Saving Wishes

Saving Wishes Part 4

7. Heavy Head

Weaselling out of shifts at the café was becoming increasingly difficult. Alex was on to me. Hanging out at the library for a day didn't make me studious – it alerted him to the fact that I was falling behind.

Agreeing to cover a shift for Nicole while Carol dragged her to the dentist in Sorell for a check-up was a strategic manoeuvre on my part. According to Alex I was becoming unreliable and preoccupied, and I needed to prove him wrong. I wasn't expecting to see Adam that day, so seeing the Audi parked at the café was a surprise. Skipping my usual afterschool rendezvous with him had done nothing but make our liaison in the library the day before seem even more awkward. I'd spent half the night analysing it and by morning my confidence was shot. He'd told me it was a timing issue, but I let darker thoughts creep in. Maybe it was a Charli issue. I was hopeful of stealing the minute I needed with him to set everything straight but the instant I got out of the car, I knew it wasn't going to happen.

Adam sat at one of the two tables on the veranda, deep in conversation with Jasmine Tate. He looked up and saw me.

"Charli," he breathed, sounding relieved.

"Charli, we were just talking about you." Jasmine's voice oozed innuendo.

"I'll bet you were." I dragged myself up the four small steps.

"I had no idea you and Adam were such good friends," she purred. Adam shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

"I think you've been misinformed. We barely know each other." My tone was ice. "Maybe you should vet your sources a little better."

Jasmine threw her head back and gave her trademark shrill cackle. "Oh, poor Charli. You just can't catch a break can you?"

I knew exactly what she was referring to – and it made me want to crush her like a bug.

Adam seemed to be having trouble understanding my about-face. "Charli, please sit down," he said politely, motioning to a chair next to him.

"Yes, go ahead. I was leaving anyway," said Jasmine, as if I needed her permission.

"No, I'm not staying," I said.

Adam groaned. We'd been down this road before. I didn't know how not to hurt him when flee-itis set in. I just wished it wasn't playing out in front of a Beautiful.

"Of course you're not staying," he said. "You're going to run away."

Content that her evil work was done, Jasmine smiled. "I'm just going to leave you two to it," she said, and tottered down the steps in her dangerously high heels.

Neither of us acknowledged her. Neither of us even looked at her. The look Adam gave me wasn't kind, and I deserved it.

"Sit down, Charlotte."

I sat.

"I can't believe that its only just occurred to me that all the time we spend together is alone – which suits me fine. The problem is, I've been so wrapped up in you that I never realised we were hiding. I've just endured twenty minutes of interrogation from Jasmine."

"What did you tell her?"

"Nothing scandalous," he said, matching my sore tone. "You never told me this was supposed to be a secret."

"It's not a secret."

Adam pulled in a deep breath through his nose. "You're reckless and impulsive, yet guarded and secretive at the same time. You can't have it both ways."

"You don't know what she's capable of," I warned.

"Do you seriously think she'd ever get the best of me? I don't think so, Charli."