𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝟖 (𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐂)

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟑𝟏 | 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐥?- 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐝?

JAMES GIBSON

"So.. what's your favorite animal?" I asked, smiling at the girl I had successfully convinced to hang out with me after many desperate attempts.

She narrowed her eyes at me, gaping. "What?"

I shrugged. "What's your favorite animal?" I asked, purely to get rid of this awkward silence lingering in the car. Apart from Gibsies small singing to the radio, the entire car ride had been pure silence.

I hated the silence.

"Um.. I don't know.. A Sea-otter?"

I smiled, twisting in my seat to face her straight-on. "Because they're cute?"

She shrugged, watching me carefully. "Because they look funny when they eat.."

Gibsie snorts.

I toss him a glare over my shoulder before looking at her again, desperate to keep her talking to me. "But that makes them cute.. right?"

Her lips twitched, and I caught a small look of amusement in her face as she adjusted slightly to look at me. "Would you pet an otter, James?"

I scoffed. "Of course I'd pet a fucking otter, who wouldn't."

She shrugged, turning her head away from me to gaze out the window. Though I could see her lips twitch upward in the smallest bit. "I read a story about an older woman who came across a sea-otter on her paddle board. She thought it was cute and reached her hand out to pet it."

She snickered before continuing. "But this Otter was rather aggressive.. It bit her hand and gave her an infection." She turned to look at me, eyes heavy with malice. "She had to have her hand amputated because the infection was deadly."

I gaped at her in pure horror, sharing a just as equally terrified glance with Gibsie, he mouthed "What the fuck?" At me before turning his attention the road after almost swerving into a ditch.

I cracked my fingers nervously, blinking as I formulated any kind words on my tongue. "Um.. r-really?"

"No, I was lying."

I blew out a relieved breath, slapping a hand onto my heart. "What the fuck, you scared me shitless, Orla."

She shrugged nonchalantly, like this was a regular thing to her. "Well.. someone has lost an ear to an angry otter."

Gibsie snaps his head back to look at her in terror. "Really?" He chokes out, eyes switching between her and the road.

She turns to face us and smiles, shaking her head. "No, I was lying again."

I gape at her in disbelief. "Seriously?" I snapped. She shrugged again, arching a brow. "Or am I lying? You tell me?"

This girl was really something. She had this viper personality, and spat venom at anyone who dared to offend her—and not to mention her witty personality.

She was like a wolf masked in sheep's clothing. She had this beautiful, sweet look to her, but as soon as she opened her mouth it was like pure poison.

Worst part was, I couldn't tell whether she was lying or not—She was a really fucking good liar.

But I felt so connected to her—like someone had sewn a string into her and then went and sewn the same string in me, and the seamstress was continuously shortening the string with each day that went by. I thought that after I had saw her, she would eventually leave my mind.

I was wrong.

She still managed to occupy my mind. Whether it be me wondering how she's doing, or if she's in the right class—She haunted my mind. I wanted to make sure she was okay—she was still here. And I wanted her to be with me.