So here's chapter 10. Not feeling so confident about it. Don't think it's as good as some of the others, but I guess that depends on what the readers think.
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Chapter 10 – A New Destiny
Inspirational Songs: Your Love by the Outfield
I woke up to another perfect day. The first thing I saw was a cloudless blue sky when I opened my eyes. The sun shone bright and warm on my face. I looked down by my side to see if Ivory had woken up yet, but she wasn’t there. I glanced down at the ground and saw that Fiona was resting by the inn, so I knew that Ivory hadn’t left. She’d probably gone inside to eat.
Munchie crawled out of my pocket and began sniffing at my clothes, something he did whenever he was hungry. I suddenly felt a little guilty; I hadn’t been paying as much attention to him these last few days as I should have been.
“Sorry, Munchie,” I apologized, “Let’s go eat.”
I carefully climbed down the ladder hanging from the side of the inn and went back inside. Ivory was in the usual spot, tearing off part of a waffle and dipping it into a puddle of syrup on her plate before popping it into her mouth. Huh. That was a weird way to eat waffles. I smiled and shook my head at her quirkiness.
I sat in the stool beside her. She looked up at me when she heard my approach and grinned.
“Morning,” she said.
“Morning,” I returned.
“Sleep well?”
“Yup. You?”
“Like a baby.”
I remembered that I said the same thing to Mamma Verena when she asked me how I’d slept the night before, and laughed at the coincidence.
I put Munchie on the counter just as Mamma Verena walked by. She stopped dead in her tracks when she laid eyes on him.
“Clover, what is that?” she asked.
“Um,” I mumbled, hoping she allowed hamsters in her inn. “It’s my hamster.”
“Oh,” she muttered, looking at Munchie distastefully, “Well, make sure he doesn’t go anywhere in my inn.”
“Okay,” I promised.
“Can I get you anything?”
“Do you have any Gouda cheese?”
She looked at me strangely, probably thinking that was an unusual request.
“It’s for Munchie,” I explained, gesturing to him.
Ivory chuckled and Mamma rolled her eyes, “I’ll see what we have.” Then she disappeared into the kitchen.
I turned my attention back to Ivory and watched her eat her waffles silently while I thought about what to say. There was something that I’d been meaning to ask her since last night, but I didn’t know how to bring it up. I was also afraid of her saying no.
“So, um,” I decided to begin with telling her my plan. “I’m going to Benjamin today.”
She stopped mid-chew. Her face grew still and then she swallowed after a strained minute. She wiped her mouth with a napkin, not looking me in the eyes.
“Yeah?” she said, feigning disinterest.
“Yeah. I figured I’d better leave soon before I end up like Peter,” I joked.
Ivory laughed nervously. She hesitated, but then asked, “When are you going?”
I bit down on my lip. “I thought I would leave early this morning so that I can get there before dark. I just need to get some supplies and stuff.”
She nodded, still not looking at me. “Good luck, then.”
Come on, Clover, ask her. You can do it. I told myself. You twirled her, you dipped her; you can ask her to go with you.
It was right at the tip of my tongue, but then Mamma Verena walked out of the kitchen and placed a small plate in front of me. I looked down at the plate and saw that it had three small slices of Gouda cheese for Munchie.
“How’s that?” Mamma Verena asked.
“Er- thanks,” I said politely, even though I was really annoyed that she’d interrupted us.
Munchie was all over the cheese, and I could see that Mamma was trying not to be bothered by having a hamster in the inn.
Ivory pushed her plate to Mamma Verena. “I’m finished, Mamma.”
Mamma looked at Ivory’s unfinished waffles in disapproval. “You didn’t even eat all your waffles.”
“I’m full, thank you.”
I’d never seen Ivory leave her plate unfinished in the days that I’d known her. She always ate all of her food, so this was really strange. I took it as a sign that she was upset when she didn’t have an appetite.
Reluctantly, Mamma took her plate and went back to the kitchen. When she was gone, there was an awkward silence between us, and I tried to build up the courage to ask her again.
Suddenly, Ivory stood up. “I have to go feed Fiona.”
“Okay,” I mumbled. Her boots made very loud thuds on the ground as she stomped out of the inn.
Damn it. This was going to be harder than I thought.
***
While Ivory was outside, I figured I’d better stock up on food for the journey. Of course, I had no idea what I’d do once I got to the kingdom, but I knew I had to leave the inn soon. The first thing I had to do was look for an inn to stay at while I looked for a job.
Marybell courteously filled up my bag with food for me. She came back and placed my sack in front of me, overstuffed with food.
“So, where’s Ivory goin’?” she asked a little too casually.
“I don’t know,” I muttered, wishing she’d mind her own business. But then I remembered how much Marybell had helped me, and figured I could use her help again.
“Actually,” I began, “I’ve been meaning to ask her…to go with me.”
“Why haven’t you asked her yet, then?” she demanded.
“I’m too scared.”
She placed her hands on her hips and glared down at me. “You know what, Clover?” Her voice rose an octave, and I was suddenly very glad that Ivory was outside where she couldn’t hear this conversation, “If every man was too scared to ask a woman out, we’d die out as a species.”
She leaned across the counter and pulled me in by the collar of my coat, getting in my face. “You need to get over this little fear you have right now. Or you’re gonna be worse off than Peter.”
I blinked, “How’d you figure that?”
“Let’s see, you’ll to spend the rest of your life wondering what her answer would have been if you’d had enough guts to ask her to begin with. You won’t be able to move on and you’ll start drinking at an early age, unable to get a job, or a life, basically, and instead of having a wife and kids at the age of thirty, you’re going to be stuck with that little rodent of yours.”
Ouch. That stung, but she had a point, no matter how bizarre her imagination was. She was wrong about the alcoholic part; there was no force strong enough to get me to drink again.
Suddenly, the entrance door creaked open. Marybell looked over my shoulder and released me, smoothing out my jacket and replacing the scowl on her face with a pleasant smile.
Ivory stalked back inside, not glancing at me once. Instead of coming to sit next to me, she walked over to a table Mamma Verena was cleaning and took a seat there. I looked at Marybell and she looked at me meaningfully, inclining her head in Ivory’s direction. I sighed and stood up, knowing that if I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t do it ever.
Mamma saw me walking across the floor to them and excused herself from Ivory, saying she had to go clean the kitchen. She gave me a significant look when she walked past me.
I stood at the table Ivory was sitting at and fiddled with the straps on my bag. It was obvious that I was nervous. Ivory watched me with a guarded expression.
“So, um,” I started. “I’m gonna leave now.”
Her face remained impassive, but I saw her hand twitch on the table top like she was about to slap me.
“Goodbye, then,” was all she said.
I kept standing there like a mindless fool. Go on, idiot! Say it!
“Come with me,” I blurted out.
The blankness on her face broke down as surprise appeared. Her eyes softened and she said quietly, “Really?”
I nodded. The corners of her lips curled up in a smile. I was very pleased by her reaction. She pushed back her chair and got up, making her way around the table to me. I wasn’t expecting what she did next. She shoved me in the chest with her hands, hard enough to make me stumble back. I looked up at her in shock. The expression on her face was a cross between aggravation and amusement.
“That was for not asking me sooner, you jerk.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. It satisfied me that she’d been waiting for me to ask her, though.
“So, you’ll go with me?”
She pursed her lips and nodded her head once; trying to be nonchalant, but I saw the unconcealed excitement in her eyes.
“Clover!”
I turned around and saw Mamma walking towards us. She was carrying a leather pouch the size of a fist.
“Here, take this,” she placed the sack in my hand.
I looked at it curiously. “What is it?”
I pulled the strings to open it and gasped when I saw what was inside. A handful of shiny gold coins dazzled in the pouch.
“What?” Ivory said, and then she looked over my shoulder into the bag and gasped, too. “Money?” she exclaimed.
“Shhhh!” Mamma hissed, moving to block the view of the other customers who were looking our way.
“Mamma, we can’t take this,” I whispered.
“You can and you will,” she countered. Funny, she sounded a lot like a mom when she used that tone. “If you don’t have any money, you won’t be able to do anything once you get to Benjamin.”
“That’s the whole point. I was going to get a job and everything.”
“It’s a big kingdom; you’d be looking for a job for days. This is just enough for both of you to stay at an inn until you get jobs.”
“Mamma…” I wanted to argue, but I’d known her long enough to know that it was no use. Smiling at me, she fastened the pouch and wrapped my hands around it tightly.
“Don’t lose it,” she said, and with a resigned sigh, she pulled Ivory and me in for a group hug. I hugged her back tightly.
“Thank you, Mamma. For everything,” I mumbled, patting her on the back. She let go of us reluctantly, and I was shocked to see that she had tears in her eyes when she pulled back.
“Are you crying?” Ivory asked, dumbfounded.
Mamma fanned at her face with her hands, trying to stop the tears. “I’m s-sorry.”
“Oh no,” Marybell suddenly appeared behind Ivory and me. She sounded annoyed. “This always happens when people leave.” She reached into her apron and handed Mamma a handkerchief. Mamma accepted it gratefully, wiping under her eyes.
Marybell then turned to look at us. “Were you really going to leave without saying goodbye to me?” she demanded, very offended.
The question was mostly directed at me. Ivory shifted her gaze between us.
“Well?” Marybell waited.
“Er - goodbye, Marybell,” I murmured.
She smiled and pulled me down to her height to peck me on the cheek. “Clover, you’re like the little brother I never had.”
To say that I was relieved was an understatement. I was afraid Ivory would have gotten the wrong idea about Marybell and me.
“And you’re like the older sister I never wanted,” I returned. Marybell whacked me on the shoulder, and then turned to give Ivory a hug. Ivory patted her on the back timidly.
“Well,” Marybell said once she’d released Ivory, “I guess that’s it, then.”
“It was a good week, guys,” Ivory said.
“Yeah, I’m glad I met you,” I agreed.
“Hey, now. Don’t talk like that. We’ll see each other again, understand?” Mamma said, working to hide her tears. “You’d better come visit.”
“Absolutely.”
“You’d better get going if you want to reach Benjamin in time,” Marybell said.
I nodded. “Come on, Ivory.”
Ivory and I walked out of the inn, waving over our shoulders at Mamma and Marybell.
“Be safe!” Mamma called as we headed out.
When we were outside, Ivory strolled over to Fiona, who was grazing on the grass away from the inn. I followed her over the hill and into the open field. The light breeze weaved through her hair while she stroked Fiona’s head. I was suddenly a little scared of what was to come. Once we got jobs in Benjamin, then what? Would we live together? I didn’t know the first thing about living with a girl.
Ivory looked up at me from Fiona with a slight smile on her lips. The fear that I felt instantly melted away when I looked into her eyes. Things would be okay, I knew it. Ivory mounted Fiona and glanced down at me.
Crap. Were we going on horseback? I didn’t know if the beast wouldn’t kick me off her back if I tried to climb her or not.
“What?” Ivory smirked. “Never rode a horse before?”
“No,” I admitted.
“Now’s your chance, then,” she said. “Get on.”
I hesitated.
“Come on, it’s easy. Fiona will be nice to you, won’t you Fiona?” Ivory made kissy sounds at the horse, who seemed to be far from being in agreement, but grumbled in competence anyways. I climbed up the side of the horse and clambered on behind Ivory. I was as still as a statue until I was sure Fiona wasn’t going to slide me off her back.
“See?” Ivory said. “Everything’s fine.”
Everything was fine. There was at least one good thing that came out of going on this journey on horseback; I got to hold Ivory. My heart thundered away when I put my arms around her.
“Hold on tight,” she instructed, and then she whipped the reigns and the horse bolted down the pathway to our new destiny.
***
All in all, I think this was a dull chapter. I forced myself to write it. Good news is I'm looking forward to posting the next chapter once I've finished writing it. Thanks again for the reviews guys.
