that triggers an avalanche of...
