Will
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Idon’t know why Elsie wanted to hang out with Theo.
I mean, sure, I hung out with Theo, but I was a guy. We watched sports and drank beer. I doubted that’s what he had in mind for whatever he’d be doing with her.
And when I realized it was just going to be the two of them, it hit me viscerally that I had no idea what he was planning on doing with her. I had no other choice but to interject myself.
The only thing more miserable than third-wheeling him and Elsie, though—was fourth-wheeling with Ava trudging beside me.
“Whose idea was it to go to a corn maze, anyway?” She huffed, throwing the end of her scarf dramatically over her shoulder. “We’re all going to end up lost.”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “I’m sure that’s exactly what he was hoping.”
Which is why I was trailing him and Elsie very, very closely.
I didn’t want to leave any room for accidental separations to occur.
“This is kind of spooky.” Elsie shivered. “I’ve never done one of these in the dark.”
Theo shined his flashlight underneath his chin and let out a sharp ‘boo!’ before reaching out and grabbing her arm.
Elsie yelped in response, apparently terrified.
I rolled my eyes.
“Are you kidding, Elsie? He’s standing right beside you.”
“I’m just a girl, Will.” She looked at me over her shoulder. “You make a loud noise, I react. It’s simple mathematics.”
“Not math, but okay.”
“Science, then.”
“Not even close.”
“Why are you two arguing about this?” Ava said, picking up her pace until she was at the front of the group. “We’re turning this way now.”
“Who elected you as group navigator?” Theo teased.
“I did, since you guys take five minutes every time we have to decide if we’re taking a left or a right. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be stuck in here all night.”
“Are you scared, Aves?” Theo said before turning to look at me in solidarity. “We’ll protect you, won’t we, Will?”
But I wasn’t giving into her moods tonight. She chose to be here, for reasons unbeknownst to me, and now she had to deal with it.
“You didn’t have to come,” I reminded her.
“Neither did you,” she said and then turned the corner.
Elsie followed her, but Theo hung back, pulling me aside to whisper, “Since when have things between you and Ava gotten so bad?”
“Things have been weird with us for years,” I deflect. “Ever since—”
I didn’t say what we both knew.
Ever since she married my brother.
It was true, there’d been a time when we were close, but ever since the wedding, things between us shifted in a way that can’t be fixed.
As far as I knew, no one but the two of us know what happened that day, and I’d like to keep it that way. Anyone with eyes could see that things were different between us since that day.
Theo didn’t know the specifics, but he wasn’t an idiot. He knew better than to ask. At least back then.
“No,” he said now, staring me down. “She’s extra tense lately. Like normal Ava on crack. Times a thousand.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” I said simply.
“If I’d known how weird it would be, I never would’ve invited you guys.
I figured you could go off and skedaddle somewhere to give me time alone with Elsie, but clearly that’s not going to happen.
” He tilted his head, looking ahead to where Elsie was half walking-half jogging to keep up with Ava’s quick stride.
“If you wanted to be alone with her, then why invite us in the first place?” I asked, irritated more at myself for getting involved in something that I shouldn’t care about in the first place.
“Group things are less pressure.”
“You’re twenty-eight,” I said. “Aren’t you over being scared of first dates?”
“I am,” he said, offended. “But Elsie wasn’t biting on any of the ideas I threw out there. I figured maybe if it was more casual, it would give us a chance to get to know each other better without the intimidating label of the word ‘date’ lingering over the night.”
“Maybe she’s not biting because she’s not interested,” I said, not caring that I sounded like a dick.
“I’ve considered that.” He huffed a laugh. “But she’s kind of hard to read. She turns down any chance to hang out, but she always seems happy to see me when we talk.”
“That’s just Elsie. She’s friendly to everyone.”
“Except you.” He narrowed his eyes. “I heard she really laid into you outside of the café when she first got here.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sort of an asshole.”
“Truer words have never been spoken,” he agreed with a good-natured grin. “But underneath that lies a heart of pure-gold.”
“You want me to be your wing-man,” I shoved my hands in my hoodie pocket, “don’t you?”
“You know it,” he said, clapping my back. “You’re the best.”
I heaved a sigh, taking my hat off to run a hand through my hair. Elsie wasn’t mine. I didn’t have a right to feel any jealousy over this.
Just because I’d been to her house to fix a few things, and gave her a few rides, and brought her coffee every morning didn’t mean I had any special connection with her that would explain the possessiveness I felt growling inside of me.
I just had to get over it. Whatever it was, in the first place.
I guess the only way to get over something was through it, right?
And I had a feeling getting through watching Theo try to woo Elsie for the night would take a hell of a lot more patience than I had to offer.
Placing my cap back on my head, I rolled my sleeves up and walked into the darkness after them.
“And that’s another dead end,” Elsie concluded with a whimper.
She rubbed her hands together, no doubt feeling the chill of the evening.
Damn, I should’ve brought a pair of gloves.
I felt around in my pockets to see if I had anything to give her, but found nothing but a stick of gum and a receipt from the hardware store.
I frowned, staring at where she stood against the corn, her arms wrapped around herself as she tried not to shiver.
The tip of her nose was red, and all she had on was a green quilted jacket that came down loosely to her upper thigh, clearly not warm enough for the night.
That’s it.
No matter how badly Theo wanted more time to make his move on Elsie, it wasn’t worth her getting hypothermia in the process.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” I said, looking at my watch. “It’s freezing and we’ve been wandering around in the dark for an hour.”
“That’s half the fun of it. It’s kind of spooky, isn’t it?” Theo said, but even he sounded unconvinced.
“What are you going to do, Will? Run through the corn?” Ava asked. “We can’t get out until we find the right route.”
“How late will these people stay? Do they remember we’re in here? If we don’t make it out by a certain time, will they send someone in after us?” Elsie started panicking.
“Relax,” Theo tried to tell her, and my eyes were glued to the hand he moved toward her arm.
I glowered at it.
“That’s it,” I told them, not wanting to stick around and watch Theo’s blatant attempt at PDA. “You guys wait here. I’m going to find the way out and I’ll send someone in after you.”
“Oh, no,” Elsie said, reaching out and grabbing my shoulder. “I’m coming with you.”
I felt smug satisfaction.
“What about us?” Ava asked.
They could stay in the corn maze for all I cared.
“Hey! You know what we could do? We could make it sort of a game!”
“A game?” Ava asked, looking slightly interested.
“Yeah, we can pair up into teams, and whoever gets out first can send the staff after the ones still stuck in the maze.”
“Dibs on Will,” Elsie shouted quickly, the words all merging with the speed they came out.
I froze underneath the hand she used to grab onto me, watching as she pulled herself snug against my side.
It was nothing. It meant nothing.
But it meant something that I didn’t mind her being there. It meant something that not only did I not mind it, but I was already afraid of what the absence of her touch would feel like.
Shit.
“Are you sure?” Theo frowned. “I figured you and I could—”
“Sorry, but I’m not sort of freaked out being here in the dark, and I know that Will can scare off anything that goes bump in the night.” She patted my arm roughly. “So, I’ll be sticking right here.”
Before Ava or Theo could protest, I turned on my heel and headed off through the cornemuse, Elsie still attached firmly to my side.
“I’m not going to leave you in the dark, you know,” I told her. “You don’t have to have such a death grip.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, making no move to loosen her hold on me. “I just really don’t like scary things.”
“This isn’t technically scary.” I almost laughed. “It’s just a corn maze.”
“At night,” she clarified. “And we’re lost. And isn’t being lost at night the way every scary movie starts off?”
“I thought you didn’t watch scary movies.”
“Doesn’t mean I’m not familiar with the formula,” she said. “Hey, can you walk a little slower? My legs are a lot shorter than yours.”
I paused, turning to face her.
“Why’d you want to come with me, anyway?” I asked because my mind hadn’t quieted down since she first latched onto me.
“Because I trust you to get us out,” she said easily.
“Over Theo?”
“Over anyone.”
My heart skipped a beat, and I stared down at her, trying to discern her meaning.
“I just mean,” she went to explain, pulling her arm free, “that you’re very…goal-oriented. You see things through. If you want to get out, I have complete faith that you will. Theo seems pretty content to just let things take their course.”
I snorted, continuing forward. “That’s pretty spot on.”
“And Ava, well, she seems too pissed off about who knows what to plan her next move clearly,” she said, falling in stride next to me. “Which leaves you.”
“Can I ask you something?” I said, not meeting her eyes. “Why did you even agree to come tonight? I mean, do you like Theo?”
“Yeah, I like Theo. He’s fine.”
“No, I mean, do you like him?” I emphasized, feeling ridiculous.
“Ohhh.” She grinned. “You mean, do I have a crush on your friend?”
I held my breath, waiting for her answer.
“Well, the answer to that is no, but like I said, I’ve been lonely for company.”
Relief hit me like a wall. One I’d gladly run headfirst into.
“Well, FYI—” I told her, “next time you’re lonely for company, I wouldn’t agree to a one-on-one hang out session with a guy at night. He might misinterpret your intentions toward him.”
It was bullshit, but maybe I just didn’t want her hanging out with him at all. Platonically or not, it sent a feeling of unease through me.
“I hung out with you at night.” She frowned. “At the café. Remember?”
“That’s different. We’re not—I mean, I’m not—”
“Interested in me?” she said. “I know. You’ve made that very clear.”
Have I?
Because as far as I remembered, the only thing that had been made clear was that she wasn’t interested in me.
My hand gripped the flashlight tighter as I scrambled for something to say.
“Elsie, I—”
“Look!” she said, pointing excitedly in the direction of the light beam. “No more corn! We’re free!”
She laughed and ran headfirst out of the maze, freaking out a group of workers as she ran past them with maniac energy.
“Hi!” She waved. “You should really hand out maps before sending people off in there.”
“It’s a corn maze?” one farmer said.
“Yes, but by the time we made it out of there on our own, the corn would’ve been decomposed back into the earth. So, unless you think—”
“Sorry about her,” I said, tugging Elsie to my side. She looked up at me with a frown, as if I’d ruined the lovely conversation she’d been having. “Two of our friends are still stuck in there—”
“You guys left your friends in the corn maze?” the younger of the farmers said. “That’s low.”
“Maybe they wanted to have some time alone?” the older one suggested. “We’ve got a lot of young folks doing all sorts of disgusting things in our maze. I mean, really degenerate, scum of the earth things. Despicable.”
Elsie paled, looking up at me in horror.
“Oh, well, we weren’t doing anything like that,” she quickly reassured. “I mean, we aren’t even together. We’re just pals. Buddies. We definitely don’t do anything foul and disgusting in corn mazes.”
Oh God, I internally rolled my eyes.
“I don’t think they were accusing us, Elsie,” I said, pleading with her to stop talking.
“Right.” Her face was crimson. “Sorry.”
“Any who, we’ll go in and get those friends of yours. Good thing you told us, because we were about to head out for the night,” the older man said, sending the young one off into the maze.
“I told you, they would’ve left us in there.” She yanked my shoulder down to whisper in my ear.
“I think they’re kidding,” I told her, but I wasn’t sure.
“Hey,” the farmer said, “while you kids wait, how about a cup of hot chocolate?”
“That would be great!” Elsie clapped her hands together in such a jovial display of excitement I nearly laughed.
“Great! You can buy it over there for two bucks a cup,” he said and pointed in the direction of a little stand that was lit by a single bulb.
Elsie’s face fell, and she looked up at me in grave disappointment.
“The way he said it, I thought he was offering it for free, you know, to make up for the traumatic experience his maze inflicted upon us.”
“I’ll buy you a hot chocolate, Elsie,” I said, feeling a smile tug at my lips.
I couldn’t help it. Something about her earnestness just amused me like little else ever did.
“Really?” She beamed, as if it were the best news she’d ever heard.
“Come on,” I said. Placing a hand on her lower back, I ushered her toward the stand.
“See,” she said, looking up at me with twinkling green eyes. “I knew I could trust you to take care of me.”
And God help me, if that wasn’t the only thing I found myself wanting to do anymore.