The Other Side Of Fear[1]

Chapter 20

Thank you for all of your support so far! You are all so kind and I love receiving messages after you read my chapters wanting to discuss the story - it's so flattering. Much love!

The next morning I woke to the sounds of the banging and stomping of Cal moving around the cabin. I sat up quickly as I remembered where I was and looked around to see him putting on a leather jacket and some boots. He didn't look at me but I could see that his expression was hard and stern; he was obviously not feeling too great about what he had done last night.

The memory of the kiss reappeared in my mind the second my eyes opened and I could feel the small ache on my arms from where Cal's grip had been; a feeling all too familiar from the last time.

I swung my legs off the sofa and moved the blanket off me before pulling my hair out of its tie and redoing it up into a tight ponytail. It was silent and it was awkward and getting more uncomfortable by the second; I just wanted him to say something...anything.

Ideally, I wanted one of us to bring up what had happened but I knew that it certainly wasn't going to be Cal and I knew that I would only be met with an aggressive response or silence.

I wiped under my eyes to try and clear any dark make-up that may have smudged there and picked my hoodie up from the floor, pulling it over my head. As I did so, Cal's boots marched over towards me and I glanced up to meet his eyes for the first time only to find him looking everywhere but at me. He threw a motorcycle helmet down onto the sofa and walked through the kitchen to the back door, stepping outside; a signal that it was time to go.

I sighed and picked up the helmet, moving across the room and out of the door to find Cal waiting for me right outside of it. Moving straight past him down the steps, I squinted at the daylight as I was caught by the perfect sound of the stream trickling through the trees. I glanced around at the cluster of trees around us. It was a different feeling today; last night it was completely frightening and now it was completely beautiful.

I tried to push away the flashback of me running through the woods from Archie and turned around to look for Cal. He was closing and locking his door and turned towards me, pulling his helmet onto his head. I copied the motion and followed him.

Sighing, I did a little jog to keep up and ran over to him quicker as he started up his motorcycle. He waited as I climbed on and not even half a second after I gripped onto his waist, we sped off.

I wasn't feeling so liberated and free on this journey; I only felt unsettled and awkward. I couldn't deny that the feeling of having my hands around Cal's waist was surely different this time round; last time it didn't feel like anything. After our kiss last night, I was feeling a little shy to touch him and kept my hands very still in one place as not to make him feel even more uncomfortable.

Eventually, we reached the outskirt of my neighbourhood and Cal stopped the motorcycle right by the bridge. I let go and hopped off, removing my helmet and waiting for him to say something; he didn't.

'Thank you,' I said. 'For letting me stay and for...dropping me off here so my parents didn't see you.'

He gave a small nod and took the helmet from me before turning towards the storage on the back and placing it inside. He looked back at me, only I couldn't see his face through the tinted visor and found myself wishing I could just get a glimpse of that little cross under his eye.

I quickly forced the thought away and gave him a nod and a smile before turning away and heading into the neighbourhood. I was aware that it was quite a few seconds before I heard Cal's bike roar and leave and I turned back quickly to see the last of it disappear in the distance.