Safe Haven

Gone Missing

Sage stared at the sleeping Bo next to her on the air matress, watching as the rising sun played and danced in his hair. His hand tightened into a fist and he cringed, but relaxed a few moments later. Sage knew she had to get up and get dressed to go to Missoula, but that was pretty difficult to do since Bo had twined one of his legs with one of hers, and had an arm slung over her so she couldn't shift away. Sage had been awake before the sun had even started rising, and occupied herself by playing with his hair.

She listened to the sounds of Cooper snoring on the couch, his face pressed into the pillow to keep the sun from shining on his face. The creaking of the stairs told her that someone was approaching the living room, ready to start the day. She glanced over at the sound in time to see Will headed to the kitchen for his morning coffee.

"Will, would you be ever so kind and help me out of this?" Sage whispered, nudging Bo a little without waking him. "I can't really move."

Chuckling, Will shuffled over to the air mattress, motioning for Sage to raise her head. As she complied, Will lifted Bo's arm, shoving the pillow in between Bo and Sage. Sage began squirming but immediately stopped when she realized Bo still had a leg around one of hers. Slowly, Will unwrapped Bo's leg, gently laying it to rest as Sage scrambled off the mattress. Finally free, she followed Will into the kitchen, the floor freezing her exposed toes, and she sat at the table while Will made himself fresh coffee.

"He had you pinned down pretty well, didn't he?" Will joked, making her a cup of hot chocolate. Sage loved his hot chocolate. Will never used the store bought powder. He took the time to heat up some milk, melt some chocolate and mix the two together.

"Yeah, it's a good thing I didn't have to pee during the night or I never would've been able to make it to the toilet on time," Sage giggled, running a hand through her wild hair. "Then again, maybe I should've peed all over the place just to teach him a lesson. But I don't like sacrificing personal hygiene so that would've been overkill."

Will chuckled, sitting across from Sage at the kitchen table with their drinks. "That boy loves you like there's no other girl in the world. Why won't you give him the slightest chance?"

"Did you not just see how we were laying?" she snapped. "If I wasn't giving him the slightest chance then I wouldn't have slept next to him like that."

"You're toying with him," Will corrected, causing Sage's anger to reignite. "Don't you think I know that when I see it? You acted a certain way with each other back when you two dated. Now you claim to be giving him chances again, but you aren't acting the same, and he's too caught up in winning you back to notice that you aren't even giving him a real chance--"

"Well he doesn't seem to mind it!" Sage interjected, fighting to keep her voice low so she wouldn't be heard into the living room.

"Now he may not. Like I said, he doesn't realize you're only playing with him. But what about another five years from now? Are you going to be cruel enough to keep your little game going for all those years?"

"No," she scoffed. "I plan on being married to someone else and hopefully be starting a family by then. And I'm assuming he'll have moved on and have given up on me."

"You know he's not going to," Will stated, throwing her fear in her face. "Is that what you want? To have him be the idiotic creep that'll try and crash your wedding because he's still hung up on you?"

"Why not? There's one in every wedding," Sage muttered, earning a glare from Will. "He hurt me, Will. I was devastated when he left and you know that. You saw me."

"I did," Will agreed. "But that's no excuse for toying with him like this. Now, I love you, but that boy is my own flesh and blood. If you force me to pick a side, I'm picking his."