“You heard me.” I take another step in, crowding her in the doorway. “Now answer.”
She takes a step back and looks up at me as I see the first real flicker of fear enter her gaze. But I just stare her down and wait.
“Um…” she pauses, and I can see her wheels turning fast. “Magnolia…” she says in a small voice.
Well, fuck.
That’s a good one.
I nod. “Purity, nobility, perseverance, and strength.” My gaze stays fixed on hers. “Resilience in the face of challenge.”
She just continues to stare up at me, showing me exactly that.
I didn’t want to like her.
I step back and give her a nod. “Later, Magnolia.” Then I walk to the end of the hall.
“He’s not ok,” she calls after me.
“He’ll be fine,” I say, not looking back at her as I head out of the building.
But I know both are true.
He’s not ok. Anyone with two fucking eyes can see that he’s barely holding himself together. But I also know hewillbe ok. Because I see moments of it, when the walls come down and his eyes shine bright. He’s in there… and he’s slowly coming out.
I pause when I reach my bike and catch sight of Cade’s empty car parked across the lot.
The fuck…
She better not have lied to me.
But her favourite tree is a magnolia, so I know she wouldn’t.
It’s Friday evening… there’s no class, no meetings, and no reason he needs to be on campus. So where the fuck is he?
As a group of students walk by, looking like they’re heading to a bar or to a party, I pull on my helmet. Then I roar out of the parking lot, and head for the shitty bar where I first saw him grading tests in the corner booth.
But when I get there, the booth is empty.
And I can’t ignore the nagging feeling that tells me something might be wrong.
I ignore Sam’s greeting behind the bar as I turn and leave, heading back outside and to my bike. I’m not sure why he would leave his car at the university, but maybe he ended up at home.
I pull into his driveway just as the last light is draining from the sky, and find his house sitting quietly in the dark, with no light or movement anywhere. I kill the engine and sit in the driveway for a moment, watching the windows like they might blink back at me.
What the fuck, Cade…
As I swing a leg over my bike and head up the walkway, I pull out a cigarette and slip it between my lips. At least I wasn’t a smoker for my doctor’s appointment and passed everything with flying colours.
I drop down onto the front step, pulling smoke into my lungs as I watch the blue sky melt into hues of purple and streaks of orange, and the shadows stretch longer across the quiet street.
Where the fuck is he?
There’s no way he’s still on campus, and I don’t know where he’d go without his car.
I’m halfway through another cigarette as I work out a plan to check the other bars near campus when I hear footsteps.
I look up to see Cade stumbling up the driveway in the dark, with a nearly empty bottle dangling from one hand at his side.
