Page 41 of Lily's Eagle

The worst part is, I can’t deny what he just said. So I just grab the bottle, and pour myself another drink.

“How are they dealing with it?” I ask. “That’s so dumb. They’ll just get hurt. I should call Cross right now and tell him to leave it.”

“I offered to take out the chief myself, so they wouldn’t have to,” he says softly. “Figured you’d prefer me getting killed over any of the rest of them.“

“You figured I’d prefer you getting killed?” I snap. “That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever said. Maybe you should lay off the vodka.”

I yank his cup from his hand, splashing the sharp smelling contents all over us both. He just looks at me weirdly and makes no move to take it back.

“I don’t want any of you getting hurt,” I say. “Any of you. Ever. Why would you say that?”

“Alright, Lily, take it easy,” he says calmly and takes his cup back from my hand. “No one’s getting hurt. But I’m not going anywhere either. That was my point. You’re stuck with me here.”

“What else is new?” I say venomously and regret it right after.

Truth is I’ve longed for a true friend for the last couple of days. And he’s it. So he deserves more than my anger.

“Look, this isn’t easy for me to say, so I’ll just say it…” the pause I take to drink some more makes me a liar, sort of, but I’ve never been good at expressing my feelings in words. I do things. I don’t think and talk about doing them.

He looks at me expectantly, waiting, and I wish he’d just make a wise crack of some sort so we can get off this subject. But he’s not.

“You’re my oldest friend, Eagle. In a lot of ways, you’re my only friend,” I say. “And I wanted to call you every day since I left. But it wouldn’t have been fair to you. Because you have your own life back in Pleasantville, and I want mine to be here. There’s no overlap.”

“But I’m here now,” he says. “I’d call that overlap.”

I’m trying to answer his unasked questions about the kiss. Why isn’t he letting me? We’re usually so good at melting into each other’s thoughts and moods.

I sigh and lean back against the tree. Truth is, I kind of want to try the road where we keep on kissing. But I’m afraid to, the way I’ve never been afraid of anything. What if it all goes wrong and I lose the only friend I truly have? The only person who doesn’t turn away even when everyone else does?

Have I lost him already?

“I don’t always understand you, Lily, but that’s nothing new,” he finally says. “And it’s been one hell of a day, so I’m not even gonna try anymore tonight. Here’s to us.”

He grins and offers his cup in a toast.

“Together again,” he adds as I grin back and bump my cup against his.

“And to you finally embracing your roots and your heritage.”

“What, those drunks back there and the men trying to kill me earlier?” he says. “I think I’d rather pass. Maybe my father had the right of it, keeping it all hidden from me. Aren’t you always saying our people can sense things better than the average?”

“Well, at least you’ve been listening. That’s something,” I say, not wanting to bicker any more.

Whatever other hard thing that needs saying between us can wait. I’m happy that he’s here. And that’s all I need to know right now.

13

EAGLE

I wasall set for riding to the nearest actual town and getting a motel room for the night, but in the end, Lily convinced me that I can stay at her cousin’s house too. So here I am, waking up on the damp, smelly, lumpy sofa, listening to rain pelting against the roof of this trailer and wishing I hadn’t insisted we finish that bottle of vodka last night.

Drops of water are hitting a tin pot or can somewhere very close to my head, waking a headache behind my eyes and slowly driving me insane. It’s what woke me, but what really chases the sleep away are the two judgy eyes in the face of Lily’s cousin. She’s sitting on an armchair across from me, holding a mug with both hands and staring at me motionlessly.

“Good morning,” I say pointedly as I sit up.

“You talk in your sleep,” she says.

“Only when I’m drunk,” I counter, which is a total lie. I had no idea I talked in my sleep ever. “So what did I say?”

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