BAILEY - SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD
“Where are you going?”Shane grabs my sleeve, pulling me back into the house.
“Out,” I say, shaking him off.
He steps closer to me. “Outwhere?”
“The p-pub,” I force out, trying to hold eye contact. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll get away with lying to him. He thinks I spend every weekend working in the pub, as a pot washer. That’s only on Saturdays though. On Sundays I sneak off to spend the day with Teddy.
“School’s over, you don’t need to keep wasting your weekends there. Why don’t you hang out with me for the day?” he smiles, and my stomach drops.
“I signed a contract,” I say through clenched teeth. “They’re expecting me.”
Shane looks me up and down. “Have you seen the Scottish boy lately?”
I swallow, scared of what he’ll do to me if he finds out I’m lying. Terrified that he’ll stop me seeing Teddy.
“Go,” he says, jutting his chin towards the door. He doesn’t step back; forcing me to squeeze past him. Everywhere our bodies touch makes my skin crawl.
When I’m finally free, I run down the path, only to find my stepfather pulling into the drive. He rolls down the window and calls out to me. “Hey, baby boy, you off to work?”
My throat closes up completely, voice locked down tight as soon as those words leave his lips. I give a quick nod, then run far enough down the road to know they’re not coming after me. Doubling over, I gasp for air, lungs burning with every breath. I rub at my chest, waiting for my heart to slow down before walking to Teddy’s house.
“Hey,I thought we could go to the woods today, if that’s good with you?” Teddy asks as he locks his front door. I nod, but he’s not looking.
“Bay?” He turns around, and the sun reflects in his eyes, lightening them to whisky brown. I focus on them, trying to fight the knot in my throat, but the more I try, the more trapped the words get. Huffing in frustration I turn my face away from him.
He puts an arm around my shoulders and pulls me into a hug. “You not up to talking today?”
I shake my head against his chest; the movement blowing the smell of fabric softener and smoky cologne into the air.
“That’s fine, take your time. You’ll come back to me.” He pulls back, a bright smile on his face. “Look, I got chocolate.”He shoves an open carrier bag under my nose, revealing several share bags. “Come on, I wanna check out this old oak tree I saw last week. It’s got low branches I think we can climb.”
We? No way in hell is he getting me to climb a tree.
I follow him down the road and my hand twitches by my side, desperate to slip into his. I settle for pressing close to him instead, our arms brushing against one another as we walk. The contact, however small, is enough to settle me a little more. Teddy doesn’t move away from me—if anything, I swear he leans into me as he carries on chatting away. A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth as I listen to his melodic voice.
We reach the forest and head towards the stream. Dappled light pierces through the leafy canopy, painting the water with glitter. I’m not sure why no one comes this deep into the woods, but for all the time we’ve been exploring here, we’ve never seen another person. I like that it’s our secret spot, far away from everyone else.
Teddy leads the way, further than we’ve gone before, and just like he said, a large old oak tree stands in a clearing. Some of its roots are poking out the soil, like it’s trying to break free from the earth. It’s tilted to the side, hanging over the water, some of its branches low enough to reach.
I perch myself on a large rock.
Teddy chuckles. “You’re not coming up with me?”
I frown at him and shake my head vehemently.
“Fine, here … you take this.” He hands me the bag of chocolate and takes his T-shirt off. I stare at him as if I’ve never seen him shirtless before.
I’m sure his chest looks bigger …
“Bay?”
I shake my head and drag my eyes away from his body.
“I called you like three times, you good?”
I nod, touching the tips of my ears to see if they’re as hot as they feel.
