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“You don’t even know me, Connor Lennox.” Sadie stood up abruptly, slipping out of the booth quickly and away from me.
“Sadie…” I stood up too. She was right, I didn’t know her, not really. Though I could guess that she had never really gotten a chance to talk to anyone about her mom and that she was a ticking time bomb when it came to that sore subject. I knew that much from experience.
“Just stop it,” Sadie snapped coldly over her shoulder at me, turning away. I was too slow to catch her, and my chest ached as I watched her leave. Sadie shoved through the door, taking off down the sidewalk in her green dress as a soft, cold rain began to fall outside the diner, obscuring her from my view entirely.
Chapter 10
Sadie
My mom had always been what no one else could ever be. She was a light, burning brightly, that was snuffed out much too soon. It had been strange when she passed, a house full of nothingness wrapped up in my father’s grief and sorrow. It was something I never really talked about, except in passing, and it wasn’t difficult for me to understand why. I imagined what she might think of what Connor and I were doing, of the lies we were telling. She wouldn’t approve and that made it so much worse.
My thoughts turned to Connor, and the sight of him wrapped in a towel and dripping from the shower. I was decidedly not able to think of him as nothing to me anymore. Yet, I knew I had been foolish in running away from my problems. The rain poured down around me, cold and heavy. Thunder crashed and I shivered uncontrollably in my green dress, huddled beneath the stoop of some rundown store.
Where am I? The streets and landmarks were unfamiliar to me and the buildings were tall and imposing, waiting like hulking creatures in the dark and cold.
“Sadie, thank god,” said a familiar voice suddenly, and I was enveloped in the warmth of a warm body beneath an umbrella, strong arms wrapped around me.
“Connor,” I choked out, falling into the warmth of him. “I’m sorry. That was stupid.”
“Let’s go home,” he murmured into my ear over the crack of thunder and the lashing rain. Home. For so long now, New York had felt like someplace distant, even as it spread out around me. It was strange to think that I had been in the city for what felt like forever, but only now at this exact moment, had it begun to feel like it was a part of me.
When he scooped me up into his arms, I didn’t protest. My teeth chattered uncontrollably as I held the umbrella, and he hurried down the sidewalk, holding me close. Somehow, we reached the apartment steps without slipping and falling, and Connor jogged up quickly to the landing. Rain thrummed over the roof, soft and steady. Connor let me down by the door and ran off into the darkness of the apartment, flicking on lights as he went. I heard the water running in the bathroom and I tipped my head back against the door. I wrapped my arms around my body, but the cold seemed to live in my bones, crawling like frost over my skin. My teeth ached from chattering and my fingers were numb with the cold. There were footsteps and Connor came back, putting out a hand for me as if I were a wild animal cornered and scared. His fingers were warm, and he didn’t even flinch when my cold hand touched his. He pulled me into the bathroom, where a steaming bath was waiting. There were sweatpants and one of his t-shirts folded on the towel rack, and the rim of the huge tub was nearly overflowing with cloudy pale bubbles. I looked back at him in question, and he shrugged, looking strangely sheepish.
“My granddad used to tell me that whenever my grandma had a shit day, he would run her a bubble bath,” he said, oddly earnest. Then, hesitant. “If you don’t want it, I can just—"
“No,” I said, reaching out to squeeze his hand. “It’s great. Your granddad is a smart man.”
“Yeah,” Connor smiled wistfully. “He was.”
“Will you stay?” I blurted out without really thinking. Connor froze, looking between me and the bath, and my neck burned as a blush crawled over my skin. “Uh, in the bathroom, I mean. To talk.”
“Oh,” Connor let out a breath of a sigh. I didn’t think I imagined the edge of relief in his voice. “Yeah, I’ll just be outside while you…” he gestured vaguely toward the bath and I nodded, smiling a little at his awkwardness. I wondered if he had ever done something like this for anyone before.
I undressed quickly, shedding the soaked dress, and watching it pool wetly on the tiled floor. The steam rose and curled from the tub and I jerked my foot back as my toe touched the hot bath water, sliding it in slowly after that. The warmth settled into my body as I curled beneath the frothy bubbles and I let out a sigh, allowing the sadness and frustration that had come over me so suddenly to float away on the soapy water. The door creaked open, and Connor came in with his hand over his eyes. I laughed softly and dragged my hand through the water to splash droplets over his shirt. He let his hand down slowly and dropped down to sit on the closed toilet, elbows on his knees.
