Fragments

2.0

2.0

            “We should get you back.”

            Roman shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans, his shoulders hunching at a gust of chilly wind. Because I still have his jacket he’s in a black, cotton sweater, looking warm and soft to the touch. I don’t remember when he grabbed it, but the entire time in the alley I was in a daze. In only my school uniform with addition of tights under my pleated skirts for warmth, I’m still cold.

            He starts walking in the direction I came and I follow beside him, hugging myself in my coat. I know the general way back to Elizabeth Roe’s but as Roman leads me across sidewalks and streets, I can’t help but wonder how he does too.        

            “Your little schoolgirl outfit,” he says when I ask, making a lasso motion with his finger at me. “Kind of a dead giveaway.”

            I nod my head as my hair blows back over my shoulders. “You don’t have to walk me back,” I mumble quietly, not wanting him to leave but also not wanting Adam to see him with me.

            “I never said I didn’t want to, but those guys back there,” he nods his head from where we came, “there’s more of them. And I don’t trust them.”

            I don’t hesitate. “How do you know them well enough to not trust them?”

            He rolls his shoulders back as we walk, and somehow the way he leans forward from the chill is attractive, as the way his hair blows into his eyes. I blink and look away.

            “They were my friends at one time,” he admits.

            “What happened?”

            Roman shrugs. “I learned who they really were. It was a low point in my life and also in theirs. I just didn’t realize how much deeper their hole was until I climbed inside it.”