Playing with Fire

e p i s o d e | t h i r t y - o n e (pt. 2)

Rowan stands in front of the tombstone, his black hair sweeping over his eyes. I watch him from a bit farther away. Kane White's name is etched into the stone, but looking at it no longer gives me that strange, suffocating feeling in my chest anymore. In fact, even the sky is clear today. I can hear birds chirping obliviously. The sunlight beats down cheerfully against the grass. Everything is ... normal.

Rowan finally swivels around and smiles at me good-naturedly. "Well, that's it," he says. I can't tell from his face or his words what he's feeling. Kane was still his biological father, as much as he despised him. But there's something so tranquil about the smile that Rowan gives me. Maybe he's finally made up his mind about how he feels about this.

My eyes travel to the cast on his arm. He can walk without one on his leg now, but I wonder if his arm still gives him memories about his accident.

It's been several days now, since he was discharged from the hospital. The news has settled down a bit, though there was undoubtedly a lot of commotion at school when everyone was reminded of who Rowan's father was. Luckily, no one was foolish enough to confront him about the matter to his face. I guess all those years of building his reputation had a little bit of use, after all.

Rowan lets out a deep breath as we head back towards his car. "Can you believe it? We have exams tomorrow."

I raise an eyebrow at him inquisitively. I guess he doesn't want to continue any conversation about his father anymore. Though I do feel a rush of sadness for him, I have to remind myself to be relieved. This was what Rowan wanted all along. Peace. Closure.

"Well, we all know at least one person who's going to fail," I sigh.

He looks at me amusedly. "Valentine's still not doing well?"

I shake my head. "She's been constantly going out with Benji lately. She says she's going to convert him into a 'bad boy.'" I shudder to myself at the cringe-worthy statement. "I feel bad for the kid. I liked him just the way he was."

Rowan snorts. "So, she got over me that fast? I'm surprised."

"What, are you disappointed?" I challenge him, curling my lips into a half-smile.

He shrugs. "I mean, she was one of the better-looking girls at school that I never got to hook up with."

I smack him on the shoulder, suddenly feeling defensive. "You had plenty of chances!"

"I wasn't going to touch Silver's biological sister." He rolls his eyes matter-of-factly, but then grins at me devilishly. "But you're not blood-related to him, so it's okay, right?"

I step away from him. "Don't touch me, you pervert."

Rowan's eyes widen in offense. "What did you call me?"

His surprise is satisfactory, so I decide to just let it go. At the same time, I can't be the only one getting jealous. "It's not fair. You had all this experience hooking up with people, while I locked myself in my room all day. I'm going to go off and make sure that we're even," I grumble.

He stops in front of his car and refuses to open it. "I'm going to make you walk home by yourself."

I gape at him. "You're supposed to be getting mad at my potential partners, not me!" I remind him.

He shrugs, clearly having caught on to my game. "Hey, if they don't know we're together, I can't blame them, right? I'd have to blame the one who initiated it." He points an accusatory finger at me. "Which sounds like it would be you."

I frown. Sometimes, I hate his logical side. "Fine," I mutter dejectedly. "I wouldn't do it, anyway."

Rowan smiles fondly at me as he finally allows me to get into the car. "In all honesty, though – if that happened, I'd probably track down every single one of those guys and kill them all."

I roll my eyes at him. "Is violence always the answer?"

He looks surprised. "What did you want me to say?"

I cross my arms impishly before pointing at the road ahead of us. "Just drive, Rowan."

He warmly pinches my cheek before ruffling the top of my head. "You're so cute when you're jealous."

I cover my head protectively, before snapping at him, "I wasn't jealous!"

He catches on way too quickly.