Page 95 of Save Us
“I should have told you what was going on,” he replies. “I was just panicking that I’d act weird around you and scare you away and…God knows. But I really don’t want to mess things up with you. You matter too much to me for that.”
“You matter to me too, Wren. That’s the only reason I was annoyed,” I say huskily.
“Really?” he asks.
I nod.
Slowly, Wren’s unique smile fights its way back to his face—that effortless, lazy smile that I noticed the very first time we met. But I’m a lot more familiar with it these days.
And having not seen it for so long, in this second, it’s waking a tingle that shoots through my whole body.
“So, what do we do now, Supergirl?” he asks, his voice muted.
His body is relaxed, but the look in his brown eyes is full of insecurity.
“I don’t know,” I mumble, meaning every word. I don’t know how to deal with everything he just told me. My heart is beating anxiously, and the butterflies in my stomach are making me jittery.
“Tell me what you want, Ember,” he whispers. “Whether we should go on being friends. Or if we can be more than that. Or ifyou still just want me to get out of your way so that you can go back to the others in the garden.”
If we can be more than that.
I don’t know exactly what that means—what it might mean forme—but I think that’s exactly what I want.
“There’s no need to get out of my way, Wren,” I say firmly.
He exhales. “There isn’t?”
I slowly shake my head. “No.”
Again, a smile spreads over his lips. This time, I smile hesitantly back.
“Can I give you a hug, Ember?” he asks quietly.
By way of an answer, I take a cautious step forward and put my arms around his waist. I feel his hands on my back, gently at first, and then tighter. I shut my eyes and try not to think for once, to just enjoy the moment.
A few hours ago, I was still trying to banish Wren right out of my mind. Now he’s holding me in his arms, and I can say with certainty that this is one of the best things that’s happened to me in a long time.
I haven’t lost him, I think as he strokes his hand down my shoulder blade. I feel his pounding heart against my body, which seems gradually to be calming down again—just like mine.
Like all we needed to find peace was each other.
“Wren,” someone suddenly exclaims in disbelief, “would you kindly tell me what the hell you’re doing with my sister?”
25
Ruby
I can’t believe what my eyes are seeing right now.
Right in the middle of Ophelia’s hallway, Ember and Wren are joined at the hip.
They look comfortable—and definitely not like this is the first time they’ve had their arms around each other.
At my words, they leap apart, like I’ve caught them. The guilty look in Ember’s eyes sets off all the alarm bells in my head. Little by little, the missing pieces of the puzzle of the last few weeks are falling into place. This is why Ember was acting so weird and making such a mystery out of who she was spending time with.
This is why she wasn’t at school, why she lied to her friends and me, why she was on her phone so much, and wouldn’t talk to me, even though we tell each other everything.
This must be the reason for all of that.
