Page 21 of UNAwere

Me

Not really. I fill the silence.

Maevey

Lol of course you do.

Briggs comes back over, and I put my phone away. He glimpses me watching him before he sits down, and the guard that’s always on his face slips back on.

‘So…’ I play with the toggles of my sweatshirt, drawing the hood over my head and pulling it tight. I loosen it, pull it tight, and repeat. ‘What did you end up ordering?’

Briggs has been watching me, the image of him staring at me across the table disappearing and reappearing every time I tighten and loosen the hood over my eyes.

‘What are you doing?’ he asks.

I quickly lower the hood and drop the toggles.

‘You can’t sit still, can you?’

I frown at him. ‘Yeah, I can.’

‘No, you always have to be doing something with your hands.’

I raise them before my face and wiggle my fingers at him. ‘No, I don’t.’

He cocks his head to the side. ‘Miss Palmer…’

‘Sybbie.’

‘When was the last time you Turned?’

‘The day you picked me up.’

‘You’re overdue. When we leave, I’ll give you some time to Turn. Find a secluded place for you to do it.’

I wave a hand. ‘Oh, no, that’s not necessary. I’m fine.’

‘I’m not suggesting.’

‘I don’t want to.’

His frown deepens. ‘You need to.’

‘I’m not fidgety because I haven’t Turned.’ I awkwardly gesture at myself, spinning my pointer fingers in circles, one over the other. ‘I have ADHD.’

Briggs blinks. ‘Ay-dee-aych-dee?’

‘You haven’t heard of it?’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Humans get it. Are born with it. Apparently, Weres are, too.’

‘Is that why…’ He gestures to me as well, and I feel like I should wear a neon sign that says, I’m easily distracted. ‘You talk a lot?’

‘Uh, one of the reasons.’ I think on it. ‘Although that’s probably more due to my trauma.’ I put on a British accent. ‘And not facing my grief over the death of my parents, innit?’

When I look at Briggs, he’s staring at me as if I just told him a litter of kittens got run over outside.