Jane's Wish

Chapter Six

Six

For the next few hours I think about Layton and his family. He ran away. And Michael almost died. Layton was the only there for him, the only one who cared. No wonder he was so concerned when I left camp with a fire still burning! Flames almost killed Michael… and he didn’t want them to kill Zane. Some may say that Layton acted cowardly and irresponsibly, leaving with Michael into the unknown world of the forest and all. But in a sense, I did the same thing. I had no choice and I can see now that neither did he. We acted in behalf of what each of us thought was best for our families. Our small, broken, torn a part families.

At breakfast I find myself smiling at Layton's words as he prays.

When he opens his eyes, I look down at my hands. Apples, strawberries, and nuts make up our gourmet meal. Realizing that he has much less than the kids and I, I place in his hands a single strawberry.

He gazes at the fruit and back to me with a brow raised. With a smile tugging on his lips says sarcastically, "I'm starving over here and you only give me one strawberry? Gee, thanks."

I scrunch my nose and throw at him another, at which he bursts out laughing. "I was only kidding!" He yells, throwing it back in my direction, which I catch in my mouth and swallow. He chuckles."Oh yeah, you're totally not a hillbilly are you?"

I shake my head. "Nope! Just a girl with some amazing strawberry catching skills!" I say teasingly back.

He laughs into his chest and looks up, his eye almost winking at me.

I catch a glance at Zane and Michael who are whispering into each others ears, their eyes looking back and forth between Layton and myself.

My eye catching Zane's, I motion towards his hands. "Eat up Mr. Funny Bone." I joke.

He and Michael giggle at each other and I smile when Layton grins in my direction.

                                                      *****

Later that evening, Layton escapes outside of the cave, motioning for me to follow. Zane and Michael play what looks like Rock, Paper, Scissors inside and don't notice when we slip out behind the tarp.

The rain has come to a steady drizzle and the temperature has gone down a few degrees since this morning. Tucking myself into Layton's jacket, I sit down beside him.

"You're seriously not going to tell me are you?" I sigh.

He shrugs. "If you knew you wouldn't come."

I search his face and say slowly, "Well it's not like you're planning to kill me, right?"

This seems to catch him off guard and he smirks. "No, I can honestly say that killing you isn't on my to-do list."

I mime wiping my brow. "That's a relief. I was just getting used to you and I must say that you being my murderer would have been quite the bummer."

He laughs, but a frown quickly replaces his smile.

"Yeah..." He trails off, looking out the trees which are covered in a thick fog.

"Layton," I say. "If you're afraid that I'm going to leave and take Zane with me or that I'm going to tell someone where you are or dump you when I find out, than you're wrong. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."

He raises his brow. "You mean that?"

"Of course," I say.

He swallows. "Okay then." He says. "We're going west, to Los Angeles."

I nod. "Okay."

I don't think he expected that response. "'Okay'?" He asks. "You do understand then, that we'll be going out of the forest. Across the county. To Los Angeles."

I nod my head. "Yeah, I think I got that."

"But it's going to take weeks." He says. "Months."

I laugh. "Are you trying to talk me out of going? I don't care where or how long it takes, Layton. You asked me to trust you, and..." I pause. "And I do."

He doesn't say anything for a couple minutes. I start to wonder if I freaked him out by saying that. If I said "I trust you" with as much feeling as I thought I did, and now he's afraid that I might like him... you know, more than a friend, and he doesn't feel the same way about me.

Good job, Jane. Now you've made it awkward for this entire trip. What's worse, what if he's going back to LA to see an old crush? Or maybe even an old girlfriend. I mean sure, he was like... fifteen when he left, but it's definitely possible. Maybe he was even engaged, although I really doubt it. Or what if... Oh, I'm such an idiot.

"You know, on second thought," I start to say aloud.

His eyes meet mine. They look...worried.

I stop myself from saying what I was going to and sigh loudly. "Do you even want me to come?" I ask, feeling incredibly vulnerable. What if he says no? I mean, when I met him, he asked if I wanted to stay in the forest forever. Maybe he's just taking me to LA so that I can have a new life with Zane and so he can go back to the glamorous life of luxury with his pretty girl that he no doubt had. Sure... it didn't sound like he actually appreciated that life with his father and preplanned life and all, but maybe he misses her too much. His girlfriend, I mean.

"Um, Layton?" I ask nervously, suddenly really, really hot in this jacket.

He snaps out of his trance. "I wouldn't ask you if I didn't, would I?"

I sigh. Can he ever just answer me directly?

"I don't know... would you?"

He shrugs and I give up hope, preparing to tell Zane the news that he has to say goodbye to Michael and that were heading back... heading back home. No, that's not home. We're heading back to the woods... our same old woods.

We lock eyes then, the gold in his seeming to speak right to my heart. Reassuring me that I'm wrong. That I won't be going back to camp. That everything will be alright. I hold my breath. "No Jane, I wouldn't." He says. "And yes, I'm sure. I definitely want you and Zane to come with us."

I close my eyes and slowly feel his hand brush my cheek. "I want you to come with me." He whispers.

Unable to speak, I remain silent. His hand feels so cold compared to my blushing cheeks so I take it, wrapping his hand in my own, entwining our fingers together.

When my eyes open Layton's pierce through me, smiling.

He grins, glancing at our hands. I shrug and blow a piece of hair out of my face. Before I know what he's doing, he reaches into his jacket's pocket (that I'm still wearing) and pulls out a rubber band. "For your hair," He says.

I smile and tie my hair back. "Thanks." Seconds go by that seem like years. Finally I say, "LA, huh?"

He nods. "Yeah. Big city."

I giggle to myself, thinking about all the thoughts have gone through my head tonight. "You're not going to see any old girlfriend are you?" I laugh.

He looks as me strangely. "That would be negative."

I smile and I can't help but say "Good." Out loud. He pulls back.

'"Good,'?"

I laugh nervously and try to save myself. "Well, yeah... I mean it would,"

He shakes his head. "Not be good if I did," He says with a smirk. "I get it." He laughs.

I punch him teasingly. "You know what I mean!" I yell.

He tilts his head with a half a smile.

"Yeah, I think I do."