“If you liked me, then why did you take so long to finish the chariot? I know you could have finished it sooner. You told me yourself it hadn’t been a priority!”
Her words hit me like spears to the chest. I had mentioned the chariot not being a priority as an off-handed comment to cover up the real reason why I hadn’t finished it sooner. I hadn’t meant for her to take it to heart.
“I took-” My words came out as a yell and I stopped myself and started over in a calmer tone. “I took as long as I did, so I would have an excuse to spend time with you.” I confessed, and the anger that creased her face melted away slightly. “As long as I could keep asking you for measurements, I had an excuse to talk to you.”
“You didn’t need an excuse to talk to me,” she replied in an exacerbated tone.
“I felt like I did. I’m usually so good at talking, but with you, I feel like I’m never saying the right thing and you never seem impressed by anything I say.”
“I’m not impressed by anything anyone says.” Kayla sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as she looked down, as if in silent prayer.
“Words can lie. Only a person's actions can be trusted, and when you took more than a month to produce something I knew you could do in a week, I thought your actions were showing me that you didn’t like me. That I wasn’t your priority.” Her last sentence was barely audible, as if she hadn’t wanted to admit that part out loud. But there it was, laid out before us both.
“You are my priority.” I sat next to her and tipped her chin up with my finger so she’d meet my eyes. I had to right this wrong. I had to make it completely clear that she meant more to me than anyone else on this entire planet.
“You’ve been my priority since day one. I was a fool for not finishing your chariot sooner. I did actually. I had it hidden in my workshop as I engraved it to perfection. If I had known that not finishing it would hurt your feelings even in the slightest, I would have presented it to you long ago. I’m so sorry Kayla.”
I leaned against the wall, feeling more ashamed than I ever had in my entire life. Not even my exile had felt as shameful as this.
“Can you ever forgive me?”
She leaned against the wall next to me and sighed.
“Yeah.”
She met my gaze and presented me with an offer. “Friends?”
Friends. That was a gift beyond all hope. I nodded my head. “Friends.”
I laid out our furs, hers on one end of the caveand mine at the other. I placed myself closer to the entrance. Not that anything was going to be able to move that boulder, but I’d be there just in case. I would protect Kayla with my life. Whether we were friends, mates, or even enemies, she’d have my forest at her back.
Chapter 10
Kayla
I woke up the next day feeling sore and not at all well-rested. It had been hard to fall asleep after Drovo’s confession. He did like me. His flirtations weren’t empty words after all. Hai was right, boys are stupid, even big blue ones on Valo Prime. Drovo’s intentions may have been good, but his actions had still hurt.
I reminisced over the past month with fresh eyes. I mulled over our every interaction. All the kind things he’d said, all the compliments, all the heated looks, and I tried to will myself to feel flattered by it all, but instead the feeling of disappointment rose up to the surface.
I was disappointed that I hadn’t known his words were true and not just empty flirting. It felt like he had been planning a party in my honor, but somehow I’d never been invited.
All those missed opportunities to flirt back or give him heated looks of my own instead of rolling my eyes were gone and I couldn’t claw them back even if I tried.
I was mad, and flattered, and confused, and happy, and disappointed all at once. Friends. We were friends now. I was relieved about that. If he had confessed he loved me and expected me to return his feelings, I didn’t think I could. After a month of mixed signals, I felt way too many conflicting emotions about the sexy dryad shifter. Maybe after some time as just friends, one or two emotions will rise to the top, helping me clear this tangled web of feelings.
“You ready to find Jelly?” Drovo asked with an easy smile.
He moved the boulder away from the entrance, letting the morning light bath us in the dawn of a new day.
“Yep,” I lied. I was tired. So tired.
Drovo tilted his head to the side as he looked me over in the daylight.
“It might be a while before we find our furry friend. Why don’t you stay here while I retrieve the chariot? That way, you won’t have to walk as we look for him.”
“I can walk. I’ll be alright.” Why am I like this? I amnotalright. There was no way I could walk that distance feeling the way that I did.
Drovo stared at me for a moment as if he were assessing what the right thing to say might be. We were friends now. He couldn’t just flirt his way through conversations like he’d attempted to do in the past.
