Chasing Catalina | Book One: Worshipping Ashes

9. | The Prey

"Congratulations!" Erika exclaimed as I followed her out from the archway of the kitchen into living room just to turn and plop down comfortably onto the couch. Coffee mug in grasp as she smiled and sipped on the liquid gold.

Of course she meant the engagement, I was forced to tell her considering she walked in immediately after Adryan left.. not enough time to stash the way overpriced ring back into the top drawer of my bedside table. I sighed through my nose before sipping the coffee and sitting down slowly next to her on the couch. Leaning back against the throw pillow while slowly attempting to drown my lungs in coffee to avoid this entire conversation of congrats and whatnot... I didn't want to talk about it so I remained silent.

Erika on the other hand, instantly picked up on the emotional despair and she lowered the coffee mug to her lap.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Erika says with furrowing brows at me. Her palms cupping around the white coffee mug as she sits cross legged on the leather couch. We have been talking for some time now, but now moving from the kitchen where we usually discuss our situations- more or less my situations, she always seems to know exactly when something is bothering me. It was her super power, or maybe it was because she basically raised me from a child. Hell, she basically pushed aside her own mourning for my brother, her husband, when I drowned my sorrow in whiskey. I didn't want her to do it, but she did anyway. It made me wonder if she had ever mourned him... but I never dared to ask.

My eyes lifted from the coffee that was filled to the brim of my mug up to Erika's eyes, captured by the freckles that framed her face. Her dark brown hair falls like curtains around her sharp cheekbones and jawline. She reminds me of if Cindy Crawford and Angelina Jolie had a baby; Erika would be that baby without a doubt. My mind wanders on the thought for a moment before snapping back to reality. The gaze that held my full mug, ripples of coffee pulling me back like a current that remained quiet and hidden beneath the heat of the waves.

Don't drown here, Cat... I know you wish you could, but keep hanging on.

"No.." I paused, shaking my head back and forth and smiling embarrassingly. "Yes? I don't really know anymore." My shoulders unwillingly shrugged upwards. Something about my expression felt... down. The entirety of my body felt like it was being drug downwards to the cracks in the floorboards below us. I pull the coffee mug to my lips as I lean back against the cushions of the couch, slowly slouching and burying myself in the comfort of the cushions while slurping my sip of the white chocolate raspberry coffee.

As good as the coffee is, I feel like my insides are swirling around in an array of toxic sludge. Erika watches me and holds her coffee mug tightly in two hands, her eyes moving from me to her mug before leaning sideways to set it down on the coffee table. Silently leaning back towards me and taking my mug from my hands and my lips, spilling just a drop onto my shirt, but I don't protest. I continue to lean backwards against the cushion as my hands, now empty, reach out towards where I let go of the ceramic mug. A slight shrug came from my palms before they fell back to my night pants with a muffled slap.

Don't make me talk about it...

    After Erika set my coffee mug down beside hers, she took my hands into hers. They were warm, calluses still prominent on the pads of her palms from fights in her younger years. Her hazard green eyes gaze into mine as I peer up into them.

    "Alright, Lion Mane, you've left me no choice here.." she wanted to sound serious; her mom voice warping under the weight of her concern. "What's going on with you?"

    I sigh and lean my head back against the cushion, my eyes closing and my head shaking back and forth. I didn't want to talk about it, I hated the idea that she knew somewhat what was wrong. It's stupid and she's a witch or something.