Page 12 of The Moment I Knew

“Well good news, it’s not my aunt,” Cole said, breaking the silence again. “It’s my cousin, Katie. She thinks she’s sneaky, bringing her boyfriend up here.”

“That makes two of us,” I muttered. “I also thought I was sneaky.”

His mouth twitched, then stilled, like he couldn’t let himself show any sort of reaction to my joke. I still figured it was progress from how it was going earlier. Every time I made him almost-laugh, I figured I was reducing my chance of getting murdered up here.

“They’ll be a while,” he added.

I exhaled slowly. “Fantastic.”

I tipped my head back against the wall, staring at the underside of a shelf I hadn’t noticed before. A stack of old shoeboxes sat above us, one slightly crushed like someone had once shoved it there in a hurry.

“So,” I said after a moment, because silence felt heavier than conversation, “your cousin lives here too.”

“With my aunt,” he said. “Yeah.”

“What about your parents?”

He huffed and glanced away. “You always this nosy?”

“Only when I’m trapped in a closet with someone who rumour has it has killed people before.” The words were out of my mouth before I could think them through and I immediately regretted them. No good could come from shining a light on that particular truth. Either all the rumours were exaggerated and I was going to make him even angrier than he already was, or they were true and… well I didn’t even want to think about what that would mean for me right now.

“I’m not going to kill you,” he said flatly. “You’re not that important.”

“Wow,” I deadpanned. “Reassuring and humbling.”

Another almost-smile ghosted across his face and vanished just as quickly. Outside the closet, laughter swelled, then faded again. I resisted the urge to cover my ears.

“So,” I tried, “why Northern? Did you move here from⁠—”

“We don’t need to do this.”

“What, have a conversation?”

“Make small talk. I know what you’re trying to do and I’m not giving you answers.”

I swallowed. “I’m not…” I glanced away guiltily. We both knew I was going to work up to asking about the expulsion, or at least asking around it. “Doing whatever you think I’m trying to do.”

“Then stop asking questions.”

I went quiet again, chewing on my lip. I wondered if Ainsley was going to come looking for me sometime soon. She had to be wondering where I was by now. I couldn’t even text her since I’d given her my phone to hold earlier in the night because I didn’t have any pockets.

“This is deeply uncomfortable,” I mumbled.

“Stop talking about it.”

“Well, it’s a little hard not to acknowledge what’s happening right outside.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to narrate it.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t if you were capable of making any form of conversation.”

“Maybe I’d be willing to talk if you weren’t trying to interrogate me.”

“I wasn’t interrogating you,” I said. “I was making conversation because I’m currently locked in a closet while your cousin makes out with someone ten feet away.”

“That’s not my problem.”

“It sort of is,” I muttered. “You’re the one who shoved me in here.”