Expiration Date (Books 1 and 2)

27 Why Is Y Here?

Iris~~

I pick at the dress Erik gave me as trees blur by outside the car window. Ever since Erik started driving no one has said a word. I wonder if Vienna can feel the tension or if that's only me. I asked Erik where he got this dress, and he said a supply closet but cut me off when I went to ask about that. That's two—no, three dresses now that guys have handed me. After he interrupted me, I didn't care to keep talking to him—not after this morning when he was in my room.

Erik's supposed to be different. The light in the Society. But he seems to fit in quite well. It's Jonas who's different. When I've been around him, he actually listens to me. Answers me. The messed-up part is that it's for those reasons I have to be wary.

I can't trust the Preeminence. I can't forget who he is.

"Are you angry at me?" he asks as he rounds a curve in the mountains.

"Slightly?"

"Why?"

"You're angry at me because your cousin helped me and you're acting like it's my fault that he did."

He pulls into a gravel lot of a restaurant that looks like a cabin and puts the car in park. His hand remains on the gear shift, the muscles in his lower arm tensed. "That's because it is."

I unbuckle my seatbelt. "How?"

"You should have come and gotten me if you needed clothes."

"It's not like I could have." He wasn't even in his room this morning

I exit the car, headed for the entrance of the restaurant. I hear Vienna's feet hit the gravel from my side of the car. Before I get inside, Erik's hand wraps around my arm, and he whirls me around to face him, placing both of his hands above my elbows.

"Remember who your friend is here."

"It sure isn't the one who gets upset when I'm helped."

His hands slide down my arms to take my hands. "Look, I'm sorry. Being back hasn't exactly been easy for me. I don't want to lose you to the Society. Seeing you around Jonas makes me worried you'll fall for the Society. Can we try to start this evening off on a different note?"

His thumbs rub circles into my hands. I don't know if I'd say Erik and I are friends, but we're a team, so I nod, and we walk through the restaurant to its backyard area, Vienna trailing us. Fairy lights are draped over the seating area, lanterns illuminating each metal table. A peaceful atmosphere is exactly what we need.

Erik pulls out my chair. He's trying. How can I be hard on him when two days from now he'll be forced into a position he doesn't want? He moves toward Vienna's seat, but she pulls her chair out herself and sits down. Erik's lips press into a thin line before taking a seat. I haven't had much of a chance to talk with Vienna besides for a few words here and there, and I'm not sure what to make of her. I know nothing about her except that she's the girlfriend of the future Beta. From what I've experienced of Colton, he's not the most pleasant person.

"How was lunch?" I ask them both after we order our drinks.

"It was nice," Vienna says.

"I didn't go." Erik rearranges his silverware.

"Why not?"

"Dinner last night was painful to get through and then I thought I'd at least have your help to get through breakfast but then I didn't. I didn't want to try when it came time for lunch." He gives up with his silverware, choosing to move his hands to his lap. "How was your date with my cousin?"

"Again, it wasn't a date." I rest my elbow on the table, pressing my chin into my palm. If I answer honestly, I'd have to say it was too perfect, and Erik would lecture me about what I already know; I have to be careful. "It was okay. Westerton is pretty."

Vienna asks me where I ate and how I have to try this place and that place. But I won't really be here that long, at least not long enough to try more than one more place, right?

I wait until after we order to excuse myself to the restroom.

A few minutes later when I'm exiting the women's room, I hear, "Iris?" A man is stopped, holding the door to the men's room open, his mouth hanging open.

I feel like I've been jolted out of a dream. "Y?"

He abandons the half-opened door, letting it swing shut, and pulls me into a hug. It takes me a moment to remember how to hug someone.

"I can't believe you're here."

"I can't believe you're here either," I respond with my head on his shoulder.

He pulls away, hands on my upper arms, to look at me, his brown eyes wide and warm. "What are you doing here?"

I can't say, I'm at dinner in West Virginia with the Society's future Tresais, and I'm Expired, and, oh, you should help us destroy the Society. I can't say that because Erik wants to change the Society, and Y would happily destroy the Society along with Erik. Changing it wouldn't be good enough for him.

Y.

I feel walls encircle my heart. The last time I saw him our orphanage was being burnt to the ground. He voted to leave me behind. I didn't expect that from him.

"I'm traveling before my Expiration Date."

He quirks an eyebrow. He always did that growing up and knew it bothered me because I couldn't do it no matter how hard I tried. His black hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and he's wearing black jeans and a blazer. All Y ever knew about his parents were that their ancestors were from India before the borders were closed and that they're alive somewhere in Elleany. He was at the orphanage from birth like I was. "This close to the Society?" His expression falls, pain flashing in his eyes. "That's right . . . It's coming up." I'm not surprised he can't remember the exact date. Expiration Dates are like birthdays in that only those closest to you remember them. He proved how close we weren't when he decided I should be abandoned.

I shrug. "It's soon."

His fingers on me tighten.

"How are the others? Have you seen them?" The others that he went off with.

His grip slackens, but he doesn't let go. "They're all good." They're all alive—the trait I wasn't going to possess. "They're working in," he lowers his voice, "rebellions." Rebellions plural, not singular.

"And you?"

"The same. I'm out here scouting."

If he sees Erik, I'm not sure what the outcome will be. I don't want to find out.

He pulls me into another hug. Maybe it's his guilt making him do it. "Eun-seob won't believe it even when he sees you."

This time, I pull away, and it's my fingers that are tight on his arms. "Eun-seob's here?"

He lets go of me to pull his hair out of his ponytail, allowing it to fall to his shoulders. It's gotten long. "Yeah. He's helping me." He scoops it back up.

"Isn't he only sixteen now?"

"Seventeen."

I definitely don't want Eun-seob getting caught up in this. "I'll let you do what you came here to do." I tilt my head toward the men's room.

"Right. I'll come find you after with Eun-seob."

I force a smile. "I can't wait."