To Learn To Fall (Sequel to the Other Side)

Chapter Twelve

"There you are. Where'd you go?" Alexander asked me that evening as I leaned against the railing in the library, basking in the night breeze.

I shrugged, glancing over my shoulder. "Are you here to yell at me?"

"Why would I do that? I mean, I am mad. But I'd rather talk to you than yell."

I traced the pathway of a few stars. Their silence was deafening, somehow more so than the endless chatter I was used to. I never thought I would miss it, but now I felt alone.

"I'd do it again, you know that."

"Why? I care about you, you know that."

"Alexan—"

"Don't be stubborn, Thomas. I care about you and I really wish you hadn't made me leave you alone. What if you got hurt, huh? How is it fair that you made me worry about you twice in literally five minutes? And then you were gone for the entire night, and then you come back and then you're gone the entire day?"

"Alexander—"

"Sit. Please."

I turned to him but didn't move, letting my fingers rest on the cold metal. On the cold steel. I winced as pain flared up from my hands and rocketed through my body, but I tried my best to ignore it.

Alexander patted the couch cushion besides him, smiling warmly. "Please?"

I sighed, let go of the railing, and sat down next to him.

Unsatisfied, he pulled me closer.

"It's such a stupid, small thing to be mad over," Alexander said. "So I'm not going to be. But it better never happen again, okay? I don't like worrying about you. I'm your friend. I'm your partner. We've got to work together."

"I don't do that very well," I said, looking up at him and grinning to let him know I was joking.

"Well, you're gonna have to get good at it because you'll never get rid of me."

"Never?"

"Nope."

"Oh. Dang."

"Shut up," he said, poking me in the stomach. "You adore me."

I wrapped my fingers up in his shirt collar and kissed him. He grinned into the kiss and took my hands in his before sliding away from me.

"Promise me you'll talk to me from now on? Especially about things that are really hurting you?"

"I can't."

"Thomas, don't you trust me?"

"Of course I trust you. There are just some things I want to tell you but can't."

Alexander's shoulders dropped, and he looked away from me. His hands slid away from mine.

There was something between us that was hardly ever there before. The need to speak, but not knowing what to say. The need to reach out being brushed away by the fear of being rejected. I wonder if he felt it just as much as I did.

"My mother won't leave me alone," I tried finally, closing my eyes and leaning back against the couch.

Fortunately, Alexander seemed to perk up with interest at that. "Oh?"

"Yeah," I said, rubbing at my eyes. "She's getting more and more desperate for me to return to Avionerra. I guess I'll have to do that soon."

"How does the whole tree thing work?"