Page 91 of The Confidant
The school gates appeared in front of us, and I realized we were back in Eden Falls.
Man, that past hour had gone by fast.
Scarlett drove through the gates and to the side of the school where the parking lot was. After she parked and turned off the engine, she looked at me in the moonlight and said, “Can you just promise me you’re not going to go all wild and fly off the rails?”
“I’m not planning to,” I said in a low voice, somewhat hurt that she actually believed I would do something like that. But I told myself I shouldn’t be offended when she’d been told her whole life that that was exactly what happened to everyone who left the church. “I’m still mostly the same person, Scarlett. Sure, I buy my chai lattes and breakfast sandwiches on Sunday mornings now and I see the world a bit differently than I used to. But I’m still Hunter.”
To me, I was actually a better version of myself than I’d been before. I had been able to let go of my more judgmental side that always thought everyone was doing things wrong when they weren’t living life the same way I was.
When Scarlett still looked like she needed reassurance, I added, “I still want to be a decent human.”
“Yeah?” she asked, sounding hopeful.
I reached across the console to take her hand, tentatively running my thumb over her knuckle. “I’m still figuring out what I believe, but I still want to be a good person. I want to live a good life.” I looked into her eyes. “If anything, I want to be even better now. If for no other reason than to prove that you can still live a meaningful and happy life without being a member of The Fold.”
Her eyes filled with tears. She whispered, “I’ve just been so worried about you.” She leaned closer and rested her forehead against mine. We both closed our eyes and seemed to breathe in this moment before she said, “I mean, I even emailedThe Confidantfor advice.”
“I know,” I said, my voice coming out all gravelly because being this close to her did funny things to me.
And then I realized I’d just told her that I knew she’d emailedThe Confidant.
Crap!
But she didn’t seem to pick up on that. She pulled away slightly, her brown eyes watery and searching mine as she asked, “You know I’ve been worried?”
“Yes, that…” I looked down and drew in a deep breath, trying to find the words to tell her that I was the one she’d been emailing this whole time.
But before I could think of the right words, a light-blue Honda Civic pulled into the parking spot beside us.
A second later, Asher had climbed out of the driver’s seat in Elyse’s car and was knocking on my window.
I pushed the button in the door to roll down the window to see what he wanted.
“Hi?” I said.
“Hey roomie!” He bent over to peek his head inside. And when he got a good look, he said, “I hoped that was you in there, Scarlett.”
“Hi Asher.” Scarlett waved.
Elyse came around from the passenger side of her car and said, “Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was in here or I would have asked Asher to park somewhere else.”
“It’s fine,” I said, curious what they thought about seeing Scarlett and me together after the distance of the past weeks.
“So, are you guys friends again?” Asher asked. Then getting a devious smile, he added, “Or did we just interrupt a different kind of reunion?” He wiggled his dark eyebrows like he was suggesting we’d just been making out.
“Asher,” Elyse chided.
“What?” Asher stood up straight again to look at his more reserved girlfriend. “We all know that’s what they’ve been wanting to do all year, anyway.”
Scarlett leaned over the console to look at Asher and Elyse better and said, “Hunter and I are just talking.”
“Well, that’s boring,” Asher said before a half-smile lifted his lips and he added, “But I’m glad you guys are talking again.”
“So am I,” I said, glancing back at Scarlett.
There was a moment where Scarlett and I just stared at each other. It must have made Elyse uncomfortable, or maybe she could sense that we still had things to talk about because she cleared her throat and said, “Anyway, we’ll leave you two alone. I was just dropping Asher off.”
“I guess you’ll have to catch me up on everything back in our room,” Asher said before taking a step toward Elyse. But then he paused, turned back around, and ducked down by my car window. He whispered in a tone that everyone could still hear, “If you need to stay out past curfew, I’ll cover for you,” and ended it with a really obvious wink.
