Small Town Love

Chapter 7

Love all, trust a few and do wrong to none.

William Shakespeare

He went to hide in the barn after that talk with his dad.

There was something to love about a room filled with old furniture and absolutely no human contact.

Wow, he was really turning into a hermit.

Ollie would have a field day with that. Well, if his friend was ever going to talk to him again after he had found out that Luke hadn't told him the truth for weeks.

That was not something he was looking forward to.

But once he was in the barn, he was actually contemplating making something. He couldn't fix anything for Daphne. There was nothing left to fix.

He could, however, give his mate something that she needed. Something that she would like...

He could do that.

***

When she woke up from her nap, she buried her face in the pillow and didn't move.

She should probably go take a shower, get in her pyjamas and then go to bed for real, but Daphne couldn't find the strength for that. She was too tired, too exhausted...it took too much effort.

That was the crucial point...It took too much effort for not enough results.

"Daphne?" Came her cousin voice from the door and she turned looked up from the pillow. "There is dinner downstairs if you..." he suggested softly and she dropped her head back to the pillow.

"I am not hungry." She whispered. Not at all. Alone the idea of food...she hadn't eaten more than a few bites this morning, but she still wasn't hungry. She knew she should eat, especially now that there actually was food there that she could eat...now that she didn#t subsist on a diet of ramen and whatever was in the clearance bin at the little Cornershop.

"You need to eat," Ollie said, stepping into his room and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"Are you...Are you feeling better?" He asked her, tripping over his words and she just nodded. It was sweet that he asked. Even when she felt like she was never going to be better.

All of it was just...

"I heard you cried all over Luke," he commented, managing to make her blush scarlet red and utter and complete shame flow over her.

Great. She knew that most people had seen that as they had been sitting in the middle of the living room but still. She had cried all over that boy that she didn't even know and he had been nothing but nice about it. Right now Daphne would like for the floor to swallow her up.

How was she supposed to face Luke on Monday?

Or the rest of the school...because half of her classmates had been at that funeral as well.

"Hey, don't be...embarrassed about that," Ollie told her but she just buried her head in the pillow again.

"He probably thinks I am some hysteric little girl now," Daphne groaned, her voice muffled by the pillow.

Great. Just the impression she wanted him to have.

"I doubt that. Luke isn't like that," Ollie snorted but then grew serious. "And you shouldn't care what he is thinking either."

"He's your friend," Daphne gave back. And she really didn't need to have the Quarterback of the football team to start talking about her hysterical breakdowns. Thank you, she would like to be left in peace for at least a week weeks of her High School careers.