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( Hemlock Grove )
ONCE SAGE LET ROMAN GO, SHE WONDERED WHAT ELSE HE HAD BEEN DOING. The brunette boy was nowhere to be found once the dance was over with. Everyone was running out, presumably due to Roman's devious actions. She looked and looked for him to no avail. She became worried throughout the night before receiving a text from his much kinder cousin, Letha. "That little," she had cursed under her breath that night. She cursed him and his shady self before eagerly heading home to actually get some sleep.
As usual, it wasn't much.
It became the next day, which worries Sage in a different way. She's not sure if she should be glad the fight with Roman is over or stressed over what Roman will do once he speaks with Peter. She focuses on that very aspect throughout the day. She mentally throws everything else aside, not caring much for other trivialities. It's safe to say she irked Jacob and Victoria, immensely.
The pair of teenagers notice how out of reality the Jones' girl was. By the time it was lunch, they decide to pull her back in. However, they don't have much of a plan in the first place.
"Sage!" Victoria calls out as Sage sits on the table part of the lunch tables. She's holding her phone, intensely paying all attention to it. Her eyes are glued to it. The brunette girls squints at the sight. She looks a bit too into it. "Get some lunch with us."
"Yeah. You look like you need something to eat." Jacob comments a bit too on the nose, causing his other best friend to knee him in the shins. "Ow!" She gives him a glare before turning to Sage again.
"I'm fine. I just need Roman to return my damn calls." She looks down to her call log. She called Roman five times in the last hour, intending to hear what he was planning. She knew he's always planning something. She was sure it'd start yet another string of arguments. She also knew how stubborn they both were. "That bastard better not be doing what I think he's doing."
"And that is?" Victoria asks, dumbfoundedly so.
"Being a bitter, salty asshole." She answers with venom in her voice.
Jacob and Victoria look to the other, worried. They knew how scary Sage could sound in the worst of days, or rather, in the presence of one Roman Godfrey. "When is he not, though?" Jacob earns another kick in the shin. "The fuck?!" He seethes in slight pain.
"Sage, you look like you're gonna murder someone."
"Roman's gonna hope that's all I look like." She stands up, almost on cue, to escape the two lively teens. She knows they want to make sure she's fine. She's merely trying to make sure Roman doesn't wrongly murder a certain gypsy. She gets through the day with even more calls towards the Roman boy. He avoided her at school. He avoided her once the school day was over. Once she's home, she intensely watches her phone for any calls or texts. It's no surprise nothing pops up, besides useless texts from her limited friend group.
She then takes a quick nap, only to be woken up with an unexpected call from the ever so titular Taj. She squints at her clock. She notices how it's nearly midnight. "For fucks sake." She notes how her sleep schedule is screwed, but also how Taj never calls. He favors speaking in person and she assumes he has no reason to call her unless it's urgent. Or very stupid. Or both.
"Taj, Why are you calling me at midnight? I am not getting you late night condoms again-"
"Do you still read that mythology shit?" He interrupts. The mechanic's voice is frantic. Sage can tell he's on edge, more so than usual.
She sits up, much more somber upon his words. "Yeah. Why?" She narrows her eyes at the ceiling of her bedroom. She can't fathom why a call at midnight starts with that question. Her half siblings always ridiculed her for the things she read and became fascinated with. The habit slightly fizzled out of her life due to other things, including getting older. She didn't completely abandon the tales. She merely let it collect dust. Much like another thing she's thought a lot about.
"Can you-you lend me some of it? I need to figure out something. You got stuff on like nymphs?"
Sage rubs her eyes. She's not sure of what to say next. She's sure she does, but somehow feels like she got high before going to sleep. She pinches herself, making sure. "Sage? Sage, do you, or not?!" He yells into the phone, frantic and panicky. He inhales and exhales after his loud words.
"I, uh, I can look. You mind telling me why you suddenly wanna read up on folk tales?"
"I'll tell you later. I'll pick up the books now." With that, Sage finds the call to have ended. She speaks into the phone with a clear confusion on what just happened. She sighs, getting up to find the forgotten books. Unsurprisingly, they're not organized. Bundles of myths about fairies and werewolves cover the more obscure ones. Werewolves and vampires were quite popular. Even Sage found such stories intriguing. They were overrated, in her opinion. They had the classic things supernatural stories were based off nowadays.
Before she knows it, she hears a familiar ring of her doorbell. She mutters a quiet, "tch," as she hurries with the books. She grabs several, only one of them truly about Nymphs. Most of her books had been general folk tales, while only a select few were specifically about werewolves and whatnot. She stumbles down stairs. She sees Taj outside her window. She scoffs, putting down the books so she can actually let her half-brother inside.
"Come in before you freeze your ass off." He scurries inside, turning his back to frantically look around. His eyes dart everywhere. Sage thinks he looks like a crazed rat with a black hoodie covering most of his face. She raises an eyebrow at his slightly shady behavior. "Why'd you need the books now? It couldn't wait till the morning?"
Taj keeps looking around like a scared animal. He shivers, his arms constantly clutching his sides. He looks as though he's caging himself away from just about everything else. Sage carefully watches him. "I just do, okay? I'll tell you later." He almost trips over his words.
He quickly grabs the books from her dinner table and places them under his arm. He reaches for the front door's handle, dashing from Sage's house. She goes after him, up to the lawn, shocked. She gawks at the sight of him looking like he just burgled her house.
