Page 192 of Finding the Forward: Part One
Me
I'm sorry. I love you so much. We don’t have to wait if you don’t want to. I just want to talk to everyone first.
I’ll find you when I pick Mercy up.
Something about his voice, his actions, even his scent wasoff.I texted AJ as I leaned on my crutch, waiting for the metro.
Me
I think I fucked up with Grif and I don’t know what I did.
AJ
I’ll call you in a few? In a meeting.
Me
Perfect, about to get on the metro, headed to the lab.
Snagging a seat on the metro, I sank into it gratefully. The Maimers’ trainer wanted me to go to the hospital. I’d told her I’d go to the campus clinic, which was only half a lie. I had to stop there to pick up my refill of the medicine I took when flying. But I was pretty sure I didn’t have a concussion. I’d landed on my ass, not my head.
A few pain relievers and I’d be fine.
AJ called as I walked from the metro stop to campus. “Hey, what happened, Princess?”
“I… I don’t even know. But I feel so shitty.” I told him about our conversation and Grif leaving abruptly. “It’s not that I don’t want to bite him right now. Oh, I do. However, I’d want to talk to you and Jonas–and Mercy–first.”
“Verity, Princess, take a deep breath,” he murmured.
I did, and my chest shuddered.
“Okay, tell me again,” he told me.
I sank onto a bench on campus and retold it again. This time, I included some of how I was feeling after that text from Mama.
“How do I fix it? Should I have stayed? But between Mercy having a game today, leaving tonight, and not being in the lab yesterday for more than my regular morning check, at the bare minimum I have to get things set up so everything doesn’t die while I’m gone. Still, I absolutely don’t want to leave town with him mad at me. What did I do, AJ?” My voice broke.
“You triggered something, Princess. But it wasn’t your fault. You two haven’t had that conversation yet–and it’s not my place to fill you in. As nice as getting naked with you two sounds, I’m glad you’re being practical about this. We’ll figure this out, okay?” He sounded so rational, so reasonable.
“Okay. I love him so much.” I squeezed my eyes shut, head in my hands. It was cold on that bench.
“I know,” he assured.
So, I did trigger something. But we hadn’t had that conversation yet. That was why waiting a little made sense. There were still discussions to have.
Also, inevitably, we’d have a fight. It was surprising we hadn’t yet. Then again, we were both easy-going people.
“Don’t hate him for the way he reacted. He was so in his head he didn’t notice that you fell. Are you okay?” he added.
“I’m okay,” I assured. Physically.
“I’m on my way to that part of town. I’ll check in with him and smooth things over a bit. Then, after my meeting, I’ll come and see you. Do you have time to have lunch, or should I bring something?” AJ asked me.
I really just needed a hug. “I’d love for you to stop by if you have time. You don’t need to bring me food. A chai latte would be nice. I’ll be at the greenhouses over in Bio.”
“We’ll get this fixed. I wish you weren’t leaving tonight, so you could sleep over. No, this isn’t me asking you not to go. I’ll seeyou soon. Also, don’t run. In this pack, we don’t run from our problems. It will gut more than Grif if you do.” He ended the call.
We don’t run from our problems.I could make a little book of all their inspirational quotes.
