Fall in San Diego

11. don't hate you

We had a short breakfast of assorted canned food, some apples and a bunch of berries and then began to discuss the latest note. Or clue. Or whatever you wanted to call it.

In the end, we'd all decided that we were splitting up again. Although splitting up wasn't always a good idea, according to the lines, we probably had to go east and west again as they obviously liked those Cardinal points.

This time I was going with Tanya. I wish Peter didn't do that. I knew I should've asked for a switch if I wasn't comfortable with it but then that wouldn't have been nice to Tanya. There was some sort of tension between us that I didn't understand. I mean, I knew I had a stupid little crush. And that was surprising to me because it has been a while since I'd liked someone. So this was all new and strange again. And I barely knew her. But is there really a reason why we like someone? We just do.

And anyway, she definitely didn't feel the same way about me. She gives me small smiles, chuckles at my jokes and compliments me but I believed she was just being nice to me. But then she wasn't really a ray of sunshine all the time so did that mean something? It was all confusing.

I felt giddy as we walked side by side. We walked in silence for a long time. Our hands brushed at one point and I blushed at the action. But she shoved her hands into her pockets. My heart sank. She was always doing this.

I decided to take my mind away from her and began to whistle as I stared at the uncountable stems standing all around us.

"What? Omg, that sounds so angelic," she said, genuinely surprised as she looked over at me. Her eyes shone.

I chuckled. "Yeah...it has a beautiful melody."

"What song is it?"

"Well, it's not a–it's not really a song. It's like thirty six seconds long. It's an interlude in an album."

"Well what's the name of the... interlude?"

"Online love."

"Awh, that sounds so cute."

"Yeah," I said with a half smile and began to sing.

"You have such a great voice you know," she said, once I was done with the second song.

I blushed. "I didn't know that. I just sing."

"You sing a lot?"

"I don't know," I said, rubbing the back of my neck with a chuckle. "I listen to music a lot. And I only sing when I want to get out of reality for a while."

She nodded but didn't reply. Her eyes were focused straight ahead as we walked as if she was thinking deeply about something.

"And you?"

She blinked and turned to me. "What?"

"Do you sing a lot? Or sing? Or listen to music a lot? Any of the above?"

She chuckled. "I'm not a good singer but I like to sing along to my favourite songs."

"What're your favourite songs?"

"Well, I love all the songs by my favourite artists, so..."

"So...?"

"Lizzy Mcalpine, Lorde, Gracie, Taylor swift."

"Oh wow."

"I know..." she said.

"You know what?"

"Nothing."

My forehead creased in worry. "Did I say something wrong?"

She shook her head without looking at me. Her eyes were trained on the ground in front of her as we walked in silence.