Flutter (The Discover Series) (28 page)

Elizabeth
had perfect timing. No sooner had the words escaped my mouth, than I heard her shouting through the crowd, as she squeezed her way through the crowd.

“Sara? Oh my god, SARA! Are you okay? What happened?” she asked frantically, as she pulled me into a hug.

I rolled my eyes toward the security guy, and pretended to be bothered over Elli’s reaction to the situation. He nodded his head once, before returning to the fire.
Elizabeth
was pulling me away from the crowd, and th
e
burnt booth, by my arm when I remembered something.

“Hold on.” I said, pulling my arm free of her grasp.

I walked over to the guard. “Excuse me,” I said, and waited for him to turn around. ‘The pictures? Were the pictures okay?” I asked, and eyed the slot they would have dropped out of, seeing that there was little to no damage to the metal pocket.

“I’m sorry Miss, but we didn’t see any pictures. The booth probably caught fire before it could register them.” He shrugged. “You be careful now.” He said turning away again.

I walked back
toward
Elizabeth, who looked at me questioningly.

“What’s wrong?” She asked.

I shook my head. “Nothing.” I smiled, hoping to convince her.

I looked back at the booth; maybe they hadn’t had a chance to print before the computer crashed. I thought we had been standing there a good 10 minutes after the last snap, which should have been plenty of time to develop the photos, but maybe I was mistaken.

“What happened back there?” She asked again.

I gave a slight shrug. “I don’t know. I was inside the booth, taking pictures, and before I knew it there were sparks. Some guy pulled me out before it could explode in my face.”

Out of my entire explanation, the part she focused on was “Some guy?” she asked, her voice rising.

“Yeah I don’t know who he was.” Which wasn’t a total lie.

“Would this happen to be the same guy who nearly knocked your socks off while serenading you?”

Damn, she had seen.

“Well first off, he did
not
knock my socks off,”

No. he had done something else entirely different to me.

“And he was not serenading
me.
”

At least I didn’t think he was. Could the song really have been meant for me?

“Well it looked like he was. He was pretty dreamy. Have you ever seen him before?” she tried to sound nonchalant, but I knew better.

I smiled at her. “You’re a goof ball. No I’ve never seen him before. He was just some guy, and he was gone before I could even thank him for his help.”

“You mean you didn’t get to say ‘thank you’? Or get his name?” she asked, surprised.

It hit me then that I hadn’t gotten his name.
How had I not asked him his name, both times?
I thought outrageously to myself. What if I never saw him again? What if he was only here for the festival, and he was on his way out of town as we spoke? I tried not to let despair wash over me or have a complete meltdown in front of
Elizabeth
. I would save that for when I was at home, and could take my bad mood out on Andres.

“Listen Elli,” I started, pulling her to a stop, “I’m really sorry about earlier-”

She was shaking her head, and interrupting me, before I could finish my apology. “No Sara, I’m sorry-“

“But you have nothing to be sorry about.” I interrupted her. “I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. It was stupid and I’m sorry!”

She smiled and pulled me into a tight hug. “I promise no more ‘
interventions´
behind you
r
back. You were right; we should have just come to you in the first place.”

“Thank you,” I said. ”Please just believe me, when I say that everything will be fine.”

“I will, I just hope you know you can come to me with anything. You know I will always be there for you. I think it goes without saying, but you’re my best friend.”

I smiled into her hair and suppressed my tears. “Of course I know that.”

We pulled apart, and laughed at our ridiculously sappy moment.

“Do you want to go home?” She asked.

“Do you mind? I’m kind of tired.” I answered, and covered a yawn.

“Of course not, I’m sure Andres will probably want to know about this. I can’t believe that caught on fire, while you were in it!” She freaked.

I groaned. “I don’t want to make it a big deal. Really I’m fine.”

“You should still tell him, he might hear it from someone else.”

Flagstaff
wasn’t a small town, but Andres still knew a lot of people, and those people had been at the festival.

“Ugh, your right. Alright let’s go then.”

She smiled triumphantly, and laced her arm through mine. “Of course I’m right silly. Are you going to tell Scott?”

“About the Fire? Probably, like you said he might hear it from someone else.”

“And the boy?”

“What’s to tell about that? He was just some boy.”
Yeah right!
“I’m sure I will though.”

“Okay.” she left it at that.

I was glad she let it go, but I was more then glad that we had worked everything out. All was back to normal, because if only this, I needed something normal in my life.

I just wish I could shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

I waved at
Elizabeth
, as she pulled out of the drive way.

I took a deep breath, and my hand hovered over the door knob for a few seconds. before I finally twisted the knob and pushed the door open just enough so that I could slip through and dash up the stairs, before Andres heard me. I planned on telling him, but I planned on doing it when I was ready. I hated feeling like I was acting like a brat, but I was angry.

I turned around and shut the door softly, trying to make as little noise as possible. and I turned for the steps thinking I had made an easy getaway, when I was pulled up short by Andres deep voice.

“Sara?” he called, from just inside the dining room and I could hear the chair move as he got up.

Grrr, that man could hear a feather drop
.

“Yeah?”

I stood there the attitude already settling into my muscles as I got ready to face off with him. I didn’t turn around, as I heard him stop and lean against the wall.

“George called me. He said there was a fire at the festival and that you were involved?” He asked, and I wondered how he could make it sound like an accusation while also sounding concerned.

“I wasn’t
involved,”
I spat at him over my shoulder, before finally looking at him. I knew he was probably thinking that I was
acting out
. “The photo booth I was in, caught on fire while I was still inside.”

His posture stiffened, and he pushed away from the wall coming closer toward me “What?! Are you okay? How did it catch on fire?”

I shrugged. “Bad wiring maybe, old machine, cheap computer? Take your pick.” I said, and climbed another step.

“Was there anyone around?” He asked, folding his arms over his chest.

I stopped. I was
so
close. I looked at him annoyed. “You mean besides the hundreds of people at the festival? Yeah there were people around.”

He ignored my sarcasm. “I mean anyone who looked-” He stopped.

I hated when he did that!

“Are you okay?” He finally asked.

“I’m fine.” I said flatly, taking another step.

“How did you get out?”

“Some random person saw the sparks, and pulled me out before it caught fire. I’m going to my room.” That was my way of saying, I was going to walk away now weather he continued to talk or not.

“I’ll call you when dinner’s ready.” he hollered at me, as I bounded the rest of the steps toward my room.

When I was finally inside, I turned around and leaned against my door.

I was finally home.

The rest of the night passed in a blur.

I had taken a short nap, having felt drained from the afternoon’s events. My dreams had been filled with images of his face, his smell, his touch. It was the first time my dreams had escaped the nightmares that usually clouded them, or the haunting image of my wolf lying dead in the snow. A yummy aroma had awaked me, and my stomach growled loudly, reminding me that I had, had zero to eat at the festival.

Using cold water to splash away the last of my sleep, I pulled my hair up and opened the door to my room. Smells swirled around me, enticing my hunger, and I took the stairs two at a time. Andres was in the kitchen stirring a pot over the stove. He glanced back at me, smiling briefly. He always tried to make our mandatory encounters pleasant, and I was always there to make them anything but. I just wanted answers, and when he was ready to give them to me I planned on keeping up the cold shoulder treatment.

I didn’t return his smile, and the look on his face penetrated my anger and made my heart ache. I couldn’t bear the sadness in his eyes, so I muttered a small greeting, and complimented the smell of the food. He seemed to think it was enough, and started up a conversation. I half listened, as I idly swirled around my silverware. My thoughts were once again filled with
him,
and I wondered if I would see his face every time my mind wandered.

Andres announced dinner was done, and I filled my plate, taking a seat in the chair across from him. He was a great cook. Tonight he had made us steak, potatoes & an avocado salad. He was a better cook than I was, and I devoured my food while he tried to make small talk. I wasn’t very good company for him these days, and again I felt guilty, knowing he stayed buried in his study all day with no one to talk to.

I didn’t know what he did in there all day, but I didn’t ask either. Like myself, Andres was dealing out a lot of lies these days, and I hated that his lies made me lie. There was no point in asking what he was doing, because I wouldn’t get a truthful answer anyway. So I let him fiddle away his days, locked in his room, while I had went out to get a job.

After two weeks of nonstop pouting, and excessive crying, in my room alone, I knew I had to get out of there or I was going to freak the freak out. I had gone around town looking for a job, and managed to snag one at a small book store. School was in session, and Margaret, who owned the book store, needed another set of hands. She had given me the job on the spot. I was now forever indebted to her, for getting me out of my house for a few hours during the week. She had given me weekends off, to ‘be a kid’ as she put it. How I wished it were that easy.

Pushing aside my thoughts, I got up to put the food away and washed the dishes and after a quick clean up of the rest of the kitchen, I gave Andres a terse thank you and goodnight, and took the stairs before he could reply. That had been our routine since coming home from being frozen in ice, a world away. When I was back in my room, I stripped down and turned on the water for a quick shower. My battle scars had faded away, and my ribs had healed pretty nicely, according to the doctor in town. I had one or two scars that remained as a constant reminder of everything that had happened that night, but they were small and hidden.

I was in and out of the shower, dressed and ready for bed within an hour. After making sure my window was locked - something I did every night, even though I never unlocked it - I climbed into bed, and I was asleep the minute I hit the switch to my lamp. It was easy to fall asleep these days, by the time bedtime rolled around, I was usually exhausted and I worried about my health sometimes. Was it normal to be this tired when I was still young? Wasn’t I supposed to be in the prime of my youth?

I hadn’t been asleep long, before I was awakened by the tapping on my window. Sitting up, I pulled the blankets higher over my body, and tried to calm the beating of my heart. It felt like the dream that had attacked my first night back, but I wasn’t scared. Shouldn’t I be since I knew the nightmare’s out come? I looked at the clock, it read 1am. I hadn’t had the same nightmare since that first time, but I had been filled with plenty since then. None of them had me sleep walking like that one, but they were still pretty intense.

I jumped when I heard the rattle against the window again, and leaned forward trying to spot the dragonfly that should be floating around. There was no ghostly glow from the flutter of its wings, but the popping sound still came. I frowned and slipped from the warmth of my bed. Walking over to the window I saw the rock pop off the window. I peered into the night, and my stomach flipped when I saw his face in the darkness.
Unlocking the window for the first time in months, I pushed open the doors and leaned out the window to see him.

“Are you lost?” I asked, trying to hide my deliriously happy expression. I folded my legs onto the bench below my window, and sat on them, leaning out the window.