Page 115 of A Dead Man's B-Side
She paused, hand stilling around her hair, and met my eyes to most likely try and decipher why I had come with such an out-of-the-ordinary request. “Why…?”
I shrugged. “Thought you’d need one.”
She crossed her arms over her chest before sighing and turning away, stepping back inside her dorm.
“I’m not a dog, thank you very much,” she threw back before going to close her door.
I surged forward and stopped it from closing fully, speaking through the crack, which was all she was willing to give, “Ineed a walk, then. I just thought you’d want to accompany me.”
“Where is Wolf?” She muttered.
“He’s… Frankly, I don’t know where he went off to, and I spend enough time with him for most of our conversations to become arguments.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. I’ve noticed that once you surround yourself with someone a lot, you get comfortable enough to speak harsh truths and are careless to whether it angers them or not.
It was silent for a beat, and I hoped she would relent. Finally, as if a gift from God, she sighed and opened the door again. “I’ll come with you. I can’t say no to you with a face like that, Sasha.”
She scrunched her face at me and pinched my cheeks. I, in turn, kept my face exactly within her reach, in weak endurance.
“Let me grab some shoes.” I nodded and watched her from where I leaned on the threshold as she contemplated something for a few moments. “We’re walking on the grass?”
“Yeah.”
She hummed before pulling on short black boots that closely resembled leather.
Upon stepping out onto the regularly gloomy Saturday morning Scotland had in store for us, I turned off the paved path leading to campus, and instead began my march through the grass, around the back of the Quarters and along the tree line. Paris matched my steps.
For a long time, the sounds of our shoes crunching against the ice-covered grass were the only thing that filled our joint quietude.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been to this side of the property in all my years here,” Paris said.
I tilted my head to her. “Why not?”
She shrugged, the sleeves of her sweater fisted in her hands and her arms crossed across her chest. “I don’t know. I was just… always preoccupied. I’ve never taken a walk either. God knows I needed one, though.”
Twigs and pinecones snapped under my feet as the trees to my side offered their sweet, earthy smell, one I wasn’t accustomed to, having grown up to the smell of sewer steam rising to the bustling streets of the city. “This is my first intentional walk since getting here. I used to walk a lot growing up, but yeah, I guess Castle Hill can make one pretty busy.”
Paris let out a breath that formed into a cloud of condensation in front of her. “Tell me about yourself, Sasha.”
This was not how I expected our walk to go, indulging her when really, I wanted to know if I should be keeping a closer eye on her or not. But Paris wasn’t going to talk unless I did, and it was only fair to exchange information.
“Well, what do you want to know?”
The question came without missing a beat, “Why did you lie? When you said you’d never been in love before.”
I blinked at her, and when she didn’t meet my eye, only staring ahead, I did the same and cleared my throat. I didn’t think she would remember that, let alone ask. “I wasn’t lying.” Yesterday’s events came back to me, but I shook them away. “I was just thinking about it.”
“Her?”
“Love.”
“Love?”
I shrugged, suddenly bashful, my skin getting prickly. “I just think it’s strange, is all. I don’t understand why it’s such a noble cause.”
Paris looked disappointed when she glanced at me. “Don’t tell me you don’t believe in love.”
I shook my head in denial and said, “No, of course love is real. I’ve known since I was young. I just don’t see it as a positive. It’s poisonous."
