Gritting my teeth, I pull the cover up to my waist right before she appears in the doorway and I let out a pained hiss. Her hair is hanging down the front instead of the back and she’s wearing a pair of frilly shorts along with a cotton top that dances around her midriff.
Swallowing, she crosses the floor with a flushed face then pounces down on the mattress right next to me but to my relief she doesn’t turn her back. Instead she searches for me, reaching her hands out and I wrap my arm around her and she puts her head on my chest.
This is wrong. This is not how you act around a victim of a crime. Some would say that I’m using her but fuck the girl seems to want me. And in my eyes it would be crueler to pull away simply because professionalism requires it.
She strokes my arms and chest and I ease under her touch but then her fingers go to my face, tracing the scars but I don’t tense. I have learnt by now that she isn’t repulsed by them. Still, this is the first time she has touched them like this.
“What are they?” she murmurs. “The pattern is so strange.”
Giving her a kiss on her fingertips, I pull her hand down, replying, “It’s called a Glasgow smile.”
Silencing, she nods, before averting her gaze and I watch her chest evenly rise and fall. We stay like that for a couple of minutes when she says, “You can turn off the lights if you want. The dark isn’t as scary when I’m with you.”
I switch it off and she takes a deep breath and I have a feeling that she has something on her heart that she needs out.
“Callan?” she whispers and I hum. “Who gave you those scars?”
“Nobody.” I gently kiss the top of her head. “I did it to myself.”
11
Melody
He did it on his own? My heart breaks at the thought because somethingawful must have happened for him to mutilate himself. I don’t ask what the reason was and I can’t guess either. Callan seems so forceful and tough that for him to grab a knife and do that...
It doesn’t make much sense to me but I don’t want to run around and yap at him to tell me. It’s clear that its very personal and I wouldn’t dream of putting my nose where it doesn’t belong. I don’t want him to get upset with me or think that I’m crossing boundaries.
Besides I’m already pushing it since I managed to convince Callan to take me to the festival with a lot of begging and a lot of batting with my lashes.
At first I thought he wouldn’t agree but he seems to want to make me happy and I twirl around in a dress that’s about the same color as my eyes and the skirt flares around the room.
I’m looking forward to this and I even put on some heels, not only because they go with my outfit but also to avoid looking like a midget next to Callan. And maybe subconsciously, to look older too. That woman’s comment in the grocery store bothered me.
Yes, there is an age gap but does it really matter when two people go together in every other way? To me it doesn’t. And I don’t think it matters that much to Callan either and in the end it doesn’t matter what everybody else thinks.
Throwing one last look in the mirror, I think I already look better. No dark circles under my eyes like I’ve had a great night’s sleep and my skin is finally starting to look healthy again. Grabbing my purse, I walk down the staircase, smiling at Callan who’s waiting for me in the hallway.
He swallows at the sight of me, frowning. “Don’t know if I should let you walk around like that. I doubt the citizens have ever seen anything like you and I don’t want to be responsible for heart failures.”
Snickering, I purr. “Do you want me to take it off?” Right here in the hallway. Callan’s eyes deepen, his gaze forcing itself into my mind and heart until a rush of embarrassment crosses me. I spoke too soon and I lower my eyes, causing him to exhale but to my surprise he reaches his hand out.
I stare at it as if he’s trying to hand me a weapon.
“Really?” I gasp, surprised that he doesn’t want us to avoid dirty looks and comments but he only shrugs and he seems a little weary. Like he doesn’t give a flying frog whether he’s accepted or not and I realize that he only cared because of me.
Because he knew I’d be targeted too because of him.
“Really,” he replies, taking my hand even before I give it, like his mind is made up about this and my heart commotions. Glancing up at him and his firm face, I smile a little, feeling very...
Special.
As soon as we step out on the porch, we’re welcomed by a perfect fall day. Leaves are swirling down from the trees, looking like earthy rubies and there’s an excitement in the air. The festival really has to be the event of the year and a lot of the neighbors walk out the same time as us.
Kids run ahead and they have toy windmills in their hands that flutter like crazy in the breeze and masks on their faces. Some of the adults wear masks too. But I was right to think they’d be harmless, because they are colorful and smiley. Not at all like Romeo’s.
“Are we good?” Callan asks with knotted brows and I love that he used the word we and I nod. When we’re together we’re more than good and hand in hand, we walk to the town square where the festival is held and at the sight of the celebrations, I grow emotional.
In my darkest moments in the cave, I never thought I’d experience something like this again and I shiver when Callan bends down and gives me a kiss on my forehead, his eyes understanding and they fill me with warmth.