Hide and Seek.

Chapter 2

He hasn't changed at all. Fuck!

His skin is still as tan as before, and his eyes just as green. Sarah wonders what is it about those eyes, that makes them shine even though there's no light in sight for them to absorb. Why green had to be her favorite color?. She stands somewhat hidden at the top of the stairs, protected, and watches Allan greet him. They actually embrace like there wasn't a shadow of a dead body hanging over their heads. Absentmindedly, she remembers the times she's heard Allan on the phone with people - casually talking and laughing here and there, always amicable - and wonders if he's been keeping up with Peter way more than she thinks.

"Look at you, Allan. All grown up!"

He ruffles on Allan's short golden hair, and she is immediately reminded of a recurrent joke Peter would make to tease him, saying that he would have to dye his hair brown at some point because grown men couldn't have blond hair. Allan would simply just laugh: he knew that Peter wasn't serious. His hair was just as blond as before, maybe even more now due to the excess of sun he gets when he's surfing. It's a new habit for him. She doesn't really like to venture into the sea, but she does like to watch him battle the waves. Always liked to watch.

Allan's smiling and Peter's smiling and Sarah is squeezing her fists strong enough to make the long veins on her arms pop up. She could sneak out and go for a run to try and take her mind off it all. Forget about Peter, and pretend he never got back into their lives. Instead, she sighs. Not even her can run that fast. She's got nowhere to hide anymore.

"Come on, get in." Allan's showing him the good southern hospitality he is known for, picking up Peter's bags and motioning for him to follow. "This is you. Hope it's okay."

Sarah feels a tiny bit of gratitude growing inside of her like a rosebud. Their room is on the top floor, right beside her office. Even if for one night, she didn't think she would be able to sleep knowing that the only thing separating them was a single wall. That Peter was just on the other side, creeping inside her mind even more than he used to. At least the floor gives them some much-needed distance.

"Yeah, don't worry. It's just fine."

Peter looks out the window, and just for a moment, she runs her eyes over him, studying the strong muscles in the back of his neck, the sturdiness of his shoulders, and the elongated lines of his body. No, he hasn't changed a damn bit.

"...is, uh...is she around?"

Allan's eyes travel up and land on her for just a moment before going right back to him. He tries to sound casual, but it's almost sure that he fails at it. "She's working now, but she probably won't take long. I was trying some new recipes for the blog, and she's writing the posts."

"Oh, right, the blog." He says, animatedly. "I tried making your, hm...whiskey ribs a couple of nights ago."

"Oh, really? How did it turn out?"

"Like complete garbage. I burned the whole thing. It was a disaster."

Allan gets in the room, puts his bag on the bed and smiles. "Don't worry, I can teach you some other time."

"Are you still working in the restaurant too?"

Allan nods. "The blog thing doesn't pay all the bills." He explains. "Besides, I still have a lot to learn, and the chef was kind enough to take me under his wing."

"That's good, Allan. I'm happy for you." He's about to leave the room when Peter talks again. "I think I'll go freshen up a bit before dinner."

"There's some clean towels in the closet."

"Hm, thanks."

"Drop by the kitchen when you're done."

Allan smiles and exits the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts. It's been years since the last time he was in the house. Almost 10 if his memory isn't playing tricks on him. Except for a few changes here and there - most of the walls are painted with a light grayish white, instead of the old faded yellow - it feels like the whole house has been frozen in time ever since...Maddie. The room that he's in used to be an office for Sarah's father. They were rarely allowed inside, so it feels like it's the first time he has ever even seen it properly. It's small for a bedroom - the king size bed stays right in the center of the room without much space for anything else on the sides - but for an office, it was probably just right.

He hears a muffled sound of steps coming from the room on top of him and wonders who's the person responsible for them. Allan is probably in the kitchen, making sure that they will have a delightful dinner - at least when it comes to the food. Sarah is probably the one in the room. He said she was working, so he must be staying right under her office. Allan doesn't talk much about what Sarah does, and Peter knows it's because she doesn't want him to. He lost the privilege of being involved in her life the second Maddie went out of his sight. So all he really does know it that she translates books for a relatively big publishing house, and writes all the posts of Allan's cooking blog. He finds it fascinating that she can still show her voice, even when talking about a subject she knows nothing about. Sarah couldn't fry an egg to save her life. It's just sheer luck that she was marrying someone who was born to cook like Allan.

She's marrying him. The memory creeps up on his mind uninvited, makes a mess of his whole line of thought, confuses him beyond redemption. The ceremony is only four months away from happening. He knows because he heard it from his aunt when he went to visit her two weeks ago. She had cooked him a few delicious treats and talked about what she was planning to buy them as a gift, assuming he had been invited. He wasn't. Peter thinks that she was also the one to mention to Allan that he was going to be in town because his call came as a surprise. He hadn't cut ties with him completely like Sarah did, but they still didn't talk very often. It seemed like just when he was starting to get used to life without thinking about the past, Allan would reach out to him, and pull him right back down the rabbit hole. To a place where little Alice didn't make it alive through the fall, and they were left wondering around Wonderland, completely lost and alone, without purpose.

He forces the painful memory to go back to its rightful place, hidden somewhere inside his mind and decides to go meet them in the kitchen. He'll have to talk to her eventually, so it's better to do it sooner rather than later. 

He doesn't have much time.