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A tugging in my heart.
Neri had been at Zara’s and Joel’s countless of times. So why did my gut beg me to go over there? To see for myself that she was safe?
“She said she was staying the night.” Anna smiled, accepting her glass of wine that Jack handed her. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until tomorrow evening to talk to her.”
“Tomorrow evening?”
Why so long?
So, so much can go wrong in that length of time.
“Once those two make up, they’ll be inseparable again.” Jack grinned. “A sleepover will turn into brunch, which will turn into lunch, and swimming, and sunbathing, and God knows what else. As long as she walks back through the door before ten p.m., I’m not gonna stress.”
Doing my best to keep my face from blaring all my worries, I smiled. “Awesome. In that case, do you mind if I borrow your truck? Just gonna go to the supermarket and get a few things before they close.”
“Sure. You know you don’t have to ask. Keys are in the bowl by the door.”
“Cheers.” I rocked on the balls of my feet. “Okay, then...enjoy your movie.”
“Sleep well, Aslan.” Anna blew me a kiss before snuggling back into Jack’s embrace.
The moment they both looked back at the TV, I dropped all pretence that I wasn’t burning up with unexplainable fear, marched through the house, grabbed the keys from their usual spot, and bolted out the door.
* * * * *
A party.
She’d lied to her parents yet again. Just like she lied about the camping trip in Daintree having parental supervision, she’d lied and said she was spending a quiet night with Zara.
Quiet?
Fuck, my poor ears were about to fall off from the noise.
No one questioned me walking through the front door and prowling through the rooms. Teenagers and young adults shared drinks, jokes, saliva, and vapes. The house reeked of booze and artificially sweet smoke, riddled with cheap perfume and sickly aftershave.
Cutting through the crowd, I scanned for the one girl I would know blindfolded. I followed that strange nudge in my gut. The constant hum of worry. The niggle of panic that I couldn’t shut up even though I had no reason to be concerned.
Just because Neri and I were together now didn’t mean she was in danger whenever we were apart. I didn’t have this sickening feeling whenever she was at school. My palms didn’t sweat and my skin didn’t itch when she went out for dinner with her friends.
So why now?
Why tonight?
Why—
“Neri.” I caught sight of her slipping through the crowd. With a flick of her wrist, she grabbed a black cardigan resting on the back of a chair, then scurried out the front door.
She didn’t hear me. Didn’t stop.
Her shoulders braced and head down, she threw the cardigan on and buttoned it tight over her dress.
Her hair looked a little tangled, and the dress she wore was one of my favourites. I always loved when she wore it. The vibrant orange set off the tan of her skin and depth of her sun-streaked hair. But it was the way the brightness bled into darkness that I loved. I liked to think it was us. She was the Australian sun, and I was the Turkish night. Blending together in seamless perfection.
My heart eased, and the fear I’d harboured faded just a little.
She’s fine.
Ignoring a girl smiling at me and side-stepping a drunk guy who almost splashed me with his beer, I followed Neri out the door and broke into a jog as she darted across the front lawn, beelining for her bike leaning against the frangipani tree in the front yard.
