Lost and Found

Chapter 5 | Is it me?

The stars appear in the night sky. The sun is completely under now. Indecisive, Julia stands in front of the path, splitting into three ways.

Eeny meeny miny moe.

"Wait, let me walk you home." Mason jogs up to her, leaving Jake alone by the lake.

"I'm fine," she snaps at him. Jake waves before he goes back to the party, and she automatically waves back. Domoor.

"It's dark, and you have a habit of getting lost."

She rolls her eyes while getting her phone out of her pocket. Yes, pocket. Dresses with pockets exist, and she'll buy every single one of them.

"I'm not a damsel in distress, thank you very much." Her phone screen stays black. Julia pushes harder on the screen and the buttons, but nothing happens. "Stupid technology," she whispers under her breath. Sighing, she puts her phone back in her pocket. Fine, she's a damsel in distress.

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" He grins at her. Jake is gone, and stupid Stranger Danger is friendly again.

"Yes." She tries to sound confident in herself. "You can go back to your party, so you don't have to help the weird Forest Girl. Besides, I know when I'm not wanted."

He scratches the back of his neck. "I didn't mean weird in a bad way." After a long silence, he shakes his head and turns around, finally giving up.

She turns back to the tree paths. This is not fair. There was only one path when she got here. "Eeny meeny miny moe," she mumbles to herself. The path on the left is the winner. Stepping onto the left path, Mason grabs her arm.

"That's it. I'm walking you home." He pulls her to the other trail–the middle one.

"You can't do that."

"Yes, I can."

She opens her mouth to disagree, but she gives in. It's getting dark, and Mason knows the way. If Mason doesn't kill her like the psycho murderer he is, someone else might. He takes out his phone and turns the flashlight on, lighting the path before them.

Julia and Mason walk down the path. Her legs can't keep up with him dragging her along. "Mason," she pants.

He stops, turning his head to look at her. "Are you okay?" He looks her over while she rolls her eyes. At least she has a moment to catch her breath.

"I told you. I'm not a charity case or a damsel in distress." People should stop treating her as a weak child.

"I never—" He sighs. "You're the one who said you were ill. I just want to make sure I don't need to carry you home again." She searches his blue eyes. Is it pity or sincerity? Sometimes it's hard to tell.

She couldn't deny her tiredness. This is the second walk of the day. "I'm—" looking for words. "I've got some energy problems sometimes." Her eyes look everywhere but at him.

Mason holds his hand out to her, and she stares at it, not sure if she wants to take it. Was she admitting defeat or accepting help from Stranger Danger? "I don't know you," she says, swallowing back the 'you're kind of mean to me, sometimes'.

"You kind of do." He gives her a weak smile.

Fine, he's not a murderer. Julia takes his warm hand, and he places it on her arm. They follow the path again. Adjusting his tempo to hers, he leads her to the cabin. Again! With the sun gone, the temperature drops. Goosebumps form on her skin, and she shivers. The fabric of her summer dress doesn't protect her much against the evening cold. With every step, she inches closer to Mason, stealing his body's warmth.

The cabin comes into sight, and they cross the path towards it. "This is me." She turns to him and folds her hands behind her back as she rocks back and forth on her feet.

"I know," he smiles, capturing her in his blue eyes. Mason leans against the doorpost. Damn the movies for creating expectations. Her brain stops working, unable to process the moment. She feels like she should pick a daisy and play 'he likes me, he likes me not'. Or 'he's angry at her, he's nice to her.'

"Why?" she stammers. Mason furrows his brows at her, not following her train of thought. She shakes her head. Whatever it is, he's a boy she just met. A boy who doesn't know her, and if he does, he'll leave her as everyone else did. "Never mind. Have fun at your party." She smiles and dashes into her cabin, leaving Mason alone in the dark.

"Hi, Jules," Matt says, sipping a glass of coke. Or, as the Dutch would say, Cola, because coke means a whole different thing. "Are you alright?" His brows draw together while he observes her.

She shrugs her shoulders. "Just tired and confused."

Matt fills another glass with coke and hands it to her. "Wanna talk about it?"

She doesn't know Matt, but all her friends are constantly occupied. Where's Olivia even? "It's a long, complicated story." She sits at the kitchen bar and takes a sip of her drink. The coke stings in her throat.

Matt leans back against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed. "Shoot."

Biting her lip, she looks at her glass, not even sure where to start or what to say. "Around two years ago, I got ill and never really got better." She looks at his face, searching for a reaction.

"That sucks," he says, and a laugh escapes her. It did suck, and it's nice to hear it from someone else.

"It does. A lot" Her smile disappears as tears sting her eyes. "I lost most of my friends because of it."

Losing them didn't even happen fast. Because of her exhaustion, Julia didn't even notice at first. When she first got ill, everyone was nice about it. They even wrote her cards, her boyfriend bought her flowers, and they would visit to hold her company.

She takes a deep breath. "I can't really blame them. At first, they tried being my friend, but when it took longer for me to get better, people stopped caring. They had other things to do. Their own lives to get to. They moved on while I couldn't." Swallowing away the lump in her throat, she meets his eyes. "Or I thought so. Sometimes I wonder if taking too long to get better was the real reason. What if it's just me?"

Matt stares at the glass in his hand. "It isn't you."

"Yeah, right." She snorts. "Then why am I spending this weekend alone?" The tension of the last few days breaks out and shows itself as warm tears stream down her face.

He shifts from one foot to another as he shakes his head. "We weren't–it's just–" Sighing, he leans forward on the bar. "My mom is chronically ill. I don't get a lot of time alone with Olivia because when I'm not busy with basketball or school, I'm helping my mom out." He meets her eyes. "We didn't mean to leave you alone."

Somewhere she knows his words are logical, but fear creeps up. "From my experience, when someone is ill and isn't their happy selves, people leave." Sniffing, she wipes the tears from her face. "Everyone always leaves me. My mother, my friends, even my dad gave up on me." Why is she rambling this to a stranger?

Matt walks around the bar and rubs her back. "I won't leave. I know we don't know each other well, but I'm not easily scared away. So if you take me, I'll be your friend."

Nodding, Julia laughs. She would like to have some more friends.

Olivia strolls in with a towel around her hair. "What's going on?" As soon as Olivia notices the red eyes and stains of tears on Julia's face, she pushes Matt away. "Step away. This is my job." Olivia pulls Julia into a hug, and she rests her head against hers. "What happened, babe?"

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