The Rainbow Maker's Tale by Melanie Cusick-Jones
Chapter 10
“So…are you going to be OK?” I leaned around Cassie to peer into her apartment. The open-plan living space was empty and everything was quiet, so I assumed her parents weren’t home yet, even though we’d dawdled on our way back from the park and detoured via a café for dinner.
Cassie looked pale – well, paler than usual, at least. I guessed she was tired after everything that had happened: a near-death experience, an almost declaration of love and a scientific mystery were a lot to handle in one afternoon.
“I’ll be fine.” Cassie said.
Her voice stirred me from my thoughts and I realised she was answering my question. I found I was disappointed not be staying with her longer. Even more so when she added: “I’m just going to grab a shower and get an early night.”
I cleared my throat. “Do you have anything here for pain relief?” The enquiry was a lame attempt at distracting myself from the hormone-driven images that had overloaded my brain at the mere mention of Cassie and shower in the same sentence. Maybe there was some sense in reducing testosterone levels, after all. It seemed to make me stupid.
“I think so.” Cassie paused, wrinkling her nose as she thought about it. “I’ll find something to help – don’t worry about it.”
My lip curled up at her blasé response. Cassie was dismissing her needs – again – and I just knew that if she could have moved her shoulder, she would have shrugged off my question as well. As if I could forget that she had mangled her arm and nearly died, because of me! Well, if she wasn’t going to help herself, I would just have to make use of my skills and get her something from The Clinic.
Speaking of special skills, I realised that we hadn’t said anything more about the weird thing that happened in the park over dinner. It was odd. Everything about the way Cassie reacted to my suggestion made me think that there was more to it, rather than just an odd coincidence. Did she actually have something to hide? I stared at her, and she watched me back, as I first tried to figure out what might be going on, and then I tried asking her. Can you really hear what I’m thinking?
“What?” Cassie snapped at me, her eyes flashing brightly.
I chuckled, taking in the exasperated expression on her face: she obviously didn’t enjoy being scrutinised. “I was trying to tell you something,” I said truthfully, adding: “but it obviously didn’t work – maybe today was a one-off after all…”
Cassie’s head shook, her eyes rolling skyward as she allowed herself a short laugh. Just as before, there was something off about her reaction. Her laugh was a short bark, and she moved away from me, stepping back into the shadowy apartment as if distancing herself from the conversation.
“I’m not one of your science experiments you know!”
I laughed at her reprimand, although it was my turn to be false this time. In just a few short weeks of watching Cassie, I knew that it was fear that I saw in her eyes just then, not laughter, not anger. For now, I pretended not to see it and teased her back. “We’ll just have to see about that.”
This definitely isn’t over.
She frowned and I could see Cassie fighting to make her anger seem real, but she didn’t manage it and a genuine smile softened her face a moment later.
What was she so afraid of? I couldn’t think of anything that should make her so nervous, and it just seemed wrong that she was pretending to laugh it off, instead of actually doing that.
Some of my old fears bubbled to the surface as I found myself questioning what Cassie might be trying to hide. I didn’t believe she was part of the web of lies we were trapped inside, but at the same time, it appeared that I wasn’t the only one capable of keeping a secret. For the second time today, I felt the stabbing pain of rejection, realising that Cassie just did not trust me.
I stared at the floor, taking a deep breath to steady the nerves that were suddenly twisting my stomach into knots. “I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I like you so much.” In a surprising step, I made a completely honest admission, not really knowing why I felt the need to do it. Then, in a typical Cassie-move, I shrugged my shoulders dismissing my own words.
In the short silence that followed my random, but honest confession, I felt my control beginning to slip. I needed to get out of there before I said, or did, something I’d regret.
“You didn’t say goodbye,” Cassie called as I retreated down the hall.
From the sound of her voice I guessed that she had ventured forward to watch me leave. I raised my hand in a half wave, but didn’t turn around to check if my assumption was correct. “Goodbye Cassie!” I shouted back, as I dropped into the stairwell.
My feet slapped against the hard plastic resin steps as I plunged downward. I was about to do one of the stupidest things I’d ever attempted, which was saying something. Maybe, after this, Cassie would know that she could trust me.