Wild Girl ✔️

chapter 25: wild

Rose

I heard the taxi driving down the gravel road towards the cabins from my spot on the porch. Still, I was hesitant to move my feet, to grab my luggage behind me and say goodbye to the faded walls of wood that had grown into my home. The taxi came to a stop in the centre of the clearing, puffs of dirt rising and clouding the clear blue sky.

I felt a soft hand on my back. "Ready?" Sebastian asked. I glanced behind my shoulder to find his dark eyes waiting for mine. His face was unreadable, the sort of mask he used to hide too much. But I saw the sadness in his eyes, they weren't dark enough to hide his pain.

Grabbing Sebastian's hand in mine, I stood up. "I guess," I said, letting loose a sigh. His mouth quirked up into the smallest of smiles as he pulled my luggage behind us, down the short road before stopping beside the taxi.

"I never got to tell you a ghost story," he said. Sebastian's eyes were trained on the trees. He looked far away, lost in another time.

I chuckled as I wrapped my arms around his waist, breathing in the scent of him, remembering the feel of him. "We lived a ghost story," I reminded him.

His head snapped back to mine quickly, eyes suddenly burning. "I don't want you to leave," he said, lips moving too quickly. "We didn't have enough time."

I ran my fingers along the scruff on his jaw. "We'll keep in touch."

Sebastian sighed. "You mean that?"

"Yes," I said too quickly. I willed my face into a mask to hide the lie. From the way Sebastian smiled, until his eyes crinkled at the corners, I knew he bought it.

I still didn't know if I would return to this inn. Or if this time away would be quickly forgotten once I returned back to my old life. Sebastian told me that he loved me, and I knew I could love him, too, if we only had more time. Now, with distance lingering between us, I doubted his love for me would remain once I got into that taxi and left this world.

It was easy to fall in love in the wild. With a sky that stretched on forever, days that turned slowly into nights and stars that shined too bright, it felt like you were sitting on the edge of the world. That anything was possible; even love.

But, unlike Sebastian, the wild wasn't my home. I was a city girl, used to lights that drowned out the sky until not a star was in sight. Trees weren't my home, buildings were. I couldn't be the wild girl Sebastian wanted. I couldn't live here until I slowly faded into the trees, another girl for him to love that felt trapped in a forest she doesn't belong in.

The taxi honked and we both jumped. Sebastian swore under his breath, rolling his eyes at me. I forced myself to laugh, to squeeze his hand a little tighter in mine.

"I'll call you," I said, reaching up to kiss his lips. I was never one for goodbyes. Caleb didn't get one. It felt wrong that Sebastian should.

Sebastian's hands grabbed my waist tightly, like he never wanted to let me go. I sighed against his mouth one last time, knotting my fingers into his hair. My heart lurched in my chest, trying to break out. I shoved it further down, locking it up somewhere where it could no longer reign free.

"I love you, Rose," he said, holding my face firmly in his hands. His eyes searched mine, burning, branding. I knew they would soon haunt my dreams.

It would have been so easy to love Sebastian, too. And that was the hardest part.

I nodded once, kissed him one last time, tried to remember what it felt like to be on the cusp of love, then pulled away. Sebastian's eyes burned into my back as I stepped into the taxi, luggage in tow. I watched him from the window. With the glass between us, it was easier to pretend this wasn't real. That he wasn't truly mine.