The Garden of What Once Was

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Ember's failed mission of deleting her name from Lunette's Predator and Prey logs had long since been forgotten. Now she was on a new mission: to get to the roof of Building C before 10:15 PM, the time when Reed had asked her to meet him there. This served as a good distraction after what she witnessed in Abaddon's office a few hours ago. Rather than her head being full of questions about Cohen, her head was full of Reed. She placed her hand above her heart as she came to a stop in the middle of the roof. Her heart was slamming against her rib cage as if she was still running. It made sense though, as she couldn't help but let her emotions run wild with the romantic scenario yet to play out between her and Reed. Just imagine, the two of them looking up at the night sky together, talking, laughing, kis–...Oh my god! I can't kiss him! Technically speaking, she could, just not very well, as she hadn't had her first kiss yet. This was perfectly normal, but she still felt as though her first kiss was well overdue. That only added more stress to her, making her nervously pace back and forth along the lengthy roof.

Five minutes passed by and her frantic pacing began to slow. She was almost sure that it was well past 10:15 by now. The urge to pull out her phone and check the time was ignored though. It was better to not know just how late Reed was or else she would only get more nervous. Still, her nerves jittered with even more worry. This was all because of the thoughts that were passing through her mind. Is he coming? What if he blows me off? In an attempt to calm herself, she had laid herself down on the roof, training her attention on the stars above. It was nice to think that the sky was lit up just for her and Reed. She reached a hand upward toward the sparkling sky. Her hand closed into a fist around one of the many white specks, then she closed her eyes, silently wishing upon that very star. Not even a minute after her wish sounded through her mind, the door to the roof opened. She tilted her head back against the ground to see the upside-down version of Reed. At first, she just stared at him, too stunned to say much of anything. This Reed, the one that looked so helpless and drained, was not one she was used to seeing.

"What's got your panties in a bunch, Princess?" She asked him jokingly, hoping he might just crack a smile.

No swift reply was made by Reed, causing the grin on Ember's face to falter. As he walked closer to her, she realized that whatever happened to him was bad, so bad that it almost made the impenetrable High-tier look as if he might just collapse at any given moment. It was such an odd sight to see, so much so that she too remained silent when he came to a stop where she lay. The two of them just stared at each other. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't in the least bit awkward, as Ember was too busy over-analyzing every detail of Reed and Reed was too busy trying not to give in to the urge to grab Ember and hug her. All he really wanted was to hold her. Nothing more, nothing less. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so shitty, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. This frustrated him enough to make his hands disappear into the pockets of his shorts. Ember took notice of this, immediately springing upward to make him look her straight in the eyes.

Hesitating slightly, she tugged at his wrist, gingerly pulling his hand from the safety of his pocket. "Seriously, what happened?"

His mouth opened as the words he had been dying to tell anybody, even a stranger, bubbled up in his throat. Those words were then swallowed back down. He couldn't say anything, not then or ever. If he told Ember what was happening with Aiko, there was no guarantee that she would believe him. Hell, she might even laugh in his face, thinking he was joking. That was something he didn't want to have to endure, as he already was at his limit. One more stab to his heart and it was all over.

He looked down at the hand that Ember was currently holding as he answered, "Nothing...nothing happened."

The grip around his hand tightened, a signal that Ember didn't believe a single word he just said. "It doesn't sound or look like that to me."