In Saving the Imperfect

15. Just how misfit we were

First thing Layne noticed when he woke up – neither Malia nor Alana were inside. If they left without him – so be it. He rubbed his eyes and stretched his muscles, sore once again.

As he was just about to get up, Malia's blonde head appeared in the doorway. "Heard you waking up," she chuckled.

"I heard you sleep at night," he gibed.

"That's just creepy."

"No, you're just snoring real loud."

Malia squeezed her lips into two thin lines. From the outside, though, came Alana's laughter, more genuine than Layne ever heard it.

He lumbered outside and nodded to the women waiting there. Alana simply motioned them to move, impatient, almost.

Layne never hung out with Alana. Not on his free will, at least. Whenever they got together, they just seemed to disagree about things and start arguments. At one point, they couldn't look at each other without visible judgement. He told to himself that it was only special circumstances – after they figured out how to deal with the Coden situation, he wouldn't need to talk to her ever again. Or at the very least he could continue avoiding her.

Still, walking through the village with this woman beside him, he couldn't help the amazement. She greeted every single person they crossed. Called most of them by name. With some of them, she stopped to exchange a few lines of small talk.

He didn't know any of those people. Didn't even recognise seeing them before – and the village wasn't so big, to begin with. Similarly, Malia just smiled and nodded at everyone.

Every day, the walk to the lake seemed to be getting shorter. Maybe, it was getting more familiar. Maybe, the man was getting stronger – which was his preferred option. He hasn't used a car to travel for months, after all. That had to have an effect on him – at least that's what he wanted to think.

With the coming summer, more people chose to visit the lake. In the morning, especially. That time was no exception. The three of them sat down a distance from another small group, doing their morning routine. Only after Alana spent at least five minutes chatting with them, of course.

"So here's the good news," started Malia. "It's more or less not your fault."

Layne frowned. "More or less?"

"Sorta."

"You can't be at least a little bit more clear?"

"Coden's an illegitimate child, Layne," explained Alana. "His parents became Rejects as soon as he was born. He was hoping they'd still be here."

"Remember, when we came here for the first time and saw him talking to Victor on our way back?" Malia added. "That's what that was about."

"Doesn't make sense." Layne shook his head. "That was a while ago."

"Yeah, well, Remy thinks that he might have gotten his hopes up again when they saw that um... That other person, by the well."

"So, that's why he really agreed to go there with us."

* * *

Layne had just finished explaining Troy the situation, yet he sat silent, as he often would. In their usual place, outside the village, only so deep in the forest to hide them from the eyes of the Rejects, yet not make it wrong in the eyes of Victor nor the others. With Cat laying a few meters away.

"Troy, were you listening?" Layne prompted.

The man nodded and raised his eyes into the sky. It still didn't make sense how this in every other way menacing-looking person could have those baby blue eyes. They didn't fit in with his face properly – and that's why Layne would always find himself staring at them.