The Gold and the Forest

XIII

Chapter 13: Little Red

☙⚘☘

She ghosted me.

Vivi sighs. She makes up an excuse in her head in case he texts her where she went. The shoes she is wearing bother her. She calls for a ride and heads home.

---

"He loves me." She picks the petals off of the daisy. "He loves me not."

She sighs and drapes herself over the bench in her garden. "He loves me."

Her nightgown drapes over the edge of the bench and she covers her eyes with her arm. She wonders when he will arrive. She has been waiting for hours.

"I love you." Came a whisper to her ear. She sits up quickly.

"Forrest." She breathes.

His hair ever the same mess, his eyes a burning passion. All the green of the garden surrounding them turns into irrelevant information against his green eyes. She places her hands on his face.

And he kisses her.

---

Vivien woke up alone, in her room. His fabricated warmth was absent from her arms. The room seems ever the more cold, and ever the more desolate.

To envision him climbing on top of her was a sin, and she was tempted by the devil.

If she dressed like little red riding hood, would the wolf come to eat her up?

She rolled over in her bed, and felt empty in it. Bedsheets stretched on all around her. She wrapped her arms around herself, breathing out a sigh. She didn't want to be alone. By the end of the day, that was exactly what she was. Alone. She accomplished nothing.

---

When Carl looked up from the boxes he had set down, he met the blue eyes of someone familiar. He jumped back instantly, the look of absolute shock crossing his face. She offered a half-hearted smile, she was dressed in a camisole with a red cardigan draped over her shoulders. Her hair was tied up, she looked lax.

"Why are you in the backroom?"

She paused. "Habit."

He didn't like her answer. Training his eyes back on the boxes, he averted his gaze but also would not turn his back on her. Her shoulders slouched, and she felt a lump in her throat.

He's so tense. She was tempted to say something more, but saw that he didn't want to hear her. She hung her head and went to go find Sean.

"He's not here." His voice stopped her immediately. He had that kind of effect on me.

She shifted, realizing that she needed some sort of reaction. She was about to make the move to leave when someone's loud laughter came bustling into the backroom.

"Kade!" Came a scream. "If you can't work properly, then get out!"

"Wait—wait! Excuse me, how do you make the—oh."

Vivi and Carl both stared at Kade, hair tousled, cup in hand, a uniform on, and a mischievous grin disappearing off his face. Min came stumbling after him, looking disgruntled and also in a uniform. She caught Vivi's glance, halting abruptly.

There was a long moment of silence before Carl sighed and walked over to them, ushering them out and back into the storefront. "Do neither of you know how to make coffee?"

"I do so!" Kade complained.

"He really does not." Min muttered.

Vivi waited a moment, steadying her thoughts. She then followed after them into the storefront.

Kade saw her first. He raised an eyebrow. "Back so soon?"

She rubbed her arms, nodding.

He lowered his voice. "What for?"

Vivi glanced over Kade's shoulder at Min, who was watching intently as Carl shows her the in's and out's of working the coffee machine. She watched as their hands touch, a cold feeling rising in her chest.

"I don't know." She mumbled. I do know.

Kade leaned over, blocking the view of Min and Carl behind him. He folded his arms. "Then leave." He commanded.

Vivi looked up in shock.

"And when you know what you want, come back through the front door."

She was even more taken aback by his words. He offered her a crooked smile.

"Go." He mouthed.

She smiled a little brighter than before, and took her leave.

---

Carl came over a moment later, clapping Kade on the back. "What were you whispering about? Get back to work."

Kade pouted. "I should work in the front. I'll attract many customers there with my flair."

"And miss out on Min trying to make coffee?"

Kade stopped. A slow grin spreading onto his face. "My boy."

Carl rolled his eyes and shoved past Kade, ignoring the finger guns Kade was shooting after him. When he glanced back, he saw Kade trying to juggle some cups and Min trying to grab one mid-air. She sighed in exasperation and then stomped on Kade's foot.

"Jesus—" Kade inhaled deeply.

Carl headed back out to the register to check if there were any customers. It was the time of the day when there wasn't really any. So, her lone figure stood out in the absentness of bodies. His eyes fell on her before he realized.

She was looking through her phone, unaware of anything.

Maybe she was tired, maybe she was defeated. The eyes of hers used to wander around searching for something now stayed glued to her phone. The eyes that used to search for him.

Maybe this feeling he had was relief.

Probably.

"Carl?" She was now staring back at him.

He stiffened, and averted his gaze. Even though there was a distance between them, he still felt uncomfortable. She seems to have noticed his discomfort and a sigh of defeat exited her lips. It seems though her lungs had been filled with that defeat, and her shoulders sagged.

"Guess I've been a bad person." She thought aloud. "Not even coffee can fix this."

He let the conversation lapse into silence.

"Sorry." Her voice was soft. He almost looked back to her, he fought the impulse.

"It seems my company is unwanted." She began to get up. "I won't—"

"Vivien."

Her back was turned to him, and her flinch was all the more obvious.

"Just come back to work." He mumbled. 

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