Animals ✔

Chapter 12

I don't sleep that night.

I can't.

Charlie's laughter echoes in my ears every time I try to close my eyes. It's a fragment of a memory from a happier time. And it hurts.

So instead, I lay awake on Tiberius's couch, staring blankly up at the ceiling. I could turn on the TV, but after this morning that hardly seems a good idea. I ponder what Charlie would think of all this. She'd hate this, I conclude, she was never one to need help from anyone.

Groaning, I roll off the couch and wander into the kitchen. I flick the light on and my heart jumps to my throat as I flinch. "What the feck are you doing here?"

Amused brown eyes stare back at me. "Feck?"

I scowl at him. "Don't judge me. People say that."

"What people?"

My mom, I almost say, but quickly think better of it. "I do. Problem?"

He laughs, and I raise an eyebrow. He's sitting at the table, leaning back casually and resting a boot-clad foot on his knee.

"You were with Jon yesterday morning," I scrutinize him, trailing off. "After Tiberius... and in the woods too. With Laurel."

"Colin," he extends his arm. I narrow my eyes at the gesture, taking in the muscles bulging under his long-sleeved shirt before firmly shaking his hand.

"Clara."

He smirks. "Yeah, I know."

Crossing the kitchen to dig through the fridge, I glance at the clock on the stove. "So, why are you here at... 2AM?"

He doesn't comment. I rifle through the fridge, grabbing an orange before I sit across the table from him. "Guard duty?" I pry.

"Patrol. Thought I'd rest here a bit before I head home."

I don't see the appeal of sitting alone in a dark kitchen. "Avoiding someone?"

"Something like that." He stares unblinkingly at me, squinting like I'm a puzzle he just can't put together. I shift uncomfortably in my seat and begin peeling my orange. "Can't sleep?" He asks, finally looking away from me.

"Something like that."

*

Over the next week, I see Nora more often than I see Tiberius.

Jon drives me to and from our lessons, and I continue to sleep on Tiberius's couch, having ruined any chance of staying at aunt Flora's. But it isn't so bad, in fact, it's kind of nice to have some space to breathe.

That said, when I walk out of Nora's place to see Tiberius's old blue jeep parked in front of the door, I can't keep the smile from pulling up my lips.

He waits for me in the car, and I shuffle in, having foregone crutches in the morning. He's tense, the muscles in his arms pulled taut and his grip on the steering wheel tight. It's giving me deja vu. He smiles at me, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

Tiberius doesn't say anything. Pulling out of the parking lot, he tosses something into my lap. My hands grasp the small, leather bound journal and for a moment I can hardly breathe. "Is this...?"

He nods, "Flora got back this afternoon. I thought you deserved to be the first to read through it." He sends me another, more tentative, smile and I return it, tightening my grip on the journal and resisting the urge to immediately dive in.