The River Speaks

Chapter Fifteen: Meadow Talk

Chapter Fifteen: Meadow Talk

Lilliana

We hiked through the night, talking quietly if we said anything to each other. I was listening for any sound that wasn't created by us.

I'm nervous to make a fire because the smoke might tell somebody we're here.

We found a small clearing and now we're sitting in a field of flowers.

"I feel like a fugitive." I murmur.

"I feel like I'm in the hunger games." Aiden says.

I sigh slightly and glance at him.

The sun is fully up making his blonde hair look golden. He has a little bit of stubble on his chin, and his eyes confuse me because sometimes they look brown, other times they look blue grey, and sometimes they look green brown.

Right now they look green brown.

"Why are you staring at me?" He asks without looking up from the ground.

"I'm sorry Aiden." I whisper.

"For what?"

"Before me you were a normal guy. Now you're running away from somebody who probably wants you dead. I'm so sorry for dragging you into this mess."

"You didn't drag me, Lily. I came willingly. None of this is your fault. Your parents will handle Elliot and then they'll come find us and everything will go back to normal."

"And if Elliot's people find us first?"

"They're lazy. They're not going to find us."

"They're on horseback." She says.

"Lily." He whispers, putting his hand on mine. "We're going to be fine."

I lay down in the grass, thinking.

What if Elliot doesn't go to prison?

How am I going to live my life? How am I going to find somebody and get married and move back home? How will I get to have my own farm and my own family when I know Elliot will always be out there, hunting me?

And what about Aiden? He wants marriage and kids too, but how can he have that when he knows that the stupid girl he called on accident got him on an Elliot's Most Wanted poster?

"There's something you should know about me." Aiden says quietly.

I look at him and raise my eyebrows.

"Um well I was a pretty troubled kid and as a teenager...I may or may not have done every drug under the sun, got addicted to marijuana, robbed four houses, stole a car, and took peoples stuff out of their pockets...like phones and wallets. That's how I...theoretically, stole the car." He pauses. "And I may or may not have been convinced of  felony theft at fifteen years old, and then got arrested and I possibly spent the next three years in jail."

"Are you joking, Aiden?" I whisper.

"Possibly."

"Aiden." I say seriously.

He sighs.

"No. I'm not kidding."

"So you're a convicted felon?"

"I was a convicted felon." He says. "When I turned eighteen I got out and it's not on my record because I was a minor."

"But?"

"There's nothing else. That's it."

"What did you do when you got out?"

"I learned my lesson, Lily. I went to college to be a police officer. I got a job. I worked my way up again, okay? I haven't touched drugs and stolen or even thought about doing any of that since."