LITMIR.BIZ

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a moment of hesitation Tamani joined her on the ground, settling a comforting arm over her shoulders.

      “I’m sorry for everything,” he whispered, words weighted with regret. She turned her face and leaned in, wanting to lose herself in him, to forget everything else, just for a moment. Tamani exhaled shakily and brought his face close to hers. Laurel lifted her hand to his cheek and drew him forward the rest of the way. Their lips had scarcely touched when the door opened and Chelsea stormed out, keys jangling in her hand.

      “Shar had them the whole time,” she complained loudly. “He stood there and watched me look all over for them and then—” Her eyes zeroed in on Tamani’s arm around Laurel’s shoulders. “Oh, duh,” Chelsea said, clearly realising Shar’s intent now. Then, softly, she added, “Sorry.”

      Laurel rolled down her window, letting the wind caress her face as Chelsea drove through the empty, darkened streets. For nearly half an hour Chelsea said nothing further about their short bout in the apartment or her ill-timed appearance, and Laurel appreciated the effort her friend must have put into keeping quiet. Silence certainly did not come naturally to Chelsea. She was probably dying to rehash their visit with Yuki, but all Laurel wanted to do was force it to the back of her mind and pretend it had never happened.

      “Hey, is that . . .”

      Chelsea was already pulling over when Laurel realised that the tall guy walking down the side of the road, silhouetted by the streetlight, was David. His eyes were wary as the headlights flashed across them, but recognition – and relief – dawned as Chelsea pulled her mother’s car alongside him.

      “Where were you?” Chelsea demanded when David crouched to peer through the passenger window. “I drove all over the place.”

      David studied the ground. “I stayed out of sight,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to be found.”

      Chelsea glanced over her shoulder in the direction he had been walking. Towards the apartment. “Where are you going?”

      “Back,” David growled. “To make things right.”

      “She’s doing OK,” Chelsea said, her eyes serious.

      “But I put her in there.”

      “She’s figured the circle out,” Chelsea insisted. “It’s not like it was. She’s not hurting herself anymore. She just sits there. Well, sits and talks,” she added.

      But David was shaking his head. “I’ve been running away from my part in this and I’m done. I’m going back to make sure everything stays humane. Or, you know, whatever the plant equivalent is.”

      “Tamani said he would make sure she was safe,” Laurel said.

      “But his – and Shar’s – definition of safe may not quite match up with mine. Ours.” He looked between them. “We put her there. All of us. And I still think it was the right decision, but if it wasn’t . . . I don’t want to stand by and let it get worse.”

      “What are we supposed to do?” Laurel asked, not willing to admit that she didn’t want to go back either.

      “Maybe we can take shifts. One of us, one of them,” David said.

      Chelsea rolled her eyes.

      “Someone would have to stay all night,” Laurel said. “Which my parents would probably let me do, but—”

      “Staying up all night isn’t really your thing,” David said, voicing Laurel’s concern.

      “I can text my mom,” Chelsea offered. “I told her I’d probably spend the night at your house anyway – makes total sense after a big dance. And she never checks up on me.”

      Laurel and Chelsea both turned to look at David. “I’ll think of something,” he mumbled. “What about Ryan?”

      “What about him?” Chelsea asked, finding something interesting to examine on the steering wheel.

      “He’s going to wonder why you keep running off at strange hours. You can’t always use Laurel as an excuse.”

      “I don’t think he’ll notice,” Chelsea said.

      “You can’t just assume that,” David retorted. “Don’t underestimate him. You always underestimate him.”

      “I do not!”

      “Well, he’s going to notice something if you suddenly start being “busy” all the time. And he’s going to want to spend time with you over the break. Especially after you ditched him almost every day last week to study for finals,” David said.

      “Somehow, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Chelsea said ruefully, leaning back against her seat and meeting his eyes at last.

      David just shook his head. “I don’t understand you. You were so worried about him when Yuki or Klea or whoever slipped him that memory elixir and now it’s like you don’t care at all.” He kicked the dirt at his feet. “Why don’t you just break up with him?”

      “I did,” Chelsea said quietly.

      David’s eyes darted from Chelsea to Laurel and back again. “You what?”

      “How else was I supposed to justify running off in the middle of the dance . . . with you,” she added in a mumble.

      “I was kidding!”

      “I wasn’t. I was going to do it anyway.”

      David looked to Laurel. “Did you know about this?”

      Laurel glanced at Chelsea before nodding.

      “Why?” David asked. “What went wrong?”

      Chelsea opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

      “It was just time,” Laurel said, coming to the rescue. This wasn’t something anyone needed to talk about yet. Certainly not right now.

      David shrugged, his face a mask of nonchalance. “Whatever. We’ve got to get back there. It’s going to be a long night.”

      “So you just sit here?” Chelsea asked Tamani, her voice cracking a bit as she tried to hide a yawn.

      The apartment was dark and quiet. Shar had taken the opportunity to lean his head against the wall and was getting a little much-needed sleep. That left Tamani chatting quietly with Chelsea, who had insisted on taking the first shift.

      “Pretty much,” Tamani replied. “You can get some sleep if you want to; the carpet is soft. Sorry the furniture is so . . .”

      “Nonexistent?” Chelsea offered, straightening up in the simple wooden chair that normally sat, unused, at the kitchen table. “It’s OK, I’m really not that tired. Just kinda bored.” She paused before leaning close to Tamani. “Doesn’t she ever talk?”

      “Yes, I talk,” Yuki hissed before Tamani could respond. “It’s not like you haven’t heard me talk a million times before. Remember back in the day, when we went to school together? I know last week must seem like ancient history now, but I thought you humans could at least remember back that far.”

      Chelsea was still with her mouth agape before snapping it shut and muttering, “Well, sooor-ry!”

      “Don’t feel sorry for me,” Yuki said, fidgeting in her seat. “I’m stuck here for a couple days at worst. You’re stuck for the rest of your life.”

      “What do you mean?” Chelsea asked, turning more fully toward Yuki.

      “Don’t listen to her,” Tamani warned. “She just likes to get under your skin.”

      “Chelsea Harrison,” Yuki continued, ignoring Tamani. “The perpetual third wheel. Always

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