Timeless Tides | ENGLOT

Chapter 9: Cheetah & Snail

Calista's POV:

Under the sun-bleached awning between mismatched chairs and coffee tables, I take a bite of my blueberry muffin and then a sip of my coffee, my eyes never leaving the sketchbook in front of me.

It has been four days since Ember kissed me by the lake, and against all odds, I have managed to break the vicious circle of sleepless nights. I wake up, work hard on my many projects, and I go to bed and sleep a heavy, replenishing sleep. Ember hasn't contacted me, and I'm relieved. We both know I need time to figure out where my head is at.

I'm a doer, not a thinker. It means that I work out the mess in my head by working. It means that I dive into projects and work too hard until I collapse and wake up the next morning realizing that I had the answer all along.

This morning I woke up missing Ember, and instead of wanting to yell at her, I wanted her. Although she has never been inside my apartment, I could vividly picture her lying next to me, entangled in sheets and smelling like summer.

"Refill?"

"Thank you."

Maverick places a second cup in front of me and then takes a seat next to me.

"New project?" He asks.

"Just a doodle."

Maverick chuckles, and I look at him and smile.

"Can I see?"

"It's not done yet," I say, pushing the sketchbook towards him.

I tighten my grip around my pencil as I watch Maverick study my sketch. It's still a rough draft of that image that won't leave my mind: Ember lying on her stomach, sheets around her waist and that damn tattoo on her back. Realizing too late what that implies, I bite my lip, nervous about how Maverick will respond to it.

"Even your doodles are magnificent," he says, engrossed in the details. "Interesting tattoo."

"It's the drawing I gave her the day she left." I lift the cup to my lips, taking a little extra time taking a sip. I told Maverick about Ember once. Not all of it, but enough for him to understand that Ember broke my heart.

"Calista," he breathes. It's not pity, it's... Maverick understands my pain. He always did. "Did you tell her?"

I shake my head. "It's complicated."

Maverick returns the sketchbook and twists his torso to better look at me. "How?"

For a moment I watch strangers walk by on the sidewalk, deliberately ignoring to think of an answer. I'm tired of saying Ember broke my heart. I know that while it's still true, it's also an excuse.

"You're afraid," Maverick states, and I feel the truth of it settle in my bones.

"I don't want to be." I say, my gaze falling to the sketchbook, and my heart beats painfully under my ribcage that seems too small all of a sudden. "It should be easy, shouldn't it? I mean, she told me she's in love with me... And... It should be easy. I can't even lose."

"This is why I only live for today, Cal," Maverick says, and I look at him, ready to dive into the wisdom that is Maverick's life philosophy. "I don't like the one I used to be, and I have absolutely no idea what will happen tomorrow, but I have today – a damn fine day, if you ask me – and I refuse to let anyone, least of all myself, take that away from me."

Maverick's past is a tragic story. That's all I know. He doesn't ever talk about it, and I never ask. Our relationship has always been defined by a mutual agreement of living in the moment, all strings cut loose – the past didn't matter, and the future was never an issue.