Growing Wildflowers | WLW

Chicory

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I silence it. It's the second time John has called but I can't face him, not after I lied to him. By now, he probably knows the truth and is calling to tell me off. I can handle him yelling at me, but if he gets emotional... I shake the thought off.

The waves crash loud against the shore. Saltwater mists the dozens of college kids drinking from red solo cups and chatting. I shiver as the breeze nips at the back of my neck and find Liam in the crowd. He was supposed to host the Eco event at his house before he was attacked but he changed it to the beach at the last second. I can't help but wonder why he chose to invite so many people to the same beach where those fishermen died. We're only a handful of miles from the docks where it happened but Jamie hasn't mentioned being suspicious, so I tell myself I'm being paranoid.

"Everything okay?"

I jump at Jamie's voice. I'm not sure when she came back with a red solo cup of punch because I've been too busy watching Liam on the other side of the bonfire, blatantly avoiding my eyes.

"John keeps calling," I admit.

She sighs and sinks down in the sand next to me. "I can't believe he wanted you to go to the other side of the country." She takes a long sip of the punch and I wonder if someone spiked it yet. "You shouldn't feel bad about not wanting to uproot your entire life because a couple fishermen died at the docks."

I smile but force down a scoff. "I don't have much of a life to uproot." My voice is quiet.

She nudges me. "Come on, don't be like that. You've got school, friends, Aurora, the Eco club."

I hold my breath in my chest. I want to tell her everything; that I'm not enrolled in school, I never cared about the eco club, and I couldn't go around humans until months ago.

Instead, I settle on something between pathetic and flirty. "I didn't want to leave you here." I can't look at her, can't keep my hands still. "Not after what happened with your friends and everything going on at the docks." As an afterthought, I add, "Besides, Liam was attacked outside the building we were sitting in, and they still haven't found the person who did it."

She's smiling when I find the courage to meet her eyes. "You're going to protect me from the spooky shit going on in Bolton County?"

I let out a single breathless laugh, fix my eyes on the soda can clenched in my sweaty palm again. "I do watch a lot of horror movies."

"That's sweet of you," Jamie says but her voice is soft and when I meet her eyes something shifts in the air between us. The same shift I felt in Aurora's kitchen. Her lips part to say something but instead she presses them together and furrows her brow.

I clear my throat. "I'm going to see how Liam is hanging in there," I tell her as I push away from the log.

She smiles thinly and clutches her cup between two hands like she's trying to warm them around a mug of coffee. "I'll be here." She keeps her voice light but the change in her tone is obvious.

The sand pulls at my feet, making my steps clumsy as I try my best to get close to Liam without him noticing. Before I can close the distance between us a high voice says, "Looks like you're doing better around people."

Faith. I wait a moment before I face her, trying to breathe through frustration before I turn and smile. I nod and take a drink of my warm Pepsi. "I'm doing much better, thank you."

She takes a step closer. I fight the urge to move away from her. "How does this work for you exactly?" she whispers.

I let out a sigh. "I'm not really sure."